Yearly Archives: 2002

Trust, but Verify

4/25/2002 – 4:13 pm

There is no figure more ungainly in the world of government than the bureaucrat without a mandate. Witness Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security. In the wake of last year’s terror attacks, the Bush administration had to show it was doing something to protect the country, so Mr. Ridge was drafted away from the Pennsylvania […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

In and Out

4/18/2002 – 4:11 pm

“All the news that’s fit to print,” says the front page of the New York Times. The editorial page at the Times was turning ecstatic backflips Saturday, celebrating the “resignation” of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and the ascendance of “respected business leader” Pedro Carmona. A color photo of President Carmona and his friends the generals […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Friends Like These…

4/11/2002 – 4:09 pm

In the post-Cold War world, one nation bestrides the globe like a colossus. The United States is, in the words of Madeline Albright, “the indispensable nation.” If the US wants free trade, then, by God, free trade is the order of the day. When the US declares war on terrorism and President Bush vows that […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Looking for a One-Eyed Man

4/4/2002 – 4:07 pm

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” or so the saying goes. Today, the land of the blind is Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and there is no king rising. All are blind with the blood of the innocent, and everyone knows who’s at fault. The other side. The other […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

War is Heck

3/28/2002 – 4:05 pm

Are we at war? I’ve been searching for an answer to that question for months now, scanning the newspapers, watching tee vee. It should be an easy question, a true/false, multiple choice at most. Instead, I keep coming up with answers that look like they belong in the essay section of a Philosophy mid-term. Let’s […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Fog of War

3/21/2002 – 4:03 pm

The phrase “fog of war” has been cropping up in the media with increasing frequency in the past few months. Coined by the Prussian military strategist Karl von Clausewitz, it’s meant to describe the confusion of the battlefield and the difficulty commanders face making coherent decisions in chaotic conditions. The forecast calls for continued fog […]

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Ecclesia Culpa

3/14/2002 – 4:01 pm

We are now more than half way through Lent, the 40-day period of solemnity, abstinence and penitence observed annually by Catholics the world over. Lent this year is more solemn and penitent than usual, due to a lack of abstinence. The American Catholic Church is reeling from wave after wave of disclosures about priests molesting […]

By floegel | Posted in Catholicism, Commentary | Comments (0)