As I was beginning to write this, Washington was unfolding for its annual Memorial Day rituals. Like clockwork, the distant hum of motorcycles would soon herald another Rolling Thunder convocation. Rows of chairs would suddenly appear at monuments, road closures announced, tiny flags awaiting position at the nation’s largest graveyard for its war dead. Memorial …
Continue reading “Memorial Day, Remembering the Apostates”
About halfway through President Obama’s drone speech, I nearly threw in the towel and changed the channel back to HGTV. After all, why should I sit there and listen to out-and-out lies – and miss the latest episode of “Rehab Addict“? What set me off was the part starting with this line: “Journalists should not …
Continue reading “The Resurrection of Barack Obama”
At least 14 people were killed and another 36 were wounded in attacks.
Iraq launched a massive operation across Anbar and Nineva provinces. According to the government, the mission was to raid al-Qaeda strongholds and strengthen border security. Several al-Qaeda suspects were killed, including two senior commanders. Overall, at least 20 people were killed and 44 more were wounded.
It was the first day of fourth grade, and my Social Studies teacher told us it was time for the pledge of allegiance. All the students stood up: all but me. I don’t recall if we’d had the pledge before that: if we did I don’t remember it. Whether it was an innovation, or whether …
Continue reading “Up Against the FBI”
Israel’s crippling blockade of the coastal territory of Gaza is pushing desperate young Palestinians to ever more extreme measures in the search for livelihoods, despite an agreement granting Gazans greater access to their agricultural land. In search of work, some Gazans try to enter Israel by jumping the fence that separates it from Gaza. Others …
Continue reading “Gazans Dying to Enter Israel”
In an article published May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, “Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in Syria.” Those limitations are …
Continue reading “From Iraq to Syria: US Political Impotence in the Middle East”
A clash a joint checkpoint in Garma left three security personnel killed and 18 more wounded. The forces included Sahwa fighters and regular army. What appears to be a separate attack on Sahwa members’ home, left two dead and seven wounded, including women and children. 20 42 Gunmen killed four soldiers and wounded five more …
Continue reading “Twenty Killed in Attacks Focused on Iraqi Security Forces”
Sinclair Lewis once wrote that if fascism ever comes to the United States it will be wrapped in the American flag and carrying a cross. Lewis might have been describing our contemporary “political Christians,” the mostly evangelicals who believe that Washington has a manifest destiny to make the world behave while simultaneously expunging the constitution …
Continue reading “The New World Order is Unimpeachable”
A few weeks ago, President Obama advised graduates at Ohio State University that they need not listen to voices warning about tyranny around the corner, because we have self-government in America. He argued that self-government is in and of itself an adequate safeguard against tyranny, because voters can be counted upon to elect democrats (lowercase …
Continue reading “Tyranny Around the Corner” 
