The Long Road Out

 The idiot in the White House believes that it's a good idea for 17-year old kids to load up with weapons and drive to minority communities to defend property.  He believes that such a kid, after a two-hour drive filled with intentionality, has a right to a self-defense claim when he unloads his weapons into a crowd.  So, I want to make it absolutely clear:  you won't even let 17 year olds into our military or secret police.  Now, without any training, you want them on the streets, near schools, and on the fringes of agitated citizens? What the serious fuck.  You, Donald Trump, are a dangerous accessory to murder.  Here's a baseline principle: no teenager should have access to weapons.  This would reduce the teen suicide rate in the United States by half in an instant. It would reduce the number of women murdered by young boyfriends. And it would save our Democracy.  As has always been the case in the United States, people who reject the gove...

It's not an uncommon sight to get on a NYC subway and see some one reading their dog-eared bible. I always feel pity for these folks--to waste all the energy on inferior literature. Really--I think the Manhattan Yellow Pages yield more meaning, after serious study, than the Old Testament. I've heard some of my quasi-tolerant friends try to argue that the OT is the "how not to" guide that's somehow answered by the "how to" of the New Testament. This sounds like a wild-assed justification to get around a book where fathers regularly give away their daughters to rape in order to save their property. I've never seen a set of writing that offers less moral guidance than the Old Testament. Really--for those of you lost on the subways, trying to make sense of this mottled collection of borrowed myth, try Barry Unsworth's "Sacred Hunger," or Thomas Hardy--or the Phone Book. You'll learn more on one trip on the 1 train downtown t...

We were in one of those sad arts & crafts stores in Fair Haven, VT, and noticed a pre-printed note pad on the discount pile--you know the type. This one said "What Would Jesus Do?", and it was replete with a drawing of the big guy, fully prepared to offer whatever advice you required. Could there be anything more ridiculous? First of all, Jesus could do miracles--stupid ones, albeit, but miracles nonetheless. We can't. So, what good would his advice be? And, second. Look at the outcome.