affairs of the day

Americans now seem to be largely ruled by passion and ignorance. Most of the public does not read anything of value. Television shows like "24" constitute their image of foreign affairs. The Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower is enraptured by a politician who could not recall what she reads to be informed.
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An emerging third world country can not continue to fight wars that it does not understand in places it can only vaguely imagine. — Col. Pat Lang (Ret.) read more

I first encountered Col. Lang when he appeared on The NewsHour on PBS in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Later I came upon his blog, Sic Semper Tyrannis, which I check out regularly. His background includes service in Vietnam, U.S. Military Intelligence, and U.S. Army Special Forces. He struck me from the first as intelligent and knowledgeable, something of an old-fashioned conservative (as opposed, say, to a neocon), and a patriot. I do not always agree with what I find at Sic Semper Tyrannis, but I almost always find it worth reading and considering as I attempt to fashion something coherent out of my own muddled views on affairs of the day.