Category Archives: Politics

Review of Noah Hawley's "The Good Father" in the Dallas Morning News

So here’s my review of Noah Hawley’s new novel, The Good Father, published Sunday in the Dallas Morning News (click the hyperlink ‘review’). I liked the novel, even if it’s ultimately a downer story, of a father searching for the … Continue reading

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Does Sarah Palin Know Where Germany Is? and a Shout-Out for Mark Leyner's new novel, "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack"

So last night I caught HBO’s film Game Change, about Sarah Palin’s (improbable? nightmarish? absurd?) role as John McCain’s veep in the 2008 election, and it’s surprisingly good. Why surprisingly? I’m not a huge fan of biopics/reenactments of contemporary events, … Continue reading

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On the Documentary "Gasland": a Real-Life Horror Film

So I see plenty of movies that I don’t say a word about, either because they’re too familiar to bother commenting about (Bridesmaids maybe) or because they’re not worth a comment (The A-Team, anyone?), but for a while I’ve heard … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Film, Politics, The West | Leave a comment

Mitt Romney as The Feckless Male

So one thing fascinating about being a professor is that you notice over a span of years the changes in student behavior and trends. While I’m of the mind that human behavior doesn’t change all that much across the ages, … Continue reading

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On Mainstream Media's Head-in-Sand Approach to Climate Change, or The Atlantic Fiddling While Rome Burns

So the good people over at the Think Progress blog do an admirable job of fighting the good fight on the absolute idiocy unfolding before our very eyes otherwise known as mainstream media’s response to climate change. They’d rather write … Continue reading

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Reading Noah Hawley's "The Good Father": Or What To Do When Your Son Assassinates a "Good" Presidential Candidate

So right now I’m reading (and reviewing for the Dallas Morning News) Noah Hawley’s new novel, The Good Father (appearing this month in bookstores) which is about a father whose son has assassinated a presidential candidate: The story so far is … Continue reading

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On Charles Murray's "Coming Apart": It Comes Apart at the End

So I have to say this about Charles Murray’s just-published, semi-controversial look at the state of White America, Coming Apart: The State of White America1960-2010: I read it all the way through to the end, rather quickly, too—in a few days. … Continue reading

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Review of Thomas Mallon's "Watergate" in the Dallas Morning News

So I’ve reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel Watergate in the Dallas Morning News today, and it can be found here: http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20120217-book-review-watergate-by-thomas-mallon.ece Janet Maslin reviewed the same book this week in the daily NY Times book reviews, and I thought her … Continue reading

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On Reading Charles Murray's "Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010": Changes in College Attendance and the Blue-Collar Work Ethic

So I’m reading Charles Murray’s much-talked-about analysis of the state of our States, Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010, and I have to say that so far it’s fascinating. I’m on the opposite end of the political spectrum … Continue reading

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On the Climate Change Front, a Good News/Bad News Day

So the latest hubbub on the Climate Change front is that global emissions spiked last year to a record high increase, while obviously we should be making those numbers go down (and they did, briefly, from the effects of the … Continue reading

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