Despite all the campaign rhetoric, the US is still at war in two countries. As our young men and women continue to hope someone somewhere will finally get to it and develop a foreign policy strategy to minimize their time in battle and bring them home, we are, again, failing to roll up our sleeves …
I got up this morning hoping to talk about the success of the Democratic National Convention. Let’s face it, it was one of the most moving experiences this nation has had in sometime and it was no doubt historical. With anticipation I try to focus after a quick cup of coffee. To my surprise there …
Like most political wonks, I’m spending my week watching the Democratic National Convention and, like most Obama supporters, I am tired of hearing all the hoopla around Hillary Clinton. After all, whose convention is this anyway? It is certainly not hers, but in true Clinton fashion she is not opposed in the least to having …
I must say that I am one person who is not conformable with the Saddleback Church, or any other church for that matter, pressuring the Presidential candidates to reveal their religious beliefs. It reminds me of my catholic school days. Just disagreeing with a nun would get you nothing more or less than a crack …
After a brief appearance on Al Jazeera, I was walking out of the studio feeling relieved until I briefly reviewed the interview in my head. I suddenly realized that I had actually made a statement in the second question that contradicted my initial message about America’s foreign policy strategy in the “War on Terror.” As …
As a teacher of National Security Policy, I anxiously awaited the release of the Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq – to use as a policy example for my students. The night before its release, ’twas not visions of sugarplums that danced in my head, but these thoughts: “Will the group’s recommendations finally help focus this country on international policy? Can we finally agree on the important issues we must band together to solve?
I awoke early to get the newspaper. Coffee fueled, I scanned the headlines – moving the Intrepid, spammers find new ways to penetrate e-mail folders, New York City bans trans fats … What the …?
I couldn’t believe it. In the midst of one of the nation’s most difficult crises, New York City (of all places) was media saturated with trans fats!
“My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people
and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is
not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought.”
ime may be of the essence, but so is timing. Hence, it was my misfortune to schedule a two-week trip to Italy in the aftermath of the big “toothpaste” scare.
Worried that I’d become dehydrated on the long overseas flight (it’s been known to happen), I drank a gallon of water en route to JFK International Airport. Unfortunately, this only increased my already frequent visits to the bathroom. As recommended, I packed no bottled water for the flight – just a three-ounce container of eye drops, to ensure my contacts wouldn’t stick permanently to my pupils.
Following the fifth anniversary of September 11, life is scarier than ever. After a brief show of world solidarity for peace, the forces of division and violence have resumed “business as usual.” Today, the global political climate is even worse than it was on September 12, 2001. We are witnessing record-high levels of anti- Americanism, no sign of calm in Iraq, and a resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. To compound these woes, more terrorist groups subscribing to al-Qaeda’s ideology and tactics are crawling out of the woodwork.
After a brutal six-week war, the Lebanese are trudging back to their burned-out cities to begin sifting through the rubble. South of the border, Israelis are emerging from bomb shelters, looking forward to welcoming those who left their homes for safer areas. Both sides are recovering from a situation that needn’t have happened. How many times must we witness this scenario?
