News

There is a new addition to the national Pronunciation Wars. Nuclear (nuculer), Taliban (talleyban), and Pakistan (pockistan)* are now joined by Sotomayor.  She says "Soto-my-or"; many say "Soto-may-or." Among the many is Chief Justice John Roberts.  During Associate...

On July 29 of last year Vanity Fair's website put up a portrait of President George W. Bush by that eminent visual satirist Drew Friedman.  In it, the President was made up to look like that latterday icon of villainy, the late Heath Ledger in his Oscar-winning role...

It is often said that you can judge a leader by the quality of the people with which he surrounds himself. Thirty-five years ago today, I came in brief contact with a member of President Nixon’s White House staff whose deep sense of humanity, even in the midst of what...

Last month the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, and of Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin's historic moonwalk, was the subject of many hours of TV coverage and commentary, and of innumerable column-inches of articles and op-eds in what remains of...

In the summer of '69 the Beatles were working on what turned out to be ---and what they later claimed they knew would be--- their last album.  Paul had drawn a stick figure sketch of the band walking across a street, demonstrating his idea for the album's cover art.  ...

There is a scene early on in the movie Patton, where the feisty general watches the forces under his command do battle with those led by the legendary German Panzer leader, Erwin Rommel. To prepare for this particular skirmish, “Old Blood and Guts” studied the...

An unexpected turn of events ---a veritable Macaca moment--- has enlivened the already lively Kentucky 2010 Senate race.  Even before Republican incumbent Jim Bunning announced last week that he won't be running for re-election, there were fireworks enough on the...

Tanned, rested, and ready for the 21st Century: John Quincy Adams photographed in 1843. The sixth POTUS ---John Quincy Adams--- has signed up ---and not a moment too soon--- on Twitter.  He will be posting daily entries from his diaries. As Jeannie Nuss reports for...

Last week I posted about Inherent Vice, the new novel by Thomas Pynchon set in Los Angeles during the spring and early summer of 1970 - that is, in the second year of the Nixon Administration. Today the book went on sale nationwide, and to promote it Penguin Press,...