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Eye of Newt: It's Always on the Main Chance

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 28, 2011)

A bright spot in Newt Gingrich's run for the presidency -- yes, there is one -- has been the revelation that he was paid $1.6 million by Freddie Mac. That's the broke,... more

A Christmas Carol: Lost in the Piney Woods

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 25, 2011)

He didn't even know where he was. By now, he was doing good to remember who he was. It was getting colder and darker out here every minute. The piney woods had looked just... more

Small Country, Great Leader

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 21, 2011)

Power is no sure guide to greatness. Or even survival. Quite the contrary. Tyrants can be powerful, yet the powerless can make them tremble. See Moammar Gadhafi, Hosni... more

Excuse Me, Sir

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 21, 2011)

You can never tell when one of them might approach you. Sometimes you see them coming from afar off. Or they can suddenly materialize at your side. "Got a match?" "Sir, I'm... more

Innocence in Triplicate

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 16, 2011)

There they stood, all three of them, being sworn in before the Senate Agriculture Committee. They were being questioned about the whereabouts of some $175 million that had... more

What is Chanukah?

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 16, 2011)

Tonight we light the first candle of Chanukah, for it is the first night of this minor eight-day Jewish holiday that's become a major one over the years. There are blessings... more

Return of the Newt

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 12, 2011)

It's not his character flaws that make it hard to take Newt Gingrich seriously as a presidential candidate. The American electorate is notoriously, perhaps even admirably,... more

Facts Are Stubborn Things

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 08, 2011)

  "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and... more

News Flash: Russia Remains Russia

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 07, 2011)

"Don't you forget what's divine in the Russian soul, and that's resignation." -- Joseph Conrad There are some wonderful oxymorons in history -- like the Holy... more

70 Years Ago Today

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 06, 2011)

There was a time when there was no need to explain what happened on December 7, 1941. It was one of those dates every American knew, and it opened a well of hurt and rage,... more

What would Ike say?

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 05, 2011)

What?! Barney Frank is retiring from Congress? I'm surprised. Surely he could have stayed on and done even more damage to the American economy. His constituents in... more

The banality of evil (cont'd)

By Paul Greenberg (Dec 02, 2011)

Everything was in order at Penn State. For the longest time. All the necessary reports had been filed. Any crimes had been reported to the proper authorities on campus... more

Occupied or vacant?

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 30, 2011)

The only serious question raised by Occupy Wall Street/Little Rock/(fill in the name of your own city here) is whether it can be taken seriously. That is, does it have... more

Sphinx without a riddle

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 28, 2011)

Reading the daily news stories out of Cairo is like following the fever chart of some disease whose course was traced long ago. And can now be found in any standard medical... more

Short Bursts

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 26, 2011)

For an actor, the talented Morgan Freeman doesn't have the best sense of timing. At least when off-camera and talking politics. There's a lot of that going around. It... more

The New Gingrich

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 22, 2011)

At press time, the leading non-Romney in the Republican presidential race was Newt Gingrich. It's not easy keeping up with who holds that distinction, it changes so rapidly.... more

Coming home to the wilderness

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 21, 2011)

Thanksgiving arrives in the middle of the week, yet it remains the quintessential American sabbath. A calm descends, clearing away distractions and disagreements, uniting... more

As the world turns ... and the centrifuges whirl in Iran

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 16, 2011)

Gosh, what a surprise: According to the United Nations, Iran seems to be at work on developing a nuclear weapon. I am shocked -- shocked. Goodness, what target do you think... more

Wanted: Adult For President

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 16, 2011)

As next year's presidential campaign revs up, the lack of candidates who talk like adults grows conspicuous. There's a surplus of presidential hopefuls, but a shortage of... more

The Big Story, or: Say It Ain't So, Joe

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 11, 2011)

If you need to be told what The Story of the Week has been, you've not only been out of the country but just plain out of it. As in asleep. The head football coach at... more

A Fair Tax That Really Is One

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 10, 2011)

Who says bipartisan cooperation is a thing of the past in Washington? It can be revived in a good cause. Steve Womack, a Republican congressman from Rogers, Ark., has... more

