American Madness

Intelligent Criticism in the Service of a Better Nation

God help and forgive us

Guantánamo Detainees Stage Hunger Strike
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/us/09hunger.html?hp
Torture continues. Say what you want about the Khmer Rouge, the Hutu/Tootsie massacres, even the Stalinist purges, at least many of these atrocities were carried out in hot blood. Not so the current U.S. policy for Guantanamo detainees, which reminds me of a line from the movie Payback: “I’ll make this [...]

All it takes is a good day…

…to feel better about the direction of humanity.
Today we learn that:
The Irish are getting along
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/opinion/27tue3.html
Cruelty against animals may no longer be chic in corporate America
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28burger.html?hp
New York has beaten back the Wal-Mart monolith
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28retail.html?hp
and…
The White House is running scared from what appear to be its own lies
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/opinion/27tue1.html

Waffle Hunting

I was in Greensboro, North Carolina when I noticed the man wearing a Waffle House camouflage tee shirt.
I asked, ?Is that from the Waffle House that makes waffles? Or is this a new code word for AK47s.?
The Waffle man laughed, put his gun down, and said, ?yernot from roundhere, ryoo??

On Tour?Not

I thought that once you publish a book, the next order of business is to propel yourself into the life of the touring author: parties, book signings, adulation and groupies (with teeth, preferably).
What has surprised me about the launch of Stooples: Office Tools for Hopeless Fools (St. Martins Press) is the complete lack of [...]

Body Farm

Good news! Now you can help advance the cause of medical science, even after you’re dead!:
A biological anthropology professor at the University of Northern Iowa, Tyler O’Brien, envisions turning some prime pasture in the Midwestern state into a body farm, where human bodies — buried, stuffed in car trunks or exposed to the elements [...]

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