RSSAmerican Culture Archives
July 03, 2010
Declaration of Independence in modern English
Happy 4th. Updating an older effort of mine here, creating a more modern prose version of the Declaration of Independence. Unlike some other modernizations, it is not satirical, or abridged or dumbed-down for kids. In short, not intentionally funny or bad.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2010
Statements Never Uttered By Any Female, Ever
My instrumentation and research have identified 5 statements never ever ever uttered -- at least sincerely -- by any human female since the emergence of our species. Young, old, good, bad, radical, traditional, gay, straight, drunk, sober, right-wing or left wing, Palin or Steinem, hijab-bedecked or pole-dancing, none have ever said these and meant it.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:34 PM | Comments (3)
April 15, 2010
Unrelaxing Auto-Blood Pressure Machine Incident
So I go to one of those in-pharmacy automated blood pressure machines. It will auto-grip my arm, and then squeeze it and tell me my blood pressure and pulse.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2009
You See Me Cryin' Alright: Aerosmith's Betrayal
O you *$(#ks! You evil b*&^%*s! Yes, you DID INDEED play this song live on this year’s tour! The only time, or almost the only time ever in the like 500 decades since it appeared on, and signed-off, your best studio album. An underrated and underperformed ballad, with Mr. T singing his vocal chords out, it is of similar quality with the mega-hit “Dream On”. Especially with the orchestra on studio. And now that you’re all hissy-fittin’, bone-breaking, catty-snipin’, solo-touring, it may never happen again, you D$%$S. {More ranting below}
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2009
Religionphobic? Take the Quiz
You know who you are, and that you have it. Let’s name this condition with a more clinically pretentious sounding term: fideophobia (via Latin, fides, faith). Fideophobia is the hysterical fear of, or hostility towards, religious faith or those who observe one. I am not talking here about healthy skepticism, or even that Marxian ol’ time anti-religion that’s good enough for Mao. Nor do I mean hostility to specific faiths, which is something rival faith-holders can have for each other. For fideophobes I mean those who, after encountering just about any outward expression of religiosity, have a near-epileptic seizure.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:54 PM | Comments (8)
November 14, 2009
Book Review II: Like A Rolling Stone -- The Strange Life of A Tribute Band
Another in a series of scribblings about books I've read over the past months.....
Like A Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of A Tribute Band, by Steven Kurutz.
Most pleasurable book I’ve read in a long time. Well-written, amusing and sad, the author takes us on tour with various tribute bands – bands that mimic the appearance and music of more famous rock bands -- a phenomenon that took off with the imitation-Beatles Broadway show, Beatlemania. (He particularly takes us along with Sticky Fingers, a Rolling Stones tribute band). We learn often of might-have-beens, sincere musicians seeking greatness in their own right who, unable to do so, settled for the second-best option: the adulation of looking and sounding like a rock music legend. The author spends less time with, though hints at, many well-adjusted successful tribute bands who are simply in it for the fun and money, and apparently quite happy about where they are, like the all-female tribute band Lez Zeppelin. Despite some emphasis on the more interesting dark side, he happily doesn’t dwell on Deeper Cultural Meanings too much, nor trash the phenomenon. Ultimately the answer given to why these bands exist is provided by their members: it’s a lot of fun and beats just holding a regular job someplace for a few dollars an hour. The book’s a journey, not a destination, and well worth the ride.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2009
QOTD -- Murder, Dismemberment: Crazy? Only If You Do it At Home
I kind of thought this quote from an AP article odd, regarding the alleged serial killer who is said to be of that unusual type who deposits his victims' remains in his own yard.
