Sen. Barack Obama has bought the same 30 minutes on four television networks on Wednesday night to make his “closing argument” to the electorate, six days before voting day. I expect he’ll employ a lot of high-minded rhetoric about pulling together as a nation, joining hands, taking care of each other, and generally keep on…

In the long, tragic story of this country’s mismanagement of the prisoners held at Guantanamo, the story of 17 Uighurs (pronounced “wee-grrs”) stands out. Imprisoned for seven years and counting, these Turkic Muslims come from the westernmost province of China (Xinjiang). The U.S. Government, having been forced to admit that the Uighurs were not “enemy…

After all the chatter about impeaching Bush, or Cheney or Bush and Cheney, it turns out the House Judiciary Committee is gearing up an impeachment investigation . . . of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous of the Eastern District of Louisiana. Now, this is a matter of high personal interest. I defended the last…

Taking advantage of a glorious October weekend, we visited “James Madison’s Montpelier” (that’s what the road signs call it; I suppose there’s another Montpelier around somewhere). The restoration of his mansion, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge near Orange, Virginia, has been a major project for five years, and has involved several stages: —…

This morning’s news flashes from world markets suggest that the U.S. $700 billion rescue had a lot less impact on the current crisis than an over-the-weekend pledge by European nations to back their own banks. I’m for whatever works to settle things down, save some jobs, and even buck up the 401k just a smidge.…

If the bank rescue legislation , approved and signed into law last week, saves the nation from financial Armageddon – and I, for one, have my fingers crossed on that one – some credit will belong to the men who designed the government in 1787. Two parts of the Constitution were central to this congressional…

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has a proud history. Formed from an agglomeration of Indians who fled to northern Florida in the eighteenth century to escape from English-speaking colonists, the tribe fought three wars against the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century and never submitted voluntarily to removal to Western lands.…