Bookworm Room

A lot of people, if asked, will say that Ayn Rand’s novels were tremendously important in shaping their political viewpoints.  Indeed, someone told me that Alan Greenspan cited Rand as one of his inspirations. My question for you:  Have you read any novels that have played an important role in molding your p0litical beliefs?  I’m [...]

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I just wanted to say a public thank you to those of you who trotted over to my tip jar on its very first day in operation and gave so generously.  Even though I’m enough of a blogging fanatic that I’ll never tell any of you to ante up, unless you want to see the [...]

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Don Quixote’s Though for the Day:  Saw a bumper sticker today — “Jesus is a liberal”  That’s too glib.  True, in his time, Jesus was a liberal.  But today, he would most certainly be a conservative.  After all, most liberals don’t believe in Jesus’s God or his scripture.  Indeed, many of them mock His followers.  And Jesus passionately [...]

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I’m sorry posting today was limited, at best.  I had wall-to-wall appointments and meetings, and am now starting the carpool rounds. I also took time out to do something nice. Some months ago, I was able to convince my 10 year old son that, rather than getting more stuff in his life, he should take [...]

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I’ve been blogging now since September 2004, and I’ve been doing it with a compulsive fervor that’s been unabated for more than five years now.  This is not a job, it’s a passion.  I’d do it if I had to walk through blizzards barefoot to get to the computer.  It did occur to me, however, [...]

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Well, as you can see, I’m back posting again, but you guys are shut out of comments.  Management is working on the problem. Until then, please know that I miss you guys.  To me, even though I always get to start things off with one of my overwrought bloviations, this blog ultimately is a salon, [...]

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First of all, thanks to every one of who wrote asking after my blog. You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that you were paying attention and that you cared what was going on. I have to say that this whole experience has made me realize how tenuous the conservative’s hold on [...]

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Michael Yon, Joan Rivers and a little boy clutching the Play-Doh his grandparents gave him.  That looks like a peculiarly disparate list of people but, in fact, all three people are bound together by one thing:  the TSA Department of Homeland Security. As you already know, on Monday, the TSA Customs detained and handcuffed Michael [...]

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It’s always interesting to hear my husband, a militant atheist, and me, a respectful agnostic/atheist, talk about the Bible to the kids.  Today, my husband tackled the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.  He told the kids that the whole point of the story is to remind religious people that they have to be blindly [...]

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It’s your chance to participate in a totally unscientific poll about Obama and the economy. Since I’m iPhone blogging, here’s the unvarnished link: http://js.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quiziframe.php?poll%20id=46067

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Silly me!  In the furor that was the last weekend of the winter break, I forgot to post the winners from last week’s Watcher’s Council votes.  It was an incredibly strong week of submissions, so the fight was fierce, hence all the ties: Council Submissions First place with 4 1/3 points! – Wolf Howling – [...]

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I’m reading a very enjoyable novel right now that is completely tuned in to the way in which the Left operates, especially when it comes to the media and academia. The writer is completely tuned into the name calling that substitutes for informed debate. For example, when the book’s protagonist, Paul, learns that Leftists starting [...]

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The server suffered a hard drive failure; hence my absence this morning and afternoon.  Blogging will resume immediately.

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Good ad: Massachusetts has drowned itself in the Kool-Aid since 1972, but maybe a strong Republican candidate, a strong message, and an insane Democratic party can make the difference. UPDATE:  If you’d like to contribute to Brown’s campaign, here’s his website.  As Kate said in the comments when she provided the link, the Dems are [...]

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There’s been a fair amount of talk lately about Brit Hume’s “come to Jesus” suggestion to Tiger: I don’t have a whole lot to say about that, other than it goes a long way to explaining why Hume left the MSM.  Not only could he not say that when he worked for ABC, he’d probably [...]

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For the first many years of our children’s lives, we had a film, not a digital, camera. My husband decided yesterday that we needed to scan all of those pictures onto my computer. We’ve been scanning for tens of hours now, with tomorrow lining up as another scanning day. He’s also been doing something very [...]

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In Marin County, spanking a child is a very dangerous activity.  Although spanking is not illegal, it’s enough to entangle you with Child Protective Services and, from that moment on, parenting life as you know it is over.  Despite the danger, when my kids were little, I spanked them.  With two unguided missiles, sometimes the [...]

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As you know, when it comes to his writing, I’m something of a Mark Steyn groupie.  I just like the way he thinks and puts it down on paper, or in pixels, I guess.  I’m less enamored of him on air, since he’s too discursive.  Writing hones that brilliant intellect, and you get articles such [...]

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Jennifer Rubin riffs off of a Politico article which comments on Obama’s peculiar reaction to the Flaming Panties bomber, but professes bewilderment was to why the reaction was as strange as it was: The Obami don’t believe in their heart of hearts that we are on a war footing. The president wouldn’t label Fort Hood, [...]

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Here’s a great video from 1940, highlighting some of the wonders of the City of San Francisco as it once was: I have a few comments: [UPDATE:  Welcome, Instapundit readers!  Now that you've seen SF as it once was, you may find interesting my post about SF as it now is.  In it, after describing [...]

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When parents think about what a school should do for their children, they think in terms of the three “Rs,” plus a lovely layering of science, history, and other subjects that maketh a full (and employable) man.  The politically correct Nanny State, however, cares little for education and a great deal for ideology.  It should [...]

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I’ve got a few minutes here before the family vortex sucks me back in, so I wanted to share with you some of the articles I found most interesting this morning.  After all, just because the calendar changed doesn’t mean the forces working around us have stopped: The New Editor has a compilation of videos [...]

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