Sowell's alleged crimes place him among a rare breed of serial killers: those who literally work close to home. . . .. "The fact that they would dirty their own nest, as it were, is peculiar to me and suggests a level of mental illness or sickness," said Berrill, director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 05:57 PM | Comments (1)
September 19, 2009
US Health Care Political Debate: The Core (ReDux)
Just narrowing down the feeling that my thoughts from a prior post are indeed confirmed, just by watching the tenor of things in this country. Here I summarize the political conflict more succinctly.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:02 AM | Comments (3)
September 11, 2009
US Healthcare Debate: The Underlying Sensibilities
Despite my happy guilty plea to being a near-fanatic libertarian, I do not have strong feelings about the current US health care debate. Not because I heretically think my principles don't apply, it's just that no matter what happens, the economics of modern health care in the industrialized world will not cause the roof to cave in for at least a few indefinite generations, regardless of the mixed (as in US), market-based (if that ever has existed), or socialized systems that may exist.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:57 AM | Comments (3)
July 23, 2009
Cool Site: Make/Edit Audiobooks
Record an audiobook and fix others' recordings. Nice concept and site.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2009
Gender Differences, part 657
Just noticed over the course of a lifetime, though perhaps just in my narrow experience or my still narrower imagination, a subtle difference in how the shock-driven harrumph is expressed:
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:16 PM | Comments (3)
May 13, 2009
Lawrence Olivier - Lawrence Olivier = William Shatner
So went an old actor algebra snipe I read somewhere. Which while humorous, I do disagree. But this person here says what I want to say:
The insufferably cerebral and moralistic elements of Star Trek have been bad enough to make even devoted fans wince many, many times, and if the acting often seemed weak it might have been because so few actors can credibly recite some of the drivel generations of actors have been forced to say over the decades.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:40 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2009
Keynes Enabled
Keynesianism is only a few weeks into official respectability here in the superpower, and already there is self-parody. ("The idea's to stimulate the economy. So what if we blow a few billion on the wrong things? ")
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:24 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2009
Irish-American Contributions to America:
My annual, if increasingly outdated, not-so-reverent St. Patrick's Day look at my tribe's contributions to America. The part on the Irish (Gaelic) language is for us language nerds only but Irish-American contributions to municipal corruption, public vomiting, and terrorist fundraising are not overlooked.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:46 AM | Comments (1)
February 28, 2009
The Future in All Its Facebook Horror
Shamelessly poached via Jim Henley, comes this vision of the future.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2008
Gender Observation & Hair Care
I've come to the realization that no matter how destitute, bankrupt, broke, foreclosed-upon, forlorn, bereft, or empty-handed a woman may be, she always has enough to buy hair color. I picture in some post-feminist future a lost all-woman astronaut exploration trip to the Martian poles. They are found months later deceased in a horrible scene of scattered oxygen canisters, shredded food pouches, and nightmarish evidence of desperate cannibalism. But next to them, piled high in neatly stacked boxes and measured out on smudged plastic instruments, lie carefully mixed shades of Lady Clairol.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:59 PM | Comments (2)
September 28, 2008
Paul Newman, RIP
Not a great fan, but always found him likeable. (For the MENA-oriented, he might be especially loved or reviled given his role as The Man Who Made Israel Sexy, leaving the gals sighin' for Zion.) And funny, he didn't look Slovak. Legends have come and gone recently. I am glad though that Newman will probably get the tribute he well deserves, and not the unjust passing mentions another recently-passed legendary influence on modern culture received.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2008
Astronomers detect God (or could it be Satan?)
Sonya: “But if there is no God, then life has no meaning. Why go on living? Why not just commit suicide?”
Boris: “Well, let’s not get hysterical. I could be wrong. I’d hate to blow my brains out and then read in the papers they found something {gesturing skyward} .”
