Is it simply to attack or not to attack?  Do we need to keep in mind who is in charge?  Do we think that President Obama would do the job well enough if we decide that, in the abstract, Syria Assad should be punished for using chemichal weapons? President Obama has been quite willing to […]

Last weekend I returned from spending a week at the 66th Coupe Mondiale, this year held in Victoria, BC Canada. This is the accordion world championships sponsored yearly by the Confédération Internationale des Accordéonistes (CIA).  As an amateur accordion student and enthusiast, I last attended the Coupe Mondiale held in 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia. Accordionists from […]

I tutor literature and writing for a living. In teaching essay writing, I stress the importance of illustrating the argument with good examples. I usually encourage students to use examples from books they have read either for school or with me. But I would also like to see them use more examples from history.  The […]

John Kerry – Resign in the next week. make no official statement. Leak to everyone that will listen that you are doing this out of principle, and that you consulted with the President over timing to minimize  damage to the nation. This is your last chance to distance yourself from Hillary and to move beyond […]

Obama just gave his speech on Syria. The decision? Do nothing for another week and then go to Congress. While I’m certainly in favor of going to Congress before authorizing military action, it’s clear that Obama doesn’t think it’s necessary. He even said as much. So, why is he going to Congress? Because it’s an […]

Things are evolving in the middle-east and in the broader Muslim world.  As the Obama administration squirms uncomfortably with the Syria situation, it’s time to reflect on exactly what is happening there.  Islam is the common thread that binds the politics in this reason.  Oil, and money from oil, are the accelerants that fuel the […]

Tim Tebow as Patriot. It couldn’t really have worked, could it? Tebow and Belichick seem like a matter and anti-matter combination. Somehow they would have canceled each other out, and there would be no more Boston Patriots. I wish Tebow all the best in his continued quest for a quarterback job. But if it doesn’t […]

In late October 2011, several months after Building One America’s White House conference, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan addressed a meeting of BOA’s state affiliate, Building One Pennsylvania, in Lancaster. There Donovan decried what he called “the tyranny of the zip code,” a catchphrase that may someday become a rallying cry for Building […]

I am in a rapture, because I just downloaded a free kindle book that began with the wonderful anecdote to follow. A paraphrase of the topic for this thread then is: What passages of this sort can make you rapturous, for their conception or sheer style? Preview Open

This is how the Libyan “kinetic military action” was sold to us, this is how this plan to bomb something-or-other in Syria is being sold.  Can someone explain this formulation of words?  Is it really much worse to gas “your own people” with sarin than to gas your enemies?  Are we to believe that Syria […]

I have seen nothing about the September 10 DC rally here on Ricochet. It is sponsored by bunch of conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation, Freedom Works, and many TEA Party groups. For more information on the event go to http://www.exemptamerica.com/ . It seems like short notice and hotels in the DC area are expensive making participation […]

I have already introduced you to the Old Man in another entry. As I said before he was well into his sixties when I was in my very early teens and helping him gather wild cattle in the summers. He had left school before high school to cowboy and rodeo. He had made and lost […]

I commend the President for consulting Congress regarding military action in Syria.  The ball is in our court now. What do we say about military action in Syria? Preview Open