All my life, I wanted to know “Why?” It’s the reason I was never able to be religious or to join any group. Usually I was told, “Because I say so,” or “Because that’s the way it is,” or “You ask too many questions.” I could never give up my hard-earned understanding of how things…
There will be no documentary
November 9, 2014
There will be no documentary made about Operation Four Little Martyrs, the Hamas deception that took place on the Gaza Beach, July 16, 2014. I was in talks with the filmmaker Pierre Rehov, but it simply wasn’t possible for me to gather the material and raise the funds in time. Mr. Rehov had to make…
I pass AND Fail the Israel Test
October 30, 2014
An Israeli alerted me to George Gilder’s Israel Test. Although I pass the test as Gilder lays it out, I fail it miserably in other ways. First the test. You won’t regret the four minutes and thirty-seven seconds you invest in watching this video. I’ve never been envious of anybody for any reason, because as…
Cancer of the mind
October 21, 2014
There’s a cancer of the mind. It’s called “fantasy.” Like cheesecake, fantasy is great in controlled dosages. My brother Paul and my sister Carrie once made a cheesecake with strawberry topping, split it in half, and finished it down to the last crumb of graham-cracker crust. Neither of them ate cheesecake again for over twenty…
Which is alienating to you, virtuosity or mediocrity?
June 30, 2014
At a Website run by a conservative Christian guy I know, one of the ads was titled “Celebrities Who Go Topless for the Sake of Art.” Of course I had to click the link, being a fan of both toplessness and art. The Web page was interesting for lots of reasons, the main one being…
The music of the spheres
June 20, 2014
There are certain phrases that are so elegant that they sound inevitable. Tim thinks “meandering belligerence” is one. I wish I’d coined it! To me “Pink Panther” is a great example. Also “the music of the spheres.” The phrase “music of the spheres” refers to the intertwined relationship between the structures of music and those…
A post I’ve been told to not write, Part Two
April 25, 2014
My economic history cont. To satisfy the gods of SEO, I must write “not write.” Having done so, back to my résumé. In January of 1992, I sent a proposal for an article to Jim Roberts, the editor of Bass Player. He accepted it, and it was published as “The Bass Gods of Japan” in…
The rot goes too deep
February 28, 2014
Today I stop trying to hold Mike Albee and Lura Dold accountable for defrauding me of $40,000 by exploiting the suicides of my parents in 2013. The rot goes too deep. What convinced me was this story, which the global media picked up. Nasty LinkedIn rejection goes viral (CNN) — When you’re a city’s “Communicator…