The Emergence of Mitt Romney

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 09, 2011)

Of the stage-full of Republican hopefuls running for president this year, Mitt Romney is beginning to emerge as the only serious one in sight. It's his sober rather than... more

Witness

By Paul Greenberg (Nov 08, 2011)

Today's column is drawn from Paul Greenberg's remarks October 27 accepting the Human Life Foundation's annual Great Defender of Life award: Life is just full of... more

Remember Lockerbie

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 31, 2011)

Moammar Gadhafi is dead. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi isn't. Despite his being convicted of planting the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 on the night of December 21, 1988,... more

Mixed Feelings at a Homecoming

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 26, 2011)

After five years in lonely captivity, denied visits by the Red Cross let alone his countrymen and kin, there was Gilad Shalit back on native soil. In his fresh... more

Just Call 9-9-9

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 25, 2011)

It's no secret that the country is in a foul mood -- somewhere between sour and utterly disgusted. A general feeling of dissatisfaction pervades the national discourse.... more

Sic Semper Tyrannis

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 24, 2011)

"When the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever." -- Psalms, 92:7 So may it be with... more

The Obama Bus Tour

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 19, 2011)

Another day, another jobs bill/economic stimulus. And another presidential tour to promote it. This time our president and partisan-in-chief chose North Carolina for the... more

The Anatomy of a Protest

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 19, 2011)

Gravity has its laws courtesy of Sir Isaac Newton, and protest has its authoritative field notes by Eric Hoffer. A longshoreman and philosopher in pretty much that order,... more

What Makes a Great Teacher?

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 17, 2011)

I have no idea what kind of job Andrea McKenna does as a teacher at her middle school in Springdale, Ark. I do know she's just been picked as the only teacher in the... more

Fact vs. Fiction

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 13, 2011)

The line between fact and fiction in politics can be blurry. I'm reminded of that every time I see still another strange quote of Sarah Palin's ("I can see Russia from my... more

Victory and Its Discontents, Or: Law, War and Nonsense

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 11, 2011)

"I told him that I thought it was law logic -- an artificial system of reasoning, exclusively used in courts of justice, but good for nothing anywhere else." -- John... more

Jobs and Us

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 06, 2011)

This era has lost its Edison. Maybe its Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller combined. As an inventor, Steve Jobs kept coming up with Next Big Things... more

Letter to a Businessman

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 04, 2011)

Dear Sir, It was wholly a pleasure to get your email about the recent changes in the core curriculum at the University of Arkansas' campus at Fayetteville -- and... more

When Science Isn't

By Paul Greenberg (Oct 03, 2011)

You could almost feel the fear emanating from the official statement/caveat issued by the director of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Its scientists,... more

Pot Calls Kettle Risky, Or: The Wit and Wisdom of T. Geithner

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 29, 2011)

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand." --Milton Friedman, who was an economist but made sense... more

About That Article You Hated...

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 28, 2011)

Dear Irate, Blame me. I'm the editor here at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette who put that article that so offended you -- and a number of other valued readers -- on... more

Where's the (Tea) Party?

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 27, 2011)

Talk about the wish being father to the thought. Harry Reid, leader of the now diminished Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, once said the Tea Party was a reaction... more

This Is Where I Came In

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 24, 2011)

Why shouldn't the United Nations recognize an Arab state of Palestine alongside the Jewish one called Israel? It wouldn't be the first time. On November 29, 1947, the UN's... more

Names in the News

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 21, 2011)

Dear Dominique Strauss-Kahn, familiarly known as just DSK in haute-financial and political circles: I owe you an apology. I could scarcely keep myself from... more

He Made It Worse

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 18, 2011)

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result... more

The Case For Doing Nothing

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 15, 2011)

One of the chief functions of a president of the United States is to serve as the focus of the nation's gripes. It was only to be expected that Barack Obama would be... more

Mindstream

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 14, 2011)

The mind wanders. You never know where it'll take you -- high peaks or deep depressions, home sweet home or a juke joint. There's no telling what will set the neurons firing,... more

The GOP Field Expands -- and Narrows

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 09, 2011)

It was only fitting that the Republican presidential hopefuls -- or at least eight of them out of a growing crowd -- would be invited to gather at the Reagan Library in the... more

'What Have We Learned From This?'

