Razing Cain

. American public life is an embarrassment. This is not a relative judgment. The fact that it’s better than Nigeria’s should not be a comfort. Russia? Well, we’re not killing journalists yet, but that may begin with their not doing any work that would merit it by powers threatened by them. Why bother? Far from […]

CineFile – Elmer Gantry

Something about yesterday’s post made me think of the great Burt Lancaster performance in the Richard Brooks film of Sinclair Lewis‘s “Elmer Gantry.” One way or another, they’re always selling salvation.   Related articles Does Perry Have an “Elmer Gantry” Problem? (politicalwire.com) Elmer Gantry and the Cult of Personality (patheos.com) CineFile – Nobody’s Fool (sadredearth.com) […]

How We Lived on It (38) – Amen, Brother

The riddle is “What’s the difference between Rick Perry and Osama bin Laden?” The answer is “Mohammed Atta.” The mainstream news media played carnival barker to this man’s entry into the GOP presidential primary race, then immediately turned on Perry’s implication of treason against Fed Chair Ben Bernanke as if such behavior from Perry – […]

The GOP’s Media-Manufactured Messiahs

  They might have learned something from the original breakfast flake of modern times Ross Perot. But the news media do not learn. They speculate, they trumpet, they pander, they shill – “It’s news! How can we not cover news?!” And who made it news? You’d think certainly they would have learned from Rudy and […]

Michele Bachmann and Christian Taqiyya

Much has been made in recent years of the Islamic doctrine of Taqiyya, which permits and even promotes, according to some, religious concealment and dissimulation in certain contexts and in confronting non-Muslims. What is it that Michele Bachmann did on Meet the Press this Sunday but engage in her own form of Taqiyya on behalf of her […]