The “New Yorker’s” Hendrik Herzberg has a perfect Anatole France quotation for Republican plans to pay for extending the payroll tax exemption.
Tag Archives: politics
Deficit Plan: No Food Stamps for the Rich
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Anatole France, Budget battles, Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol, Red Lily, Taxation Comments closed
The Presidential Candidates in Wonderland
Should we dismiss all the rhetoric coming from the Republican presidential candidates as the gryphon in “Alice in Wonderland” dismisses the “off with their heads” commands of the Queen of Hearts?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Golf Links", "Hollow Men", Alice in Wonderland, Cleghorn (Sarah), Lewis Carroll, Republicans, Sarah Cleghorn, T. S. Eliot Comments closed
Gingrich Auditions for a Dickens Villain
Newt Gingrich’s proposal that poor children be allowed to serve as janitors in their schools calls for a Dickensian response.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charles Dickens, Newt Gingrich, Oliver Twist, poverty Comments closed
If Indiana Jones Raided Iran . . .
The scene in “Raiders of the Lost Arc” where Indiana Jones defeats a sword-twirling antagonist by shooting him articulates a fantasy that most of the Republican candidates for president are indulging in as they discuss Iran’s nuclear bomb ambitions.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Foreign Policy, Iran, nuclear proliferation, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Steven Spielberg Comments closed
Quick Note on Rick Perry’s “Oops”
Rick Perry’s “oops” moment in last night’s Republican debates brings to mind a passage in a Tom Stoppard play.
Captain Ahab, a Tyrant for All Seasons
Nathaniel Philbrick describes “Moby Dick” as a “metaphysical survival manual” which helps us understand the nature of tyrants.
Jane Austen and “Occupy Wall Street”
In “Mansfield Park” Jane Austen calls out the irresponsible wealthy in ways that the Occupy Wall Street protests would approve.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Eric Cantor, Hypocrisy, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park Comments closed
What Does a True Arab Do Now?
In “Blood,” Naomi Shihab Nye grieves the massacres of Lebanese Palestinians in a poem that calls out for us to see each other as individuals and not as racial Others.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Blood", Beiruit massacre, Naomi Shihab Nye, Palestinians, racism Comments closed
