Lying Liars, Etc.

Our national media cannot take a stand on objective fact or truth. It can only pass on what others are saying, and then only what’s said the loudest and most persistently. At this point I don’t seen any possibility that the media can or will or even wants to correct itself. It’s too far gone, too corrupt.

Paul’s Book Reviews: Fiction, Fantasy, YA, SF

Transatlantic Colum McCann Two Englishmen fly the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1919. Fredrick Douglass, a slave turned abolition activist, tours Ireland in the mid-1800s. A maid who works for the family who hosted Douglass emigrates to the United States during the famine. A retired US senator flies back and forth between the US […]

My War on Xmas

We’re getting a new DSLR camera for Xmas, an expensive gift that’s really for me. I have several small gifts for Donna but nothing approaching the camera in value, and even though I tell myself it’s the thought that matters, not the cost of the gift, the lack of balance has been bothering me. Two […]

Sunday Bag o’ Holiday Mail

Sunday, and another mixed bag of topics I want to say something about before I forget, topics which taken one by one wouldn’t rate posts of their own. ——————– Switching from snail mail to email for the annual holiday letter to friends and relatives seems like such a bright idea. Until you realize there are […]

You Can’t Read That! Banned Book Review Lookback: The Color Purple

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News: Don’t know how I managed to miss it all these years, but last night I finally caught South Park’s banned book episode, the one where the kids are at first excited to read The Catcher in the Rye, […]

Monday Bag o’ Vapors

It’s Monday, time for another mixed bag of topics I want to address before I forget about them, but which taken alone don’t rate blog posts of their own. ——————– My daughter switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes about a year ago. We never let her smoke in our house, but one day I walked into […]