Jack Murtha, the longtime Democratic representative from Pennsylvania, died today, after having lived long enough to see the wars he wanted to end continued indefinitely, but satisfied in knowing history would prove him right. I guess these days if you want to try to stop a war in this country, you should get started when [...]
Back in the days when Hitler comparisons were verboten, that is, when we had a far-right President whose social, military, and civil liberties policies looked a lot like Der Fuhrer, I often got a laugh out of them. Hitler, after all, in addition to making the trains run on time, hosted a successful Olympics, built [...]
It was inevitable, really. After nearly ten years of a dominant and domineering political party governing with an iron fist, unfailingly promoting the most violent, punishing, and ruthless answers to every question, Americans have become very skeptical and cheap about doing anything other than hurting people, even themselves. Cynical ploys to convert inchoate resentments into [...]
As one gets older, chunks of time once thought epochal become mere blips; one may start out to say, “But I just…” and then suddenly realizing, add, “well, ten years ago.” Oops. Yesterday that definitely wasn’t, it only seemed like it. Without clear markers, as we settle into middle age we see, and generally embrace, [...]