Sorry about the bad taste in the title. I realize it’s a bit like chuckling over the irony of Eichmann being considered a “Jewish expert,” but the whole sordid Ahmadinejad affair has caused such a cognitive disconnect that it reminds me of a debate between advocates of gay marriage and advocates of sodomy laws. What [...]

A maddening little mini (and I mean that literally) crisis earlier sent me scurrying onto the Internet in search of solutions. An SD memory card flat out refused to work properly, as the camera kept refusing to take pictures: “MEMORY CARD LOCKED” was the irritating error code. Looking closely, I saw that there was no [...]

I think it is time to digest the results of the Israeli air raid on Syria that happened on September 6th and see how it has affected Iran. Let us start with an early report from the Guardian. Syrian air defences opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace overnight, a Syrian military spokesman [...]

A really nice piece in the Grateful Dead style. I wish I knew Hebrew better. I’d like to be able to converse with some of the lovelies. Women who pack heat turn me on. Music by Vlado Kreslin More Women of the Israeli Army Some More Women of the Israeli Army Cross Posted at The [...]

Via Glenn Reynolds, a perfect example of what should not be illegal, but which makes me sick. If wanting to keep such disgusting things legal is part of my “freedom fetish,” then all I can say is there’s nothing sexual about it.

Most of the readers here know what I think about the Drug War. I’d like to end it, and I’d love to roll back the drug laws — not all the way to the Middle Ages, but to the days when my father was a kid. Say, back to 1913 — the year Stravinsky’s “Rite [...]

Here is a nice Velvet Underground clip complete with psychedelia. I saw them live at Winterland when The Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead were on the same bill many years ago. Gone are the days.

First let me introduce you to a man you ought to know. Tim Flannery, named the 2007 Australian of the Year for his work in alerting the public to the dangers of global warming, said the issue was the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Flannery said predictions in a 2001 UN report, [...]

I don’t know, but this morning’s cartoon (from the editorial page of the Inquirer, but once again, not from the web site!) gave me a chuckle: Tough to tell whether they’re just taking advantage of a handy opportunity to ridicule both men at the same time, or whether there’s a larger comparison. If it’s the [...]

Dr. John Beresford has died. Dr. John Beresford died on September 2, 2007 in a hospital in Canada. British-born John Beresford began his psychedelic research interests in 1961, when he resigned his post as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the New York Medical College and founded the Agora Scientific Trust, the world’s first research [...]

I don’t know how many readers listen to XM Radio, but last night I was a guest on XM’s POTUS ’08 radio show. Hosts Tim Farley and Rebecca Roberts couldn’t have been nicer (despite my limited radio experience), and I chatted about blogging, the debate, and the candidates. What’s incredibly cool about this is that [...]

My liveblogging skills are not what they should be, and that is mainly because my typing skills are not what they should be. And now for my “blame a bad childhood” defense: I didn’t grow up at a keyboard the way a lot of younger people have, and when I was in high school, essays [...]

Tavis Smiley’s opening remarks castigated the missing Republicans in no uncertain terms: Finally, some of the campaigns who declined our invitation to join us tonight have suggested publicly that this audience would be hostile and unreceptive. Since we’re live on PBS right now, I can’t tell you what I really think of these kinds of [...]

On Tuesday night I saw the Philadelphia Orchestra perform one of the all-time greatest symphonies ever composed — Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It’a hard to blog about something that has to be heard to be appreciated. Anyway, we’ve all heard bits and pieces of it, as it’s been used in countless soundtracks, and anticipated countless [...]

Well, here I am at Morgan State University, more than four hours before the start of tonight’s Republican debate, but I thought I’d get set up and test this thing. There’s almost no one here to block my view of the live feed screen. Here’s how it looks: Nothing to report at all, and there [...]

Writing in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Tavis Smiley (host of tonight’s Republican debate) likens the no-show candidates to cautious children who are told never to talk to strangers: We all remember the words of parents or guardians who warned us never to talk to strangers. While that might be an important warning for small children who [...]

Much as I disagree with him, I’m fascinated by the idea that General Pace’s latest remarks about gays in the military are “hurtful”: “We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it,” he added. “And that is, very simply, that we should respect those [...]

I’ve noticed that a sure sign of when Hillary Clinton is in trouble (at least, when her campaign perceives she needs help) is when her husband steps in to help. Here’s where she’s in trouble: A leaked Democratic poll has suggested that Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner in the race for the party’s presidential nomination, could [...]

So said Philadelphia Art Museum curator Michael Taylor in a discussion of Salvador Dali: “He’s so perverse and shocking and outrageous, and he gets people’s knickers in a twist,” Taylor commented. “He just manages to find the buttons to push.” That is certainly true. The number of people who continue to hate Salvador Dali never [...]

I have not been taking the Republican debates as seriously as I perhaps should. Something about the lineup and the forum has struck me as ridiculous from the start, and it annoys me that these debates are being held so long before the election that no one will remember them. Notwithstanding my concerns, I agreed [...]