Recently I happened to tell a native New Yorker that my great-grandfather* was a Texan communist. “Really?” he said. “In Texas-of-all-places. I didn’t know there was a Leftist tradition there.” His tone suggested I might’ve confused communism with snake-handling. Thanks to David Brooks and friends, lots of people who’ve never been west of Pennsylvania or south of D.C. now view . . .
I’ve been very busy lately with edifying writerly matters such as finding the cheapest beer that’s still potable, watching Crime Story, and trying to master the art of traversing the Pulaski Bridge in the morning without having to stop reading Dubravka Ugresic. Being an irrepressible nerd, I’ve always read during the walking parts of my commute — between trains, waiting . . .
On Saturday I went to the Melvin Van Peebles double feature at Film Forum. How To Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It), a new documentary on the filmmaker/author/musician/Wall Street trader, was so fascinating I only spent 5% of the time worrying that bedbugs were making their way into my garments. (Cf. 92% at the viewing of the . . .
A character* in one of Mark Twain’s novels observes that only laughter can defeat a “colossal humbug.” Against the assault of scathing wit, he says, “nothing can stand.” Whether the character underestimates the fortitude of corruption and stupidity is an open question. But I argue in a column for the current American Prospect that there’s no more effective weapon against . . .
That old Schoolhouse Rock song doesn’t quite capture the legislative process of the Twenty-First Century. Bush generally doesn’t bother vetoing bills he doesn’t like. Instead, he attaches “signing statements” that, in the most extreme cases, announce his refusal to follow the very law he’s just signed. Signing statements don’t have the force of law, but they can influence judicial interpretations . . .