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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…
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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…
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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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PREACHERS
The basic question that this essay proposes is “Where are the preachers now that you need them?” According to news accounts, we are now into the seventy-seventh day of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Pious pilgrims, such as myself, have searched for answers. We have made inquiries along ecclesiastical lines but…
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REFUDIATE
The Duchess of Alaska, Sarah Palin, had a pronouncement over the past weekend. On two occasions, which were recorded in newscasts, Sarah used the word “refudiate.” When she was asked to explain what “refudiate” meant, she said that William Shakespeare made up new words at various times in his career. Those of us in the…
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MAKING PROGRESS
Let us assume that I am an historian and that the date is in the year of 2510. If my arithmetic is correct, that would be about 500 years from now. I believe it would be fair to say that such an historian might conclude that the times in which we are currently living were…
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LEVI AND K-ROD
The dramatis personae of the following essay will cause historians to rate it as a tour de force or as a complete omnibus essay. The dramatis personae include Levi Johnston, the Wasilla, Alaska stud who impregnated Sarah Palin’s daughter, and Sarah Palin’s husband who claims Eskimo ancestry in his parentage. Moving in a southward direction,…
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JUST LIKE ME
Article VI of the United States Constitution provides that there shall be no religious test required of anyone aspiring to work for the United States government. This applies to any office from local dog catcher to the presidency. For example, in 1942, I sought a position as a private in the United States Army. There…
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SPEAKING UP
Those of you who have come to know me in the past 60 years are probably aware that I harbor certain prejudices. I see nothing to praise, for example, about the New York Yankees, particularly when they are under the direction of George Steinbrenner. On the other side of the coin, it has always struck…