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 08, 2011)

  It was the question his handful of young students had learned to expect from him. He asked it of us every time we'd finished translating that day's... more

Keep the Faith

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 02, 2011)

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Once this infant republic styled the United States of America adopted a new constitution, all would be well. With a single, energetic... more

Labor vs. Drudgery

By Paul Greenberg (Sep 01, 2011)

"If all the year were playing holidays,/ To sport would be as tedious as to work...." --Henry IV, First Part Like most Americans during this three-day holiday, I come to... more

The Great Explainers

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 30, 2011)

Glenn Beck -- great explainer, talker extraordinaire, and showman in general -- now has left Fox News. When the midway's star attraction becomes just another bore, it's time... more

Socialist Realism on the Mall

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 26, 2011)

Martin Luther King Jr., now has his Washington memorial just where it should be: on the National Mall. But that's about all that's good about it. Because everything... more

The Spirit of Liberty

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 25, 2011)

It was a small victory, but in a great cause: freedom of speech. And any victory in such a cause should be noted. And celebrated. It happened in Little Rock. A group of... more

The Grand Illusion It's Coming Right On Schedule

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 24, 2011)

Charles Mackay published his classic study "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" in 1841, but it remains regularly relevant to the affairs... more

Here It Comes: The Great Quadrennial Seizure

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 22, 2011)

And so it begins. Well before the actual election year. The candidates report for their auditions like inmates volunteering for the asylum's talent show. Or maybe the prison... more

Who's In, Who's Out

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 17, 2011)

Who says presidential debates and straw polls don't matter? The field of Republican presidential candidates has both narrowed and expanded after the... more

GOP Field Narrows

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 15, 2011)

Who says presidential debates and straw polls don't matter? The field of Republican presidential candidates has narrowed a bit after the presidential debate-cum-straw poll at... more

With Their Boots On

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 12, 2011)

They did not hesitate. They never do, the men and women serving with this country's Special Forces around the world. Those forces are well named, for the troopers who meet... more

From Crisis to Malaise

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 09, 2011)

The big news last week was what didn't happen. The United States of America didn't default on its national debt. What did happen was bad enough. The politicians in... more

Lion in a Cage, Hosni Mubarak on Exhibit

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 09, 2011)

No, it's not Louis XVI being trundled off to his execution to the jeers of the mob, soon enough to be followed by Marie Antoinette. No, even those mob scenes... more

Sales Department -- Barack Obama, Manager

By Paul Greenberg (Aug 02, 2011)

Barack Obama put it so persuasively in his address the other night that I had to restrain myself from rushing out to apply for still another credit card. Or just accepting... more

Heretical Thought: The System Is Working

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 30, 2011)

Walking by the bank of television sets out in the old-fashioned, wide-open, sunlit newsroom here in Little Rock, I just had to stop for a minute to see what the panel of... more

The Road to Serfdom: More Debt, Less Leadership

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 27, 2011)

Looking for a clear, concise, simple explanation of why it's important -- indeed, vital -- to hold the line against raising the federal debt limit unless federal... more

The Man Who Told the Truth -- About Himself

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 26, 2011)

Our species has a number of formal names in the scientific-sounding Latin. Perhaps the most ironic is Homo sapiens, man the thinker. Especially when you keep coming across... more

No Time to Go Wobbly

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 21, 2011)

"Governments don't reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth." --Ronald... more

Decline of the English Scandal

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 20, 2011)

Consider this an obituary for a newspaper. The suddenly late News of the World succumbed at 168 this month to a fatal case of shame aggravated by financial calculation.... more

Something is Missing

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 13, 2011)

Walker Percy called it a Repetition, a re-enactment of a past event in the same setting so it can be savored for its own sake, without all that has transpired in the... more

To the Shores of Tripoli

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 11, 2011)

