Erictheblue

LATEST ARTICLES ( 375 )

• Why I Think Oswald Acted Alone

  Whew! For a few days there Boxers versus Briefs was being eclipsed by Conspiracy versus Oswald Acted Alone. I am myself an Oswald acted alone devotee. It's in... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Going Nuclear

  

  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Lamar Alexander, Republican from Tennessee, declared the other day that Senate Democrats' exercise of "the nuclear option" to stop him an... Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• In Re Giving Money to Panhandlers

  

  In the course of pursuing my daily routine I'm frequently accosted by panhandlers. My usual reaction is to put my head down and walk past, fast.  Too... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Fall Golf

  On Sunday, it was about fifty degrees, so after lunch I drove over to Hiawatha Golf Course.  When I asked the only person in the deserted clubhouse how... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Veterans Day

  

  Of the government holidays--New Years, MLK, Presidents', Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas--at least two hav... Read more

  Posted on 12 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Switch and the Pleasures of Hating

  I remember observing, recently and approvingly, that, with the possible exception of one character, no one in the immense sprawl of Middlemarch qualifies as a... Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• More Elmore Leonard: LaBrava

  

  A few droppings from Elmore Leonard's LaBrava, which I finished over the weekend. He's a master of the dialogue technique that, in plays, is called stichomythia. Read more

  Posted on 05 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Of Light Rail and Obamacare

  Several years ago, we had a big argument in this town about a proposed light rail line that would connect the Mall of America to downtown Minneapolis by way of... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Books of the Bible: Matthew

  

  The Gospel according to Matthew; or, the church's book.  The word "church" does not occur in Mark, Luke, or John, but it occurs twice in Matthew... Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sunk in Elmore Leonard

  

  I found the obituaries and tributes that followed upon the recent death of Elmore Leonard, especially this one by Joan Acocella and this one by Anthony Lane,... Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Joyce's Dubliners: "Clay" and "A Painful Case"

  

  In "A Little Cloud" and "Counterparts," men find no cheer in marriage. The next two stories in Dubliners are "Clay" and "A Painful Case." The main characters... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Wish I'd Written That

  

  Amy Davidson, describing President Obama's demeanor while announcing Wednesday's deal in which the Republicans in the House gave up, at least for now, on their... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• David Frum: Not Bad for a Republican, but Still a Republican

  My last post praising David Frum quoted a long passage from his Daily Beast article entitled "Will the Republican Moderates Please Stand Up? Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Netflix: "42"

  Not very good. I don't know how you convey in a movie the daily grind of Jackie Robinson's summer of 1947, when he broke baseball's color line and helped the... Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Interviewees Reply to Questions

  Alice Munro, the Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature earlier this week, was once asked in an interview whether a certain... Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• More from David Frum

  

  Being a lefty, I can confess to a case of the man-loves, and lately I've been feeling it for David Frum.  I called attention recently to his "Seven... Read more

  Posted on 11 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Frum Speaks

  In a recent quixotic attempt to sound open-minded and reasonable, I allowed that there are some Republicans in our land who appear to be in possession of the... Read more

  Posted on 09 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• A Pox on One of the Houses

  

  What's the connection between "Obamacare," passed by both House and Senate and signed into law by the president in 2010, and a continuing resolution t... Read more

  Posted on 02 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Joyce's Dubliners: "A Little Cloud" and "Counterparts"

  

  After "The Boarding House," the next two stories in Dubliners are "A Little Cloud" and "Counterparts." They have a similar structure, for in both a man comes... Read more

  Posted on 01 October 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Mapping the Craziness

  

  I think this is a really interesting map. The red dots locate the home districts of the 80 Republican US House members who signed a letter to their leader,... Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2013 POLITICS, SOCIETY