Yearly Archives: 2005

Nothing Gold Can Stay

This week marks the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, another dreary reminder that the Army is bogged in quagmire and there seems to be no way out. George Bush, when asked about this will grip the presidential podium on both sides, assume that misty, far-off gaze and say, “At least the Iraqi […]

Filibuster Bolton

Hardly a week has passed since the November election without the publication of an analysis piece about the possibility of Senate Republicans invoking the “nuclear option.‿ The “nuclear option‿ refers to a showdown over the use of filibuster to stall a handful of George Bush’s nominees to the federal courts. The filibuster is a practice […]

Dumping Dollars

Wall Street suffered a one-day panic last week when a rumor floated that South Korea’s central bank was looking to dump some of its reserves of U.S. dollars. The Koreans quickly denied the rumor and order was restored, but you can’t blame Asian bankers for getting nervous. As of December 2004, Japan, China, Taiwan and […]

Murderers’ Row

This week the federal government accused Ahmed Omar Abu Ali of plotting to kill George W. Bush. An American citizen, Mr. Abu Ali spent 20 months in a Saudi Arabian jail. He says he was tortured and that FBI agents watched his torture. Federal Judge John Bates said there is at least circumstantial evidence to […]

A Brief Chronology

1994-2000: Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, works for Coors Brewing as outreach to the gay and lesbian community. She helps to end a 20-year boycott of Coors by many gay bars. (Coors was boycotted for its funding of anti-gay initiatives.) As part of her work, Ms. Cheney visits gay bars, sometimes accompanied […]

Ratios

How many people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001? Few news reports give a specific number. Since so few bodies were found, we had to figure out who was missing and work backward. Most stories say “over 3,000.” The website september11victims.com counts 2,948 confirmed dead, 24 reported dead and 24 missing, for […]

It’s Not What You Say…

Let’s be clear: freedom of speech is a right, one worth defending regardless of how distasteful that defense might become. That written, can we find the world’s smallest campus (enough room for two desks and two huge egos) and send Larry Summers and Ward Churchill there? In recent days Mr. Summers, president of Harvard, wondered […]