|
Monday, November 01, 2004 |
|
Ricky Nelson wasn't there, but a lot of people I've known forever were: A friend since First Presbyterian kindergarten circa 1967* was in town, along with all three of his brothers, and a crowd of familiar folks on their parents' terrace. Indian Summer. A big iron pot of Brunswick Stew. I was supposed to duck out early and buy Elijah a suit for his bar mitzvah, instead I stayed all afternoon drinking beer. Got to teach the boy about priorities as he becomes a young man. *I had Miss Omohundro one year, and Miss Price and Miss Flora the next; at least some of the teachers were married, but that's what we called them. 3:53:27 PM  comment []
|
|
Lots of nice feedback on my column endorsing Kerry, including positive comments about the tone from people who will be voting for Bush. One reader says he had been too disgusted to vote, now he's going to pull the lever for the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Now if he could just vote in Ohio or Florida instead of the safely red state in which he lives... 3:34:40 PM comment []
|
|
Please don't make me eat any more tiny little candy bars and miniature bags of M&Ms. 2:50:34 PM comment []
|
|
Democracy ain't pretty, blog edition: JR gets dozens of comments at his editor's weblog. Some even make sense. 10:38:33 AM comment []
|
|
What a loathsome article by Fred Barnes in this morning's WSJ (not posted). "How many Gays do you know?" asks the headline. The piece begins: "A Republican official met recently with the Washington staff of a national newspaper. The official quickly became frustrated with the inability of the 20 or so journalists to understand the world of politics beyond the East Coast. How many of them, he asked, actually knew a born-again Christian? Only a couple of hands went up. And how many knew a homosexual? Every member of the paper's staff raised a hand." There's some solid, scientific polling for you. Barnes: "(E)xperienced journalists well acquainted with the gay community are scarcely familiar at all with conservative Christians." Funny, I could swear I know plenty of gays and born-again Christians. In fact -- and you'd better sit down for this one, Fred -- I know some gay Christians. Of course, I'm not a Washington journalist. And we know that Washington and New York journalists are the only ones that count. Barnes is correct that gay rights are a hot political issue. But there's not a word in his piece about what's right, and how history will judge this debate -- only a lecture on political strategy and political advantage. It takes Barnes four paragraphs to get around to using the word "elite." As in, "Political elites have a snobbish disdain for social issues. They fear that by embracing these issues -- especially opposition to gay marriage -- they'll be accused of bigotry or intolerance." Is it possible that they actually fear being bigoted or intolerant -- that there is principle involved, that candidates are willing to stand up for the rights of Americans, even ones Fred Barnes is willing to attack for political advantage? I guess that kind of thing doesn't occur to Washington journalists. 10:30:05 AM comment []
|
|
NC Rumors: "Rachel Lea Hunter, a Republican Cary lawyer running for the state Supreme Court, has battled the impression in her own party that she's a fringe candidate. 9:09:41 AM comment []
|
|
I am so over this election. Is we done yet? 9:02:57 AM comment []
|
|
My life as suburban cliche: Yesterday I raked some leaves on a warm fall afternoon. With a rake, kids, that's what we used before blowers; rakes make a nicer noise. Then we carved pumpkins, the cool 7th-graders forgetting to be cool as they warmed to the task, and got various kids into costume. Heavy Halloween traffic til about 7:30. The dad-tax was imposed upon the childrens' candy-haul. Our fanged jack-o-lantern survived the night, too. 9:02:11 AM comment []
|
Last update: 3/26/2005; 7:57:08 AM .
