A few months ago I went to Syria as a tourist, to visit my wife’s cousin, who is teaching in Damascus. I had a very good time (in stark contrast to an unpleasant trip to Morocco) and since then I’ve…
It struck me today (i.e., I heard someone else saying) that the controversy over The Da Vinci Code only demonstrates the religious need that people feel, how unsecular most of us are. The book is hugely successful not because it…
After the rock I went for a walk yesterday and when I got back to the trail head some s.o.b. had knocked out my window with a rock, then pulled the emergency brake. I’d put a block under the back…
Under this heading, from time to time I’m going to dig up some of the sage advice the neocons and their fellow travelers offered us as they pushed the country toward war in Iraq. First at bat is David Wurmser,…
One of the great sticking points in the peace process in Israel/Palestine is the issue of the “right of return.” The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 (what the Palestinians call the “Nakba,” or disaster) resulted in over…
One of the amazing/humbling things about blogging is how smart the readers are. As a traditional journalist, I always got to be smarter than my readers; no more. I’ve been corrected on intellectual points again and again, and the correctors…
Is USA Today emerging as an idealistic voice? It broke the big story on wiretapping citizens. Now Jimmy Carter, once again distinguishing himself as a moral voice, says that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert’s plans for fences deep inside the occupied…
As devoted readers may recall, I promised to continue to look into the question of why women prefer baths and men prefer showers (yes—of course, by and large; there are exceptions). The latest info comes from a male, age 42:…
Everyone hates Barry Bonds. If you need me to hate him, I’ll hate him too. He has supposedly disgraced baseball. Though, no, we have no idea how many guys were using steroids. Probably just about everyone, I imagine. It seems…