Throwing Rice

This came up a while back, and I completely forgot to write about it. But it's interesting.

A week or two ago the national and local papers were filled with stories about the outpouring of love that Condaleeza Rice received when she gave a speech at Boston College. Apparently the few protesters who were there made a pathetic showing; just a few dead-enders. It was a triumph for Condi.

That sounded suspicious to me. And later, I talked to my parents and found that they'd actually been there themselves, protesting. They estimated the protesters at 200 at least, and one graduate walked over and joined the protest as soon as he'd gotten his degree.

They're sure that the protesters were loud enough to be heard by Rice and the attending reporters. But perhaps the reporters were all deaf. So kudos to the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald for their affirmative action in hiring the disabled!

The liberal press strikes again.

Throwing Rice

This came up a while back, and I completely forgot to write about it. But it's interesting.

A week or two ago the national and local papers were filled with stories about the outpouring of love that Condaleeza Rice received when she gave a speech at Boston College. Apparently the few protesters who were there made a pathetic showing; just a few dead-enders. It was a triumph for Condi.

That sounded suspicious to me. And later, I talked to my parents and found that they'd actually been there themselves, protesting. They estimated the protesters at 200 at least, and one graduate walked over and joined the protest as soon as he'd gotten his degree.

They're sure that the protesters were loud enough to be heard by Rice and the attending reporters. But perhaps the reporters were all deaf. So kudos to the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald for their affirmative action in hiring the disabled!

The liberal press strikes again.

Reading: Twain

I may have mentioned this before, but I wish that LiveJournal had a "Currently Reading:" option as well as a currently listening to option. I'd use it more often, since I'm ALWAYS reading and only listen to music about half the time. And I suppose it might be more interesting to hear about, too.

I just finished reading the complete short fiction of Mark Twain. To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.

(Interesting; I see on their website that they're having a sale today and all weekend. I'll have to see if I can run over there.)

Anyway, at three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this book was that it was over 600 pages long with small type.

I'm sure I've already mentioned it, but I have the reading bug - badly. I'm always reading one book, and more often than not I have two going at the same time. For example, right now I'm re-reading The Silmarilion at home, and reading Touch of Evil (which was the basis for the Orson Welles film) on the road. The latter is surprisingly good so far, by the way.

Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.

I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.

I was sorry when I came to the end of the book, so I went back and re-read an old favorite of my teen years, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. It was as powerful as ever - maybe more so. I'd forgotten how very sad the ending was, which probably explains why I haven't read it in so many years. Well, that and the fact that my copy of the book is probably buried in the bottom of a box in my basement.

Reading: Twain

I may have mentioned this before, but I wish that LiveJournal had a "Currently Reading:" option as well as a currently listening to option. I'd use it more often, since I'm ALWAYS reading and only listen to music about half the time. And I suppose it might be more interesting to hear about, too.

I just finished reading the complete short fiction of Mark Twain. To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.

(Interesting; I see on their website that they're having a sale today and all weekend. I'll have to see if I can run over there.)

Anyway, at three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this book was that it was over 600 pages long with small type.

I'm sure I've already mentioned it, but I have the reading bug - badly. I'm always reading one book, and more often than not I have two going at the same time. For example, right now I'm re-reading The Silmarilion at home, and reading Touch of Evil (which was the basis for the Orson Welles film) on the road. The latter is surprisingly good so far, by the way.

Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.

I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.

I was sorry when I came to the end of the book, so I went back and re-read an old favorite of my teen years, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. It was as powerful as ever - maybe more so. I'd forgotten how very sad the ending was, which probably explains why I haven't read it in so many years. Well, that and the fact that my copy of the book is probably buried in the bottom of a box in my basement.

Holy cow!

Read this:

Was the 2004 Election Stolen? (written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Rolling Stone)

Stunning. The sad thing is that I'm sure that not a single Bush supporter - or even a non-aligned one - will ever believe it, despite the voluminous evidence (this is one of the most thoroughly-sourced articles I've ever seen online). And what's worse, I'd bet that even most Democrats would refuse to believe it.

If it's true, the American systems of voting and governance are so hopelessly corrupted that I for one see no way for them to be repaired short of widespread revolution.

On an unrelated note, I assume everyone has seen the articles today about the Justice Department asking Internet carriers to allow them to monitor all internet activity, including email and web searches? And to store that information for at least two years?

Better watch where you're surfing, because according to the reports, they started by claiming that they needed that info to fight terrorists...and almost immediately morphed that reason into fighting child pornography, and then crime of all sorts.

Holy cow!

Read this:

Was the 2004 Election Stolen? (written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Rolling Stone)

Stunning. The sad thing is that I'm sure that not a single Bush supporter - or even a non-aligned one - will ever believe it, despite the voluminous evidence (this is one of the most thoroughly-sourced articles I've ever seen online). And what's worse, I'd bet that even most Democrats would refuse to believe it.

If it's true, the American systems of voting and governance are so hopelessly corrupted that I for one see no way for them to be repaired short of widespread revolution.

On an unrelated note, I assume everyone has seen the articles today about the Justice Department asking Internet carriers to allow them to monitor all internet activity, including email and web searches? And to store that information for at least two years?

Better watch where you're surfing, because according to the reports, they started by claiming that they needed that info to fight terrorists...and almost immediately morphed that reason into fighting child pornography, and then crime of all sorts.