This quotation from G.K. Chesterton, posted as a comment to Glenn Greenwald’s heroic column at Salon.com, is too apropos not to help circulate:
It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself.
Meanwhile, I’m working 12-hour days at Bard trying to get all the seniors graduated. Like giving birth to dodecatuplets, only bigger. See you when the semester’s over.