“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

-- Samuel Beckett

Roger Cohen invokes this quote for his column on the anniversary of 9/11, noting how many observers feel that we have grown apart and polarized as a people as much as ever.

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“No longer may this liberty be denied ... No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

-- Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

“Today, we can say, in no uncertain terms, that we have made ( Read more... )

“I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.”

-- Malcolm X

[Source: Andrew Hartman, “A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars”]

I see that Sam Harris is trying to get the Noam Chomsky notch on his belt, trying to engage him in a public debate ( Read more... )

“No more good must be attempted than the nation can bear.”-- Thomas Jefferson ( Read more... )

With our politics so long polarized and government gridlocked, with our parties playing full-on "constitutional hardball", pushing the letter of the law to the breaking point, perverting the spirit of democracy, we are beginning to hear louder rumblings of despair over the future of our fair republic.

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David Brooks writes about another discriminatory 'ism' that is taking over America: partyism. It seems that our political polarization extends beyond politics and voting. "In 1960, roughly 5 percent of Republicans and Democrats said they’d be 'displeased' if their child married someone from the other party. By 2010, 49 percent of Republicans and ( Read more... )

WASHINGTON - FERGUSON, Mo., has become a virtual war zone. In the wake of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, outsize armored vehicles have lined streets and tear gas has filled the air. Officers dressed in camouflage uniforms from Ferguson’s 53-person police force have pointed M-16s at the very citizens they are sworn to ( Read more... )

“Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”

-- President Barack H. Obama

In light of recent foreign policy trials, such as the Russian threat on Ukraine, Obama has been put on the defensive by critics for being an overly reluctant warrior. He is keeping his cool.

“Equality of opportunity - the ‘American dream’ - has always been a cherished American ideal,” Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-winning economist at Columbia University, noted in a recent speech. “But data now show that this is a myth: America has become the advanced country not only with the highest level of inequality, but one of those with the least ( Read more... )