Why this won’t end World War IV

Tue, 03 May 2011 11:01:00 +0000

When the al-Qaida attacks on 9/11 were followed by a debate about whether the campaign to defeat Osama bin Laden and his network should be thought of as police work or war, I was surprised. The idea of a "war on terror" seemed obviously inappropriate, even as a metaphor. In its structure and modus operandi, al-Qaida and other terrorist networks were and are more like international criminal organizations -- drug smuggling or prostitution cartels, for example -- than like states. The U.S. military might supplement law enforcement efforts, if countries protected bin Laden, as the Taliban regime did in Afghanistan before it was deposed and as it now appears elements of the Pakistani government must have done for many years. But apart from raids like the one in which bin Laden was killed, the chief responsibility for identifying jihadist networks and disrupting planned acts of terrorism would lie with intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials.

“The Middle” just middling

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:07:00 +0000

ABC's "The Middle" (premieres 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30), a comedy about living in the nondescript middle part of the country, resides somewhere in the nondescript middle of the pack of new fall comedies.

For a slapsticky sitcom about a Midwestern family filled with misfits, "The Middle" is better than you'd expect. But compared to this fall's surprisingly good new comedies – NBC's "Community," Fox's "Glee," ABC's "Modern Family" and HBO's "Bored to Death" -- "The Middle" is middling at best.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a shot. The pilot certainly has its charms, most of them centering around matriarch Frankie Heck's (Patricia Heaton) continual frustration with her not very charismatic, distinctly untalented, at times downright weird kids. Of her youngest, Brick, she says, "You know how you think giving a kid a cool name will make him cool? Well, it doesn't." Brick is nerdy. He whispers to himself. His backpack is his best friend. At a parent conference, his teacher wonders out loud whether he's just quirky or "clinically quirky":

Salon.com > The Middle

Why this won’t end World War IV

“The Middle” just middling