Michael O. Allen

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  • The Pentagon’s Message Machine

    Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand By DAVID BARSTOW, April 20, 2008 Corrections Appended In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations…

  • Rwanda’s story

    I have been reading stories in newspapers and magazines lately about the anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. I was in South Africa in early spring covering the first all-race elections in that theretofore benighted nation when I got news of the atrocities in Rwanda. Nelson Mandela had been released from decades of imprisonment and…

  • Camille, Paul & Scott

    I’ve come to bury Paul (and Scott) not to praise Camille. When a hard time about the race whenever I’ve run into him. He insisted he campaigned hard. In 2006, Paul Aronhson did better than anyone has done against Scott Garrett and it still wasn’t close, 55-44. For long stretches, Aronhson was simply invisible. My…

  • 'Barthelmismo'

    Here’s a bit of Donald Barthelme’s “The Big Broadcast of 1938” ” “Tell me about your early life,” she said. “I was, in a sense, an All-American boy,” Bloomsbury replied. “In what sense?” “In the sense that I married,” he said. “Was it love?” “It was love but it was only temporary.” “It didn’t go…

  • The hype, don't believe it

    At least so says Eric Gwinn of the Chicago Tribune. In a piece first published in late March, Gwinn went to town explicating why some of the things you may have first heard about some cool gadgets (some of them even from him) may not be what they were first cracked up to be. I…

  • ESPN's shame

    I am not a fan of the Houston Astros, never lived in Texas and don’t plan on visiting there any time soon. I am only a casual follower of the Baltimore Orioles or the Oakland A’s. And I neither like nor dislike Miguel Tejada. I know him to be a talented shortstop and a very…

  • Rugged toys

    Polaris Industries’ Ranger RZR REINVENTING THE WHEEL_Stylish Off-Roaders By JONATHAN WELSH, April 17, 2008; Page D8 What It Is: A new group of small recreational utility vehicles are bringing horsepower and style to a previously dowdy segment of off-road driving. For years farmers and ranchers have used small two-seat utility vehicles to get around on…

  • On 'cling'-ing to 'bitter' words

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  • 'Race and American Memory'

    Roger Cohen of The New York Times (or should I say the International Herald Tribune?) is fast becoming my favorite columnist. He is a great writer with a searching conscience and vision. Cohen was writing about the decision by Congress in 2003 to spend $500 million to build the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American…

  • 'Wright loves America'

    Here’s a brief description from wikipedia: The Reverend Michael Louis Pfleger (born May 22, 1949[1]) is a Roman Catholic priest and social activist in Chicago, Illinois. A German American from the south side of Chicago, Pfleger attended Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, Loyola University and the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. He was…