With the final Hobbit film in theaters in a week, it’s natural for one’s thoughts to turn to Middle-earth. A few weeks ago I watched the first two Hobbit films back-to-back. A few weeks before that I watched the Rankin-Bass Return of the King. And something else, too. I read Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Arwen stories,Continue reading “Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Arwen Stories”
The Senate Intelligence Committee and Its Torture Report
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA’s torture of prisoners in the “war on terror” was released today. We’re far past the euphemisms that have been used for years — we didn’t subject people to “enhanced interrogation techniques.” No, we tortured people. Torturing people didn’t produce the results that we wanted. Torturing people didn’t produceContinue reading “The Senate Intelligence Committee and Its Torture Report”
Why Tom Wolf Lost York County
The above-the-fold article in yesterday’s York Sunday News caught me interest immediately — “Why Tom Wolf lost his home county.” Wolf, of course, is Pennsylvania’s incoming governor; last month he defeated, quite handily, Tom Corbett. Corbett, a Republican, was, by any measure, a widely unpopular and ineffective governor, and Wolf ran on what I wouldContinue reading “Why Tom Wolf Lost York County”
Mrs. Raffles
John Kendrick Bangs was an American satirist in the Gilded Age and a contemporary of Mark Twain. He’s largely unknown today, and I wouldn’t know of him were it not for his Sherlock Holmes writings. He wrote several comic novels; one of them, A Houseboat on the Styx, features Sherlock Holmes in the afterlife afterContinue reading “Mrs. Raffles”
The RNC: Normalizing the Unthinkable
Is the Republican Party trying to forment an armed rebellion against the government? I am forced to ask this question because of the fundraising e-mail I received today from the Republican National Committee. The e-mail from RNC press secretary Kirsten Kukowski begins: In just ONE week, under the tyrannical leadership of President Obama and theContinue reading “The RNC: Normalizing the Unthinkable”
The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness
While listening to “The Queen of Air and Darkness,” the third episode of Brian Sibley’s adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King for BBC Radio 4 for a third time, something I had overlooked or had passed over me came to the fore and I had an unexpected insight. Am I an atheistContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness”
Morning in America
The Republican National Committee emailed me again over the weekend. The first time was to get my input on who I thought their 2016 presidential nominee should be. I’ve done this before, and there wasn’t anything new to it, so I let it pass by. Yesterday, they sent me this: Allyn, “It’s morning again inContinue reading “Morning in America”
The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone
“I realize it’s hard to believe, but the great dream you and Lancelot once shared won’t ever die. One day, like the phoenix, it will rise again.” — Merlyn A little more than a week ago I wrote about the first episode of Brian Sibley’s adapation of T.H. White’s The Once andContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone”
Harlan Ellison’s Batman ’66: The Lost Episode
Batman ’66: The Lost Episode DC Comics Written by Len Wein, based on a television treatment by Harlan Ellison (inspired by “The Crimes of Two-Face” by Bill Finger) Art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez For the last two years, DC Comics has been publishing original comics based on the Adam West Batman television series, ranging fromContinue reading “Harlan Ellison’s Batman ’66: The Lost Episode”
Harry Truman’s Defense of Liberal Principles
Yesterday, I discovered this remarkable campaign speech, delivered by Harry S. Truman in 1948. What fascinates me is that what Truman said nearly seventy years ago could be said today without changing a word. To whit: Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of the United States must make a choice betweenContinue reading “Harry Truman’s Defense of Liberal Principles”