Bookworm Room

The law of unintended consequences is a fascinating one.  I blogged the other day about the tax on restaurant food that’s eaten “here” as opposed to “to go.”  In cafes, smart people order food “to go,” and then consumer it here.  The result is garbage cans filled with food containers.  Oy, the pollution! Here’s another, [...]

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One of the main reasons I’ve kept my politics under wraps (stating my views if confronted directly, but not engaging in heated political debate otherwise), is because I’ve been worried that it would affect me professionally.  In my neck of the woods, most of my potential clients had Obama bumper stickers on their cars and [...]

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One of the things that ObamaCare proponents keep saying (and please add a whining note in your mind as you read the following) is that “the current system isn’t fair.”  It’s not right, they say, that, in a rich country, some people have premium health care, while others are forced to go to a free [...]

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Every year, there’s that one December weekend when every event converges.  This past weekend, which really ended only yesterday, was that weekend.  Friday we went to the Cirque du Soliel.  I’ve seen every show since the Cirque burst onto the national scene in the mid-1980s.  This show was exquisitely beautiful, with some of the most [...]

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There’s a certain romance to a dramatic flame-out.  When a celebrity simply becomes passe, though, that person becomes as much a joke as Andy Williams or the Bay City Rollers.  Enter Obama, according to Rich Lowry: Barack Obama’s vibe used to be a cross between JFK and Beatlemania. Now it’s fading into “Oh, him again?” [...]

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I don’t know if it’s a local, state or federal tax, but when I go into a restaurant that provides both eat-in and take-out services, I always order take-out, regardless of whether I plan to sit at one of their tables or hit the road.  Why?  Because the government imposes a tax on food that’s [...]

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You know how, every holiday season, there’s that one weekend that is the busiest weekend of the whole year?  That’s my weekend.  We attended a show last night in the City, my son has a concert today in the City, we have a business dinner tonight on the Peninsula, tomorrow my son has another performance [...]

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One of the things I like to do best as a lawyer is to take another lawyer’s draft and edit it.  I change the content a bit, move ideas around and tighten the language.  Usually, the end product is more flowing and elegant than the original.  I decided to amuse myself and do the same [...]

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My daughter is a very reluctant Girl Scout, only because her best friend, an equally reluctant Girl Scout, is in there due to parental pressure.  In Spring, we sell cookies, and I buy the minty kind.  Might have to stop selling and buying, though, because it turns out that, not only have the Girl Scouts [...]

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Just for the fun of it, I’m balancing editing pleadings for a client by editing Obama’s Nobel speech.  There’s actually good stuff to be mined in that speech, but it’s completely buried in a sea of words, pointless prepositions, self-referential statements, and wandering ideas.  Slow work, but fun, and I’ll publish my re-write later today.

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The weekly Watcher’s Council winners are up, and they show what an incredible race it was for the top.  I know that I had a very difficult time casting my vote this week, since I was more than usually impressed with the admissions: Council Submissions First place with 2 2/3 points! – Wolf Howling – [...]

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Go to Tom Elia’s post, following the link, and then feel inspired for the rest of the day.

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I’m not a Woody Allen fan, but occasional scenes in his movies stick in my memory.  There’s one scene I remember, although I don’t know if I really saw it or if my fertile imagination invented it.  It was from one of his late 60s/early 70s movies.  As I recall, it shows him riding on [...]

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I’ve been reading the news assiduously today, but just don’t feel as if I have a coherent message or analysis in my own brain that’s worth passing on.  I know it’s late in the day for some of you, but consider this an open thread. Meanwhile, a little Christmas music from Marin County, which as [...]

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One of the things I like about the Drudge Report is the way that Matt Drudge, almost as if he’s writing free form poetry, assembles little essays by aggregating headlines.  He’s a master at this.  Despite the fact that the headlines are out there for anyone else to assemble, no one has the artistry to [...]

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Before I post this week’s Watcher’s Council submissions, I want to let you know that we’re all very excited to welcome American Digest to the Watcher’s Council.  Also, after a break, Wolf Howling has returned.  Those of you not already familiar with this blog are in for a treat.  And now, this week’s quality reading [...]

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For my birthday, my husband gave me an Amazon Kindle.  It’s a sensible gift for me, since I read voraciously and often find myself waiting around in various places because of carpools.  Since the Kindle fits in my purse, I always have something to read. The only problem with the Kindle is the expense.  Hardback [...]

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My post title is a bit of an exaggeration.  It’s not clear that the science is fraudulent.  It’s just clear that the scientist is fraudulent: A sweeping California regulation aimed at cutting hazardous pollution from diesel engine exhaust could be derailed after a key state researcher on the project was caught in a lie about [...]

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Steve Crowder who is not, so far as I know, married, used the GLSEN scandal as the starting point for some really sweet thoughts about marriage: When I really think about it, it seems as though the only kind of sex at which Hollywood will ever choose to poke fun… is the kind that occurs [...]

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Through the Bush years, those in the grips of BDS likened him to Hitler based upon their contention that he was running the most oppressive administration ever in American history.  They made this claim despite the fact that, insofar as I know, no protestor was ever imprisoned merely for having protested.  (This is separate from [...]

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Britain’s NHS, which is government-run (i.e., Communist) medicine, has, unsurprisingly, Communist outcomes.  Lots of people die unnecessarily in England under the government’s beneficent care: British health care is little better than that of former Communist countries, which spend a fraction of the billions poured into the NHS. A survey published yesterday by the Organisation for [...]

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Perhaps because they often tend to live in tightly packed urban environments, when it comes to the gun debate, liberals always forget that the cops cannot be relied upon to be there at the moment a crime is happening.  In a city it’s entirely possible that there are lots of police patrolling a small geographic [...]

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At first, when I watched White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, I thought he was a buffoon. I then began to think that his gibberish was a rather clever approach to hiding unpalatable news. I’ve now realized that Gibbs is, above all, the perfect symbol of the Nanny State:  he believes that he and his [...]

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Here’s something to strike fear into your heart: Rumbles of a deal on a government-run insurer and fading public attention have left some Republicans increasingly anxious that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is close to the 60 votes he needs to pass health care reform. Reid suggested Monday that the Senate endgame may be [...]

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