Sisco Deen, the living memory drive of Flagler County and its archive curator, turns 70 today.
Beyond
Rockwell Meets Rubio: A Tea Party Photo Gallery
Norman Rockwell reckognized a compelling subject when he saw one. Chances are he’d have recognized an equally worthy subject in the Tea Party movement, whatever its stripes.
Hank Williams Wins a Pulitzer
“When a hillbilly sings a crazy song,” Hank Wiliams once said, “he feels crazy. When he sings, “I Laid My Mother Away,” he sees her a-laying right there in the coffin.”
James Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” from 1963 is an apt counterpoint to Florida lawmakers’ attempt, in 2010, to demolish public school teachers and replace the profession with Darwinian hostility.
Ed Asner Takes on FDR at Flagler Auditorium
Ed Asner channels his liberal sensibilities as “FDR” in a one-man show on Roosevelt’s four-term presidency (and longer affair).
Philip Roth’s Great American Fart
Kids love farts, don’t they? Even today, with all the drugs and sex and violence you hear about on TV, they still get a kick, as we used to, out of a fart.
Unveiling Stereotypes at Stetson University
Undergraduates not used to wearing their religion on their sleeve, at least not Islam, wore one not even their own around their face–Islam’s most explosive symbol.
News-Journal Sale Delayed–Again–Pending Appraisals
A federal judge delayed the $20 million sale of the News-Journal pending appraisals of some $9 million in real estate.
Weimar Germany’s Shadow Creep on Main Street
Philip A. Farruggio argues that the United States is forgetting the lessons of 1930s Germany–and Sinclair Lewis’ prophetic warnings–at its own risk.
He Had His Moments, But…
There’s too much reaching for the old magic–which is just the problem: this lunge for “magic,” this desire to make the impossible real, when it should be the other way around.
Haiti Earthquake Photo Gallery
A 30-image photo gallery of the devastation following the 7.0 earthquake that demolished Haiti’s Port au Prince the afternoon of Jan. 12.
Americans Owe More to Haiti Than They Know
Well beyond earthquake relief, an American commitment to independence and democracy in Haiti would not be a favor, a gift or an indulgence. It would be the down payment of an incalculable debt long overdue.
Is This Harry Reid Cartoon Offensive?
The Omaha World Herald’s sanctimony over a skin-tone cartoon is more offensive than Harry Reid’s misjudgment.
Prohibition’s Binge of Sanctimony
On the history and stupidity of Prohibition, the 13-year binge of sanctimony that a minority of eugenics fans and anti-German racists imposed on the majority.
My Ten Predictions for 2010
“All prophesies are wrong, therefore this one will be wrong,” Orwell said. So here are mine for the coming year of our blogs, 2010.
Why It’s Taking So Long to Close Guantanamo
By Dafna Linzer As we have reported throughout the year, the Obama administration has been serially hampered in its efforts to shutter the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It underestimated [2] the time needed to close the facility and was unprepared for Congressional opposition. Finding countries to adopt detainees has proven difficult, and only this […]
What Health Care Reform Means for the Underinsured
Besides the nearly 50 million uninsured, some 40 to 50 million Americans are underinsured. Reform would vastly improve their lot.
South of the Border, Where Drug Policy Makes Sense
On Aug. 20, Mexico for a few days became the most enlightened nation in the western hemisphere regarding drug policy. That day, a law took effect decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs. All drugs. South of the border you can carry up to 5 grams of marijuana (four joints’ worth), half a gram of […]
Holes Still Scar Landscape from New York to Afghanistan
Terrorists dug the first eight years ago in Lower Manhattan. The hole is still there, visible live on Web cams keeping track of the crater’s make-work traffic. It was seven years from the time the design for the Twin Towers was unveiled in 1964 to the day the second building was topped out on a […]
Immigration’s Tale from New York’s #7 Subway Train
In New York, the story of immigration’s present and foreseeable future is on the “Immigrant Express,” the No. 7 subway line that crosses Queens, the country’s single-most diverse county (46.1 percent of its residents were born abroad).