-- Love and Death (Woody Allen)
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2008
Norman Whitfield, RIP
Entirely too brief attention to the loss of someone who belongs up there with Lennon-McCartney; Brian Wilson; Rodgers and Hammerstein; Jagger-Richards as a creator/producer of songs that seemed timeless and classic when they were fresh and new. I Heard It Through the Grapevine; War (what is it good for?); Smilin' Faces; Just My Imagination (Runnin' Away with Me); Ain't Too Proud to Beg; even Car Wash. To name but a few. Sad. Very sad. Hard to beat something like this; I do believe that's the man himself being portrayed behind the studio glass at the start of the video.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:15 AM | Comments (2)
September 10, 2008
September 11, 2001 and me
Abusing my journal privileges, I add below a story I sent off in a rambling hurry to a now-defunct internet news service right after the 9/11/2001 events happened. I add new stuff in { }'s to clarify and clean up some text and background. Some good guesses, some less so. People got mad that I warned against calling the attackers cowards, something I still regard as a no-brainer. But it's easier for me, as I don't assume all courage, or even non-cowardice, is intrinsically admirable.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:38 PM | Comments (4)
July 05, 2008
The Declaration of Independence, modern edition
My belated July 4th present is an idea I have had germinating several years: rendering the US Declaration of Independence, my all-time favorite historic document, into a more modern prose and lingo, to see how it sounds . Despite my normal wise-guyish tendencies, this is not satire or sacrilege (at least not intentionally), but an exercise that might hopefully make the old document more relevant, accessible, and comprehensible. I am somewhat arbitrary; I keep some of the older language -- "men" stays as "men", "creator" as "creator" -- though the "manly firmness" line (minds out of gutter, please) I adapt to "firm steadfast". I take some liberties with editing as well. It is a work-in-progress and it is clear from the changes that the slightly antiquated inflated prose of the original has its timeless unique beauty and appropriateness, and the original language can still hold up well. (But I still have trouble with the structure and meaning of the "denounce our Separation" phrase.) And a little irony is allowed: I do get to use "military contractor" in an ironic but accurate way.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:34 AM | Comments (1)
June 24, 2008
Wanted: A Cure for Envy Deficiency
People work and even pray to acquire virtues. But I need a vice. A certain particular one. Forget "vice", let's use an old-fashioned word - "sin", because it's one of the classic seven deadly ones. Now, I am not short of vices, but one I do lack feels like some kind of vitamin deficiency. So I beg divine favor to give me some of that four letter word which sounds like a two-letter word: envy.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:53 PM | Comments (6)
June 03, 2008
R.I.P. Harvey Korman
For those of us of a certain age in the USA, Harvey Korman was a funny performer on TV and in Blazing Saddles, among other things. (:"The Count de Monaaaay") But I especially liked this write up by a contemporary to myself in age who described us being raised, through Korman on the Carol Burnett show, “on a borscht-based diet of slapstick, ethnic exaggerations and groan-inducing puns." Holy cow! That's my range of humor exactly. Curse you, Harvey Korman. RIP, and now go do... that voodoo ... that you do ....so ....well. Looks like I'm not the only one to wish him that.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:10 PM | Comments (3)
May 30, 2008
Giving to Good Will
When, how, and why did George Will turn Whig from Tory? A welcome development from my perspective, and it seems several years old, the change, but I wonder how and why. Nice review of a book I need to get, too.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:38 AM | Comments (2)
January 26, 2008
Your American English Accent Divined
For this side of the Atlantic people only, a test of American English regional accents. It came out correct for me, divining my Noo Yawk origins, although the results appear to be generically regional (N. East) in determining accent origin rather than very local. But for each of doze of y'all who may reckon to be fixin' to enjoy some soda pop (soda pap?) and do some regional American linguistics, pack yaw caah in the havid yad, and give it a try.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:11 PM | Comments (9)
December 09, 2007
More Brains Equals Less Happiness (with related Jumbled Thoughts on anti-Bush/anti-Jock sentiment)
