LONDON – Last month the world learned about the brutal murder of an extraordinary Iraqi Shiite cleric who had just returned from exile with the help of U.S. troops.I have sought more details about this killing because they reveal so much about contemporary Iraqi society – and even about this past week’s wave of Mideast […]

At least once a year every person who writes, whether for business or for pleasure, should take a pledge. I am not thinking of a pledge against “have got,” which should be taken monthly, but a pledge to honor E.B. White and his Rule No. 8.It should go without saying (in this column, anyhow), that […]

I don’t know what the Republicans are celebrating. We’ve hardly “won” anything. NEW YORK CITY – Much as I hate to interrupt what is apparently a deeply felt triumphalism on the American right, now that it’s over, does anyone see any reason for our having invaded Iraq?I realize that’s what we all kept trying to […]

Once you create preferences, you run the risk of increasing the number of errors. The New York Times has acted honorably in dealing with the wreckage of the Jayson Blair scandal. It published corrections, 54 in all, on Blair’s inaccurate reporting. When at last it became obvious that Blair was plagiarizing stories, making up quotes […]

Many bills proposed by lawmakers end up in the round file. The odds of that happening for freshmen are greater, since it takes time to learn how to drum up support to get a bill passed.Freshman Rep. Nancy Smith, D-Monmouth, who in her other life is a farmer and forester, saw success Wednesday when she […]

Jayson Blair’s deceptions at the N.Y. Times ran unchecked. Could that happen here? The caller was firm but gentle: People do not get sucked out of aircraft, even though a headline in our newspaper last week said they had.You see, he explained, jet aircraft are pressurized, so when a door opens the pressurized air rushes […]

Today’s cosmic question evokes the memory of a young lady whose name, I believe, was Ramona. According to the golden oldie, she “awoke to find her love was gone.” Or maybe he “awoke” to find that she was gone. Whatver. I’m trying to back into a column on verbs.What about it? She “awoke”? Or she […]

I have nothing against art . . . but when is art not art? It’s time for an update on the British art world, which, as far as I can tell, exists mainly to provide me with material.As regular readers of this column are aware, British art institutions have taken to paying large sums of […]

Q The word “sinister” has a pejorative connotation in English, but the direct Latin derivative in Italian, “sinistra,” means the direction “left.” I heard that the unfavorable connotation has something to do with the young Romans who wanted to join the legions but were excluded because they were left-handed. Can you clear this up? – […]

WASHINGTON – Here’s how Maine’s members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending May 16. HOUSE 401(k) plans Voting 271 for and 157 against, the House on May 14 passed a bill (HR 1000) providing employees with more leeway to manage defined-contribution pension plans such as 401(k) plans. In […]