In recent days, some have questioned whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a big mistake in appointing so many "special envoys," such as George Mitchell, to handle key trouble spots, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think they are right to question Clinton about this plethora of envoys. But I don't think the problem is that she has too many; it's that she doesn't have enough. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she may need at least a half-dozen envoys. Actually, this conflict is now broken into so many different pieces it may take a whole State Department of its own to resolve it. ...more

February 5, 2009

I was crammed into a middle seat. The guy in front was practically in my lap and I had my arms drawn in tightly as I pecked furiously on the keyboard. God glanced over. "What are you working on?" He asked. ...more

November 27, 2008

I'm still not quite over the movie "Jaws," which came out in 1975. I rarely go into the Gulf, and when I do, I sense that sharp teeth could slice through my leg at any moment. Somehow, it's hard to relax. ...more

August 2, 2008

Natural Impossibility It's one thing to throw a tub of letters randomly on the ground and have them spell out some words. It's quite another to have them result in a complete Shakespeare play! ...more

November 3, 2007