The Deputy When he checked in at Portland for his flight to Boston on the eleventh of September, Mohammed Atta was selected by a computerized pre-screening system known to the FAA as CAPPS. In the FAA’s language, that stands for Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System, a software system designed to identify passengers who should be […]

Disclosure I love politics. My first question this morning on rising was if the frog I voted for was elected to the 47 th District of Virginia. He wasn’t, to my regret, since it would have sent a powerful signal to the national media that change is in the wind. Instead, the talking heads had […]

Roll Out It is the first full week of February, a temperate week in Washington, and Monday brought one of the holiest rituals in the Democracy- the ”Roll Out” of the President’s Budget for Fiscal 2006. If you want to imagine the process, think of it this way: a gigantic horse is wheeled up in front of […]

Patriots It was a lovely day in Arlington, and I dug out from a week on the road. Bills and official letters, magazines and catalogs, pieces of plastic, and admonitions to consolidate my debt. It is quite overwhelming to have a week all at once dumped into a bag with handles, since it would not […]

Wintry Mix The wintry mix hardened in the night and crunched as I moved. The dog made sure that I had the opportunity to understand that. He does not visit as much as I would like, and our rhythms are not coordinated. He licked my face just after two, insistent that he had a special […]

French 75 2 oz. Sour mix & Cognac, Chilled Champagne Stir Sour mix & Cognac in a Collins glass with just a bit of ice, Fill with Champagne, Garnish with a tricolour Flag It may or may not have been malaria. The vivacious red-head I had last seen on Friday was back in the office, […]

Johnny It was sometime in the afternoon, between laundry and sweeping the snow off the car. The news from Iraq is bad, and the terror thing is a dull ache that feels like the cold outside. I checked the e-mail and saw that the little news icon on the welcome screen had his picture on it. I […]

Winds Blow The snow came and stayed. Not like it did up in New York. They got a classic Nor’ Easter. The winds swirled out over the ocean and brought the moisture back ashore and dumped it on Central Park. Maybe nineteen inches. It is not the storm of the century, but it is a […]

Republican Rasta Man ”When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, “It rang as if it meant something.” President Bush spoke those words after the Chief Justice swore him in for the second time. The Chief Justice made quite an effort to […]

It was 1995. It was not the first time I had been to the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea. But last time was a quick scoot to the north side of the conference table in the Treaty Village at Panmunjon. A North Korean guard in one of those flying-saucer caps peered in the window from […]