Uniting Islamic Resistance — Just As We Did In 1902

American troops invaded Moslem territory “`in order to prevent war.’” They “learned too late” that American actions “had unified the Moslem leaders who had traditionally fought among themselves.”

 It sounds like a gloss on reluctant…

‘The Whiteness Checkpoint’in The Boston Globe

(Jan. 19 update: This protest has now appeared in regional papers including the Valley News and Keene (N.H.) Sentinel. Thanks, VN, for permission to use Laura DeCapua’s photo! Strong e-mail and letter-to-editors reaction gives hope that people may be…

Fighting (And Losing) The Last War…In Bunny Slippers, No Less

It occurred to me — — as I untied my hiking boots in the airport so they could pass through an x-ray machine in order to add yet another layer of spurious safety to the mass illusion known as “Homeland Security” — — that I…

Pat Robertson: “‘Activist’ Judges More Dangerous Than Osama, Hitler and Tojo”

OK, I admit it. I’ve always detested Pat Robertson. After my sister died of AIDS, then-presidential hopeful Pat came to New Hampshire, his campaign rhetoric including the novel ideas that God was…

Battle Day in Concord: Shades of Insurgencies Past

This op-ed originally appeared in the Keene (N.H.) Sentinel and other New England newspapers.

We stood by the hundreds on the river’s east bank, boosting our kids so they could see the redcoats march down to the old…

A Crisis of Republican Faith

PH readers: A great group of guys in this northern New England ‘hood, ranging in their politics from Attila to Tinkerbelle, carries on a sporadic, satirical public-policy debate by e-mail. The resident GOP-right-or-wrong booster — let’s call him “Pete” — takes perverse delight…

Christo’s ‘Gates’: A Perfect Moment For Content-Free Public Art

Perhaps it was a bad idea for a history buff to approach “The Gates,” Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Feb. 12–28 installation in New York’s Central Park, by way of Columbus Circle. 
 The roundabout at the park’s southwest…

America Needs to Talk About The “O” Word: Oil

Alright, America. It’s time to talk about the “o” word.

 No, not that one. I mean the one we really avoid talking about. The one we’ll do shocking things to get. Our most wanton, shameful secret.

 Oil.

 We need to talk, because all our excuses for…