Carl Bloice

It’s said that you can buy photos of Najibullah on the streets of Kabul these days and even cassettes of speeches he made in the 1980s when he was president of Afghanistan. Najibullah’s name evokes controversy. Always cited are the condemnation by some Afghans for his ties to the Soviet Union and his previous role…

“So, have you enjoyed the debate over health care reform?” Paul Krugman asked in late September. “Have you been impressed by the civility of the discussion and the intellectual honesty of reform opponents? “If so, you’ll love the next big debate: the fight over climate change.” the New York Times columnist wrote. Sarcasm aside, the…

David Brooks ought to go running even more often; maybe take a different route sometimes. A couple of weeks ago the New York Times columnist was doing his usual Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol and back trek when he encountered a bunch of “tea party” people demonstrating and “carrying ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flags, ‘End…

Approaching touchdown on an international flight on a U.S. air line a couple of weeks ago, the cabin crew had a special announcement: “For one of us this will be the last trip,” said the attendant. “As you know the company has been furloughing a number of employees. One of us, Luis, will not be…

Richard Parsons is called upon to take the helm at distressed Citigroup and Barack Obama assumes leadership of the United States. I have to admit I’ve had moments of misgivings about all this. I would prefer that African Americans rise to authority and responsibility over things that are doing well rather than faltering but, hey,…

Now they are out to nickel and dime us to death. Here in my home town the traffic and parking department has been prevailed upon to “step up” its enforcement activity – and maneuvering to have parking meters work far into the night – in order help cover some of the city’s budget deficit. In…

In the movie “The Year of Living Dangerously” the little guy Billy Kwan, brilliantly played by Linda Lee, gives a news reporter Guy Hamilton, played by Mel Gibson, a talk about Indonesian puppets – the kind on sticks, which you can now sometime find in import shops in this country. The figures as shown are…

The Lex Column in the Financial Times got it right: “… ‘less down’ is now the new ‘up’ as media watchers search for stabilization in the overall market.” The writer was referring to the world of advertising where some analysts were putting a hopeful spin on revenue that fell 18 percent over the first three…