Bookworm Room

The tiny victory:  Oakland’s Museum has canceled an exhibit of illustrations by Palestinian children showing their torture at the hands of Jews.

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It’s tempting to blame it entirely on the California legislature, but that’s not fair.  California voters elected this legislature and this governor.  I’m just in the suffering minority, and one of these days, I’ll end up voting with my feet and taking my taxes with me.  (But it’s really hard to leave the Marin climate [...]

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What it is, isn’t really clear! Consider me absolutely floored by this article on Sarah Palin, appearing in the Liberal Temple of Orthodoxy, the New York Times. It’s actually a fair assessment of something that Sarah Palin said that was neither remarked upon by Liberal Media, nor by the Conservative Media. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/us/10iht-currents10.html?_r=4&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1315569719-RpR5AuX40tZqZl8xOiUg7g “Strangely, she was [...]

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I’ve been thinking about Barack Obama’s speech.  It was a peculiar speech, even by Obama standards.  Frantic in tone, pressed in pace, disorganized, hysterical in its demands, extreme in its promises, dishonest in its characterizations, with divisiveness and discord as its goal.  It was not a nice speech, in any way shape or form.  Nor [...]

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I inadvertently found myself listening to the White House Dossier’s live stream of the President’s speech, so it occurred to me that I might toss out some comments if inspired.  However, since the man bores me to death, I thought that calling this post “Live blogging” was a bit optimistic.  Zombie blogging seemed more apt [...]

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You’re thinking my post title is a joke, right?  Wrong.  It’s the God’s — er, I mean Gaia’s — honest truth: With the cooperation of politicians and grassroots organizations, Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans. The piece of legislation, called [...]

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I’m reading all of these very interesting posts over at the Watcher’s Council, and trying to pick my favorites.  It’s tough: Council Submissions Simply Jews – Iran irked by errors in Qurans from China The Noisy Room – The Hate That Never Ended The Colossus of Rhodey – Evidence that racism must not really be [...]

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I don’t know where I stand on the godliness scale, but I have achieved cleanliness.  I tidied, dusted, vacuumed, steam cleaned the carpet, and scrubbed the floors.  There’s still dust around (it’s a dusty, doggy, kid, husband kind of world), but I think I managed to rout about 80% of it, which is a pretty [...]

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There’s only one problem with this article challenging liberal myths about conservatives and about liberals’ own standing in the world:  the liberals aren’t going to read it.  For example, if Mr. Bookworm were to read it, he might appreciate that while I’ve moved marginally right (mostly challenging labels, more than belief systems), he has moved [...]

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I didn’t watch the debate (broadcast, as always, during peak “caring for family” time), but I’ve read the blogs and pundits and I know who won:  Perryromney (or was it Romneyperry?). I know from at least one post debate poll that Paul won, which I find peculiar. I know that Bachmann looked and sounded lovely, [...]

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The murderous frenzy unleashed on 9/11 is an awkward size.  Had it been smaller — a handful of people, or even a hundred people, killed at a mall or a hotel — we would have noted it as a tragedy powered by a crazy person (or two) in thrall to bad ideas.  We would have [...]

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I grew up in a home filled with PTSD and survivor’s guilt.  My Dad was hospitalized with what was then called “shell shock” for months after El Alamein.  My mom was a (Japanese) concentration camp survivor.  Although their ordeals ended long before I was born, their personalities were definitely shaped by their experiences. I know [...]

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Since I’ve been whining about migraines recently, it seemed fair to give you guys an update.  Today, I visited with a neurologist who specializes in migraines.  She talked to me for a little while to confirm that I do actually have migraines and not some other type of headache (and yes, I definitely do).  We [...]

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David Solway reviews a friend’s book, and opens with one of the best openings I’ve seen in any book review: I begin with a disclosure. Salim Mansur is a friend of mine, so if I were in any way skeptical of his deposition I would not have consented to write this review. Friendship is too [...]

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I’m racing out the door, so cannot comment on this article about who really holds the moral high ground.  I can just urge you to read it.

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The City That Knows How, which is how long-time San Francisco columnist Herb Caen viewed his beloved adopted city, is at it again, this time with proposed legislation saying you can’t enter restaurants nude, nor can you, as a nude person, sit down in a public space without putting something under yourself first.  How about [...]

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Maybe Ben Howe is right, and it’s just simply protocol that the military men and women assembled for some speech or another that Obama gave were dead silent until given permission to applaud: Or maybe they just don’t like him very much: Could be both, of course.

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As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been a bad mother, and introduced my kids to 70s music.  (Sirius satellite radio is the vehicle for this mental and spiritual corruption.)  My 12 year old son, who is a pretty cool kid, heard Tony Orlando and Dawn singing “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Old Oak Tree,” and [...]

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The San Francisco Chronicle has a long article pointing out that the inks young people are injecting into their skin for their hip, edgy, fashionable tattoos are often poisonous.  Not immediate, “grip your throat and fall down frothing” poison, but slow stuff, like carcinogens and things that interfere with neurons.  In other words, slow poisons. [...]

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For those readers under 40 (and I know I have at least one), let me open this post by explaining what a Potemkin Village is.  The story goes (and it is a story) that when Catherine the Great traveled through late 18th century Russia, her lover and go-to guy Prince Gregori Potemkin would hasten to [...]

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I wrote a post about Rick Rescorla some years ago. He was one of the true heroes of 9/11 — his foresight, quick-thinking and heroism enabled him to save almost 3000 lives on that terrible day, although he gave up his own in the process. Today, the Daily Mail, a British paper that is a [...]

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I feel like a very bad mother.  I’ve introduced my kids to . . . Bee Gees: Tony Orlando and Dawn: Abba: And they like it. I’m expecting a knock on the door from CPS any minute now for abusing children with 1970s music. My kids have retaliated with Adele: (and did you read about [...]

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Does it get better than this, from 1953′s Kiss Me Kate? The dancers are Ann Miller, Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, Tommy Rall, Carol Haney and Jeanne Coyne.  The music and lyrics are Cole Porter’s.

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Jane Fonda is back in the news today, with a British tabloid reporting on Fonda’s one big regret in life:  she didn’t sleep with Che. Actually, the whole thing is a bit more nuanced than that.  The Daily Mail report looks at Fonda’s life in the 1970s.  (A previous story examined Fonda’s bed hopping in [...]

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Flash mob perfection: It’s hard to imagine any piece of music better suited to the dynamics of a musical flash mob. Hat tip:  Power Line

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