Tag Archives: Dick Cheney

Thousands and Ten Thousands

5/5/2011 – 2:08 pm

I have a friend who came back from serving in Vietnam 40 years ago. Shortly thereafter, his father, who owned a liquor store, was shot and killed during a robbery. The killer was African American. My friend’s family is white.
“I used that for a long time,” he told me. “I’d say, [...]

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

Stop Making Sense

4/28/2011 – 10:55 am

Yesterdays’ Wall Street Journal carried an op-ed attacking Barack Obama for a draft executive order which would require businesses contracting with the federal government to disclose their owners’ political contributions over $5,000.
One of the authors is John Yoo, who famously wrote memos authorizing torture for the Bush administration. So, on one hand, Mr. Yoo [...]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Electoral Politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Too Late Smart

3/10/2011 – 5:41 pm

The envelope arrived Tuesday. The dreaded envelope, the one I knew was coming and containing the invitation to join AARP. It hasn’t happened yet but yes, I will soon turn 50.
Like KFC, AARP is now just a set of initials. The initials used to stand for American Association of Retired Persons, but [...]

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

The Death of Earth Day

4/22/2010 – 11:12 am

Let us now mourn the passing of Earth Day, on this its 40th birthday. The dear old girl had been sick for many years. I remember mocking the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. I was living in Washington, DC at the time and a big rally / sales event was [...]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Energy, Nuclear Energy, Oil | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

No Foolin’

4/1/2010 – 11:58 am

Happy April Fool’s Day. This is not a joke.
No one seems quite sure why the first of April is called “April Fool’s Day.” The first reference to the day is in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales.” In the story, a fox and rooster trick each other in [...]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Energy, Nuclear Energy, Oceans, Oil | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Taking One for the Team

8/20/2009 – 2:27 pm

Lately, when I sit around and talk about sports with my friends, I ask this question: “Rank the order in which you think professional sports are more or less honest.”
It’s not easy. Most people agree pro wrestling is at the bottom and boxing and horse racing are not far from it. Not that [...]

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

Our Tortured History

4/23/2009 – 12:07 pm

The weird thing about the torture memos in the news this week is that I can’t stop thinking about Harry Potter.
In those books, the bad guys – the wizards and witches that had been drawn to the Dark Side – make their case thusly: This isn’t about good and evil, it’s about power and the [...]

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