Alternate Entries

Friday, August 29, 2003

From the "he did what ?" department:

In his very funny new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken brings us this piece of bizarre information about our nation's Attorney General.

In his book Lessons from a Father to His Son, Ashcroft explains that he anointed himself with oil before being sworn in for each of his two terms as Missouri's governor, in the tradition of "the ancient kings of Israel, David and Saul, [who] were anointed as they undertook their administrative duties." Ashcroft also anointed himself before being sworn in as senator with--swear to God--a bowl of Crisco, a trick that used to be popular in gay bathhouses.

posted by jeev | 3:04 PM |

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad.

-James Madison, 4th US president (1751-1836)

From the Wordsmith Word of the Day mailing list.

posted by jeev | 11:28 AM |

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Julie Powell has finished the Julia Project. She set herself a minorly insane trial by fire in hopes that she would come out better on the other side. And she seems to have.

Would that that would the case for all of us. This has been a terrible year - from the macrocosm of a war undertaken under false pretenses by people who apparently believe that Plan Bs are for sissys and an economy that continues to stagger no matter what the experts say to, on a more personal level, a seemingly unstopping torrent of loss and death and sadness. Labor Day is coming, and with it that great American symbol of renewal, The New School Year. I hope we all get better classes this time out.

posted by jeev | 9:43 PM |

Monday, August 25, 2003

Erno Piffle (more widely known as Henry Grosvenor) and his dad learn about burping: