Free Republic

Feb. 23, 2006 - Four months ago, Bode Miller sat across from me in the bar of a New York City hotel and shared his idea of what a perfect two weeks in Torino would look like. “For me,” he said, “the ideal Olympics would be to go in with all that pressure, all that attention and have performances that are literally tear-jerking, that make people put their heads down because they’re embarrassed at how emotional they’re getting, that make people want to try sports, talk to their kids, call their f---ing ex-wives—and come away with no medals. I think...

The Iraq War isn't one. It looks like a war. It has all the pain and suffering of wartime captured in human stories with individual names that scream in anguish, pain, and unspeakable love and pride. Measured by the long, dispassionate yardstick of history, however, the Iraq War is one battle in a much greater, grave World War IV. The distinction is significant to more than military historians. A battle can be lost and the war still won. The Iraq War, in context, is a battle which may be lost in either Iraq or the U.S. It may be lost...

Starting in high school, I played a then-popular game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for many years. Players take the part of characters in a fantasy setting, while one player in the group presents situations, problems and enemies for the others to encounter and deal with. Part of the game, which pits the players as heroes battling evil foes, involves one's ethical alignment. Unlike real life, morality in the game is easily codified. There are basically two polarities, Good versus Evil, and Law (meaning order) versus Chaos. The first pair is self-explanatory. The players' characters are generally the good guys,...