Author Archives: floegel

The Summer of Love

8/2/2001 – 1:08 pm

Could this be the summer of love? It is summer. Days are long and sweet, hot and dry. Nights are cool and the sound of engines and car radios drifts through the open window, young people out cruising on the thoroughfares. August is here, yellow heads of goldenrod along the roadside warn of summer’s impermanence. […]

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Chocolate-Covered Slavery

7/26/2001 – 1:06 pm

George W. Bush says globalization is a good thing and anyone who protests against it is an enemy of the poor. Pretty tough talk when he’s behind a 15-foot fence in Genoa. A week later, when the pope, standing right beside him, decries a “tragic fault line” running between rich and poor, Mr. Bush just […]

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High Tide for Us All

7/19/2001 – 1:04 pm

Sometimes you don’t recognize the significance of a date until years later. I’ve been thinking about Friday, December 11, 1992. There was a full moon. Strange things happen when the moon is full, some based in superstition, some based in fact. This story is based in fact. Full moons pull the tide higher, which was […]

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Elliott Abrams Stinks

7/12/2001 – 1:01 pm

What is the statute of limitations for dropping a stinkbomb? I don’t pose the question idly, because I did commit the above offense several times, eight or nine years ago, at a Washington, DC bookstore during a book signing by Elliott Abrams. I think Elliott Abrams stinks. From 1985 to 1989, he was assistant secretary […]

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Kill the Death Penalty

7/5/2001 – 1:00 pm

The national holiday is over and many of us are dehydrated from too much sun and beer, others have tinnitus from unexpectedly short fuses on those cherry bombs. It’s fine to relax on July Fourth, but the birthday – our 225th – should occasion reflection, the way a personal birthday does. While there are any […]

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A Tax on Speech

6/28/2001 – 4:58 pm

You’ve probably heard the story about the Internal Revenue Service spending $21 million to send out letters telling taxpayers that the IRS and George W. Bush are giving them a rebate. Tom Daschle wondered out loud if 30 million people will get a letter from the president reminding them they won’t get a rebate. We […]

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The Futile System

6/21/2001 – 4:56 pm

Those of you entering fifth grade in September pay close attention during social studies class. You’ll be doing a unit on the feudal system, which was the dominant form of government in Europe during the Dark Ages. Under the feudal system, all property in the country was owned by the king and a handful of […]

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