“It’s very good mulch, you know. . . .”

Walking up my front steps, hearing the scrunch of the leaves that cover my front yard — and my flower beds, and my sidewalk, and my patio — I practice all the lines I could use if confronted by visitors who notice — well, the lack of raking. Read on »

For a woman who recently escaped death, Sajida Rishawi seemed oddly calm during her appearance this week on Jordanian television. Read on »

Have you got Tamiflu? I haven’t, but a friend of mine has. He proudly told me he scored a prescription for his whole family. Another friend is also trying to wangle a prescription, even though there’s no guarantee that Tamiflu will work. “It saved 80 percent of the mice in the laboratory study,” he said. Read on »

“We are able to do away with domestic tyranny and violence and aggression by those in power against the rights of their own people only when we make all men answerable to the law.”
– Justice Robert Jackson, in his opening statement for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Read on »

Did you know that a monster crocodile was fished out of the New Orleans floodwaters? Had you realized that sharks were swimming through the submerged streets of the Lower Ninth Ward? Did you see the photographs of Katrina, the ones showing the hurricane menacing New Orleans like a Wizard of Oz cartoon twister? Read on »

Two hurricanes have now hit Louisiana, wreaking terrible destruction. New Orleans continues to flood. Hundreds of thousands of people are scattered across the country, many in shelters. Given the scale of the calamity, surely it’s time for Louisiana politicians to stop, assess the damage and work out the most rational way to help their state recover. Read on »

“Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.”
– George W. Bush, Sept. 2 Read on »

Last week my son’s elementary school raised several thousand dollars for hurricane victims by washing cars. My other son’s preschool announced without fuss that a boy from New Orleans would be joining the class. Read on »

Ask any hurricane expert, any disaster planner. Or ask anyone who knows about evacuations and he’ll tell you: There are always some people who stay behind. During Hurricane Elena in 1985, 10 percent of the inhabitants of the washed-out coastal barrier islands refused to leave, despite repeated warnings and despite their relative wealth. Read on »

Walk down Long Market Street, past the shops selling amber beads and cavalry swords, through the medieval gates of the city of Gdansk, Poland. Cross the highway, head toward the shipyard and look up. When I did so a few days ago, I saw an enormous billboard featuring a list of cities: “Gdansk. Budapest. Prague. Berlin. Bucharest. Sofia. Kiev.” Read on »