10-17-2005
May I turn your attention to The Marshall Occasional
Bloggers write daily; essayists write when they have to write.

The Marshall Occasional fits my style better than a blog. It helps me embrace my inner Vonnegut. So it goes.

Listed below are some highlights from Stupidity and Hydrogen. Thanks for reading.

2-1-2005
Lou Carr
An ode to a great one. Jack Kerouac's editor and a voice that made me snap to attention. More on Lucien Carr >>>
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11-09-2004
Joe Democrat, Jane Republican
The sweeping sound bite right now is that if you are on the Left, and you are thinking about someone on the Right, if that person on the Right believes in God, then the person on the Left thinks the person on the Right is an idiot. More on talking politics > > >
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Since the winners get to write history, and since the losers get to be written off as mere whiners, I'd like to congratulate the 59 million people who voted to return George Bush to office. More > > >
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10-26-2004
Run up to the election
A one-hand memo (five points only) on the Democrats and Dubya. More >>>
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6-27-2004
Farenheit 6/27
This essay contains two bad words recently used by Vice President Dick Cheney. If he can drop f-bombs on the U.S. Senate floor just hours after the Senate passes a Decency Act, I guess I can use them here. More on Michael Moore and Fareinheit 911. > > >
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6-8-2004
21-464
A Virginia Beach 11-year-old was sentenced to 30 hours community service Tuesday, and his mother fined, for a violation of city code 21-464. The full name of the crime? Playing in the street. More > > >
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6-7-2004
The Great Communicator
Ronald Reagan delivered his last presidential foreign policy speech at the University of Virginia. I saw it live as a reporter for UPI. More >>>

4-23-2004
Pat Tillman
Long-term readers will know that I am a militaristic peacenik. I'm not one of the "war is never the answer" types; I value our military people so highly I never want to see their lives wasted. More > > >
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4-12-2004
The Soo-eee Triangle
Conservatives first sweep into power in Canada, then they invade the U.S. to drive the Hillary Clinton leftist media elite out of power. More > > >
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1-15-2004
Why Howard Dean Needs Me
(It's The Myth, Stupid)

James Carville, of Democratic political fame, was an unemployed 47-year-old when he hitched up with Bill Clinton. I was a semi-employed 40-something when I started talking about him 13 months ago, probably a full year before anybody had ever heard of him.
More > > >
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9-26-2003
Dr. Dial-A-Quote
Larry Sabato. Political science needs a rock star. More. >>>
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9-15-2003
The Gigantic Insurance Company
Paul Krugman is likely the most aggravating columnist in America. All the worse when you agree with him. More >>>
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9-12-2003
Logic 101, Iraqi version
There's a soundbite gaining traction that needs to be derailed immediately, the one about it being better to battle terrorists in Baghdad than Boston. While this is unassailably true, it's also patently ridiculous. More > > >
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July 4th, 2003
As American as humble pie
I would like to encourage you to enjoy this particular Independence Day. I mean really enjoy it. Because I really worry that freedom as Americans know it today will be history within 25 years. More >>>
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5-23-2003
Money talks
High school basketball phenom LeBron James just signed a $90 million shoe contract with Nike. Assuming he plays 10 years in the NBA, that works out to $24,657 per day. The national median salary for a year is roughly $27,000. Now considering his team contract will be a similar amount, this high schooler will make more money per day than 90 percent of the country makes per year. More on money talking. > > >
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5-22-2003
Tied for 73rd
Buddy of mine, a former card-carrying PGA member, was quite dismissive of Annika Sorenstam's participation in this week's PGA tour event in Texas. Wednesday night he contended the key qualification for playing in a PGA tournament, outside of skill, was having a penis. "Why can't I go play on the LPGA?" he asked. More on Annika Sorenstam. > > >
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4-3-2003
Soldiers count
Reporters can't think, they can only quote. So here's some do-at-home math on how many Iraqis have died in the American intervention. More on the Iraqi body count. > > >
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3-17-2003

Who, What, When, Why, War

When a war starts, the patriotic thing to do is shut up for a few days. So just before the Iraq war kicked off, I said what I wanted to say. More >>>
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3-16-2003
Should The Wide World Roll Away
A mystery disease with no cure. It used to be called life. My favorite column of many years. More >>>
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