There is a dusty corner of a graveyard in oft-besieged Tripoli that is American soil, made so only the way the dead do. Eight American sailors lie there. Five others are... more

It's...Back! The Misery Index Rises Again

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 07, 2011)

Remember the Misery Index? It tends to reappear whenever the economy exhibits a couple of unwelcome trends in unusual tandem: not just a high unemployment rate but more... more

Chronicles of Higher Education

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 05, 2011)

Higher education keeps getting lower. And not just in this state, where the core curriculum at the University of Arkansas' campus at Fayetteville is being hollowed... more

Of Great Empires and Little Minds

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 04, 2011)

He rose to speak in the midst of a colonial war that would prove more than a colonial war but a whole Novus Ordo Seclorum, as it still says on the dollar bill, or A New... more

War by Euphemism

By Paul Greenberg (Jul 01, 2011)

War is the health of euphemism. As was demonstrated once again when Robert Gates, who now has served as secretary of defense under two successive presidents, appeared on Fox... more

Just One More Thing

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 29, 2011)

Thomas Friedman was right. The world is flat, or at least it seemed so last week when the news came that Peter Falk, aka Columbo, had died at 83. For 30 of those years, he... more

The (Not So) Great Debate

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 17, 2011)

The most revealing comment made during the not very revealing "debate" among Republican presidential candidates came from the moderator, CNN's John King, who asked the... more

Out With Ethics, In With Therapy

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 16, 2011)

.. Officer Krupke You're really a square Dis boy don't need a judge, He needs an analyst's care. It's just his neurosis Dat oughta be coibed... more

Another One Jumps Ship

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 15, 2011)

It comes as no surprise to learn that Barack Obama's top economic adviser is resigning. That's good news, because whatever it says about the current state... more

The Last Domino: Syria

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 13, 2011)

If the news from Syria isn't about another massacre, it's about preparations for one. Bashar al-Assad's once iron rule of that country is being challenged, and... more

Sex Scandal Sans Sex

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 08, 2011)

What's to be done with the strange story, tabloid saga, curious case and general embarrassment that is The Honorable -- how ludicrous that title now sounds -- Anthony Weiner,... more

Custom-Tailored History

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 06, 2011)

Want to know what a major theme of our president's re-election campaign will be, at least in the rust belt? His vice president and running mate unveiled it just the other... more

Education and Its Discontents

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 02, 2011)

Dear Fellow Fan, It was wholly a pleasure to hear from another fan of that endangered species on American campuses, liberal education. It seems the more bureaucratic... more

Justice for a General -- At Last

By Paul Greenberg (Jun 01, 2011)

They got another one. First it was the world's most wanted man, who was living comfortably in a Pakistani resort -- until those Navy SEALs came calling. Result: Osama bin... more

Names in the News

By Paul Greenberg (May 27, 2011)

Well, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, or DSK as he's known to those who follow politics in France or the doings of Big Money anywhere, did promise to give the International Monetary... more

Remembering, We Forget

By Paul Greenberg (May 26, 2011)

The daring raid that brought one Osama bin Laden to justice was not the first such counter-strike against a ruthless enemy. They buried William M. Bower, 93, Colonel,... more

The ScapeGoat Syndrome

By Paul Greenberg (May 24, 2011)

The separate but equal annual rituals are well established in the Middle East by now: First the Israelis observe a day of mourning for those who have fallen in their... more

The Latest Futility: New President, Same Middle East

By Paul Greenberg (May 20, 2011)

Remember our president's speech in Cairo at the bright onset of his tenure, the speech that was going to change everything? But the Middle East being the Middle East, and... more

Critique of Pure Reason

By Paul Greenberg (May 18, 2011)

Lanny Friedlander had pretty much disappeared from the world's sight for 40 years. As a college student back in 1968, he'd started a little magazine in his dorm room at... more

Give Victory a Chance

By Paul Greenberg (May 16, 2011)

LITTLE ROCK -- The other day a scholarly panel at the University of Arkansas' branch here was discussing what everybody else in the country had been talking about, too: The... more

The Learning Curve of Presidents

By Paul Greenberg (May 12, 2011)

There's nothing like bitter experience to test glib theories. But presidents can be remarkably slow learners, such is the power of their more cherished -- and fixed --... more

Pact With the Devil

By Paul Greenberg (May 11, 2011)

Why write a newspaper column when someone else has said it so much better and shorter? The someone in this case is Natan Sharansky, who went from unsuppressible Russian... more

Geronimo! Or: What's in a Name?

