New World Disorder

New World Disorder

They were droning on about drones the other day in Washington. The Senate Intelligence (ha-ha) Committee was grilling CIA chief-designate John Brennan on the use of unmanned aircraft during his tenure as President Barack Obama’s adviser on terrorism. Drones are...
Segregation 2.0

Segregation 2.0

Our political vocabulary is changing all the time. Words that loom large in one generation’s national public discourse can almost totally disappear in the next. Take the word “segregation.” A half-century ago, newspapers headlined “segregation” on almost a daily...
Lose Your Lawn

Lose Your Lawn

Have you taken your hounds fox hunting lately? You haven’t? Well, maybe you’ve gone to visit a friend’s estate in a horse and carriage? You haven’t done that either, have you? Most of the popular trends of 19th century British aristocracy are not the norm in 21st...
Putting Some Real Pop in Populism

Putting Some Real Pop in Populism

“In the wealthiest nation on Earth,” President Barack Obama declared in his State of the Union speech, “no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.” Right! Not only does his call to raise America’s minimum wage put some...
Downwardly Mobile Nation

Downwardly Mobile Nation

Work my butt off Plain to see, Bootstraps are No help to me. Bridgeport — Connecticut’s largest city — is also my affluent state’s capital of poverty. Even though it’s part of the nation’s richest region, the rapidly rising number of children...