From Monday, 16 September through Thursday, 19 September, I read the definitive edition of Joe Haldeman's The Forever War (NY: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin [an imprint of St. Martin's Press], 2009; previously published, in different formats, in 1974, 1975, and 1997); ISBN: 978-0-312-53663-3; 275 pps.

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Since there seems to be an endless roster of people ready, willing, and able to scold President Obama for something that he didn't say -- including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at last night's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida -- I thought I'd reproduce Mike Thompson's editorial cartoon rebuttal from last Friday's (24 August) ( Read more... )

I've said it elsewhere, but it bears repeating here: can we please, please have a moratorium on all championing of Ayn Rand's Objectivist "philosophy" in mainstream political discourse in this country?

I've read enough about her over the years to determine that I've no real interest in actually reading her "masterpieces" Atlas Shrugged and The ( Read more... )

I had a chuckle when I re-read Thor Vol. 1, #179 (Aug. 1970), as reprinted in Thor: Siege Aftermath (2010; ISBN: 978-0-7851-4638-4); here's Loki, as drawn by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks), looking quite a bit like a Wall Street financier:

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Prompted by Kenneth Roberts' Oliver Wiswell (1940), a lengthy novel about the American Revolution told from the point of view of a Loyalist (i.e., the losing side), I dug out Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (1984), intending to reread only the relevant section ("Chapter Four: The British Lose America"), but rereading, in ( Read more... )

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star (and, if I'm reading his signature a'right, USA Today), reprinted in the Sunday Detroit Free Press (today: 22 March 2009):

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Think I'll go out on a limb here and attempt to call the 2008 presidential election (as I did for the 2004 presidential election, although I did so much earlier in '04).

I'll be honestly surprised if John McCain isn't elected president ( Read more... )

Funny how every once in a while an old song can take on a new shade of meaning thanks to recent events. While this is more often true in relating a song to the personal circumstances in one's life, sometimes it's true of national, even international events.

Case in point: I just realized yesterday (Sunday, 12 October) that Bruce Springsteen's " ( Read more... )

Oh, swell:

After months of speculation, the feds, under the direction of U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson (a former CEO of Goldman Sachs), have taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As Dawn Kopecki and Alison Vekshin reported on Bloomberg.com an hour or so ago, "Paulson is seeking to end a crisis of confidence in the companies sparked ( Read more... )

Yesterday (Wednesday, 21 May) was quite the trifecta for oil news:

Not only did crude oil hit a record high of U.S. $134.15 a barrel before settling at $133.17 (and Bloomberg's reporting today that it hit $135.04 in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange...); not only did executives at the U.S.'s five largest oil companies take ( Read more... )