By Paul Greenberg (May 09, 2011)

For once I find myself firmly, indignantly and thoroughly on the side of political correctness. It's a strange sensation, but a deeply satisfying one. As if something... more

Got Him!

By Paul Greenberg (May 03, 2011)

What impressed most when the news arrived late Sunday night was the cheering, yelling, flag-waving crowd that materialized almost immediately outside the White House.... more

Enough Drama Already -- the Country's Getting Sick of It

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 28, 2011)

It's no secret that the messianic hopes Barack Obama once inspired have steadily given way to disillusion, and an ever-deepening sense of unease about the direction the... more

He's Serious, All Right, But Not About the Deficit

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 27, 2011)

The elephant in the room is getting harder and harder to ignore. It's not just bigger than ever, but threatens to go on a rampage that could lay waste everything around it.... more

The Bible in School: A Retort to Modern Contempt

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 20, 2011)

There was a time when the Bible and Shakespeare were recognized as twin pillars of not just English literature but Western civilization. Wherever the English-speaking... more

It's Time NPR Grew Up and Supported Itself

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 12, 2011)

Let's see if I've got this right. According to NPR's official line, the greatest hope for objective news reporting on the American airwaves will be lost if its... more

The Doctor Who Saw What He Did

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 11, 2011)

The good doctor could have stepped out of a Louis Auchincloss short story. A fashionable but conscientious professional on the Upper West Side, his ideas, like his Brooks... more

It's Time, Mr. President: A Time for Clarity

By Paul Greenberg (Apr 01, 2011)

When, oh, when is the Obama administration going to recognize the rebels in Benghazi as that country's legitimate government? Those ill-equipped, ill-organized freedom... more

Ahead of the Game

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 30, 2011)

LITTLE ROCK -- It is a truth universally acknowledged among baseball fans: There is life and there is the off-season. The off-season now thrashes to an end in the throes... more

The Return of Stagflation

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 28, 2011)

Some of us have seen this movie before -- and didn't much like it the first time. The cast might have changed but the plot is the same: A president thinks he can keep... more

And Deeper in Debt

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 21, 2011)

If there is one number from the vast jumble the Obama administration calls a federal budget, it's this one: The American economy is projected to grow at the rate of 5 percent... more

Another Snout at the Public Trough

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 17, 2011)

If you're looking for a three-word explanation for why so many Americans grow so cynical about government, you could do worse than this one: Erma Fingers... more

The Thought We Hate

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 16, 2011)

"... if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought -- not free thought... more

The Comings and Goings of the Political World

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 14, 2011)

It would be wrong to say this president had no policy toward the revolution in Egypt. On the contrary, he's had many. One for every day. Every hour. He still does. Just as he... more

When a Lie Isn't One

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 09, 2011)

One of the most abused words in today's political rhetoric has to be "lie." It's used to cover everything from an innocent misstatement to a broken promise to a misleading... more

The Uses of Antisemitism

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 08, 2011)

It was the always observant Mary McCarthy who observed that antisemitism is the one form of intellectuality that appealed to stupid people. But she may have overlooked its... more

Oh, to Be a Teacher in Milwaukee!