Too little time to ramble appropriately. But here's a jumble of semi-related issues on nerd alienation, anti-Bushism and anti-jockism. First, the comments to this posted article on growing up brainy but inevitably unhappy are interesting, even touching (the comments are more interesting than the article). Though myself a fully formed non-jock last-picked-for-any-team somewhat "brainy" nerd, I nevertheless experienced less trauma than these folks did with "jocks" and other less eggheady types. Perhaps because the school environments I had were not too pro-jock, and were definitely pro-nerd. (That didn't stop all of the usual expected adolescent brutality and social ineptness coming my way, however). Then, I jump below to a bunch of slightly related half-formed theories here, going from the social exclusion of nerds to a distantly related political one: a working theory that alot of anti-Bush personal (not political) sentiment is fundamentally anti-jock resentment by nerds. To which discussion I append an appreciation of jocks.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:53 AM | Comments (11)
December 01, 2007
Need Gadget-Geek Info: Vinyl to Silicon
I am hinting around for a Xmas present: a device that has a turntable, a CD thing, and the necessary software so that one can transfer the contents of the old vinyl record to a CD. I saw this device in a consumer-ish outlet (did not get product name); does anyone know of the worthwhileness/reasonable pricing (USA) of such products or particular models or alternatives.? I imagine there are also legal issues of reproduction, but that's for another day.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:12 PM | Comments (5)
November 26, 2007
The Ultimate Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
I think I stumbled on the ultimate example of a self-fulfilling prophecy the other day. Go to a social event with your spouse and introduce him or her as "my future ex-[wife/husband]". No, I didn't do or have this done to me. Yet.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2007
Kennedy Assassination, Nixon, and Coincidence
On this anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, people argue coincidences and conspiracies (pssst- there wasn't any, Oswald was all alone). But there is a story about that day that is funny in its own right, probably true, and might give rise to a nice reflection on coincidences. Richard Nixon told this account to Larry King; I cannot find it online but I recall it from a book. The story is quite plausible even if Nixon wasn't always so.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2007
Beowulf ynne thae fylmmen? Hwaet tha fukkke? Godes yrre baer.
That great hard-of-hearing epic, Beowulf, the one that actually begins with a shout of "WHAT!" (spelled Hwaet!), has made it onto the big silver mead-hall screen. A great line from one review says "as you may remember from Cliff's Notes. . . .", but your humble servant actually has read the thing in its original, um, English and always wondered how, aside from some good monsters, this drama-less one-dimensional Dark Age gangsta rap could possibly be made into a good story. I haven't seen the film yet, but I shouldn't have been surprised at Hollywood's ingenuity in that area: they made stuff up.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:35 AM | Comments (4)
November 03, 2007
Safe from Pakistani worries
This just in on Pakistan: "Musharraf’s leadership is threatened by an increasingly defiant Supreme Court . . . ." Well, glad we don't face any dangers like that here in the USA.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:08 PM | Comments (1)
October 26, 2007
Petty thoughts: She's not worth it
An "oldie" of sorts, like me the listener, on the radio. Tom Petty's Listen To Her Heart. And the opening line that I hated then and now. So I just have to say this these many years later.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2007
Make that song stop!
Would those young kids out there here in the USA please get that Delilah song off the radio?! (Actually it's kind of nice, sort of like an "unplugged" version of "Last Train to Clarksville", and has a cool background story, but enough already, that adolescent poetry and singing gets to my old age.)
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:21 PM | Comments (2)
September 29, 2007
Noisy Desperation: The Fading Real Estate Market
Quiet desperation? Not on a road leading out of a major metropolis and into the suburbs. As endless commuter cars inched outward in a slow-moving stream at the end of the day, a haggard-looking woman held up a sign with an arrow pointed down a side street. The sign read: Buy My House, You'd Be Home Already. It wasn't long ago in the same area that one had only to put a mere broker sales-listing out and hordes of buyers and agents were breaking down the door. Now it is self-help. Caveat speculator.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:04 AM | Comments (8)
August 26, 2007
Corporate Islamofascism and Constituent Verbal Furballs
It is an accurate observation that the non-playful use of the term "Islamofascism" usually indicates that the written work which contains it emanated from some part of Idiotland, or has at least crossed its airspace. On the other side of the spectrum, to me anyway, in this day and age, once I see "corporate" used as a slur or with some kind of ominous overtone, a "here comes a rant from the other coast of Idiotland" reaction kicks in. ( I have yet to come across "corporate Islamofascism" but I am sure there is a rare neocon progressive out there nurturing it under ultraviolet light in a shoebox to use if say Wal-mart were to add Muslim prayer-time breaks for employees, although that would probably end up being "corporate dhimmitude".)
