Secretary Gates, that gray man in the big job, announced yesterday that his Navy has temporarily added a second aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf as a “reminder” to Iran.   That is what the great machines are sometimes. Reminders.   I shared some of the angst with the crew of the Nimitz last night on […]

Vic in Toulon, 1989   The meeting out in Fairfax blessedly lurched to a stop sometime before 1800. It was one of those meetings about a good thing, a process, really, but delivered by one of those earnest fellows who was so immersed in his topic that he did not get around to telling us […]

Bagging Traps I had the event on my calendar for weeks. The local outlet for National Public Broadcasting was hyping it big-time, and in view of my support for their radio station, I received an invitation to the gala premier here in Washington, though my schedule did not permit me to attend. I saw a […]

  The Princeton explosion 1844   It was a tough week. The lawyers told me to empty the contents of my pockets on the desk and see of opposing counsel saw anything she liked. The retirement plan people told me another court order was required to let her take what she wanted and go away. […]

  The investigation into the days of the Occupation hit a rough patch in Tunnel 8, midway up the western front of Big Pink’s flanks. I was hot on the trail of the financial engine controlled by GHQ in Tokyo, and thence to the saga of Yamashita’s gold, and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. […]

Lt. Gen. Yamashita Tomoyuki   Sterling and Peggy Seagrave are gold bugs, just like my Ex. The lure of gold is intoxicating, and can drive one mad. The Seagraves are convinced that huge amounts of treasure were hidden by the Imperial Family of Japan, in collusion with the yakuza leadership.   The Seagraves are convinced […]

Marilyn Monroe in Fukuoka, Japan, 1954   The satellite trucks were set up across the alley, ready to broadcast the news, which is not complete this morning, but clear enough. Ten percent is enough to keep her alive.   She is never going to leave him alone. She beat him yesterday, and even if she […]

Something momentous is going to happen today, so big and significant that nothing at all happened across the alley from our Headquarters. Nothing at all.   Of course, the weather may have been a factor, and kept the smokers pinned against the side of the building to maximize their coverage from the rain. The weather […]

  San Jose? Anaheim?   I have been to both towns, and like them. There is a sort of la-la air of heaven about the first, and a sort of gritty sun-drenched determination about the latter.   I am always surprised to find that they have hockey teams, even though the gritty Ducks won Lord […]

  The rains did cometh, and it is soft and the earth smells are wafting up the side of Big Pink. There is life in the air, and the sound of birds.   A child is making noises in wonder from the balcony above my open window, and her parents are speaking softly in Arabic. […]