Ezra's Essays

Category: 2010

  • A TWOFER

    The title to this essay is a phonetic one as spoken by Americans.  Its real derivation comes from baseball.  If a hitter gets two hits in his four or five at-bats, he will announce that he had a “twofer.”  (If he was hitless in his times at bat, he would mournfully say, “I had an…

  • SLEEPING WITH SYLVESTER

    Luncheons around this house consist primarily of foie gras and truffles. As I was consuming my sixth helping of truffles, news came over the radio and television that shocked me.  It seems that Larry King, the ace broadcaster on the CNN network who does wide-ranging interviews, is now being sued for divorce by either his…

  • UDDERLY REDICULOUS

    Ezra’s Essays have been distributed to the movers and shakers around the world for the past 13 years.  In all that time, there have only been a few occasions when the proprietor of Ezra’s Essays has been moved to make an award.  In the current case, the proprietor of Ezra’s Essays is moved to award…

  • WHO CHANGED THE RULES?

    My breakfast was interrupted this morning by a report from Washington that Peter Orszag, the Budget Director for President Obama, had fathered a baby child out of wedlock.  He reports that the little child, a girl, is a beautiful creature.  It was also confirmed that during the pregnancy of his girlfriend, Mr. Orszag was romancing…

  • TURN BACK TO GOD

    Last Saturday, August 28, Glenn Beck, the Fox broadcaster, held his much-heralded event in Washington on the Mall. He says that choosing the 47th anniversary of the “I have a dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King was an accident on his part. He claims that he did not know that on August 28, 1963…

  • THE SACKING OF TONY HAYWARD

    On Monday, July 26, the board of directors of the British Petroleum Company, known now as BP, met to consider the fate of Tony Hayward, its Chief Executive Officer.  I think that it was a foregone conclusion that BP had to separate itself from the honorable Dr. Tony Hayward. In the British way of doing…

  • SEND IN THE CLOWNS

    Steven Sondheim is a magnificent composer of music.  A few years back he wrote a Broadway play called “A Little Night Music.”  The most prominent song in the play “A Little Night Music” is called “Send in the Clowns.”  I will not bother you with the full lyrics but I must tell you that the…

  • Thanksgiving 2010

    The title to this essay has underlining under the date of 2010.  This is to distinguish it from an essay that was written here four years ago called “Thanksgiving 2006.”  Since that essay of four years ago was written, there have been some encouraging developments. The players in this essay are Jenny M and her…

  • GIVING A (Insert Adjective) RAT’S ASS

    In 1942, we were at war with the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.  In the summer of that year, I joined or enlisted in the American Army.  During that period dating back to 1940, there was a draft system in place which compelled young men to submit to military discipline in, most likely,…

  • WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SILENCE?

    When I was a youngster, John Gualdoni ran a grocery store in Brentwood, Missouri.  It was located on North and South Road.  The people in the grocery store were the clerks Bob and Louie, the butcher, and John himself.  We had to put up with what Bob and Louie had to wisecrack about as well…