Taps, lies and presidential snoops
Mark Twain, prophet that he was, once decried a woeful decay in the fine art of lying. Judging by the fibs of recent presidents, the decay continues. One of the...
Home > Reviews
All Stories
Yes, we still need Black History Month–and more
Does Black History Month actually separate us as Americans, as Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman seems to fear it does? Not if it's done right. Freeman called the annual observance "ridiculous"...
Much ado about, sssh–snooping
Considering his track record, I am not too shocked to hear that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without warrants on people inside the United States....
Wit and wisdom
If there is anything that Richard Pryor and Eugene McCarthy had in common besides their sadly coincidental deaths on the same day last weekend, it is this: Both men understood...
Greetings under siege
A lot of people have been complaining lately about the media's failure to report more good news about the war. I'm inclined to agree with them, not about the war...
Protect the accused, protect justice
What does Khalid el-Masri of Germany have in common with Stanley "Tookie" Williams of California and Steven Avery of Wisconsin? Each offers a bracing example of why, in pursuit of...
When press is paid to lie, the truth always comes out
When I heard that our government has secretly paid Iraqi reporters and newspapers to report good news about the war, it only made me wonder how bad the real news...
Why Bush’s border scheme won’t work
On the day before President Bush launched his new border security/guest worker proposal, he was almost upstaged by a timely and telling U.S. Border Patrol complaint: The labels on their...
These are risky times for hard news and views
After this year's International Press Freedom Awards dinner, an ex-reporter remarked to me that the honorees' inspiring stories made her "think about getting back into real journalism again," with her...
Capital full of offenses
If you've been following the news, you may think as I do that the most fascinating caper around the nation's capital in recent days does not involve politics, national security...