I got a note from my attorney, inquiring if I was on strong medication. He wrote: “You sounded like Joe McCarthy on Oxycontin in that piece yesterday.” I was at that moment on the cusp of creativity- or lack of it- as the darkness slowly melting away out the window, and fascinated by the forces […]

(First term Congressman Dick Nixon, on his way to consult with Prescott Bush.) March Madness has given way to April Ennui. I may look in at the game tomorrow night, or I may not. The headlines pretty much summed it up for me: “University of Kentucky fans overturn cars, burn couches to celebrate Final Four […]

I am supposed to be on an airplane this morning, but I am not. I had to back out of the big trade show out west because I am not confident in my ability to navigate the tender mercies of the TSA security process with my cane and knee brace, much less horse around a […]

  (State Department Official and Soviet Spy Alger Hiss in handcuffs. He dined out on his innocence for decades after. Photo AP.)   I was sitting with Mac last night at Willow. We are trying to get him out when he feels up to it, and he is, of course, a rock star to the […]

  The day is coming, not like we have much choice. I was easing into it as I got an early call on the cell phone. Dawn was creeping in around the building, flanking the shadows that hang down long from the towering flat roof. I hide from the first light on the west side, […]

(Jon-no-H proudly displays his hometown pride on the way to watching them bury the Caps, 5-1. Photo Socotra). I took my sweet time getting onto the stool at the Amen Corner. I put the cane away. It fell with a clatter. I took off the leg brace and tried to hang it up on the […]

(Remember Harry and Louise? Concerned Citizens at the breakfast table.) Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent me a nice note this morning. Well, better said, his gubernatorial campaign sent me a note about the first day of hearings in front of the Supremes on the Affordable Health Care thing. The Virginia Governor is a term-limited […]

(See? It really is as easy as pie. The solid, upward-sloping supply curve means that any point on the curve represents the least expensive medical treatment capable of producing additional Quality-adjusted Life Years (QALY). Thus, point “X” in the graph represents an inefficient form of medical intervention, since QALY could be delivered with an alternative […]

June 18, 1815 (Detail from the engraved copy of Daniel Maclise’s astonishing fresco “The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815). I never know where we will go after priming  the pump with a piping hot pot of Dazbog-brand Russian Coffee. I got a fine note about the history […]

Politics are pissing me off again. Politics Is? Crap. That must mean I am feeling better, and about as concerned with the fate of the Republic as getting to the kitchen for the last cup of Dazbog-brand coffee without sprawling headfirst onto the tiles. The President wrapped up his big Energy Trip, and I feel […]