"I became a villain for doing the right thing," BP chief Tony Hayward said this July in a huge interview, in which he intermittently spoke in the third person, and disclosed that in London strangers send over glasses of brandy to his table. Following suit, successor Bob Dudley complained this month that BP had Read More
I continue to get heat from Chomsky supporters for my (yes, ill-tempered) post the other day. Richard W. Symonds writes, I still question your view that he did not "deliver" his "$5 lecture" - it was not advertised as a lecture - as you will see here : http://nchomsky.meetup.com/105/boards/view/viewthread?thread=2637079 As I read it, that Read More
Absurdistan is the sort of novel that, if mishandled, could make for a truly fabulous mess. As in Gary Shteyngart’s debut, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, we find ourselves immersed in a fictitious post-Soviet nation, this one bearing a striking resemblance to war-torn Afghanistan. What makes Absurdistan different from his debut is that Mr. Shteyngart has Read More
Absurdistan is the sort of novel that, if mishandled, could make for a truly fabulous mess. As in Gary Shteyngart’s debut, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, we find ourselves immersed in a fictitious post-Soviet nation, this one bearing a striking resemblance to war-torn Afghanistan. What makes Absurdistan different from his debut is that Mr. Shteyngart has Read More
Politically as well as physically, the destructive force of nature can rip away surfaces and expose layers of decay. With the floodwaters of Katrina receding, we can see beneath the veneer of modern conservatism and gaze upon its rotten center. For in the nation’s capital, at least, that traditional philosophy of society and statecraft appears Read More
Politically as well as physically, the destructive force of nature can rip away surfaces and expose layers of decay. With the floodwaters of Katrina receding, we can see beneath the veneer of modern conservatism and gaze upon its rotten center.
For in the nation’s capital, at least, that traditional philosophy of society and statecraft appears to Read MoreLast week, two days before the third debate, John Kerry had an opportunity to do something that could have sunk George W. Bush, or at least left him rudderless. But he didn’t —and once again I ask myself, "What’s with this guy?"
On Monday the 11th, the Senate showed that, no matter what the public thinks, Read MoreIn July of 2000, yachtsmen who were deep-sea fishing in the Atlantic Ocean might have been surprised to see a Canadian transport ship, loaded with soldiers, tanks, armored personnel carriers, more than 300 containers of ammunition and other valuable military equipment, steaming in lazy circles, going nowhere. The Katie, the ship in question, wasn't owned Read More
The prospects for instilling democracy and staunching terrorism in Iraq have dimmed since our soldiers knocked over that Saddam Hussein statue. While the American military's triumph over the dictator's enfeebled and ill-motivated army was pre-ordained, the political triumph of liberal democratic values is not. When American forces depart, what they leave behind may well be Read More
We are pleased to report that we watched not one TV second of the Republican Convention. Not that we aren't politically responsible: We duly read the transcripts, or as much of them as could be stomached, but four days of audio-visual lies and self-congratulation in the (pressed) flesh is more than we're up to. In Read More
For the past three summers, Francis has put in five weeks from mid-June to mid-July at the wonderful Teton Valley Ranch Camp in Kelly, Wyo. At the end of the session, either his mother or I fly west to attend the baccalaureate rodeo and closing festivities and bring him home.
This year it was my turn. Read More
