Author Archives: floegel

Push Comes To Shove

1/23/2003 – 3:19 pm

The Bush Doctrine, as enunciated by the president, says the United States may launch a pre-emptive war against any nation, at any time, if the president determines that nation is a threat to the interests of the United States. There has been – and continues – discussion about what that means for international relations. But […]

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Ozzie and Harriet’s Bad Seed

1/16/2003 – 3:17 pm

Consider the case of Douglas Nelson. Mr. Nelson is spokesperson for a Washington-based trade association called CropLife. As a spokesperson, it’s Mr. Nelson’s responsibility to see CropLife portrayed favorably in the media, so he works with spin; he tries to put an attractive face on news concerning his trade association. One person’s spin is another […]

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The German Example

1/9/2003 – 3:15 pm

I’m an American mutt. My German surname, which few people pronounce correctly on the first attempt, tells only half the story. My mother’s family is Irish; both parents are the children of immigrants. In the time and place I grew up, it was common for families to have mixed ethnicity, but strong ties to diverging […]

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More War Than We Bargained For

1/2/2003 – 3:11 pm

Happy New Year. There seemed little cause for merriment Tuesday evening; flawed as 2002 was, few of us were happy to see it give way to 2003. Nearly all of us expect this to be a year of war, the only question is: how many? Just as Washington was dissolving for the Christmas holiday, Defense […]

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An Upright Man

12/26/2002 – 9:22 pm

Seeking solace from the over-commercialization of the holiday season, I opened the Bible to refresh myself with the story of the homeless couple and the unwed mother giving birth to her child. Instead of the traditional Christmas story in Luke, I read the book of Matthew and the character of Joseph, often cast as a […]

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For the Record

12/19/2002 – 9:20 pm

For good or ill, public life in America will henceforth not be the same. The last ten days have witnessed a remarkable exodus of newsmakers from the civic stage – Bernard Law, Henry Kissinger, Al Gore and Trent Lott. Mr. Lott, the Senate Republican leader, is not gone yet – not physically gone, but politically […]

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Christmas Bogus

12/12/2002 – 9:17 pm

The holiday season is here and President Bush is evidently feeling merry, because he’s distributing bundles of cash – our cash – to his political appointees. No, that’s not right. The holiday season is here and we just found out President Bush is handing out bundles of cash to his friends. In truth, Mr. Bush […]

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