Erictheblue

LATEST ARTICLES ( 375 )

• Brain Drain

  "Brain drain" usually refers to the way in which poor countries tend to lose their ablest citizens, who take their talents somewhere that can offer a better... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Books of the Bible: Deuteronomy

  

  Deutero-nomy: Greek for "second law," which is suggestive of redundancy and therefore unpromising, the reading experience having been dull enough the... Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Archbishop Talks to the Press

  With the help of an archdiocesan handler, Archbishop John Nienstedt attempts, in the above interview, to parry a pretty tough line of questioning from a Twin... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Willingham Case

  In 2004, Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham after he was convicted of a triple murder.  According to the state, Willingham deliberately started a hous... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Just Walk

  With millions of Americans still underwater on their mortgages, I wonder why more people don't just walk away from them.  Maybe some do, but many more... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• At Home on a Summer Saturday Afternoon

  With the kids napping and the wife away and the skidding Twins not on till tonight, I type into Google "Reading suggestions" and  find myself... Read more

  Posted on 27 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Confessional Humor

  

  Remember the scene in "Moonstruck" where Cher goes to Confession?  She says, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Read more

  Posted on 26 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Some Things I Don't Get

  1. How my wife, when playing golf, as she did yesterday for the first time in her life, can swing and miss a lot, yet hit it straight and pretty square most of... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dubliners: "The Dead"

  

  Joyce first conceived of the fiction that became Ulysses as another story for Dubliners.  That's the way "The Dead" began, too. Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• John Nienstedt: the Beat Goes on

  A reverie of private grief was interrupted Tuesday when I switched on the radio and heard that John Nienstedt, the archbishop of the Twin Cities archdiocese... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dubliners: "Grace"

  

  There are fifteen stories in Dubliners.  To me, the first eleven make one set, the next three make a second, and the fifteenth, "The Dead," one... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Regarding Henry

  

  I'm coming to the end of The Education of Henry Adams and I can't say that I would put it at the head of the class.  (The Modern Library Board did. Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dubliners: "A Mother"

  

  In honor of Bloomsday, I'm going to take another step in my formerly steady march through Dubliners, Joyce's collection of fifteen short stories that first... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Rs Rock on

  

  I had on recently one of those political gasbag shows when I heard one of the participant journalists ask another (paraphrasing), "Do you thing we've been... Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Views of the 18th President

  

  I see that my current coffee-break companion, The Education of Henry Adams, heads the Modern Library Board's list of the top hundred works of nonfiction. Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Elizabeth Kolbert and the Troubles of the Rich

  

  Without mentioning him, Elizabeth Kolbert (pictured), in this article, takes up one of the leading themes in the work of one of my favorite Norwegians, Thorstei... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Books of the Bible: Numbers

  

  "Numbers": because it begins with a census. It may seem odd that God should command Moses to count the people, since according to a certain view He could instea... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sweet Misery

  

  Here's a poem I like by a poet, William Matthews (pictured), who I think deserves a bigger audience.  Generally speaking, poets deserve bigger audiences,... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Doing Badly What Shouldn't Be Done

  

  The recent botched execution in Oklahoma reminds me of what looks like an exercise in double- or triple-think on the part of the death penalty's supporters. Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• US Senate: Girls Against the Boys

  

  Today, a half year before the midterm elections, the Democrats' chance of retaining their majority in the US Senate rests with women--the ones who are running,... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2014 POLITICS, SOCIETY