Tuesday, June 30, 2015
When They Say Yes They Mean Yes . . .
Monday, June 29, 2015
Now I get to lose friends . . .
Yes, Obama's spiel at the Charleston church was spectacular,
artful, wonderful. God's grace is great — if you qualify and can get it. But
here's my problem: after all that forgiveness and grace, how many seriously
committed Christians — including black Christians — are going to allow for gay
marriage? And, further, stand up to say so?
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The Big O's Presidency
Not to put too fine a point on it, but those on the Republican
right who have jumped to a kneejerk, sight unseen rejection of the Iran deal
are the same people who brought us the Vietnam War and the invasion of Iraq. I
don't mean the identical individuals, though there's carry over; I mean they
are governed by the same impulse, including the assumption that there are no
limits to what American military force can achieve in reshaping the world.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Starting at 2:30 pm today. . .
Getting Back
Starting at about 2:30 pm today it took me an hour to drive
from Whole Foods Fresh Pond back to my apartment a block off Mass. Ave on Rindge,
and I had to break a few laws to do it.
Police had blocked off the turn from Mass Ave to Rindge. City
workers were laying black top — or something. (In Yiddish, this is technically known
as oysgevarfeneh gelt — literally "thrown away money." Watch, it will
happen all summer long, even where it happened last year, hence the oysgevarfeneh).
Friday, June 19, 2015
Monster Centralism
There's a very good English word for Dylann Roof, the
Charleston S.C. murderer — "monster". (The word is derived from the
Latin "to show", a root of "demonstrate". I think it was
meant once upon a time to indicate monsters were God's demonstrations of something,
though what God was showing, or differentiating from, I do not claim to know).
Still, why, exactly, has "monster" fallen out of
usage?
Because it's not reducible to the detailed legal
specifications of "crazy"?
Because "monster" is not listed in the current
DSM?
Because the question remains, is Dylann Roof a terrorist
monster or some other sort?
Let these definitions be debated as they politically,
legally, and psychologically must.
In the meantime, let there be no doubt that:
1) Dylann Roof is nothing less than a monster
2) And that he is a particularly American, gun-toting,
racist breed of monster.
But neither American racism, sickeningly persistent as
proves to be, nor the sick American friendliness toward guns and their toting,
comes close to explaining monstrosity, which is not, at the end of day, a
uniquely American phenomenon.
Think of Anders Behring Breivik, the guy who in 2011 in the
social-democratically enlightened country of Norway, bombed to death eight of
his countrymen in Oslo, before moving on to shoot down as many as he could on
the island of Utøya
(he got to 69.)
Monsters.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Lebron
The basketball player formerly known as Ron Artest Jr. now
goes by the handle Metta World Peace. I hope the basketball player currently known
as Lebron James does not follow in this path and formally rename himself "I
am the Greatest Basketball Player on the Planet," much as he took to
calling himself that during the NBA finals.
For one thing, "I am the Greatest Basketball Player on
the Planet" is a mouthful. For another, it detracts from rather than underlines
or adds to the respect James is definitely due — not only as a player but also
as man of some political acumen, as he's shown with regard to turmoil on the
streets of Cleveland and with regard to NBA issues, such as racist remarks by octogenarian
a'hole Donald Sterling.
Besides, the NBA is in danger of choking on spectacle, as if
basketball on the highest level isn't enough, as if the sport doesn't more than
justify itself. Especially when it comes to the finals, you've got to get through
a lot of spectacular nonsense to arrive at an actual game.
So James should stick to being James, or Lebron, or even
King James, since that says it too. Though, wait, wasn't King James ejected for
good, as in beheaded, or something? No, he wasn't. That form of ejection was
the fate of several other English kings, not one of whom could ever dribble or play defense.
So Lebron, stick to the known and tolerable monikers, and
better luck next year.
Now here's where I get in my special pitch: there is, in the
NBA, a separate statistic for the one point shot. It's called free throw
percentage.
Time to get rid of field goal percentage, which no longer
describes the game, and split it into a statistic for the venerable, though increasingly
outmoded, two point shot and another for three-pointer, upon which so many
teams depend.
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