The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Jews for Christmas

    By Michael Wolraich on Sat, 12/18/2010 - 10:07am | Politics, Humor & Satire

    I'm not a Christian, but like many Jews, I've envied Christmas since childhood. I like the twinkly lights, pink-cheeked carolers, heartwarming television specials, and exuberantly ho-ho-ho-ing Santa Clauses ... pretty much everything except the endless renditions of "Jingle Bells" warbling from every audio speaker in the country.

    Most of all, I love the spirit of good will associated with Christmas -- smiles from strangers, charitable giving and other acts of kindness. We Jews have a holiday called Purim for spreading joy and charity, but Purim also involves raucously cheering the murder of 75,000 Persians, which is somewhat low on the good will meter.

    In recent years, however, I've been dismayed that the Christmas spirit I admire has come under attack. Angry people have been exploiting the holiday as an opportunity to vilify their opponents. Vilifying opponents is also low on the good will meter, albeit not as low as murdering Persians.

    Read the full story at CNN.com

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Humor & Satire
    Donal's picture

    Embedding Youtube

    By Donal on Sat, 12/18/2010 - 9:35am | Media

    A few of you have had trouble embedding youtube. Like some of you, I first tried to use the embed code from youtube. It didn't work for me, either. But I noticed that in the composing menu bar, to the far right is an icon (Insert/edit embedded media) that looks like two frames of film. Single-clicking that icon brings up a window. The first line in that window defaults to Type: Flash. Flash is right for youtube.

    Topics: 
    Media
    Donal's picture

    Any shooting you can walk away from ...

    By Donal on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 10:05pm | Politics



    Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. They say that because flying always involves risk.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    The War on Christian Virtues

    By Doctor Cleveland on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 7:48pm | Politics, Personal, Religion

    Apparently, the dreaded "War on Christmas" now extends to having to work between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, at least if the taxpayers pay your salary and your job title is "Senator." According to Senator Jon Kyl, having work the week after the Christmas holiday would be "disrespectful" to Christians. Senator Jim DeMint called working the week before Christmas "sacrilegious." That's right.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Personal
    Religion
    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Wolfrum in Spain

    By William K. Wolfrum on Thu, 12/16/2010 - 11:48am | Personal

    Because I know you have been thinking of me, here I am ...

    ... hanging out next to the remains of Christopher Columbus ...

     

    ... shooting the bull ...

    ... and enjoying some local flavor.

    Topics: 
    Personal
    Ramona's picture

    The Amazing Endurance of Remarkable Words

    By Ramona on Wed, 12/15/2010 - 8:54am | Politics
    Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or your recklessness. . . Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I'm a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. .
    Topics: 
    Politics
    Donal's picture

    Astroturf and Masturbation

    By Donal on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 10:23pm | Politics

    I keep stumbling across today's boring competition over which dag commenter can be more offensive, and Georges Monbiot and Barry Eisler have me wondering whether I am reading astroturfers or masturbators, or both.

    First Monbiot, in the Guardian:

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Pages