Author Archives: floegel

Day In and Day Out

2/26/2004 – 9:42 pm

One day last week – Wednesday, February 18 – 60 leading scientists issued a joint statement accusing the Bush administration of repeatedly distorting scientific information and abusing the scientific process to further its political goals. The next day – Thursday, February 19 – a scientific panel assembled by the Bush administration announced that it is […]

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Democracy One-Oh-One

2/19/2004 – 12:13 pm

There’s an old saying about paybacks; if you want proof of its veracity, cast a cold eye toward Iraq. Through most of Iraq’s history, the nation was dominated by Sunni Muslim Arabs, to the detriment of Kurds in the north and Shi’ite Arabs in the south. Although Sunnis account for only 20 percent of Iraq’s […]

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The Wrath of Khan

2/12/2004 – 9:36 am

I’ve developed a thick callus over my sense of the absurd through the years, but now and then something cuts right through and exposes the raw skin beneath. My flesh has been laid bare in recent days by the surreal nonchalance attending the revelation that Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist has been out peddling history’s most […]

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Bush Knew

2/5/2004 – 10:21 am

Abraham Lincoln, whose 195th birthday is coming up, is remembered as a moral force in American history. He was also a shrewd politician. He was in shrewd mode when he said, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool […]

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Zero to 9-11 in 30 Seconds

1/29/2004 – 11:12 am

On September 6, 2001, I wrote about the hazards of transporting toxic industrial chemicals on railcars through urban areas. Two months earlier, a fire in a Baltimore rail tunnel burned for five days, sending a toxic cloud over the city. The point of my commentary that week was that we should avoid industrial accidents. On […]

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‘Every Day, in Every Way’

1/22/2004 – 11:44 am

At the turn of the last century, a French psychotherapist named Emile Coue maintained individuals could improve their physical and mental health by frequent repetition of the phrase, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” Constant reaffirmation can help a person keep his or her chin up, but one needs stronger […]

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Something to Save It

1/15/2004 – 11:02 am

On January first, I wrote that 2004 will determine whether American democracy will survive. I got some e-mail on that, people wrote asking if perhaps I was being too extreme, although some admitted they harbor the same concern. In the end, none of us hope it will come to that, but we’re afraid it might. […]

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