Today, I honor Bhumibol Adulyadej, born on this day in 1927. It was just two years ago that I returned from a Christian mission trip to Thailand with, among other things, an appreciation for that country’s ruler, the world’s longest-serving current head-of-state, and the longest-serving monarch in Thai history.
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Wanna know why the Man In Black is really trapped on the island? It’s not because he’s malevolence, evil, or darkness, and it’s not because Jacob wouldn’t let him leave. It’s because he hasn’t overcome his issues. And what are his issues? Up to now, all we know is that he seems to be terribly frightened of adolescent boys. Hopefully, we’ll get a better answer next week, but as ridiculous as this might sound, I actually think there may be something to it. [Read more →]
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” And politicians from both parties are taking that advice to heart by trying to get Congress — in the wake of the Times Square bomb scare — to ban gun sales to those on the terrorist watch list.
That is, they want to strip the constitutional rights of citizens without due process. [Read more →]
February 28, 2010
I dream there is a campus celebration and two girls are practicing their magic act. One of them can have her arms penetrate solid objects despite the fact that her thumbs are tied together. I appreciate this trick and I would like to invite these girls to perform in a show with me. Unfortunately, the word comes down that the puppets are running amok. We must kill them. That’s not too hard to do since they’re made out of cloth and they’re not that strong.
There are two trees — one on my front lawn and one in my backyard — that insist on dropping spiked gumballs all over the place. The spiked balls start out green in the summer and after dropping turn brown and hard. Many of them stay in the trees through the fall and turn brown there, and then, in the winter when it snows or rains hard, they start to fall. In the spring as new leaves grow in, some of the spiked balls fall and the trees wait until the older spiked balls have been cleaned up before letting others fall. The trees are mean like that. [Read more →]
Despite the comic talents of Tina Fey and Steve Carell, Date Night is sorely lacking in the laugh department. It is not funny enough to be a good comedy, and not interesting enough to compensate for the lack of truly funny moments. The charm of the stars and the strong supporting performances cannot make up for the poor script. [Read more →]
The Greek people took to the streets again this past weekend. Apparently, they’re not happy with Europe’s foot dragging on their bailout. They want that money and they want it now. After all, the socialist dream cannot continue without other people’s money. The Greek government, like so many around the world with Champagne dreams and swamp water budgets, has outspent its income for a decade. Now the bankers won’t lend them any more. Who’s to blame? According to some interviews, a fair number of Greeks believe it is a U.S. plot to impoverish Greece. Well, from this side of the Atlantic, let me say that the United States government has its hands full impoverishing the American people. [Read more →]
A couple weeks back, regular WFTC contributor Alan Spoll offered up this post about the image we may have, regarding the behavior of sports fans in the City of Brotherly Love. He’s right on most, if not all of the points he made in that post. But, just when Alan was starting to make some headway, along comes this story of the ‘Tasered Teen’ at a recent Phillies game. Reportedly, the teen’s father said his son called him from the park to ask permission to run onto the field … dad suggested he not do it … son did it anyway.
As the father of a couple of teenage boys, I’m hardly surprised.
I wish Alan nothing but luck in his effort on behalf of fans in Philly. But I’m afraid it may be an uphill struggle. In the meantime, I get to experience Philly soccer fans first-hand this summer, when my family takes in a Union game. I suspect even the “handful of idiots” Alan mentioned in his previous post would be hard-pressed to match the violence one sometimes sees from English futbol ‘firms.’
I have been paging through a book I first read many years ago when I was in college, a collection of poems by Denise Levertov called O Taste and See. It is a New Directions paperback (for I mean the actual book, now nearly half a century old).
I bought it in the long-vanished Arcade Bookstore, which was located in the ground floor of the Commercial Trust Building (also long-gone) on 15th Street between Market and Chestnut. I read it on the El on my way home (I didn’t live on campus; I commuted, which was cheaper).
I can still remember being curled up in one of the corner seats on the way to the Bridge Street Terminal and coming upon one poem in particular that clutched the short hairs of my soul. [Read more →]
China is rapidly becoming a world superpower, if it hasn’t achieved that ranking already. But with around 1.5 billion people, it is inevitable that you’re going to find a few short bus riders amongst the group…
The infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” Auschwitz sign, which was briefly stolen a few months ago, has once again disappeared.
Interpol and US Customs officials have tracked the sign to a location in the vicinity of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio refused comment.
NFL teams try to be very thorough when checking out players that they are contemplating drafting. A big part of that process involves interviews conducted by members of the front offices, asking the players a variety of questions intended to help the teams determine whether or not to invest a pick and a lot of money in a player’s future. The Miami Dolphins made news last week when Jeff Ireland, the team’s general manager, apologized to Dez Bryant, a Dallas Cowboys draftee, for an inappropriate question he asked Bryant during that pre-draft interview. It seems that Ireland was wondering if Bryant’s mother had ever been a prostitute. [Read more →]
10. “Can we add something that bars volcanic eruptions?”
9. “Is it just me, or is this legislation getting more complex than some of those derivatives?”
8. “Can’t we blame the whole financial crisis on Obama anyway?”
7. “Any chance we could give ourselves some o’ them executive bonuses?”
6. “Can we put in a clause making Republican lap dances tax deductible?”
5. “What would Glenn Beck do?”
4. “Any chance the Chinese might consider the United States ‘too big to fail’?”
3. “How can we drag this out as long as we did health care reform?”
2. “So which lobbyist is making the highest bid today?”
1. “Didn’t they get their name because they have so much gold, Man, they had to put it in sacks?”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
My mother, brother, sister-in-law and nephew all live in Arizona. And Arizona has the Grand Canyon which is totally bad ass. And I like Public Enemy who sang (rapped?) about Arizona. And it’s just south of Las Vegas… and any time you can get lower than Vegas, you’ve accomplished something. I certainly have a reason to write about Arizona. One could argue that this is long overdue.
So apparently the people of the great state of Arizona have decided, through their representatives, that there is a problem with the number of “illegal” or non-US citizens roaming and milling about their state. [Read more →]
I have been told that I am not a libertarian because I support the new immigration law from Arizona. I have been told that I am one step away from putting on a red armband with a swastika because I want to see the police of Arizona have the freedom to ask for proof of citizenship. I’ve been told that I’m giving up essential liberty for the illusion of security.
Well, I’m not the kind of person who just takes barbed attacks like that. I don’t keep quiet about things, I speak my mind, and I don’t care who has their feelings hurt. Thus, I shall defend myself regarding these things.
So someone left a car bomb in Times Square. The immediate questions that come to mind are who, why, what was its capability, how can such things be prevented from happening again?
Transcripts from the September 18, 1935 broadcast of The Paddy O’Reilly Radio Hour:
O’REILLY: Joining us tonight to discuss the Nuremberg Laws that’s got liberals in such an uproar is conservative commentator Abigail Coulter. Now, Abigail, is the left just making a big thing about nothing?
COULTER: Oh, my God — I’ve never seen so much lying in my life. Have liberals even bothered to read these laws? There’s nothing in them about hurting Jews. It’s all about protecting Germans. For years there’s been a Jewish problem over there that everyone’s ignored. Finally, the Nazis come and do something about it, by enacting some rather modest laws, in my opinion; and the left, of course, overreacts. Can you believe some are actually comparing the Nazis to Cossacks?
O’REILLY: Nothing but pinheads, I agree.
