Week In the News

Two news stories caught my interest this week, though I don’t know that they have much of anything in common:

First, a 28-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, man, Johnny Logan Spencer, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for writing a poem, “The Sniper,” which describes the assassination of President Obama. Spencer explained that he had been upset over the death of his mother and had become a member of a white supremacist group that helped him kick his drug habit. How those experiences were inspiration for a threatening work of literature remains unclear.

Second, a 39-year-old Bluffton, South Carolina, man, Alexander Ofner, was arrested for exposing himself, Pee-Wee Herman like, while viewing a movie. Police were called to the Sea Turtles Cinemas and taken to the projection booth, where they watched as Ofner played with his privates while watching the new Hairy Potter and the Deathly Hollows film.

Again, I can’t find much that these two stories share, except perhaps the reminder that there remain some pretty creepy people among us.

Sanctimonious

I don’t know that I agree with the Obama-McDonald tax-cut cave, but at least Obama was able to send Americans to the dictionary to find what the word “sanctimonious” means, when he used that term to describe liberal democrats who objected to his compromise/cave. On December 7, Obama described such democrats as “sanctimonious” (and liberally “purist”) in opposing his compromise with Republicans on tax-cut extensions for the wealthy (1/10 of 1% controls 11% of the wealth in this country; 10% controls 23% of the income). After Obama’s speech, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary reported a spike in look-ups for “sanctimonious.” Maybe Obama is positioning himself to become the new “education president.” It’s certainly more refreshing having him actual English words than Sarah Palin’s coining terms such as “refudiate,” whatever that might mean.

On My Wish List

Fresh Winter

White Truffles

8 Ounces
Tuber Magnatum

Item # 232996

$849.99

Shipping & Handling included *



If you’re looking for a stocking-stuffer, here’s a special offer from Cosco . . .

Christmas Music

There may nothing more horrid than listening to back-to-back Christmas songs on the radio except perhaps listening to back-to-back Christmas songs on the radio while sitting captive for an hour in a dentist’s chair. I was only confined for a cleaning and check-up. Perhaps if I was under the drill, or having a root canal, I would have appreciated the numbing distraction. But just sitting there, especially for the nearly half hour waiting between the hygienist and the dentist, it felt pretty much itself like severe drilling into my skull.

I don’t recall ever being engaged by Christmas music, religious or secular, though I’ve been told that as a child I was enthralled by Burl Ives’s rendition of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” That may be, but I also dressed up in a full bunny costume for Halloween at the age of five, so I was clearly under the sway of parents who must have been set on indoctrinating me into mainstream numbing culture. But sometime during my teen years – perhaps when I was getting into rock music (though I also don’t like rock Christmas songs) – I began to be repelled. Perhaps it was the insipid lyrics. Perhaps it was the dull melodies. Or maybe it was just the constant repetition, hour to hour, day to day, year to year – the drilling of it into my brain, if you will.

3-year-old's Curiosity

Mommy: "You have to hold an adult's hand when you cross the street."
Ellie: "Mommy, what's a dolt?"