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 05:33 PM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2007
Is "The Only Good Arab is a Dead Arab" A Threat?
Having actually personally met some of the apparent victims in this situation, it pains me to say that I think they are probably wrong. Last year, a Foreign Service officer (and Georgetown Foreign Service School alumnus) emailed and voice-mailed a series of messages to individuals of the Arab-American Institute. These were "the only good Arab a dead Arab"; "they should burn in hell", etc .- type comments, and resulted in criminal charges. But to look over the whole accusation/indictment, and one ought to before judging, one can ask if there is enough here to charge Mr. Bigoted Foulmouth with a crime. After gender and time of day circumstances are considered, it may add up, but it's a close call. Without more, I'd go down on the side of free speech and say dismiss the charges unless more facts come out. (It does, nonetheless, make you wonder about State Department vetting standards.)
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:13 PM | Comments (4)
July 02, 2007
Ayn Rand Had Nothing to Do with it, OK?
I am a "classical liberal", a libertarian, or whatever it is. Brilliant, dumb, or neither, but just for the record: Ayn Rand had nothing to do with it, OK? Sentences like this just keep cropping up, though: "Ayn Rand, the Russian émigré novelist and philosopher who inspired more people toward a combined emotional/intellectual commitment to individual liberty than any other figure in the 20th century" or book titles like this: It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand. No, it didn't. Thank you. And "Objectivism" is stupid too.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 04:34 AM | Comments (9)
May 04, 2007
Junta Gatherer: Right Bolshevik Degeneracy
To think I once liked this guy, and the publication (National Review). Well, a little. The degeneration of our times. (Warning: America-centric-ish). For Thomas Sowell tells us, and I [block]quote:
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:11 PM | Comments (3)
April 25, 2007
Blame the Speech Not the Tactic?
(America-centric, sort of). The news program 60 Minutes here in the USA recently profiled the "Stop Snitchin'" theme of rap music which basically warns inner city, typically African-American, kids not to report crime to the police. Interviews show this is carrying some weight. But at one point host Anderson Cooper notes that many of the teens being interviewed have lost trust for the police already due to (as I recall the words roughly) "behavior of the police in enforcing the drug laws". Bingo! But they leave that thought to pass by -- with only a brief comment by a kid on being stopped and harassed for no reason -- to pursue more attacks on rap lyrics, with disturbing inclinations for free speech.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:54 AM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2007
A September 10 mentality?
A shooting spree at Virginia Tech in the USA has resulted in 30 or so innocent deaths. I just heard Wolf Blitzer say on CNN that it is the worst massacre in US history; another announcer called it the worst mass murder in US history. How about that? I thought it was just us war skeptics that had forgotten 9/11. Sadly, anyway, if this had been in Iraq, such a horror of murderous loss would be "just another Monday morning".
