Erictheblue

LATEST ARTICLES ( 375 )

• State of the Opposition

  

  With the republic recently spared from Republicans for at least another two years, I've turned my attention to other things, like Jane Austen and whether or... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Michael Gerson's Long Words: a Short Interpretation

  In a column published in the Star Tribune last Tuesday, Michael Gerson describes the controversy regarding the Affordable Care Act and "religious... Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Mortgage Mess

  

  It's behind a subscribrer wall, but, if you are interested in "the foreclosure crisis," or "the mortgage meltdown," or whatever you want to... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Austen, Frost: Two Anniversaries

  The New Yorker's Page Turner blog calls attention to a couple literary anniversaries of this past week--the fiftieth anniversary of Robert Frost's death... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Ecclesiastes

  

  First in a series introduced here. About Ecclesiastes, the general reader whose powers of comprehension are not routed by the radiant glow of Holy Text will hav... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Car Talk Puzzler: Dollars and Envelopes

  

  I'm a fan of the NPR show Car Talk, which, as I have mentioned before, includes a segment known as The Puzzler.  This week's problem is of a purely... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2013 CURRENT, DEBATE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sports Notes

  

  The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.  The human drama of facing off with Oprah Winfrey. Meanwhile, what's this crazy business with Notre Dame's... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Electoral Distortion

  

  For those of us who, during the campaign season, checked in regularly at Nate Silver's 538 blog, it might be useful to cast a backward glance. Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Young Dogs

  

  I read or heard somewhere that, for those beyond a certain age, normal walking pace is an amazingly accurate gauge of life expectancy: the faster, the... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• I Like Football But. . . .

  

  I like football but watching it on the weekend is a bit of a guilty pleasure.  I don't mean that I could be doing other things, like folding laundry. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Hagel and His Foes

  

  It's been more than a presidential term since I declared Chuck Hagel to be my favorite Republican.  Now the Obama administration has floated his name for... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• More from the Land of Johnson

  

  I was today reading along in Wain's biography of Dr Johnson when I came to the following passage, in Chapter 9: About the time he signed the contract for the... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Christmas Card

  

  Christmas. I don't know whether the overfed sensation, or the piles of gifts that need to be put away, or the way the garbage container's lid makes about a sixt... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Coffeeshop Reading and Its Dangers

  

  I got a kick out of this over at 3 Quarks Daily. As one who has done a lot of reading in coffeeshops, I have some experience of my own with the unsolicited... Read more

  Posted on 21 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Wain; Johnson

  

  I've been happily sunk, on my morning coffeebreaks, in John Wain's biography of Samuel Johnson.  My own outline of his life is here. Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Newtown: Hinderaker Ponders

  I guess off-the-reservation conservative David Frum has gotten into trouble for tweeting that toddlers concealing and carrying isn't a solution. Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• More Election Results

  Hendrik Hertzberg looks at the election scoreboards.  In the presidential race, it was Obama over Romney by four million, and, in the electoral college... Read more

  Posted on 30 November 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Lincoln on the Editorial Page

  

  Everyone is talking about Lincoln, the movie, including one Edmund N Santurri, "a professor of religion and philosophy and director of the Ethical Issues... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Thanksgivings, Present and Past

  

  Yesterday, while Amanda was whirling about the kitchen, I tried to be helpful by putting a load of clothes in the wash.  When a half hour later I went... Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Book Or the Movie?

  

  If you google "Anna Karenina," the first return is the Wikipedia article on Tolstoy's novel. The next five returns all pertain to the current movie directed by... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2012 POLITICS, SOCIETY