Those of you who’ve read Ghosts and Ballyhoo know that my brother Paul and I narrowly avoided being killed by an Irish Republican Army nail bomb in Regent’s Park on July 20, 1982. As a result of that experience, I’ve read everything I can about terrorism. It turns out that the terrorists who attacked the…
What they’re feeling in Westgate Mall
September 22, 2013
On December 28, 1995, a gunman tried to murder Tim and me at our bookstore in Norwalk, California. He was dressed all in black—including a heavy flak vest and balaclava—and he carried a TEC-9 semiautomatic pistol with a barrel extension. I drew it as part of my banishment of the incident. Tim and I were…
Karma, baby
September 14, 2013
The U.S. Postal Service is swirling the drain. I can’t bring myself to feel badly about it. Why? Because karma. I’ve had too many priceless postcards, photos, and cartes de visite stolen. A theft ring of postal workers operates in New York. With total, absolute, complete impunity. Every American collector of military postcards knows about…
On the “Worst Obituary Ever”
September 12, 2013
Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick died at the age of seventy-eight. One of her daughters authored the following obituary: Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused…
Classic Self-Negation
September 10, 2013
I love when people blow their own foolishness right out of the sky. Self-negation, as opposed to Stephen Jay’s Self Avoiding Random Walk. Stephen is the only super-technical player whose chops never distract from the song. Anyway, read the short article, titled “Richard Dawkins defends ‘mild pedophilia,’ says it does not cause ‘lasting harm.’” Just…
I feel bad, but I also don’t
September 9, 2013
Richard Lewis has made some great art. Some of his jokes are exceptional, and his movie Drunks is really top notch. (I may have liked the movie because I’m a drunk, so I might not be the go-to guy on whether or not it’s a good movie.) The ending is one of the best I’ve…
The Elephant in the Room
September 8, 2013
Some of us see the elephant in the room. It takes many forms. I found a great article titled “Feminism: Unpopular because of bad marketing?” by Meghan Murphy. In it she says: And it isn’t only men who might react negatively to the argument that perhaps there is something troubling about the fact that, while…