“I can handle big news and little news. And if there’s no news, I’ll go out and bite a dog.” –Kirk Douglas, “The Big Carnival” Read more

THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT. THEY HAVE MORE MONEY. There’s a frustrating clash of polemics, between (roughly) the American right and left, about whether and to what extent poverty is a result of behavior. The Nation crowd accuses the right (and fellow travelers on this question, like Kaus) of blaming the victims; the right plays into that criticism by, uh, blaming the victims, and, at times, acting as if poor people are a different species from the blow-dried, first-pew, well-upholstered upstanding... Read more

“ALL OF LIFE IS A QUOTATION” (Borges): Also from Life on the Mississippi (in fact, from the same page as the previous post): “Immediately after the war of 1812, tourists began to come to America, from England; scattering ones at first, then a sort of procession of them–a procession which kept up its plodding, patient march through the land during many, many years. Each tourist took notes, and went home and published a book–a book which was usually calm, truthful,... Read more

DANCING IN HEAVEN?: I just finished Life on the Mississippi, which was fun, and you’ll get several posts springing off from various Twain statements. But Twain falls into an annoyingly common trope when he writes, “The loneliness of thiws solemn, stupendous flood is impressive–and depressing. League after league, and still league after league, it pours its chocolate tide along, between its solid forest walls, its almost untenanted shores, with seldom a sail or a moving object of any kind to... Read more

MAILBAG: Capital punishment, WWJD?, and Seattle. As always, I’m in plain text and others are in bold. Good points from KairosPerson: I’m not going to take on the whole issue of the death penalty, largely because I am somewhat muddled about it. I think I’m in favor of it, because the basic moral compass inherent in us all points towards it, and we are supposed to listen to that compass. (We are also supposed to educate and service that compass,... Read more

We were born to be princes of the blogosphere… (More on that song presently!) Ted Barlow is back! Istanblog: Vast amounts of interesting reading matter, from an American (? I think) blogger in Turkey. Link via Unqualified Offerings. Mark Shea: Nicaea has no future! Sursum Corda: Post on pacifism. (I have not forgotten that I promised more on this. It’s coming. I got dispirited when Blogger ate a post I spent way too long on. But expect post tomorrow-ish.) I... Read more

“Imagine a dish like this married to a mug like Benny McBride. The naked and the dead.” –Don McGuire, “Armored Car Robbery” Read more

SHAMED HAS THE BEST REVIEW of that Brookhiser George Washington documentary, which I hope to see soon. Read more

“I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE.” Heartbreaking, infuriating NYTM story. Parents bully daughter into unwanted abortion. Over the weekend, I read Frederica Mathewes-Greene’s terrific book Real Choices: Listening to Women, Looking for Alternatives to Abortion. Don’t read it on the bus unless you actually like crying in public. The odd chapters are women talking about why they had abortions, while the even chapters are Mathewes-Greene’s advice to pregnancy center volunteers. A lot of things stood out–Mathewes-Greene’s adamant refusal to demonize men,... Read more

THE “CREATIVE CLASS,” AND THEIR CREATOR: Seattle is also a “creative class” city. This means that it’s got lots of techies, artists and assorted similar beasties; it’s tolerant and diverse and all that sort of thing; and it’s gaining in population. Richard Florida, professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, came up with the term “creative class” after investigating why so few of his students wanted to stay in Pittsburgh after graduation. He tried to figure... Read more