Living and dying in a hot zone
During the month of November, members of the U.S. Marine Corps are celebrating their 230th birthday. And regardless of where they are at the moment, this is how they celebrate:…
The death of civility
As you can imagine, my line of work brings me into contact with a great number of jerks. They are oafish, hostile people who are full of wrong opinions and…
Memo to Jack Murtha
You say that "80 percent of Iraqis want us out." I'm not sure where you got that figure, but it's probably low. I'd guess that close to 100 percent of…
Marriage and politics
How on earth did marriage get to be such a political football?…
Lessons learned
Last May, the nation's senior hurricane forecasters gathered in Bay St. Louis, Miss., to warn the nation that another active Atlantic tropical storm season was on the way. Less than…
Michael Brown tries again
Ousted FEMA director Michael Brown, who was vilified over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, plans to make a fresh start in Colorado, selling his expertise about how emergency…
Liars on parade
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, sometimes mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential hopeful in 2008, got caught in another lie this week. …
Outsourcing Ma and Pa
An increasingly pressing concern to U.S. social planners is what happens when the first wave of more than 30 million baby boomers begins retiring next year. …
The mother of all scandals
Churning down Constitution Avenue toward Capitol Hill is a hurricane of potential political anguish the size of Katrina. It has been swirling around down the street at the Justice Department…
Poster child for Catch-22
Nearly three months since Hurricane Katrina battered this glorious city, it has become the capital of the Catch-22. The multiplicity of chicken-and-egg scenarios here could feed every FEMA employee in…
