In an earlier post I had put down what I thought would happen if the republicans lose this election. The New Republic has a much more detailed story on this idea.
An illuminating article by Christopher Hitchens about how both the abdicating King Edward and the new King George were and remained Nazi sympathizers well after the Czech sellout. Hitchens cannot resist needling Churchill too. But Churchill's seems to have been found guilty mostly by association with King Edward, not because of any explicit Nazi sympathies. Here is however a funny line about how Churchill once called himself the lone warrior against the twin evils of Hitler and Gandhi! Hitchens is obviously disgusted with the British Monarchy and end the article by with memorable flourish. Almost the entire moral capital of this rather odd little German dynasty is invested in the post-fabricated myth of its participation in "Britain's finest hour." In fact, had it been up to them, the finest hour would never have taken place. So this is not a detail but a major desecration of the historical record—now apparently gliding unopposed toward a baptism by Oscar.
God is in the air. Again. After Dawkin's God Delusion and Hitchen's God is not great left scorched earth (but no prisoners) in their wake, comes a more subtle book written by Rebecca Goldstein - 36 Arguments for the existence of God - A work of fiction , where the protagonist, an "atheist with a soul", contemplates the universe that has suddenly made him rich and famous after his public confession of atheism. Arguments about God, and the ripostes thereof, have been an ongoing (and mostly mundane) phenomena for many centuries. Things got a bit more interesting during Enlightenment . Voltaire lies in his deathbed and a worried priest comes up to him and tells him that it is not too late. He can yet renounce satan. "Now is no time to make new enemies." says Voltaire. And dies. Although things had turned interesting, it isn't until the twentieth century, and until both sides had fully heard out the other side, that the arguments became stylized. Th...
I watched them as I tried in vain to keep at bay the army of flies that were attacking my freshly cooked and newly dead goat. The boys were wearing the bright Red and Blue Shukas . For hundreds of years, those colors have terrorized lions and inspired awed tales of young boys hunting lions with spears . There are now too many boys and too few lions. This is where the boys were instead. The muggy heat was enervating. The streets were filled with men and women in Shukas. It was market day and the men had brought their cattle over for sale. In a crumbling shed off the main highway stood a gleaming pool table. A large host of Masai teens stood all around it, all in their Shukas. Sipping beer, betting and talking animatedly. Pool sticks, not hunting spears seemed weapons of choice. There was not a girl among them. The goat was a bit too fresh. Besides, I was sure the flies had alread...
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