Donna Brazile

My good friend Adam Herman has thrown his support to Hillary Rodham Clinton to be Kerry's running mate. I expect that he speaks for many of his generation. See my comments on the subject published on the 'bert sherbertMONSTER I suppose that no area of human endeavor sees as much daily butting of heads between pure idealism and down and dirty pragmatism as politics. A nicely balanced view of that phenomona is rendered by Donna Brazile in her new book, which I have just finished A Little Grease. She should be read by idealists to gain some perspective on pragmatists -- and conversley....

Little Flash, Much Boom

This Fourth of July will be the first in seventy-six years without the presence of George Plimpton as our Laureate Pyrotechnique I shall not attempt to match the brilliance of his many and varied eulogists. see, e.g. op. cit. infra (that is in his honor). Plimpton was many, many things but none were as important to him as being regarded as an afficiando and historian of the art of fireworks. He counted the Gruccis as intimates and wrote about their craft with his customary gusto. A massive hole near Jupiter Florida still exists as testament to the fact that he usually demanded to know a subject before he wrote about it. He counted as one of each year's highlights the staging of his own Fourth of July display for his family and friends off his Long Island Home. href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2089012/">Amateur Night on 72nd Street - George Plimpton ran the Paris Review, played with the Detroit Lions, wrote books, and interviewed Hemingway. As told to�Amanda�Fortini�and Meghan�O'Rourke

Tennis

As some may know this is the midst of the fortnight. The Championships. Or if you prefer the time Wimbledon hosts the best of tennis. If you have not followed the sport, you may not be aware that an Englisman, a full blooded Gilbert & Sullivan brand of Englishman, remains in contention for the gentlemen's championship. In fairness to Mr. Henman, the contender, he is a splendid player and he has been close before. Seeing him win on the 'middle Sunday', when flag waving British sport fans found their way in to the court, as opposed to the corporate fat cats who typically occupy the choice seats on other days, was a heartwaring sight. If he wins (the finals will be on Sunday the Fourth) he will be the first of his country to do so since Kipling was a ball-boy. Let's wish him the best. SORRY This just in on Wednesday 30 June. He just lost in the quarterfinals! Well, next year? Perhaps a tryout with the Cubs or Redsox?The Championships, Wimbledon 2004 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM - News

Road Trip

To those of you who have not endured a good road trip in a long time, may I recommend this utterly phenomonal boxed set of CD's from Rhino called Nuggets. These songs will send you flying down the highway to anywhere, but specifically back to our good years. No more strained discussions about what Ken Kesey was all about. Just give this to the kids and say listen -- these made us rock. These are the songs of Xerxes' law school years. We've got Louie, Louie hard up on Wooly Booly!.....even the theme from The Wild Angels. There needs to be a special Grammy for this oustanding work. Just take a look at the playlist at: Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 [Boxed Set] - VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rhino Product Detail

Catching a Wave Out of California

Ah-nald may be flogging the notion of Californians leaving the State as an answer to California's backbreaking basic infrastructure costs and its enormous education expenses. . Los Angeles Times: Catching a Wave Out of Pricey California

Sarah Vowell

To those of you familiar with David Sedaris and NPR's This American Life, Ms. Vowell will need no introduction. Her stories are rich with anecdote and show a keen eye for detail. Just read her description of attending Bush43's innauguration to gain some insight into the red/blue business. Any of her books are good to take on a trip or to keep by the bedside.Sarah Vowell : The Steven Barclay Agency

Iraquis Resent Occupation

No it's not ripped from today's headlines. It's the conclusion of a British writer in March of 1920 commenting on the deep resentment which the Sunnis, the Shi'ahs and even the Sadr family have for anyone, in her case the British, occupying their country. It leaves one to wonder what the spooks at the CIA and MI6 were doing in advance of our invasion. They sure didn't Google! Check out these observations at: Echoes from the Past

Why,... Senator!.....

