Missed these yesterday: Groucho Marx and Graham Greene share Gandhi's birthday, October 2. Ron suggested in comments back on Eliot's birthday that Graham Greene is another excellent candidate for "Torment the Mustard Seed." An excellent suggestion. The Power and the Glory, Greene's tale of a "whiskey priest" and the broken faith of a broken man, is one of the great Christian novels of the 20th century. Yet, sadly, I'm sure they've never heard of it at your local "Christian Book... Read more
J.M. Coetzee has been awarded the Nobel prize for literature. I'm afraid I've only ever read one book by Coetzee, and it was a short one — the novella Waiting for the Barbarians. My one encounter with Coetzee, however, was a case of the right book at the right time. If his other works have had a similar impact on his other readers, then Coetzee's Nobel honors are well deserved. Barbarians is an extended parable about guilt and responsibility, knowledge... Read more
So I spent the day away from the computer in the waiting room at Sears Auto Center. Fortunately, it seems to be a slow news day. The top stories are all Old News, stale evergreens that tell us nothing new: 1. Rush Limbaugh is a racist blowhard. 2. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a cad with a history of mistreating women. 3. There is little evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and no such weapons have been found. Yawn. Isn't there... Read more
In honor of Mohandas K. Gandhi's 134th birthday, a reminder of his "Seven Social Sins": Politics without principles Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality Science without humanity Worship without sacrifice. Oddly enough, these same seven points constitute Ralph Reed's strategy for winning the state of Georgia for the Republican Party in the 2004 elections. Read more
Read it right from the horse's ass mouth: "My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated. I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew, which I regret. "I love NFL Sunday Countdown and do not want to be a distraction to the great work done by all who work on it. "Therefore, I have decided to resign. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the show and... Read more
From The Washington Post: Gay marriage is clearly not prohibited by the Constitution, but a majority can use its electoral power to rewrite the Constitution in order to prohibit minorities from enjoying the rights it guarantees. Therefore I support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. (Okay, yes, this was mainly an excuse for the punchline shorter Gary Bauer. That's him on the left.) Read more
It's the first of the month, which means A) rent is due, and B) the latest version of Washington Monthly is online. Plenty of interesting stuff up over there, as usual, including my favorite segment of every Monthly, Charles Peters' "Tilting at Windmills" column. Some choice selections: Bush's latest package of tax cuts went into effect on July 1. In July, the nation's payrolls declined by 43,000 jobs. Well, you say, it's not fair to judge the results of the... Read more
Rush didn't say anything that hasn't been said in a thousand conversations in the Greater Northeast or in the bars of Macdade Boulevard, but by saying it as an outsider, he has inadvertently dragged this ugly, covert prejudice into the sunlight and some sports fans may be seeing it clearly for the first time. Read more
Sen. Mitch McConnell demonstrated remarkable discipline — well, remarkable something — in an interview last night on CNN with Paula Zahn. Apparently, McConnell's handlers, or his GOP strategists, or somebody, encouraged McConnell to stress that the Justice Department personnel in charge of investigating the leak are "career professionals." Here's McConnell (and keep in mind the entire segment was only about three minutes long): The important thing to remember here is that career Justice Department employees, not political appointees, are carrying... Read more
Richard Leiby's profile in tomorrow's Washington Post is going to make it harder for his critics to continue their smear campaign: His fingers threaded a string of ornate black worry beads, common in the Arab world. They're from his days in Baghdad, where he was acting U.S. ambassador. In 1990, while sheltering more than a hundred Americans at the U.S. embassy and diplomatic residences, he briefed reporters while wearing a hangman's noose instead of a necktie — a symbol of... Read more
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