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 02, 2011)

Leave it to a prof at the University of Arkansas -- specifically, an economist in its Department of Education Reform -- to go to the heart (and guts) of what all the fuss is... more

On the Road to New Orleans

By Paul Greenberg (Mar 02, 2011)

There are few better ways to go back in time and ever deeper into the South, which are much the same thing, than to drive through the Delta down to New Orleens Land of... more

A Sense of Place

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 28, 2011)

That most Southern of phrases, "a sense of place," came up at a gathering the other evening. It elicited only a quizzical expression from one of the guests, who seemed to... more

The Arab Revolt

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 24, 2011)

It isn't T.E. Lawrence's revolt in the desert, leading a hodgepodge of Arab tribes across the desert in the Arab revolt against the Turks in the World War, Act I. That... more

The Missing Element

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 23, 2011)

I tried to stay interested in Bill O'Reilly's interview with Barack Obama some weeks ago. Honest I did. Duty called but, when I answered, it turned into what seemed a... more

How to Deny a Birthright

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 21, 2011)

One of the uncounted, indeed oft intangible, ways in which the United States of America is an exceptional country is that here citizenship is not a matter of race, creed,... more

Traitor to My Cause

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 16, 2011)

Once upon a different time the communists and their fellow travelers had a simple slogan and strategy: No enemies to the left! It sounds better in French -- pas... more

Traitor to My Cause

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 16, 2011)

Once upon a different time the communists and their fellow travelers had a simple slogan and strategy: No enemies to the left! It sounds better in French -- pas... more

In Defense of Custom

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 14, 2011)

Civility and the need for it is much in the news these days, often enough in a political context, and even more often when pundits and pols are accusing each other of lacking... more

Brave New World

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 08, 2011)

Their faces are a mirror of hope, pride, exhilaration ... in short, youth! Direct from Liberation Square in Cairo, they crowd our television screens here in the West,... more

Sphinx Without a Riddle

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 05, 2011)

Like all modern revolutions since the fashion was introduced in Paris, events in Egypt proceed a la francaise: in a series of successive shocks from right to left... more

Flood on the Nile: Of Great Events and Little Men

By Paul Greenberg (Feb 03, 2011)

Something new is being heard along the Nile: the sound of freedom. It always comes as a surprise to Egypt's rulers. For they have grown up seeing the great river flood, then... more

Games NPR Plays

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 29, 2011)

When it comes to bureaucracies, corporate or public, it's not just jobs that can be delegated but any sense of responsibility. This isn't just a familiar pattern, it's... more

A Perfunctory Performance

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 27, 2011)

"He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and... more

The Christmas Wars (Cont'd)

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 26, 2011)

I see by the Letters column that I'm in trouble with readers again, but when am I not? Which is fair enough. More than fair, since I signed up for criticism when I... more

For (and Against) the Filibuster

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 25, 2011)

Any discussion of whether to end, mend, or generally fiddle with the filibuster might well begin by trying to understand what it is, and why such a practice developed in the... more

On Rule by Experts, or: The New Barbarism

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 19, 2011)

Buried in the mass of directives issued by the new head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was a little ol' regulation putting the government in the... more

The Shattered Glass: On Lee's Birthday, 2011

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 18, 2011)

By now successive generations of historians have set out to capture the uncapturable essence of the man -- the Real Robert E. Lee, they say. And yet, despite all their... more

The Man Who Changed Things

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 13, 2011)

Suppose you had billions and billions of dollars and wanted to set up a foundation that would really make a real difference in the world? You could draw up a mission... more

Chicago on the Potomac: When in Trouble, Call a Daley

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 11, 2011)

Out with one member in good standing of the Daley machine, Rahm Emanuel, and in with another, this time a Daley himself, as the president's chief of staff. The more things... more

For the 112th Time: New Congress, Same Challenges

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 07, 2011)

It's the way every new Congress begins -- with pomp amid familiar circumstances. Once again, the Outs have become the Ins, and the opposition now becomes the majority, at... more

When the Times Turn Awful

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 06, 2011)

You may not recognize the name Robert Macauley. Or even that of his brainchild, AmeriCares. But there was a time -- April of 1975, the Last Days of Saigon -- when he was very... more

Obama vs. Biden

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 05, 2011)

Can the Barack Obama who was a senator just a couple of years ago be the same one who's now president? Some of us can recall a time when Sen. Obama was saying the Surge... more

They're Back! The Return of the Death Panels

By Paul Greenberg (Jan 04, 2011)

They were supposed to be gone. They were supposed never to have existed. Remember the foofaraw over the part of ObamaCare that was going to have Medicare finance, uh,... more