Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Accountability

4/19/2012 – 2:19 pm

What is a reasonable cost for a conference for 300 civil servants from across the western US?  Airfare, food, lodging, conference facilities, speakers, prep, etc., etc.  From the news stories, it’s clear that $823,000 is way too much.  Next year’s conference, I’m just guessing, will be substantially less extravagant, so let’s say $300,000.  That means […]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Economy, Energy, Oil | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

To Appease the Gods

12/29/2011 – 11:25 am

So the last Americans pulled out of Iraq, eight and a half years later, leaving an uncertain nation with an even more uncertain future. As I watched the video of the last trucks crossing the Kuwait border, all I could see were the black hulls of the Greek ships sailing away, gray smoke still hanging […]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Iraq Invasion | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Vacation, Then and Now

7/29/2010 – 9:26 am

JOE’S POND, VT – We’re on vacation this week at Joe’s Pond (formerly “Injun Joe’s Pond”) in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Swimming, canoeing, reading on the dock, getting sunburned, walking down to the little store for an ice cream after dinner, hearing the loons call at night. It’s the kind of vacation I had as a […]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Proof / Not Proof

3/11/2010 – 11:02 am

Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) was raving on the floor of the House yesterday. “We’re talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We’re talking about war and peace, $3 billion dollars, a thousand lives and no press? No press?” Mr. Massa is the recently resigned congressman from New York who may or may not have […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

The Audacity

12/10/2009 – 10:14 am

The need to address the co-option of Newsweek and the Washington Post was so strong last week that I left hanging President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize today, Mr. Obama spent a good portion of his speech addressing war in general and the Afghan war specifically. So, […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Iraq Invasion | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Condemned to Repeat It

9/3/2009 – 9:24 am

The actual quote from George Santayana is, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Those who cannot remember the quote are condemned to misquote.) Today’s New York Times has a story about Ted Kennedy’s posthumous memoir, in which he says President John Kennedy’s “antenna” was up over the misbegotten situation in […]

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Who’s Anti-War Now?

4/2/2009 – 1:49 pm

I am. Principles aren’t principles unless they’re consistent. Now that the White House and Congress have changed hands since 2006, it’s interesting to see politicians and pundits on both sides of the ledger flipping and flopping. Still, the world is not two-dimensional and those who pretend it is do an injustice to reality. I’m willing […]

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