The Boogeyman, Goonery and Five for Fighting
Sean MurphyThe ongoing three-part series of the life and untimely death of NHL enforcer Derek Boogaard is an essential piece of reading for any hockey fan. And it's a timely…
Repent Sinners; Sean Penn Is A Saint
Sean Penn is a saint. Did that get your attention? Good. Since we know that there are no such things as saints, and we also know that the people we…
Beethoven, Barenboim, Bliss
Beethoven again. It seems impossible to believe that Daniel Barenboim is only 68 years old. It feels like he has been around forever. Possibly it’s because the music he plays–the…
“Better call on evolution” or, Our Cultural Koyaanisqatsi
ON THIS DAY: On May 25, 1925, John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. I always enjoy the chance to invoke the incomparable Bill…
Freedom Riders
ON THIS DAY On May 20, 1961, a white mob attacked a busload of "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery, Ala., prompting the federal government to send in United States marshals to…
Oh, and reducing the debt, too.
An ostensibly rhetorical question I read (and get asked) quite often these days is "Why bother?" Why bother getting invested in politics? Why bother reading all those papers and blogs…
Death Letter Blues
Pretty remarkable story in yesterday's NYT about AP reporter Michael Graczyk, whose not necessarily enviable beat has been covering executions. Some excerpts, below. There is something so 20th Century about…
The Terror Card, Torture and You or, The Evil of Banality
"A perfect storm of ignorance and enthusiasm." That quote, attributed to a former CIA official who courageously remains anonymous, seems about as perfectly succinct a crystallization I've yet read regarding…
Sriracha With Love
The question, really is not what I use Sriracha with; it's what I don't use it with. For instance, I have not begun putting Sriracha (a.k.a. The Rooster) in my…
Ignorance Is A Warm Gun
Bob Herbert is often angry, and he's almost always correct. While most columnists (even at the liberal NYT) pussyfooted around the issue of the Bush Administration's ineptitude and brazen lawlessness, he…