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NOVEMBER 8, 2010
When my wife and I went to the basement this morning to begin our exercise routine for the week, Miss Chicka turned over the calendar and announced that it was November 8th. I wrestled with that thought about why this date seemed significant. Quite soon I came to realize that on November 8, 1945, I…
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PURGATORY POLITICS
As a general principle, I try to avoid writing about religious matters because my views on that subject are well known. Simply put, I am a non-believer. But in the past week or so, I almost became a believer. There was a development that simply had to be commented upon, which is the subject of…
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RAMPANT NOSTALGIA
This may be a twice-told tale in that in 2005 I may have dictated an essay on the same subject matter. But I have always held that the fun in story-telling belongs to the story teller. It is a lot like prayer. The person who prays feels good about himself when his prayer is finished. …
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PUTTING A PRESIDENTIAL FOOT IN IT
Yesterday was August 22, 2010. In the op ed column of The New York Times, there were great editorials from Frank Rich, Tom Friedman, Maureen Dowd, and Nicholas Kristof. In addition to those columnists, there were essays in The Washington Post. The reason that these essays and editorial comments were written has to do with…
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“…SMILING BASTARDS…”
Curiously, the oil spill by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico brings to mind the fate of the Mary Ellen Carter. That boat was Irish and presumably it served in the fishing trade. According to the song, as it approached its harbor the captain was drunk and the ship hit a rock and sank. …
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STUPIDO, STUPIDO, STUPIDO
Last week, which would have been the early part of June 2010, there was an announcement by two high-level vice presidents of the General Motors Corporation, that they were going to get rid of the “Chevy” trademark. As most Americans would do, I interpreted that to mean that General Motors was going to rid itself…
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UPON BEING CUCKOLDED
I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject of being cuckolded. While my expertise is negligible or almost non-existent, I must say that when an example of cuckoldedness takes place and is confirmed by one of the participants, I am obliged to pay attention. The incident in question took place in two…
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SCALLIONS AND WHISKERS
Scallions and whiskers have absolutely nothing to do with each other but they occurred to me at about the same time as I was preparing to write an essay, so I have thrown a blanket over the both of them. Here are the two elusive subjects. Taking scallions first, I have been a devotée of…
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IT AIN’T NATURAL
My father, who was a taciturn man, didn’t have much to say while he was alive. He has been a resident of the Oakhill Cemetery in Kirkwood, Missouri for 52 years and, one way or another, in recent essays he has turned up a good bit more than he did when he was alive. In…
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RIGHT AWAY – LOOKING FORWARD
Like most Americans, I have followed events in Washington, which are a form of theater. Granted that it is a deadly theater, it is theater nonetheless. When members of this Democratic administration try to explain what is being done, they overwork the words “looking forward.” A few weeks earlier, they overworked the word “transparency.” Robert…