Left Behind, pp. 458-461 From the outset of this series — and many times throughout — we’ve discussed the question of whether our point-of-view protagonists should be considered unreliable narrators. Neither of them is reliable, obviously. That’s clear from the very first chapter of the book in which Rayford Steele and Buck Williams take turns congratulating themselves for things of which they ought to be ashamed. Nearly every adjective these characters apply to themselves is inaccurate. Nearly everything they say... Read more
When I was a kid I had a Carl Yastrzemski model bat. Always felt sorry for the guy at Louisville Slugger who had to burn that name into the barrel. I’m always reminded of that bat when I see the heavy rotation ads for this product. That’s a positive connotation — who doesn’t like Carl Yastrzemski? Guy had 3,419 hits, with 452 homers back when 400 home runs still meant something. He won baseball’s triple crown in ’67, something nobody’s... Read more
“You’ve got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn’t; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always... Read more
Due to my usual combination of forgetfulness and sloth, I failed to note the passing last week of three important milestones. 1. Negligent Irresponsibility Day Seven years ago on August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing entitled, “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S.” The memorandum noted that al-Qaida intended “to follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Youssef and ‘bring the lightning to America.'” The memo also noted “some of the more... Read more
The Associated Press reports on a success story from Washington state, “Olympia [Wash.] mobile home park residents become owners“: Ten months after being told to pay $95,000 each for their lots or leave, the 30 residents of the College Street Mobile Home Park formed a cooperative and raised $1.7 million to buy the property with the help of federal, state and county grants and low-interest loans. Participants are expected to sign off on the deal Sept. 12. Without the deal,... Read more
Yes, I’m slightly side-tracked this Friday. I’d intended to continue our sojourn through the pages of the World’s Worst Books, but I find myself distracted by the fact that those books and their awful ideas have become an issue in the presidential campaign. This ad from John McCain’s campaign is a disgrace. Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, claims that the spot was conceived as “a light-hearted ad that pokes fun at [Obama].” Brian Rogers knows that’s not... Read more
Imagine you are a filmmaker, an auteur who has just released a short film to the waiting public. Every image, every word was painstakingly chosen to convey a single message. This single-mindedness of theme is reflected in the tiniest details — down to the style and coloring of every letter that appears onscreen. You edit and re-edit until every second, every frame reinforces this single theme. Your finished product is seamless, relentless, forceful and uncompromising. Now imagine that after all... Read more
This isn’t the way I figured it would be … “Many Rivers to Cross,” Elvis Costello & The Attractions “Many Rivers to Cross,” Harry Nilsson and John Lennon “Many Rivers to Cross,” Jimmy Cliff “Maps and Legends,” R.E.M. “Maralinga,” Midnight Oil “March of the Clouds,” Phil Keaggy “March on Down the Line,” Erasure “Marie,” Randy Newman “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” The Decembrists “Mark’s Song,” Randy Stonehill “Mars,” Lori McKenna “Mars Needs Women,” Tonio K. Read more
So what we seem to have here is a no-win situation, a conflict between fundamental rights. Millions of people in America live in manufactured housing. Most of those people own their homes, but not the land underneath those homes. Those millions of people are thus in an extremely vulnerable situation. Landowners might evict these homeowners at any time, or they could raise the rent on the land so that the homeowners could not afford to stay there. When that happens,... Read more
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