Assistant Village Idiot

I've never seen The Passion and don't know if it's anti-Semitic. I don't hold it against a man to say nice things publicly...

I don’t see what the big deal is. This is supposed to be the ubercreative economist, asking brilliant questions and using powerful economi...

Geoffrey Nunberg's short commentaries on NPR's "Fresh Air," 1989-2000, collected into essays on language. These are light ...

Update below I believe this is Theodore Dalrymple's most recent book, a collection of essays. I had read a third to a half of them else...

A productive week, having read The Narnian, How We Talk Now, The Rivals, Freakonomics, and Our Culture, What's Left of It. Reviews of s...

Deleted.  Not good for me.  I pray God this works. It's been a tough twelve months.  It's my own fault, but I still feel like I am b...

We will be at the lake in Swanzey this week. I may come back to post or comment one of the days. I recommend you elevate yourselves with th...

There is apparently a compromise deal in the works that the District of Columbia will get a Democratic caucus between the Iowa Caucuses and ...

There is an article at Psychiatry Weekly entitled "The Psychiatric Scars of Childhood Trauma." There is no accompanying photo onl...

I find polite disagreement on the blogosphere so exciting that I honored it with its own post. "Midwest Product" commented on my ...

The Peace Process in the Middle East is reminiscent of not just one Monty Python routine, but several. Carl Bildt former Prime Minister of ...

People around here are insisting that the Red Sox actually won a recent World Series. I've lived here all my life and know that can...

The political center can be defined in diverse ways, but I am going to take the easiest definition and speak of the statistical center. To ...

Theodore Dalrymple, a now-retired prison psychiatrist has a chapter in his recent book Our Culture, What's Left Of It entitled "Th...

Wandering through the Lebanese blogs today, I find much sense, but an uncomfortable amount of raving lunacy. There are commenters scattered...

The natural conclusion is of course, "no one," and it's pretty easy to see why. But I'd like to look at the question a bit...

Update: My wife assures me that this post is too long. Reading it over, I know she's right. Regard this as more of a reference work f...

I did not win the Bulwer-Lytton contest for bad writing this year. I sent in a dozen entries and got some (dis)Honorable Mentions a few ye...

I am honored to be one of the revolving blogs chosen to be a source for secret messages from the VRWC. If you aren't a member, please i...

Conservatives deplore. Liberals condescend. When they get rolling, conservatives rant; liberals sneer.