Priceless stuff on the return of civility to our nation's political debate. All prompted by Cheney's suggestion this week to Senator Leahy to attempt the impossible. The anecdotes making reference to John Tower and Huey Long are my favorites.washingtonpost.com: Decorum Call

Judge Martin Clark

Looking for a highly entertaining Summer read? I strongly reccommend both of Martin Clark's books, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living and Plain Heathen Mischief. Clark is a Judge in Stuart, Virginia and his legal experience shines in these thrillers which are at times profoundly philosophical and at others simply hilarious. My daughter sent them to me for my birthday after seeing an April article in the NYTimes Magazine calling Plain Heathen Mischief "arguably the funniest legal thriller ever written" I concur. Amazon.com: Books: Plain Heathen Mischief

Born Again?

Public screeds of born again Christian politicians have always confounded me. The theology they profess seems to mix religion, politics and economics in ways that do justice to none of the ingredients. This largely American phenomona has not frequently been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. Perhaps this is because Americans have become inhibited by the politically correct police. This insightful, penetrating and thoughtful review by a Penn professor adds mightily to the literature on the subject. I recommend it highly. FT.com | Search | Article

More Bill

We are getting our full dose of Clinton these days. It will be fascinating to see how John Kerry handles him. For those nostalgically inclined here is a valedictory written by one of Clinton's harshest critics as he left the White House. It is always fun to bring the political pundits to account.Topical Take

GMail

Thanks to a tech-savvy friend, I have been privileged to be an early user of Google's new e-mail service, GMail. I have become a great fan of the service largely because of the search and storage facilities it provides for free. An aspect of the service which has caused mild furor in the press is that one's mail is accompanied by a list of links to sites that Google proposes might be of interest to you as a result of scanning your incoming and outgoing e-mail without the aid of human intervention. Much of what is suggested in the links is highly predictable. For example a reference to a city might prompt the (mechanical) gnomes at Google to suggest a hotel in a referenced city. It would seem to work out pretty well -- the hotel pays Google for the hit -- and I get a good e-mail service free to me on the backs of Google's sponsored sites. But then I see a reference to a Depression Clinic next to what I thought was a perfectly innocuous note to my daughter about my weekend plans. What do they know that I don't? Are my thoughts that transparent that a machine can plumb the depths of my psyche in .65 seconds? Worth a second look, I say, but at what? I have some invitations available to try the service. E-mail me if you would like one. They are being auctioned on EBay for $60!!! Gmail - Inbox

Bush Praises Clintons

My reference earlier to the White House unveiling of the Clinton portraits is described atThe New York Times > Washington > Bush Praises Clintons as Portraits Are Unveiled

Brother Bill

Clintonistas need to read Robert Sam Anson's piece in the June (Brad Pitt) Vanity Fair. It is largely non-judgmental and by describing Clinton's life since the White House, it gives a remarkable picture of this brilliant and very needy person. Oddly enough, Bush43's effusive words to and about Clinton when the portraits were unveiled may be the best yet at summing up 42's presidency. Sorry no link here, but you are all familiar with the statements

Periodicals

I am a great fan of magazines. Can't afford them all and don't have the time anyway. I read from the web.

I depend on updates to my mailbox from the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph and Slate--Today's Papers. I also recieve updates from The Times Literary Supplement, The Economist, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic (or should we say the Pacific, now that they have moved HQ to the left coast) Prospect, The London Review of Books, Andante, Garrison Keillor's Literary Almanac, Refdesk's sites of the day. So get on the stick Harpers! Don't make me have to look for you like I have to do with The New Yorker and Arts & Letters Daily.

Hey -- I devour Vanity Fair, Gawker, Wonkette, The Onion too.

Bummer! (Ate, Shot & Left)

Just when I thought that a breezy grammar might be entertaining as well as enlightening--Louis Menard comes along and deflates my balloon. Eats, Shoots and Leaves held out great promise --- until now! Check out this review in the current New Yorker.
The New Yorker

Larry McMurtry/Bill Bryson

Have any of you read Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen. I would be most interested in any comments that any of you might have. McMurtry writes a wonderful little book about how he accumulated his literary credentials -- reading, reading, reading at the Archer City Texas, Dairy Queen -- voraciously devouring even obscure -- at least to me -- German Philosophers such as Walter Benjamin. I believe that one measure of a true intellectual is the ability to make the most difficult material appear simple. That he does.

Bill Bryson also just did it with the entire body of current scientific knowledge in the Short History of Almost Everything Remarkable writer.