American Consequences - May 2019

I came back with a 60-minute tape-recorded on-the-record discussion of Volvo PV544s, 122s, 140s, 164s, and P1800 Ghia-bodied sport coupes. But I thought it was valuable information. Old Volvos are an important element in certain vital security issues, such as your kids starting to drive... Years later, when my eldest daughter turned 16, I got her an old Volvo – a 2007 XC70 with 100,000 miles on it. Of course – 16-year-olds being 16-year-olds – she had an accident. She was driving down a back road with a Toyota in front of her and a Honda

COLIN POWELL IS A MAN I RESPECT AND ADMIRE. And I really like him too, even though I’ve met him only a few times. I interviewed Powell in the early 2000s, when I was working for The Atlantic Monthly and he was Secretary of State. The Atlantic Monthly is a magazine that takes itself very seriously, something Secretary Powell does not. For example, he tells a great story about the relentless tendency of government to govern , no matter what...

Shortly after 9/11, the then- Secretary of State bought a first-class, one-way airline ticket to New York City, doing so at the airline ticket counter, with cash, and without a reservation.

behind. A deer ran in front of the Toyota whose driver slammed on the brakes. My daughter rear-ended the Toyota, and the Honda rear- ended my daughter. The Toyota’s trunk was bashed

As a result, he was fast- tracked to a full body

search and complete luggage dissection – from TSA agents who recognized him . “Hi, Secretary

Powell! We’ll be done here in a moment, Sir!” My interview – The Atlantic Monthly being The Atlantic Monthly – was supposed to be very serious. (Probably about the Powell Doctrine or something.) But Secretary Powell likes cars and so do I, and we spent the hour in his vast, trappings-of-power, Secretary of State office talking about old Volvos. They’re a favorite of Powell’s. My Atlantic Monthly editors were not wildly pleased when in almost to the rear window... The Honda’s hood was crumpled up to the windshield... The Volvo? A broken taillight. My eldest daughter is now off at college, while her younger sister is driving the XC70. And she’s about to pass it down to her kid brother. Thank you, Colin Powell, for more than just the Powell Doctrine. – P.J. O’R. on a personal note

American Consequences

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