Miscellaneous

By Bill Altreuter

At this point I'd say you'd have to have a heart of stone to not be rooting for the Jets-- and I hate the Jets.

Second Amendment advocates (or as I think of them, gun nuts) like to talk about how they need their sidearms for protection. In that context it is interesting to note that nobody in Tucsan was made safer, and that the guy with the gun who ran towards the shooting could have as easily shot one of the people who were struggling to subdue Jared Loughner. Making too much stew out of one oyster has been the hallmark of this event, but this has been my take-away: in a place where there are a lot of guns guns are the problem, not the solution.

Martin Luther King's Birthday is, I think, mostly marked by considering the successes of the American Civil Rights movement, and seems to be generally thought of as a holiday for African-Americans. It shouldn't be that way. Instead we should use the day as an occasion to reflect upon the inequities that continue to pervade our society. Race is still a part of this, of course, but now more than maybe ever it is economic injustice which characterizes and defines America. One of the best places to start thinking about this remains health care: the House is taking up the roll-back of the health care reform legislation passed last term, and the way it is talked about should be shocking to anyone. We are a country that refuses to take care of our people, and this is a point of pride: we wouldn't want to be confused with France or Belgium or Canada after all.

I've been trying to remember the title of a book I read when I was a kid all weekend. Details about it were there, but like a caraway seed lodged in a tooth the title would not dislodge from my mind no matter how hard I tried to worry it. It was about a boy growing up in Greenwich Village who wanted to play guitar. His father took him to see an exhibition of Jackson Pollack paintings, and there was a jewel theft. The kid was subject to stage fright unless he had his teddy bear.... It was called "The Teddy Bear".... something, and Google couldn't help me. The Teddy Bear Caper? The Teddy Bear Problem? About a half hour ago it hit me: it was The Teddy Bear Habit, by James Lincoln Collier.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on January 17, 2011 (boomark / email).