I don’t get many opportunities for this, so let me take them when I can. I refer, of course, to the exhilarating sensation of disagreeing with C.S. Lewis. In an essay on good work, Lewis says this: “Work nowadays must not be good. For the wearer, zip fasteners have this advantage over buttons: that, while …
Review: My Life As Author And Editor
My Life As Author And Editor by H.L. Mencken My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nothing much to say here except how much I love Mencken’s voice. View all my reviews
What Makes Racism Sinful
Back when the world was more oriented in a right side up way than it is now, racism was a short-hand way of describing the mental outlook of the bigot — and everybody knew what a bigot was also. Racism was a descriptive term, and I did not mind describing racism as a sin against …
Review: Every Writer’s Guide to Copyright and Publishing Law
Every Writer’s Guide to Copyright and Publishing Law by Ellen M. Kozak My rating: 4 of 5 stars Very helpful. Full of good information. The times, they are a changing. View all my reviews
Quick Follow Up on The Flag
As a number of you noticed, I wrote yesterday on what I regard as empty posturing on the part of the Southern Baptist Convention. This elicited a lot of reactions and comments, and so I thought to follow everything up with a few additional comments of my own. One of the reactions was by Jeff …
Review: Selected Poetry
Selected Poetry by Ogden Nash My rating: 5 of 5 stars A wonderful collection. Although I must say that it dawned on me that I wouldn’t really call Nash a poet. He was, top to bottom, front to back, a wit. Just a lot of fun. A regular poet published a book,And an excellent book …
Southern Baptist Lava Lamps
Just the other day, in a masterpiece of bad timing, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention voted to disassociate themselves from the Confederate battle flag. I maintain this was a cloth-headed blunder for three basic reasons. First, it was as though the second story of your house were on fire, and the fire department did …
Review: Matthew Arnold Eman Poet Lib #53
Matthew Arnold Eman Poet Lib #53 by Matthew Arnold My rating: 3 of 5 stars Although I think Dover Beach is a poem to be admired, the rest of this collection left me pretty flat. View all my reviews
Circumambient Imbecilities
The phrase in my title comes from Mencken, but the reality that we must deal with every day comes from . . . from our thought leaders, I think. It is a bad business when a nation’s thought leaders quit thinking. A radical Muslim, working the ISIS angle, shot up a homosexual nightclub, murdering 49 …
Review: Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President
Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President by Warren Throckmorton My rating: 4 of 5 stars When I first read The Jefferson Lies, I rated it at four stars, but noted at the time that this was tentative. I wanted to read the other side of that controversy, which I have now …