As graft goes, New Jersey's latest cases are small and old-fashioned: a mayor keeps $50,000 in bribes around the house, most in the pocket of an old suit in his attic. Another mayor has a contractor install a waterfall in his backyard. A county executive takes an envelope full of bills in a hotel room. Big or small, old style or new, North Jersey or South, the game goes on. Most recently, two powerful county executives, one Democrat and one Republican, have been brought down.
Political Courage
Sometimes it seems as if Americans have forgotten what courage means. Here's a hint: talking tough doesn't make you a hero; you have to take personal risks. And I'm not just talking about physical risks — though it's striking how few of our biggest flag wavers have ever put themselves in harm's way. What we should demand of our representatives in Washington is the willingness to take political risks — to make a stand on principle, even if it means taking on powerful interest groups.
A Guy Who Made Us Believe in Politics and Politicians
In this time of immeasurable grief I remember Paul Wellstone -- teacher, mentor, organizer, writer, senator -- but most of all friend. Paul was one of those rare individuals who despite moving in the circles of power and influence, never forgot where he came from, who he was or the people he represented.
This Country, This System, This Election: All Fixable, and It's Up to You
Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television sitcom you can decide you don't much care for. Is the person who prescribes your eyeglasses qualified to do so? How deep will you be buried when you die? What textbooks are your children learning from at school? What will happen if you become seriously ill? Is the meat you're eating tainted? Will you be able to afford to go to college or to send your kids? Would you like a vacation? Expect to retire before you die? Can you find a job? Drive a car? Afford insurance? Is your credit card company or your banker or your broker ripping you off? It's all politics, Bubba. You don't get to opt out for lack of interest. Here's the good news: All of this can actually be fixed. By me, you, us -- no kidding, no bull. Nothing you can do about it? Just one person? As an American at this time, you have more political power than 99 percent of all the people who have ever lived on earth. And should you round up four friends who don't usually vote, you'll have four times that much political power. Why throw that away?
Literature Honing Words
Mr. Delbanco delights in horrifying his students by urging them to imitate rather than innovate ... ‘I was a guy no one would take a chance on," said Elwood Reid, a former Michigan football player who was the largest person at the tribute dinner and is also a novelist and short-story writer. "I was rejected from 27 straight writing programs. Nick met me, looked me in the eye and took me. He gave me confidence when I had no confidence. He's also very blunt and honest. He has no problem tossing your manuscript back at you and saying, `This stinks.' He would dismantle me and then take me into his office and tell me I could be a writer.’
A novel which will make you believe in God?
Yann Martel, a Canadian writer, won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in London last week for writing this tale. In Life of Pi, we have chosen an audacious book in which inventiveness explores belief. It is, as the author says, 'a novel which will make you believe in God’ or ask yourself why you don't.
Tartt Story.
People remember where they were when they read The Secret History, Tartt's 1992 debut, mega-successful (multimillion sales, 23 languages, a combination of Dostoyevsky, Euripides, Easton Ellis and Waugh, according to the New York Times) novel. They remember who recommended it to them, and who they were going out with at the time, and how they held their breath on the bus in to work, finished chapters walking down the street. It was only a thriller, and you knew who did it from the first page. But it was gripping and clever and fantastically erudite, and people became a little obsessed. Tartt's persona fed this obsession: her name (glamorous), her size (pocket), her answerphone message (TS Eliot reading), her fascinating pronouncements ("My life is like Candide" or "I'm the exact same size as Lolita" ["ninety pounds is all she weighs/with a height of sixty inches"]), her chaste aura of another era ("Je ne vais jamais me marier," she once said, winsomely).
Life in Heavy Metal
Several reviewers reacted to the collection with outrage. They were offended that the male characters acted so poorly. There’s not much I can do about this. Most people are deeply flawed. They hurt other people. They hurt themselves. They also achieve moments of grace and forgiveness.
Political Fiction Pretend you're the political adviser to the NSW Labor Party
· Put your best spin forward [Margo Kingston]
Political Humour A Short Story About Dangerous Bikes
· Parliamentary Exchange [Crikey]
Media Fact Alan, you are, as we say in the trade, a liar. Good night.
· Put your best spin backward [Media Watch]
The Australian Broadcasting Authority is to examine allegations
· Sponsorship is dangerous [ABC WorldToday]
Scientific Fact Dangerous Research
· Making Light of Science [Independent]
Dissappearing Family Childless Couples
· Populate or Perish into a definition of a Smart State [Australian]
Internet Ratmailing versus blogging
The thing I hate about chat rooms is how you seem to get these constant eruptions of abuse. It's like being a rat in one of those horrible experiments which prove that rats can't live like that. Every so often fights break out and with every fight that's fought more fur falls out, more immune system damage is suffered, more rats abandon procreation as a life goal, and each rat is one fight nearer to just laying down and dying of a broken heart at the sheer horribleness of it all.
Blogging often gets frisky, especially in the comments sections (which seem to me to be a lot like the nicest of the chatrooms) but basically, I'm convinced, blogging is not like that.