The good old days are now.

Washington D.C. is about 300 square miles surrounded by realty.

There is a long and honorable tradition of citizens in service to their nation that goes back at least as far as Cincinnatus, the Roman citizen who, more than once answered his country's call, then returned to his farm and his family and his work.

Ice hockey is the closest thing to religion permitted by the Soviet Union.

Wars are begun by frightened men.

Jack looked out the window as they passed the Mormon temple, just outside the beltway near Connecticut Avenue. A decidedly odd-looking building, it had grandeur with its marble columns and gilt spires. The beliefs represented by that impressive structure seemed curious to Ryan, a lifelong Catholic, but the people who held them were honest and hardworking, and fiercely loyal to their country, because they believed in what America stood for.

I've made up stuff that's turned out to be real, that's the spooky part.