Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
This is my day to write about dogs. I noted earlier today that the Islamic horror over dogs isn’t even a religious proscription, it’s a cultural one. This is also my day to write about sacrifice, since I posted on the death of Michael Mansoor, who threw himself on a
Continue readingThis story, about Thomas Quasthoff, a world renowned bass-baritone is an amazing and wonderful one: Thomas Quasthoff titled both his autobiography and a recent CD compilation “The Voice,” underscoring the bass-baritone vocal instrument that has made him an internationally acclaimed singer. But it is safe to say that the main
Continue readingDanny Kaye had his first staring role in 1944’s Up In Arms. It’s quite a silly movie — with “silly” being a redundant adjective because we’re talking about Danny Kaye (whom I loved as a child and like as an adult). In the movie, Kaye plays a hypochondriac who is
Continue readingJoe Rosenthal shot the iconic Iwo Jima photograph that shows the Marines raising the second flag on that blood-soaked island. As Rosenthal made clear, this was not a posed photograph; it was not false propaganda: Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote that he almost didn’t go up to the
Continue readingBeautiful little story here about the human capacity for altruism and self-sacrifice. I’m still wiping away the tears. UPDATE: Sometimes people take something and run with it. Just see what Kathryn did with this one little link.
Continue readingIt’s stories such as this one that remind you why humans, unlike any other animals, have been able to survive in every part of the globe but for the extreme poles: Three Mexican fishermen have been rescued after drifting for about nine months across thousands of miles of the Pacific
Continue readingI’ve been depressed lately by the sheer volume of scary and bad news: the Israeli/Hezbollah war and its pathetic outcome, with Israel actually believing that signing on to the defeatist UN ceasefire will improve her standing in world opinion; the planned London airplane bombings, which included mothers intentionally using their
Continue readingI wrote here about my Dad's Italian POWs in North Africa, and how charming they were. One of the things he found especially memorably was how they coaxed gardens out of the desert. Since it's Memorial Day, it's probably no coincidence that I found this NPR story, complete with amazing
Continue readingI'd like to think that my friend Miriam, along with her mother and sister, were three of the voices singing this song in Bergen-Belsen a mere week after liberation from the Nazis.
Continue readingIf you're feeling down, you have to check out one of Phibian's latest, which will cheer you up in a minute. Indeed, I was cheerful right until the last paragraph where he boasted about his splendid physique. Clearly, this man has never been pregnant!
Continue readingShe wasn't a close friend, but she was someone I knew for many years. Her husband is a braver man than I. I doubt I'll see the movie: Despite the horror depicted on the big screen, San Rafael's Jack Grandcolas gives Universal Pictures' newest release, "United 93," a rousing thumbs-up
Continue readingI glanced out my office window, looked over the hills and the water, and saw glowing in the sky a perfect rainbow. What a lovely gift. Since it's been raining ridiculous amounts in my neck of the woods, one hopes that the rainbow is a sign of a remembered promise:
Continue readingThis is a nice story about a man who did a decent thing (although he didn't realize, at the time, quite how decent it was): When Shahla Ghannadian's husband accidentally left her purse on a park bench during a visit to Sausalito, the family didn't have much hope of getting
Continue readingMy parents, despite fairly awful childhoods (the Depression, abandonment, Nazis, internment, major battles) did pretty darn well. They lived normal lives, raised children, made a lovely home, etc. Lots of people do that, which may be why I’m confused about why we in America make so many excuses for disadvantaged
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