From the "crow's nest" of my own ship of life - not for me a comfortable billet below decks, snoozing with others in our swaying hammocks - I gain a long-range perspective on what is before me, around and below me, and what is on the horizon. This is the sixth anthology of commentaries and essays collected from Rule of Reason and other weblogs over the years. They focus on current politics, Islam, freedom of speech, various cultural issues, and miscellaneous...