We are pretty sure this exchange at today’s briefing with Jay Carney represents the first time the White House has been asked to weigh in on the Occupy Wall Street protests — yet another sign of the movement’s astonishing growth in recent days: QUESTION: Have the “Occupy Wall Street” protests reached a level of the President’s engaged awareness? Is he sympathizing...

I’m being nibbled to death by ducks.   I get the mail and the first thing is a notice:  Your Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs Notice of Termination. (It’s not much money, but still . . .) The second thing is another notice:  “You owe $50 on your account with the GF Clinic and we are sending it in for collection.”  AFTER the “extra help”...

The United States and South Korea have come closer to wrapping up a free trade deal that has been described multiple times as a “win, win” deal for both countries. Just yesterday, officials from the countries finalized the text of the deal.  The trade deal that has been in the works since 2007 is estimated to provide mutual benefits (6 – 13 billion U.S....

My first problem, of course, was learning how to spell the damn concept. I finally taped it to my computer monitor. BOURGEOIS.  A combination of bourbon, geology and “is.” I’m sure all three are relevant, not just mnemonic devices. (Took me a while to learn to spell “mnemonic,” too.) Esp. the bourbon.   But try to find a decent definition. Now DECENT, that’s...

A Great Falls murder case has ended in a mistrial. Two men and a woman were drinking, there was a quarrel, one man left and then returned, intending to re-enter the home, the occupant shot him through the door. As if this weren’t ambiguous enough, the law had been recently changed. Previously a person who used violence against an intruder on their property had to show...

It is time to Balkanise Pakistan, says Michael Hughes. In his article titled Balkanising Pakistan: A collective National Security Strategy the author has articulated the “Why” of his suggestion through a compelling argument. This has serious ramifications for the region, especially for India. The basic proposal of fragmentation is to break off and allow Afghanistan...

  General Patraeus’s recent communique to the ISAF says “fight the Taliban hard and have a cup of tea with the Afghans.” Thankfully, the West has , despite all the COIN strategies realised that it is important to win the popular support in this insurgency.  That he is willing to apply the “whole of government” approach in the 9th year of the War on Terror is...