Rock Bottom "Bush Approval Hits New Low," reports ABC News. Their most recent poll finds that 60 percent of the country disapproves George W. Bush's handling of the job of president, and only 39 percent approves. This follows a CBS News poll earlier this week that found only 33 percent of the country holds a favorable view of President Bush and only 19 percent a favorable view of Vice President Dick Cheney. How low can they go? Two of my... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 171-186 Jerry Jenkins sets the tone for Chapter 10 with a Bulwer-Lytton-worthy opening sentence: Cameron Williams convinced himself he should not call his and Dirk Burton's mutual friend at Scotland Yard before leaving New York. This chapter features Jenkins doing his best impersonation of Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum: Late-night globetrotting flights, coded phone conversations, a rendezvous in a seedy London pub — all presented with that unique Jerry Jenkins flair. Buck is headed to London to... Read more
I want to touch what my eyes haven't seen Social Distortion, "Ring of Fire" Roddy Frame, "Don't Dream It's Over" Soul Coughing, "Circles" REM, "Endgame" The Choir, "Sad Face" Bruce Springsteen, "My City of Ruins" Bonnie Raitt, "Angel From Montgomery" The Sundays, "Here's Where the Story Ends" Sonia Dada, "You Ain't Thinking About Me" Buddy & Julie Miller, "Orphans of God" Read more
Interesting posts on both Eschaton and Seeing the Forest on "Operation Desert Fox" — the 1998 bombing attacks on strategic sites in Iraq. That campaign almost overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein by accident. Thomas E. Ricks of The Washington Post describes some of this forgotten history in a Dec. 23, 2003 profile of Gen. Anthony Zinni, who oversaw Operation Desert Fox as the general in charge of Central Command at the time. "I think a weakened, fragmented, chaotic Iraq,... Read more
Will Bunch has a thought-provoking post — "The New Philadelphia Experiment: Saving the Daily News" — about, among other things, the survival of newspapers in a digital age. This got me to thinking about the weather. On the off-chance that you don't already have this bookmarked, here's the link to the National Weather Service. Just type your ZIP code or the name of your hometown in that box on the left and you'll get a detailed and accessible extended forecast... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 165-170 My least favorite book by C.S. Lewis is one called The Problem of Pain. Lewis eventually seemed not to like it very much either. If you've ever seen the movie or the play Shadowlands, then you're familiar with the circumstances — his autumnal marriage to Joy Davidman and her slow death from cancer — that led Lewis to write a much better book on the subject. That later book was called A Grief Observed. Where The... Read more
Not everyone can carry the weight of the world … Hedwig & the Angry Inch, "Wicked Little Town" da, "If You Want To" Elvis Costello, "Everyday I Write the Book" Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, "Balloon Man" Aimee Mann, "Wise Up" Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On" Violent Femmes, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" Sam Phillips, "How To Dream" Ani DiFranco, "Little Plastic Castles" REM, "Talk About the Passion" Read more
And also with T.J. Maxx, Ross' and all the other name-brands-for-less discounters. The problem is they make it more difficult to segregate the suckers. We had a nice system going. The gullible, self-important and stupid had been convinced to advertise their membership in these categories through brand-name icons. Consider the Polo logo — the little horse-and-rider symbol proudly worn on the left breast of the prodigal. You can easily find a well-made Oxford shirt for $20 or less. You can... Read more
This photo shows Rosa Parks (second from right) with Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Seeger, Charis Horton and Ralph Abernathy at the 25th anniversary reunion of the Highlander Center. Mrs. Parks was at the reunion because she had attended a training session at Highlander in the summer of 1955, studying the techniques and philosophy of nonviolent social change. The subject was of interest to her as a long-time, committed activist who had served as an officer of her local NAACP... Read more
So the word from on high is that we've all got to start keeping track of our time at work. As in writing down everything we do and how long it takes. As in: 9:01 – 9:08 a.m. Checked office e-mail. Read note from supervisor about need to keep track of time. 9:08 – 9:10 a.m. Received verbal assurance from supervisor that: A) They're "serious" about this; B) It wasn't his idea and that he also views it as a... Read more
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