When Left is Right
Some thinkers on the Left have sniffed the smelling salts and are emerging from their love-fest to notice that the New Boss is increasingly...
Kill Your Kindle
Claremont, CA. When my mother came to visit last week, she brought a copy of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union with her. Before she departed...
President Obama’s Afghanistan Speech
Erie, PA. Presidential speeches are evaluated in two basic areas, style/delivery and substance. President Obama’s Afghanistan speech was well delivered. The president appeared serious,...
Crass Christmas
The celebration of Jesus Christ's birth gives us an opportunity not only to act upon the principles of peace, sharing, and selflessness, but also to pass them onto our children in the form of Christmas presents.
Health Subsidiarity, or Solidarity, or Socialism (Take Your Pick)
Wichita, KS
The debate over health care reform in the Senate has moved into overdrive, with one possible compromise following another in rapid succession. The...
Burn the Vineyard
I have just returned from one of the most remarkable journeys of my life, a ten day tour of Romania to promote an anthology...
Homewreckers
County Kildare, Ireland. A couple I know – we’ll call them Bob and Nancy -- lived in a century-old house in the middle of...
Foreign Policy and the Gift of the World
Devon, PA. In February 2007, as the Iraq war crept to the end of its fourth year, I published this short essay, proposing a...
Words, Meaning, and Power
Kearneysville, WV. The publication of Sarah Palin’s autobiography, Going Rogue, provides an opportunity to discuss contemporary political rhetoric, especially the use of certain...
My Favorite Marsden
In today's Wall Street Journal I review Elyssa East's Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703939404574566772944605580.html. Among her subjects is...