The recent decision about partial birth abortion has stirred up all the old ire on both sides of the issue re: the legality and morality of abortion. Here is another place where we argue and harangue incessantly, but in a very myopic fashion. In my humble opinion, we debate principle (it is or isn’t murder) […]

Posted in Domestic Reframes, Reframe Reflections Comments Off on The Morality of Abortion: Missing the Point

I was forwarded a post about another out of the box idea regarding our current Iraq Quagmire. It involved drafting all the 18-35 year olds in Iraq to occupy them with reconstruction instead of leaving them to their own (destructive) devices. I’m not sure the idea will work, but I like the mindset of searching […]

Posted in Blog Comments, International Reframes, Reframe Reflections 1 Comment »

I recently saw the play The Good German at a local theatre. I’m not sure what I expected, since the film was apparently mediocre, but this mise en scene was a tour de force of excellent acting and extraordinarily insightful writing that made me think long and hard about myself. In a few words, it […]

Posted in Reviews Comments Off on “The Good German”: A Challenging Look in the Mirror

In perusing “Iran: An Inconvenient Truth” I was reminded again of my concerns that our current thinking on Iran will lead us nowhere useful. Let’s start with an exercise in empathy: You live in America. During your parents’ generation, a more powerful country (let’s call it the USSR simply to facilitate identifying emotionally w/ the […]

Posted in Critic's choice, International Reframes, Reframe Reflections Comments Off on Starting over with Iran & the Bush Doctrine

What is so striking and moving in Ishmael Beah’s account of his life as a child soldier in war torn Sierra Leone is how deeply he pulls us as reader into his soul as an innocent child. Almost half of the book recounts his experiences during the war before taking up arms. The tension of […]

Posted in Reviews Comments Off on A Long Way Gone

We have found ourselves in a conundrum with regards to Iraq. To summarize in simple terms: 1. Continue to fight as we have until now, gaining a little ground at great human and financial cost only to lose it right away to the insurgents; with every additional week of occupation and errant bomb, see the […]

Posted in Critic's choice, International Reframes, Reframe Reflections 19 Comments »