Vienna The woman in the Monday meeting looked at her notes and indicated that she was going to Vienna the next day for a meeting. I had the image of a trip to Dulles, and a big jet across the water. I let my mind wander a little, thinking about a break from the current hysteria […]

Polar Bears The strikes and riots began in St Petersburg seventy-seven years ago, the February Revolution that the Russians celebrate due to the peculiarities of the Old Style Calendar. My sons would not care. The empire that was spawned by the Red Rising crumbled away when they were still pre-teens. If they think that their […]

Party of God Hezbollah must have been startled by the outburst of anti-Syrian sentiment in Beirut over the last three weeks. The collapse of the status quo is unnerving. I have problems with changes to the little routines of life, getting querulous in my old age. What is happening in Lebanon is the equivalent announcement […]

Tuneless They took the classical music out of the attractive building in Shirlington, about two miles away as the crow flies, across the street from the Capital brewery where I drink with the Judge sometimes. The music had its hands bound, and the station manager and an heiress to part of the Rockerfeller fortune shot […]

Cyber Czar The President made a special trip to Langley to reassure the work force yesterday. I don’t think it was the concern about Martha Stewart’s release from federal custody. She will be under house arrest for a while longer anyway. I have the oddest feeling of d’eja  vu as I write that. Isn’t this something […]

Steam Power The wind is roaring outside, pummeling the junction of the towers beneath which I dwell. The month that enters like a Lion has brought us a raw chill that is as cold as any of this winter. Thin drifts of snow linger in the places where the shadows lie. It’s cold. I turned […]

Format Change I woke to an eerie silence. There was something wrong. The clock radio hissed, and the numerals glowed. There was power, and it had turned on at the designated moment. But there was no sound, and no music. I set it fifteen minutes before the BBC World Update begins at five. I need […]

From Space They are doing it again, second week in a row. There is not a flake of snow in the air and the schools are closed already. They say it is going to be a heavy snow day today, but it hasn’t started yet. They know that it will because they are looking down […]

Wounded Gazelle Dana Priest was at the top of his game on page A-9 of the Washington Post. The placement of the article showed that the Post editors don’t give much of a rat’s butt about the CIA. Inside, way inside, with the ads for Hecht’s and Macy’s Department Stores. But it is the Sunday […]

No Accumulation I was bitterly disappointed in the snow. I did not have the leeway accorded to the Fairfax County Schools, or any of the local districts to cancel the day. They closed their doors before the first flakes really started in Arlington. But it is to be expected, I thought. The County sprawls almost […]