Many articles in the last few days, such as this one on Politico and this one in the Washington Post, have focused on the cathartic anger being expressed at McCain and Palin rallies this week, and at the hint of mob mentality in shouts of "Get him!" and "Traitor!" 

But while… Read full post »

On Sunday the New York Times ran a profile of a 58-year-old man who was laid off 18 months ago from a $225,000 job in the loan industry. Expecting "a glut of interviews," he bought two new suits with his severance pay but has never used them, because he hasn't had… Read full post »

In my recent post about my struggle to find a literary agent, an interesting discussion arose in the comment thread that I would like to answer in a whole post. Thanks to y'all for raising the issues.

Among other things, @tomreedtoon said:

I mean to say that in a short… Read full post »

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose recent unexplained absence from his state for four days was first explained that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail and then that he was "writing something," admitted today that he had actually spent the weekend in Argentina, fucking his girlfriend.

The w… Read full post »

James Dobson, founder and head of the Focus on the Family religious education and lobbying organization, is stepping down, the Associated Press reported.

The 72-year-old Dobson, a psychologist by training, has been one of the most powerful religious conservatives in the U.S. for decades. His Focus… Read full post »

The former actress Tippi Hedren now runs an animal sanctuary for exotic beasts -- retired circus lions and such -- and took the tigers from Michael Jackson's small zoo when it was closed down in 2005. She let a reporter know that she took the trouble to inform the tigers of their… Read full post »

Today the publishing blog GalleyCat has a piece on the author Molly Jong-Fast and her decision to leave writing and become a literary agent. It's full of arresting statements about the life of a writer and why she doesn't want to be one anymore. 

Jong-Fast is the author of two autobigraphical… Read full post »

I'm reluctant to admit it, but I am sort of in agreement with this sentence in the LA Times today on today's nationwide protests against anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives such as California's Prop. 8:

And it remains uncertain whether the aggressive tactics ultimately advance the activists' goal:… Read full post »

Comedian Chris Rock on Larry King last night:

ROCK: The big thing right now is the economy. And people are going broke. And here: The choice isn't Republican or Democrat. The choice is you got a guy that's worth $150 million with 12 [sic] houses against a guy who's worth

… Read full post »

 

Ted Haggard, the disgraced megachurch leader whose outing as a meth-snorting Big Gay embarrassed the Christian Right just prior to the 2006 midterm elections, has agreed to promote an HBO documentary about his rise and fall. 

The documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard,"… Read full post »

An article by Drake Bennett in yesterday's Boston Globe has some suggestions for what a 21st century New Great Depression would look like: Instead of people lining up at soup kitchens, Bennett says, people will be lining up at emergency rooms.

He's half right -- no doubt people without health… Read full post »

This is a real news story from the New York Times -- click on the link, read it and weep.

Cheney Pulls Muscle and Is in Wheelchair

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back on Monday while moving boxes and will be in… Read full post »

Ted Haggard appeared yesterday before the press to promote the HBO documentary about him, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." (An ironic title, by the way, since Haggard has never been charged with any crime despite admitting to buying and possessing methamphetamine.) Among the entertaining statemen…

Read full post »

Americans hold 10.8 jobs between age 18 and 42 -- Bureau of Labor Statistics (and courtesy @kmsalon).

I'm not surprised by that at all. Between 18 and 42 I was a cafeteria worker, school bus driver, dishwasher in a bar, sandwich cook, movie reviewer, messenger dispatcher, delivery tru… Read full post »

From 1998 to 2003 I worked on what would become my first finished novel. This book, set in 1960 (I was there before "Mad Men"!), was about a fictionalized Joey Bishop, his relationship to the other members of the Rat Pack, and the 20-year-old would-be dharma bum he hired to drive… Read full post »

Fooling around on this site, I clicked on "Topics" at the top of the page and then on several random tags -- religion, sex, mccain, and so on. I noticed  each tag has its own URL, so that if you click on a Topic, say "sex," you'll go to a page… Read full post »

Focus on the Family, the influential fundamentalist media empire headed by Dr. James Dobson, will lay off 46 employees after sales of videos, books and other products failed to meet expectations, an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

The Colorado Springs company -- which has radio,… Read full post »

There's some suggestion that among the changes to be wrought by the coming president should be ending Daylight Savings Time. Among the reasons offered is that it doesn't save energy, it plays havoc with people's biological clocks, it's difficult for computer programmers to take into account, and it m… Read full post »

One year ago today, Pablo Sandoval of Venezuela made his big-league debut with the Giants. Today, he is quickly becoming the team center.

Fans are wearing panda masks (some frightening, some just plain stupid) around the ballpark, getting jerseys made with "PANDOVAL" on the back, and… Read full post »

Last week on the day following the inauguration, radio talker Rush Limbaugh took batting practice with fellow gasbag Sean Hannity, working himself up into his customary lather and declaring he'd like nothing better than for new President Barack Obama to "fail."

Republicans, said Limbaugh:

have n… Read full post »

I've known some beautiful women, women who are very striking, women who turn heads. I don't claim to have dated many of these avatars, but I've become friends with a few, and there's a question I've always wanted to ask them, but which, because I don't want to be annoying or… Read full post »

Of the self-immolators during the Vietnam War, Denise Levertov said¹:
     We need them.
     Brands that flare to show us
     The dark we are in,
     To keep us moving in it.

That was forty years ago. Another war now blinds us, illumina… Read full post »

Courtesy The Rumpus: the NYT on "What is a Master's Degree Worth." I never went to grad school myself; not really. Seven years after getting my bachelor's from the Univ. of Texas in Film Criticism, I did go for a year to San Francisco State to get my California teaching credential… Read full post »

The Associated Press reported today that 2.5 million Beatles albums were sold in the five day period beginning with the September 9th re-issue of the group's catalog in digitally remastered versions.

I'm not sure what to think about that. On the one hand, I adore the Beatles, as… Read full post »

According to a columnist for the Advertising Age website, newspapers are dying not so much because their advertising model has failed but because they have too much serious content and make readers feel guilty that they can't consume it all. 

Simon Dumenco, who writes "The Media Guy" c… Read full post »