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:38 PM | Comments (3)
April 13, 2007
RIP -- Kurt Vonnegut
Spoiler alert. Every Vonnegut novel ends with the general world, or the writer's world, being destroyed. Now, I guess it's his turn. He was quite interesting, for a lefty. In an interview, he said he wanted the full military burial, to obtain what he was never assured in life -- the unqualified approval of his community. Wonder if he'll get it. Well, may he rest in free-thinkers' heaven.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 01:16 AM | Comments (1)
April 07, 2007
Murphy's Law of Car Radio Music
Ages ago, someone put out a collection of "Murphy's Law" type rules, such as "The other line moves faster" or "you cannot make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious". Subjective and anecdotal evidence has convincedme of another rule, to wit, viz. and I quote: "The best song comes on the car radio only when you are pulling into your destination at the last minute." How often one finds oneself, soaring on a highway for 45 minutes , barely enduring Hall and Oates (you young'uns won't understand) stuck on the airwaves, only to hear, just as you're turning into the parking lot with moments to spare,the radio commencing some generational anthemic opening like this, or some spine-shaking grand old Rolling Stones chestnut. You kids with your post- grunge, and your CDs, and your iTooths, and Blueberries, and PalmTunes won't understand the unique value of the surprise selection of a familiar oldie while driving. But we ancient ones still appreciate it. Sadly, however, we only get to appreciate the opening riffs og these selections as we hurriedly align the vehicle inside the yellow stripes and race to the office or train.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 04:16 PM | Comments (8)
March 06, 2007
Best case against socialized medicine: Walter Reed
Just to tick off the idealists, and smug Canadians, nothing convinces me of the dangers of socialized medicine, at least here in the USA, like this recent brouhaha about the horrible conditions of wounded soldiers being treated in the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:13 PM | Comments (70)
February 17, 2007
Societal differences: MENA and USA, a suicidal thought experiment
I was imagining two similar situations in any American and any major Levantine Arab metropolis. There are probably actual incidents of the type to use for real comparison but I have no will to hunt them down. Anyway, all too often, in some city like New York, some lost soul will stand on a ledge contemplating Ending It All. And a crowd forms. And they start yelling "jump, jump!" Or some analogous situation. Now, I have to make a disclaimer before going further. As a confirmed libertarian, I sort of agree you ought to have a legal right to do yourself in. And you ought to have a right to express an opinion on others doing their selves in. But my gut is opposite, and I find I wouldn't object deeply if, say, the cops open fire on such a crowd. In any case, I find such behavior deeply immoral. And a sick and barbaric downside of liberal society.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:23 PM | Comments (5)
December 21, 2006
Christmas, for Heathens
With the Aqoul readership an eclectic mess largely of various Mideast backgrounds, many being of locally-prevalent faiths or having apostasized therefrom, I thought I'd give some background on the Christmas holiday. Especially as it takes place among us Americans. There should be enough detail here to help you in the many trivia contests you'll being doing to pass your inevitable time in eternal hellfire.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:14 PM | Comments (12)
November 22, 2006
A Thanksgiving Narrative (warning: America-centric stuff)
I will abuse my journal privilege to republish something I wrote from years ago, as a contemplation of US Thanksgiving. Since it was written in 1999, an official memorial to what it tells of has been underway, as it should. It is a long narrative, hopefully written interestingly enough to hold the passing reader. It has no direct Mideast relevance per se, but it may provide a reflection on the complexities of the general inhumanity made permissible by war, cultural prejudice, civil conflict, and military administration.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 05:54 PM | Comments (3)
November 20, 2006
Lunatics expel least-crazy for brain malfunction: neoconservative latest
I love the political self-centeredness of this comment: "[Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn)]: 'If Rumsfeld had been out, you bet it would have made a difference . . . 'I'd still be chairman of the Judiciary Committee.' ' But that's not the importance of this Washington Post article. What is noteworthy, is the chutzpah of the neocons, that messianic war cult (I used to think I was overboard in that description but I've reverted since) of Right bolsheviks who blame Bush now for not properly executing their vision. (Specter, by the way, is not a neocon; his comment is just merely too good to miss quoting.) I mean it's like a bunch of lunatics excoriating their most recent member for being irrational. Ken "Cakewalk" Adelman dissing Bush for stupidity on Iraq??!! As they said in anti-McCarthy times, have you no shame sir?
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:20 PM | Comments (7)
November 13, 2006
Muslims in USA: Abdo book reviewed
The Washington Post gives a nice review of Genevieve Abdo's recent book examining the attitudes and status of the American Muslim community. He seems mystified, however, that someone might actually think Irshad Manji, a Muslim dissenter (whatever that means), is a self-promoting phony. Nonetheless, on the broader issues, Abdo argues, and Dirda agrees, that the Muslim community is beset by both a desire to be more engaging (and the opportunity is stronger in America than Europe) and a desire to withdraw into a cocoon of disengagement, retrogression, and perpetual taking offense.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:20 PM | Comments (5)
