It was glorious looking down from the balcony. The men who use the feeding program at the church across the street came at the appointed hour, mostly Hispanic, though not all of them. They seemed to glory in the warmth, strolling back toward the garden apartments, lighting up cigarettes and laughing at the wonder of […]

In one of my last official missions for the government I was to lead a delegation to a prominent south Asian nation. I was not the best qualified person to do it, but the assignment had been a bit of a hot potato, and no one else wanted to do it. I volunteered, and with […]

Spring Cleaning Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior Department, has decided to spend more time with her family and resigned. Claude Allen, senior domestic policy advisor to the President, has decided to spend more time with his family, too. He has not resigned as of this morning, but I expect that to come tomorrow. I […]

There is maybe rain coming today, and my ears are pricked up about it, since I am driving from Washington to the north, through Baltimore and Philly and Wilmington and into the Garden State, paralleling the railroad tracks. I prefer to ride on the train, but going up late in the day that would require […]

Good as It Gets This morning, in this place, is the best that will be. Empires rise and fall, ice advances and withdraws. The fabric of the earth itself rends and lava flows. Weaving our small lives into the warp and weft of such a mighty tapestry is daunting, but the loom creaks on. We […]

May Sot is a sweaty little town, halfway up the Thai border with Burma. A correspondent was up there reporting on the misery of the Karen refugees, and I heard his words from the radio as I lay flat on my back on the 600-count sheets I put on the credit card and will pay […]

Under Whitehurst I am ducking the Quarterly as best I can, finishing the Spring issue has been weighing heavily on me, and eating another weekend. There is so much news washing over me, and my hands tremble as I edit copy. Air Force One flew into Islamabad with all the windows covered, completely blacked out. […]

The messages on the computer from overeas left me a little nervous. Two friends have just arrived overseas to play their parts in the Long War. One is in the Green Zone in Baghdad, and the other is in Bagram AFB in Afghanistan. I don’t know what accommodations are like in the Green Zone, though […]

It was a star-studded day at the Phone Company, the sort of day that makes you forget about nuclear deals with the Indians, and the President’s big adventure in South Asia. We were about to be bathed in the glow of reflected star-power. It started when The Turk called breathless from the office at the […]

Everything Old I was supposed to work when I got home, but I didn’t. Instead, I drafted an article about Japanese Float Planes instead of working when I got home. I should have worked on the PowerPoint slide presentation for this morning, and I am going to pay for my dereliction. Well, maybe it was […]