“These Are MY Sons!” Charlie Anderson, a widowed father of six sons, was working on his ranch in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley when the Confederate patrol descended on his property. Displaying the reflexive hospitality of a natural gentleman, Charlie happily permitted Lt. Johnson and his soldiers to help themselves to the family well.Though both his men […]

Police Perjury, and Burglars with Badges “I’ve got a gun and a badge. I’m always right.”Sgt. Chuck Schoville of the Tempe police department probably thought he was being facetious when he made that remark to two men he had stopped on suspicion of littering. But “jokes” of this sort, like George W. Bush’s oft-repeated thigh-slapper […]

Pig-Men on Patrol “No question, now, what has happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, man to pig, and pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”George Orwell, Animal FarmThe first reaction of most people to the sight of a police […]

The Pointlessness of Prohibition (Pt. I) Last of the breed: Legendary Frontier Marshal Bill Tilghman, a casualty of our nation’s first “War on Drugs.”On this day (December 5) in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified by Utah, thus bringing to a merciful end one of our nation’s most deranged experiments in social control: The federal […]

The Pointlessness of Prohibition, part II: The Prohibitionist Pharisees And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand; Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came His disciples, and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the […]

The Way We Are Now: A Brief Photo Essay I’m grappling with a really nasty strain of the flu today, and will probably be back later with a more substantial offering. Until then, I present the following for discussion:A typical scene from “liberated” Baghdad. The feet belong to Jose Padilla, the Chicago gang-banger designated an […]

“How Much Does the State Weigh?” The persistence of evil: An aging adherent of Stalin’s personality cult loves him some Big Brother. During the Moscow Show Trials of the late 1930s, Soviet prosecutors ran across one particularly recalcitrant subject who simply refused to confess. The man maintained his innocence despite the demonic inventiveness of the […]

Hey — Take Your Time (Caveat lector: The following essay includes a photograph of an offensive gesture.I included it because it is relevant to the present subject.) In the vast inventory of George W. Bush’s contemptible traits, the most lethal may be his capacity for invincible self-delusion. Close kindred to that attribute is his apparently […]