Even Jonathan Swift, who said promises and pie crusts are made to be broken, might have marveled at the limited shelf life of Barack Obama’s promise of a “balanced” deficit-reduction plan — ...

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

It’s a time when we all at least for a moment believe in bewitchment, when dimensions slip their boundaries, life and death aren’t so far apart, and fabulous costumes rule the days and nights. It’s ...