Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do you no longer post commentary on the website?

In recent years I have attempted to stop posting commentary on numerous occasions, but always seem to find my way back to it. As many know, I do a great deal of personal reading and research on a daily basis regarding a variety of subjects, most notably US foreign and covert policy and those conflicts initiated and sustained because of it, militarism and its ongoing cultivation and protection of the client state framework, and the declination of human rights post 9/11.

Over the last decade I have found that, despite repeatedly posting commentary on numerous subjects that includes detailed background information, the need to constantly repeat that process is routinely required. As you can imagine, that inevitably becomes a rather laborious and frustrating proposition, especially when the archives of the site have, for most of the website’s history, been replete with entries that have addressed and readdressed the questions, comments, and arguments of readers.

It is not an easy thing to comment on highly complex fluid situations when detailed background information must also be constantly provided to ensure clarity – especially when that information is out there for others to research. Over the years, commenting on current events has altered my perception of ‘blogging’. I no longer believe that it is a trustworthy platform given that it is far too easy to use it to disseminate fragmentary information that fails to provide serious examination of all of the factors involved. In fact, and while many might argue to the contrary, I believe that the ease with which it can be used to corrupt information is no different than those techniques used by much of the mainstream media. That is not to say that there are not weblogs authored by various individuals that are of import, only that they are, for the most part, managed by organizations devoted to ensuring the sanctity of highly researched, in-depth analysis. Tom Dispatch, for example, is a weblog that is a part of The Nation Institute, a nonprofit organization whose Fellows include highly regarded individuals that possess expertise in numerous areas. They include the likes of Eric Alterman, Naomi Klein, Tom Engelhardt, Chris Hedges, Scott Horton, and Wayne Barrett. Englehardt’s website alone has included pieces by guest authors such as Traiq Ali, Frida Berrigan, Pratap Chatterjee, Noam Chomsky, Patrick Cockburn, Glenn Greenwald, William Hartung, Dahr Jamail, the late Chalmers Johnson and Howard Zinn, among dozens of others of note. A website of that scope is, of course, dedicated to the routine publication of pieces of significance, and is therefore maintained to ensure the existence of a standard that has been largely abandoned by many.

All of that said, that level of dedication is not something that I can commit to given a variety of responsibilities in my life. Were I to, it would require a commitment equivalent to that of a full time job.

That said, please visit the Daily Reading page if you’re at all interested in what I’ve been reading of late. There you will find links to numerous articles that I’ve found interesting. While I use my delicious account as a repository, I should note that I also keep separate, ongoing notes on my home computer that are not published or linked to. Most of that information has to do with ongoing research into numerous topics, primarily foreign covert interventions over the last 60 plus years, that are applicable to current events.

2. What happened to the archives from the past fifteen years?

Given that the website has used different publishing platforms over the years, some information has been lost, some has been saved to an external hard drive, and some still resides on my home computer. As it stands now, I have no intention of re-adding past content to the current website as it would require importing literally thousands of entries. 

3. What happened to Dear San Diego? Will you ever bring it back?

I have all of the Dear San Diego entries saved, but do not plan to re-publish them at this time. I also do not have any plans to continue the series at present.