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A Theory of Mountain Flying
Here is my theory of mountain flying: I don't like it. This incredible video, from Peru, will give you an idea of the kind of thing I have nightmares about. For me, the most "have to look away" moments...
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If We're Talking American Orientalism ...
... as I was doing previously here and here, I thought it was worth going back to re-read Joan Didion's 1966 Saturday Evening Post article that so offended my home town back when I was in high school...
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WigWams, Wittfogel, and Joan Didion: All in One Post
For why we're talking "Orientalism," see this, this, and this. For the relevance of this photo from the LA Times's great collection of California-historic images, read the rest of this post. The scene...
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D.C. Interlude: False Equivalence, This Town
A D.C. drop-in, after nearly three weeks on the road, with three quick media notes. [Please see update below.] 1) It is wonderful when life works just as you expect. Driving back from the airport to...
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'What Is Special About My Town': Harrisburg, New Bedford, Rochester
We continue to select highlights from among the 650+ locales that readers recommended we visit for American Futures. Today, readers advocate for towns in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York. The...
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Today's Alarming Japan-China Charts
Let's take a break from matters American to look westward across the Pacific. When my wife and I moved to China now (gasp!) seven years ago, I wrote that one of the biggest surprises was how much more...
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Before You Conclude That 'Precision' Bombing Makes Sense With Syria ...
... please read this article by Chuck Spinney, out today in Counterpunch. (And before you ask: No, I don't agree with everything in Counterpunch, nor every view of Spinney's, nor even everything in the...
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Shorter Version of Spinney on Syria: Don't Do It
A little while ago I put up a long item on Chuck Spinney's cautions against a precision or punitive bombing campaign in Syria. I hope you'll read it, but just in case here is the Executive Summary: 1....
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The Wise Men of Iraq Give Us Counsel About Syria
The Syrian question is hard in every way -- morally, strategically, practically. Any choice is bad. If the United States doesn't get involved, it countenances horrors. If it does, it could likely make...
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Rapid City Report: What Does Green Mean?
Adoba Hotel By Deborah Fallows, from Rapid City, S.D. In late 2009, my husband and I returned from more than 3 years of living in China. I quickly realized that we had missed some shifts in American...
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Here's a Wild Idea About Syria: Make the Case to Congress
Now that I think about it, I kind of see how that could happen. You bomb a country, and the next thing you know you are pulled into a war. Good thing we have experts to help us connect the dots....
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Readers on Syria: Stay Out
We'll get back to our ongoing American Futures journey later today. [Please check out the latest installment, this morning from Rapid City, SD.] I'll confess that in our stopover in DC, after three...
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'What Is Special About My Town': Columbus, Knoxville, Harrisonburg
The latest in our series of reader suggestions for places to visit while reporting for American Futures. 1
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Today's Frightening / Inspiring Aerial Videos
This is a segue back to the aerial view of Americana. Last week I posted a famous and frightening video of a Peruvian pilot skimming mountaintops en route to an airfield in the Andes. The piloting...
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Readers on Syria: The Case for Intervention
Obviously I am very skeptical of U.S. military action in Syria. Yesterday I invited readers who held the opposite view to make the case. Here are the results for now, plus some items worth considering...
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'Shut Up, He Explained': More on Syria
For those joining us late: I have run a whole skein of posts expressing my own deep skepticism about US/UK military action as a proper signal, punishment, solution, or response to the Syrian disaster....
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False Equivalence Watch: East Asia / Mea Culpa Edition
A reader with a Japanese family name writes: I know that false equivalence is a favourite topic of yours. Therefore, I'm going to suggest that when you wrote the following, you might have been...
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Public to White House: You Can Go It Alone, but You Shouldn't
This is a last-for-now recap of Syria reactions from readers and the world. 1) 'We don't know war.' Yesterday I quoted a very hostile response, from a serving U.S. military officer, to another...
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'What I Am Opposed to Is a Dumb War'
"What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by [officials] to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective...
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The Military as 'Abusive Parent': The View Toward Syria From an Exhausted Army
I am violating my normal rules for frequency of posts (average one per day) and variety of subject (have some) because the Syrian news is happening in real time, and because so much response has come...
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