A rebuttal to Larry French’s response to my column “Can We All Get Along?” Larry, Larry, Larry, methinks thou dost protest too much, to misquote Shakespeare.  We’re largely arguing the same side of the issue. But first, to correct a glaring and regrettable lack of knowledge on your part, Claire Lynch is indeed great, one of the best singer/songwriters working in American music today.  Listen to some of her work, and I don’t doubt you’ll agree with me; but if you don’t, my friend, it’s cause you ain’t got no culture. The words of a song are only part of … Continue reading Thou Dost Protest Too Much

The great Claire Lynch did a song some years ago that, every time I hear it or even think about it, brings me to tears.  On the eve of the Battle of Stone’s River, a frightened, homesick Confederate soldier writes to his dear sister, “This could be my last letter, I may never see the cotton fields of home again”, and sums up the tragedy of that great and terrible war in a handful of lines: “The union boys sang Hail Columbia and We sang Look Away, Look away Then a hush in the rain and there rose a sweet … Continue reading Can We All Get Along?

I do get outside of the conservative blogosphere.  Take, for example, this article in Slate by its chief political blogger, Ben Mathis-Lilley, entitled “Why Do So Many Regular Heartland Voters Live in a Bubble?”  https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/democrats-stop-pandering-to-voters-in-the-heartland-bubble.html It reminds me why I don’t get outside the conservative blogosphere more often.  For smug, sanctimonious, arrogant twaddle, it’s hard to beat, and awfully hard to read all the way through.  But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself. Mathis-Lilley’s thesis is that the center-left presidential candidates like Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar are barking up the wrong tree, trying to promote themselves as … Continue reading Popping Bubbles

Said Rep. Al Green (D., Texas) speaking on the House floor Dec. 4: “Today, as Congress examines the constitutionality of impeaching President Donald John Trump, I have noticed a grave oversight. While erudite and experienced, none of the witnesses are persons of color. To see the committee hearing experts on the topic of impeachment with not one of color is both regrettable and disrespectful.” It’s not good enough that the law professors testifying to the House’s Judiciary Committee are competent.  Their competence is undermined because none is a “person of color”.  Now, for the life of me, I can’t figure … Continue reading Random Thoughts, Christmas Cheer Edition

Some people are going to read the first sentence of the next paragraph and decide they have better ways to spend their time.  But the subject isn’t my preferred mode of exercise and recreation.  It’s life and death.  It involves the expenditure of billions of dollars, private and public.  It’s about a public policy, as boring as that is, that could have an outsized impact on communities large and small.  So, because it’s your money and your community and perhaps your life or the life a loved one at stake, please read a little further before making up your mind. … Continue reading Road Wars

The Wall Street Journal has a great column called “Notable and Quotable”, in which it occasionally publishes short excerpts of, natch, notable and quotable writing and speaking.  Recently it had a gem from a flyer pasted on a Little Free Library in Washington, DC.  (If you have a subscription to WSJ, read it here.)  It criticized LFLs as, among other things, dumping grounds for unwanted books, called them “oversized bird boxes”, accused them of stealing patronage from public libraries, and said, “The only real impact of LFLs is liberally performative self-gentrification”.  Now, I’m not sure what “liberally performative self-gentrification” is, … Continue reading “Liberally Performative Self-gentrification”, etc.

The irrationality of late-stage feminism I’ve been reading one of the great classics of Western literature, Boccaccio’s The Decameron.  It was written in the middle of the 14th century, at the height of the Florentine Renaissance.  A collection of 100 short stories told by 10 noblemen and women over the course of 10 days – hence the name – it is one of the first great books of modern times, and, simultaneously, one of the last of the Middle Ages.  Even if you’ve never heard of it, it may sound familiar.  Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is based on it.  Chaucer … Continue reading Vive La Différence

The missus and I recently headed to Chattanooga for a bluegrass music festival and the rare opportunity to see Youngest Son, who lives in nearby Manchester.  A few thoughts: All of the performers at the festival were top-notch, including the mandolin and banjo players of The Fireside Collective, who graduated from ETSU’s bluegrass and old-time music program.  And in Ken Burns’ recent PBS documentary on country music, another ETSU graduate and up-and-comer in Americana music, Amythyst Kiah, has a featured part in the introduction.  Good things are happening in that program. The rear view of a slightly plump young woman … Continue reading Chattanooga Choo Choo, Won’t You Carry Me Home?