Ezra's Essays

Category: Current Event

  • ASHCROFT ENDORSES CRISCO, LILLIE CARR AND JACOB’S LADDER

    No essay on Bush would be complete unless it included a thought or two about the Assemblies of God follower in Bush’s cabinet, John Ashcroft. He believes that God’s hand is on his shoulder in every move he makes. Ashcroft – The Ultimate Embarrassment John Ashcroft, Bush’s selection for the United States Attorney General, comes…

  • What to do about… GEORGE BUSH’S REBATE CHECK

    Last week, there arrived in our mailbox a life changing letter. It was a check for $600. In the first place, it was mailed from Austin, Texas which now seems to be at the center of Bush’s universe. The United States Treasury is on 15th Street in Washington, but for this purpose was moved to…

  • THE GLUMS

    Since September 11, which only happened last week, I have had a fairly bad case of the “glums.” This is a new noun. The dictionary shows glum as an adjective meaning broodingly morose, dreary and gloomy. So I have constructed a neologism, a new word, a noun, the glums, to mean in a funk and…

  • TWO UNSPEAKABLE FOOLS: JERRY FALWELL AND PAT ROBERTSON

    Two days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, Jerry Falwell appeared on Pat Robertson’s Television show called “The 700 Club.” That was September 13, 2001. Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times reports that Falwell and Robertson claim “that an angry God had allowed the terrorists to succeed in their deadly mission because…

  • A NICKEL’S WORTH OF ADVICE FROM THE OLD GEEZER

    My search for a high-paying job with bonuses and stock options is not a magnificent success story. Last year, I thought I had the New York Mets’ manager’s job sewn up, but they gave it to Willie Randolph largely because he is younger and he is a Brooklyn native. When the New York Knickerbockers demoted…

  • NEVER SEND TO KNOW FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

    “NEVER SEND TO KNOW FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS; IT TOLLS FOR THEE” John Donne 1572 – 1631 These lines are being dictated on a gloomy Friday afternoon at the end of December, 2006. Ordinarily my outlook on life is less than exuberant during the period between Christmas and New Year’s. Today’s news has sent…

  • A SYLLOGISTIC LAMENT FOR A WOUNDED PREACHER

    In my longer than expected life, a minuscule amount of time has been directed toward the peccadilloes of preachers and priests caught in sexual scandals. I am not a Christian and do not intend to become one. Nor do I intend to become a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, et. al. I assume…

  • COMPASSION BEYOND ALL REASON

    This is an essay that was run over by the events of this week. For two or three weeks, it had been my intention to write an essay having to do with civility. I had thought that the title of the proposed essay might be, “Civility, Decency, and Compassion Toward Others.” But as I said,…

  • BE A MAN

    William Meredith Carr must have had a terrible hangover on October 10, 1881, because he named his newly born son Ezra Edgar. That mistake was compounded when in 1922, that Ezra passed that name on to me. It has always been my belief that only the Holy Ghost or Moqtada al Sadr has a more…

  • DOCTOR, MAY I HELP YOU WITH YOUR WORK? A TREATISE ON PRETENTIOUSNESS

    This essay is intended primarily for those who practice the art of medicine. The first part is devoted largely to those who practice ophthalmology. The second part refers to all of the physicians who are currently in practice. The title of this essay will inform you that it is my intention to offer some cogent…