Today's paper has a good piece from reporters Hiran Ratnayake and Ginger Gibson — "Immigrants on fringes in debate's foreground" — on the desperate situation faced by illegal immigrants in need of health care here in America. The article starts with one story: When Miriam was 15, her parents trespassed into the United States from Mexico. Now in her mid 20s, the Wilmington resident still doesn't have citizenship but has become familiar with the health care system. In the spring,... Read more
I wouldn't have guessed it was possible for Gov. Mark Sanford, this quickly, to become only the second most-embarrassing politician in South Carolina. There are more than 300 million people here in the United States of America, and out of all those people we only need to find 535 members of Congress. More specifically, there are 668,668 people in South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District and they one needed to find one of them to serve in the House of Representatives.... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 85-91 On Monday morning, before flying to New York, Buck Williams needs to meet with spiky Alice about the final details of his upcoming romantic farce: Fortunately … he didn't see Verna until after he had dropped off his key to Alice and was driving out of the lot. Verna was driving in, and she did not see him. Phew. After the way he's treated her, Buck knows that Verna wouldn't just look the other way if... Read more
It's a well-established fact that vampires can't abide crosses. There seems to be some confusion, however, as to why this is so. I should note here, before we go on, that I believe in vampire stories. I don't mean that I believe these stories are "literally" true — they're not that kind of story. But I believe they are true stories — stories by which we tell ourselves true things so that we do not forget them. Vampire stories tell... Read more
Wal-mart is now advertising a new "low" rate for cashing checks of only $3. Any such rate seems like it's too much, since the check is your money, and paying $3 for your own money is a rip-off. But, as Wal-mart points out, $3 is a lot less than many of their competitors charge for this same dubious service. Those check-cashing competitors, Wal-mart says, can charge as much as $8 per check. Wal-mart's TV ad for this check-cashing service actually... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 82-85 Buck and Bruce need to discuss Buck's impending confrontation with the Antichrist, so they head out to a local restaurant and settle into "a booth in a dark corner of a noisy pizza* place." A busy restaurant seems like an oddly public place to discuss their ultra-secret strategies for their covert resistance squad. When the topic of conversation is vigilance against your enemy's spies, you'd think somewhere less conspicuous might be preferable. But this is probably... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 78-82 Buck Williams is brooding in his new apartment: He turned on a ball game but ignored it, keeping the sound low. With an utter lack in these books of any indication of the weather or the time of year, I keep forgetting when the Rapture took place. I seem to recall we deduced a late-winter or early-spring setting. So it must be too late for football and too early for baseball, making this a basketball game... Read more
Someone is watching all of the outsiders "Cash Cow (A Rock Opera in Three Small Acts)," Steve Taylor"Cashflow," Leisure Process"Casino Boogie," The Rolling Stones"Castaway," Mark Heard"Casualty," Vigilantes of Love"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)," David Bowie"Catapult," R.E.M."Catch a Falling Star," Perry Como"Catch My Disease," Ben Lee"Catch That Angel," The Swirling Eddies"Catchcloth," Twitchen Vibes"Cathedrals," Jump Little Children Read more
So we're not quite done yet with the GooFi videos. These "exposés" of alleged Satanism in rock & roll are full of stupid, unbelievable assertions. This, sadly, makes them relevant for considering what has become one of the most urgent political issues of our time — the widespread embrace of stupid, unbelievable claims. The GooFi videos are helpful because they let us consider this phenomenon in a nonpartisan context without the complicating passions of politics. I also think Good Fight... Read more
It has been brought to my attention that Ken Ham, the man behind the Creation Museum and Answers in Genesis, is originally from Australia and not the United States. So when I wrote last week of America as "the land of P.T. Barnum and Ken Ham" the general point about hucksterism here in the U.S. was correct, but technically … Wait, hold on — Australia? You can't be a young-earth creationist and be from Australia. I think if you're a... Read more
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