I was standing next to a famed geo-politician when the first news of the Argentine attack [on the Faulkland Islands] was received, and heard him muse incredulously: "An old-fashioned naval battle. A war between two civilized nations, perhaps with even a declaration of war, and later a peace conference. Wow." No hostages, no nukes, no ideologies, no religious fanaticism; just a fair-and-square war over national interests - hard to believe, in this day and age.

In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial.'

I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.

A reader should be able to identify a column without its byline or funny little picture on top purely by look or feel, or its turgidity ratio.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.

As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.