Left Behind, pp. 54-57 Here the story switches back to Buck Williams, who is proud to have been “the first passenger from his flight to reach the terminal at O’Hare.” The others apparently didn’t realize it was a race. They were slowed by the steeplechase of human misery along the way, not realizing that the needy and the suffering were obstacles to be avoided instead of opportunities to help, they couldn’t keep up with Buck. Suckers. The Greatest Investigative Reporter... Read more
The Guardian's Simon Jeffery today offers a helpful Q&A backgrounder on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. I have not previously written here about Darfur, where more than a million people have been displaced and 30,000 have already died from hunger or at the hands of violent militias. The United States Congress has declared, without a single dissenting vote, that the situation in Darfur is a case of "genocide." It is not clear that in doing so, however, they fully... Read more
"Bush Outlines Re-election Agenda" is the headline MSNBC gives this AP article. Set aside the dubious use of the word "re-election" there and read the article itself. It makes no mention of a second-term "agenda." None. It contains no "outline." It doesn't even mention one or suggest that the president has an agenda that might be outlined. It's a horse-race piece — all sizzle, no steak. It's possible, I suppose, that President Bush, at this campaign stop, did in fact... Read more
So before leaving work I read this article and realize that M. Night Shyamalan's new film The Village — which opens today — was filmed off of Cossart Road in Chadds Ford, Pa. That's a bit off the main road, but it's also about halfway between the newsroom and my apartment. Cossart Road is also the site of vague local legends. So why not? The moon is almost full, but by the time I turn off of highway 52 onto... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 50-53 Here we learn the sad fate of co-pilot Chris Smith. Ten pages earlier, Smith established himself as a villain by violating Rayford Steele’s odd notion of chivalry and accepting the airline’s offer of a bus ride back to the terminal. I noted earlier (see “Scream morality“) that: Left Behind has its own moral rules that function like the rules for slasher flicks that Jamie Kennedy’s character outlines in Scream. By violating those rules, Smith dooms himself... Read more
Every autumn, on the weekend after Halloween, thousands of people gather at a farm near Millsboro, Del., for the World Championship Punkin Chunkin. Among this crowd are the world's elite chunkers. They come from across the country and around the world, bringing with them an array of fearsome machines. Over the past two decades, this strange event has grown from its humble beginnings. It began as these things often begin, with a small group of friends, a pile of pumpkins... Read more
Left Behind, pp. 49-54 Right. So. Where were we? While trying to find some way home from the airport, Rayford Steele checks his mail and finds an in-joke between the book’s co-authors: Besides a pile of the usual junk, he found a padded envelope from his home address. Irene had taken to mailing him little surprises lately, the result of a marriage book she had been urging him to read. … That’s probably a reference to one of these books... Read more
Bill Clinton gave a rousing speech last night at the Democratic Convention (transcript here). The former president again pointed out that, since leaving the White House, he has become a millionaire: For the first time ever when America was on a war footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top one percent. I’m in that group now for the first time in my life. When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty... Read more
Tim LaHaye responds to this Nick Kristof column with a letter to the editor in The New York Times: Comparing my book "Glorious Appearing" to "fundamentalist Islamic tracts" is a real stretch. The Islamic radicals who bomb the innocent are not nice people! Should Christ overlook their rebellion and welcome them into his kingdom? They would ruin it for everyone. You don't choose to live around people like that today; would you want to spend eternity with them? LaHaye portrays... Read more
What's the best yardstick for measuring a typical American's income? Sifting through the online publications of various government agencies I find two very different measurements frequently used. One is the per capita personal income. (Figures for 2002 are on page 6 of this .pdf file from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.) For the country as a whole, per capita income was $30,941 in 2002. By state, Connecticut was the wealthiest at $42,706 and Mississippi was the poorest, at $22,372. Eligibility... Read more
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