Every once in a while, there comes along a member of Congress who is not only eccentric, but borderline wacky, not to mention a fear monger. One of the leading examples is Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), representing a very conservative, heavily-churched district in Charlotte.

It is difficult to understand...

What Obama seems to have discovered is that this is no longer the war that began eight years ago. That war was an act of retribution and prevention. But now who are we punishing? What are we preventing? The old narrative is broken. --Hendrik Hertzberg, "The Fifth War," November 30...

When Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the satirist Tom Lehrer remarked that he saw no further need to perform as the award had made satire obsolete. By offering the world's most prestigious political accolade to Barack Obama, a man who has held office for barely...

While an undergraduate at Davidson College, Harold P. Ford was my political science professor in the years (1955-57) he was on leave from the Central Intelligence Agency. *

In addition to the Soviet Union and Communist China, there was one other country to which professor Ford devoted special attention: Vietnam....

As of May 16, several national newspaper and television headlines were adopting an accusatory tone critical of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that undoubtedly tickled the actual authorizers (Vice President Cheney et al) and the actual practitioners (Central Intelligence Agency) of torture during the previous administration, 2001-2009. For example: "CIA Director Panetta...

Cushing Strout, The New Heavens and New Earth:
"But we have his promise, and look forward to new heavens and a new earth..." 2 Peter 3:13 in the New English Bible


A memorial service for Prof. Samuel P. Huntington was held on...

As a defender of the electoral vote system for electing the President of the United States, I cannot resist tracking the polls every four years and placing little bets on the final victory total (270 or more out of 538).

The Virtues of the Way We Do It

Briefly,...

Back at the time of the Republican convention, Gov. Sarah Palin was accompanied by Sen. Joe Lieberman to a meeting with the board of directors of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. "We had a good productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship," said an AIPAC spokesman, "and we...

At Wednesday night's debate at Hofstra, McCain might want to volunteer a mild mea culpa about the extent to which the presidential race has degenerated into a shouting match. And then he can pledge to the voters that the last three weeks will feature a contest worthy of this moment...

William Kristol: I spoke on the phone Sunday with Sarah Palin, who was in Long Beach, Calif., preparing to take off on her next campaign trip.

To an astonishing degree, the neo-con intellectual and New York Times columnist, Bill Kristol, has become--informally--a member of Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign...

Theologian Alexander J. McKelway: Our politics really runs on a broad and deep resentment of intelligence in America. Why? *** Maybe mostly because we have few real "public intellectuals" whose thinking and learning touch ordinary life and inspire respect. Whatever the reasons, Sarah Palin, like President Bush, appeals to anti-intellectual...

A blogger on a newspaper website observed that Gov. Sarah Palin has a gift for composing sentences containing a noun, a verb, and the word "God."

Indeed, her True North points toward knowing God's will in things political, as described in the page one, September 6, New...

May 31, 2008
Grassy Knob Mountain
Union Grove, N.C.

Circling the old house, mired down in a carpet of grasses,

Or poking around the red barn, and the outlying fruit trees;

From the cracks of sheds, I cut long limbs of red roses...

Stalks...

"Good times never seem so good. Oh, I've been inclined to believe it never would."

Across Main street from the silence of the college church sanctuary,

On Good Friday, there was a buzz in the Soda Shop, legendary.

Adorning the walls are photos of varsity stars over the...

"Sweet Caroline"

Across Main Street from the silence of the college church sanctuary,
On Good Friday, there was a buzz in the Soda Shoppe, legendary.
Adorning the walls are photos of varsity stars over the generations;
If there is a Davidson myth that lives,...

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs ... that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!

(from Carl Sandburg's "Chicago")

After Super Tuesday, watching the returns from the primary "Chesapeake,"
On Lincoln's birthday--no less--we...

"What are we supposed to tell them and their families? To wait another year until a new administration and a new Congress starts listening to the American people and brings this tragedy to a close?" -- Sen. Russ Feingold

The newspaper headlines of December 19 tell the story: "Senate Adds...

"I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning" -- President William Jefferson Clinton in Iowa on November 27

The American public, very tired of the war and American occupation of Iraq, longs for a leader who will tell the truth about the quagmire in that country;...

"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." ~~George Orwell

Chairman John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee* are holding hearings today on the commutation of the jail sentence of former chief of staff...

For several years, in my discussions with Representatives and Senators, it has not been unusual to hear Vice President Dick Cheney referred to as President George Bush's "insurance policy." That is, against the beginning of impeachment proceedings in the House. The prevailing assumption has been that it would be necessary...