I find there is a curious side to this national bereavement, which is another three, almost four day weekend, and a carnival atmosphere of celebration downtown. Because it is a celebration, in a way. Dutch Reagan is freed from the awful clouds of his disease, and the legacy of his passing, for good or ill, […]

I must have been in the grip of one of those periodic delusions when I re-set my alarm to wake at 0245 this morning. When it went off my eyes flashed open, realizing what I had done. I fumbled for clothes, and realized I had to shower. I fumbled through the ritual of making the […]

We are in the business of doing business with the Government, but that is going to be hard today. It is the start of the sultry summer here on the Potomac, and our first heat alert of the year. Bu that is not all. The Government is going to shut down at two this afternoon […]

  I was listening to the BBC reporting live from the ceremonies to commemorate the D-Day landings, sixty years ago today. The weather is not cooperating today, and more than it did then. Tom Brokaw had looked relaxed in the sunshine on the Nightly News when he arrived, but now the clouds with the prospect […]

  George Tenet handed in his resignation just before the President took off for Italy last week. He is going home, and so it Jamie Pavet, his Operations Chief. Washington is all abuzz with speculation, which is mostly what we do for a living here. Buzz. And speculate.   There isn’t anything else to do […]

  I attended one of those futurist conferences yesterday. The National Intelligence Council was tasked to come up with a picture of what the world might look like in the year 2020, sixteen market years from now.   They are looking at three broad scenarios. In the first, a sort of Pax Americana prevails, which […]

  The daffodils are full up. It is going to be 80 degrees this weekend. Spring is on the verge of a riot, and so am I.   I flashed my badge- not the Washington area one, but the special one- and got past the bored security guard down in the basement of the rented […]

  The war over our erstwhile ally Ahmad Chalabi has heated up this morning. It caught my attention as my computer crashed, attempting to digest the New York Times.   I rebooted the system to discover that Mr. Chalabi has been further damned as we install a new Government in Iraq, and prepare for the […]

  We were rolling along the great concrete ribbon of I-95 in south-central Virginia. The sites of the Civil War are all around. We had just stopped at the Stonewall Jackson Shrine, just a couple miles off the road. It is a tranquil place. The wood frame building was not the site of a battle. […]

  It is Memorial Day, a solemn day across the land, with parades and bands and barbecues to honor the service of generations of veterans. Graves will be decorated in remembrance of sacrifice.   I try to get over to Arlington on this day and leave flowers as a token for those of the dead that I […]