Month: November 2011

Newt?Really?One of the reasons this is so surprising is that I actually like Newt. He's undeniably brilliant; he's reasonable, and he's produced real, substantial, conservative solutions. Wildly successful welfare reform? That was all Newt. Balanced budget in the 90s? Newt again. Child tax credit? Capital gains tax cut? The first Republican majority since Eisenhower? Newt, ... Read more

Conversationsabout the Shakespeare Authorship Question with those who have not studied the issue are a very predictable, four-step CIFA process. They begin with:1. CONTEMPT.“You idiot! Of course Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare! Look at the name on the play! See what it says? It says 'William Shakespeare' right there! Who else would have written it, ... Read more

Withinthe next three to five years, the Chinese will invade and occupy the United States of America and set up prison camps wherein us regular Americans will be tortured because... well, because we'll be tortured for some reason. Don't interrupt.One of these camps will be in a tiny Southern Utah town with less than one-hundred ... Read more

Sohere's the plan.Christmas gets increasingly expensive for a family with five children, and in these times of economic crisis, one must turn to new sources of inspiration to supplement Santa's bounty. Beginning on Black Friday, then, I shall join my twin 10-year-old sons, Corbin and Cornelius Cornell, and embark on a journey to spread Christmas ... Read more

CHAPTERTWO:Lost Boy FoundMore startled than actually frightened, Peter stumbled to his feet to see the four urchins who had come through the newly destroyed window and were now scattered about his room. Each was scruffier than the last, and their ratty, torn clothing and matted hair made Peter wonder if they’d ever had ... Read more

According to Patrick Rothfuss, author of the masterful The Name of the Wind and the less masterful The Wise Man's Fear - the most helpful customer review at Amazon for that one has it right on the money - November is National Novel Writing Month, where novelists both approved and ... Read more

Onenote of blog housekeeping: if you decide to mention specific biographical details about me and my real life identity, your comments will be deleted. In cyberspace, I try to maintain a thin veneer of anonymity, despite the fact that most of you likely know who I am, know where I live, and know how to ... Read more

Ijust got off the phone with a woman who had spent the past month volunteering to get a ballot initiative off the ground in her community, only to watch a Tea Party group swoop in, dump a boatload of money, and swing the election in their favor. "I lost my first election," she said. "I ... Read more

I remembered interview with comics write.artist John Byrne in the late 1980s in which he described his revamp of the Superman character for DC comics. He said one of the things that mystified him as a kid was that everybody was trying to figure out who Superman really was. His question, which had never seemed ... Read more

Iapologize that I'm vague on the details of the story I'm about to share, but there are real people who might be embarrassed if I were to name names. The year was 1999. I was looking for a job, and I found myself in Washington, DC talking to a former high-level Clinton administration staffer, one ... Read more