Hard Truths September 3, 2012 I just read a very short critical essay by Simon Schama on the fabulists and mythologizers at the recent GOP National Convention: Here’s one… Continue Reading
Could Lincoln get elected in Western Duluth August 24, 2012 my last post prompted my Buddy to tease me a little. Here is our email exchange: On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 10:18 AM,… Continue Reading
“working like bees to distill their poison” August 22, 2012 That’s how President George Washington described Thomas Jefferson’s allies when they pushed him to declare War on England. I found the quote in Chapter… Continue Reading
The Texas Republicans favorite historian… August 13, 2012 …has his book pulled by its publisher for being full of errors. He still sits on the text book buying Board that generally determines… Continue Reading
When US politics wasn’t a blood sport August 1, 2012 I just stumbled on this delightful exchange between Woody Allen and the arch conservative William Buckley. It took place in 1967 when the Vietnam… Continue Reading
Caro Syrup April 28, 2012 If my eight loyal readers didn’t anticipate this I’ll make it clear. My book is not going to be finished this year. I concluded… Continue Reading
Doc Martin and Herman Melville March 20, 2012 Someone, I can’t recall who, recommended Doc Martin, a British television series, to me. Its available on Netflix. Claudia and I have been enjoying… Continue Reading
Word Search of the Day February 25, 2012 Bliss Ralph Doty has another column in the Budgeteer today. Its a book review about the little known President James Garfield. When I moved… Continue Reading
Speaking of Groupthink February 20, 2012 An indictment of my favorite info dump – Wikipediea: For the past 10 years I’ve immersed myself in the details of one of the… Continue Reading
Chuck Frederick sticks up for Roger Reinert’s… February 17, 2012 …attention seeking proposal for a Duluth based Viking’s stadium. Who better to defend Duluth’s honor from the sophisticates at the Strib than the author… Continue Reading
The more things change… February 14, 2012 …the more they stay the same: “This is despotism, this is tyranny, this is the annihilation of liberty,” one senator wrote to a colleague…. Continue Reading
Slavery by Another Name February 10, 2012 I put up a short post yesterday called a Criminal Business. I made a claim in it that some readers might have found hard… Continue Reading
Underground February 6, 2012 Tonight’s PBS program about William Still was a truly excellent telling of one of the principal conductors of the Underground Railroad. O Canada! Our… Continue Reading
Kiss him? January 24, 2012 Someday the Dish will decline and I will no longer feel compelled to check it out on a near daily basis. It will joke… Continue Reading
Historicide is… January 21, 2012 …the murder of history. I just hate it. When history is murdered or corrupted for the purpose of demagoguery I find it all the… Continue Reading
I’m sure that Newt the Historian knows who Andy Jackson was happy to kill… January 21, 2012 …the Cherokee Indians!. He did it when he ignored the US Supreme Court and sent them to a gulag in the dead of Winter…. Continue Reading
When my Grandfather was nine years old… January 10, 2012 …Jerusalem was 85% Muslim. Somehow in 1896 it looks more like I would imagine a holy city to look. And more peaceful. As I… Continue Reading
One case where Ron Paul makes more sense than Obama January 6, 2012 Its Iran. And both of them are righter than the rest of the GOP: Fifty years ago, [China] was the Iran of its day,… Continue Reading
Bookin it 10 January 4, 2012 I bragged a couple days ago that I might crank out 50 pages this week. The heartening thing is that I’m pretty comfortable thinking… Continue Reading
My Buddy is after me again December 31, 2011 After months of ignoring my Buddy so that I can spend my time on something useful I’ve started emailing back and fourth with him… Continue Reading
