It was Third Thursday yesterday, and the weather was supposed to be bad. The reports were ominous all day. I looked at the schedule on the computer. The monthly soiree at the Capital City Brewery had died a natural death last summer. We picked the venue back when the Pentagon was still central to our […]

I have an eight o’clock in town and left my car at the office for reasons I will either get to, or not, later. I forgot about the meeting until an icy thought pierced me a couple minutes ago like a cold shock to my adrenal system. Accordingly, I have no time to think. I […]

(JacksonBrown out on bail. Photo Bill Kostroun/Associated Press.) I opened up the mail this morning with that familiar feeling of dread. I had sent an intemperate note after getting back from Willow that felt good at the time but was too cleaver by half. It is the trap of wine; there may be veritas in […]

(Troops of the 10th Mountain Division in Iraq. Official US Army photo.) So, We are getting a taste of winter here in DC this morning. Chill rain fell and froze on the lawns and sidewalks and side-streets. Everything is closed or on two-hour delay. We don’t do winter well here in Virginia, so I dread […]

It is Dr. King’s Day, and he is one of my heroes. It struck me one day in Atlanta, walking through his church and by his tomb that he was a man who took on the entire United States of America, with the serene knowledge that he would, sooner or later, be shot down. A […]

(PFC Bradley Manning out of uniform, and apparently feeling OK.) I had the opportunity to meet a former Governor of the Sooner State a couple months ago. He is a legitimately Great American. He had just begun his term when that nutcase Tim McVey slaughtered the innocents at the Alfred P. Murrah Building in OK […]

(Tunisian beach-goer. Photo courtesy Tusisian Tourism Board.) It is cold here, and I would infinitely prefer to be walking by the azure water of the central Mediterranean Sea. The sparkling sands of the Tunisian coast are pleasant this time of year, and heavily policed to make them ultra safe for European visitors. Five million of […]

(PFC Bradley Manning in better days.) I was at the mall yesterday afternoon. There was a promotion party for a guy who was advanced to a Vice Presidency slot at the office down south, near Refuge Farm, and I am trying to get my arms around the logistics of working down there.   It was […]

(NOAA chart of the snow cover this week in North America, based on figures provided by regional weather offices and satellite imagery. Chart official US Government.) Figures don’t lie, they say, but liars figure. That appears to be the case with several major information campaigns. I am not going to go off on the wind […]

(Willow Restaurant corn and ricotta pancakes with shredded Edwards Blue Ribbon country ham.) A pal overseas asked me to comment on the notion of civility in the context of modern American life. I know what he is getting at. The talking heads have been all over the civility thing. They appear to be in general […]