I just finished reading The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin, and I recommend it. It is very well written and lives up to its name with a bunch of behind-the-scenes stories and analysis. Fabulous. One theme I found especially interesting was the interplay between Sandra Day O'Connor and the religious right. Throughout my adult life, I've heard how Justice O'Connor's opinions were a betrayal to the Republican Party that nominated and supported her. For her part, she felt that the far right hijacked her beloved party. As I read this book, I came to realize that I sympathized much more with Justice O'Connor than with her detractors. I completely agree with her.
Take school prayer, for example. A large swath of the Republican Party places re-instituting prayer in public schools high on its agenda. I don't understand it at all. While I believe in God and pray often, I don't see how it is somehow Christian to force people to not only pray, but to pray in a particular manner. Doesn't that smack of the Inquisition? Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? I suppose we in the GOP would have no problem if a local school board in Dearborn, MI, with its large Muslim population, decided to have students take out their prayer rugs three times a day, face East, and address Allah. Or if a Jewish school board in Long Island had students pray in Hebrew. The GOP's short-sighted cries for coercive school prayer violate the minimum moral standard of "do unto others as you would have others do unto you", and yet our national agenda is based on it. Can't we focus on something God actually cares about? When we finally meet God in the afterlife, isn't he going to ask us more about what we did to ease the lives of his other children -- how did we succor the needy and lift the poor -- than about how many people we forced to insincerely pray to Him in public school?
Well, there's my political rant. I sure do love the marketplace of ideas.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
A response to Richard
I will use this first real post as an opportunity to address the sufficiently important topic of Team Hawkins' (http://richardandbetsey.blogspot.com) salacious comments about Los Angeles eateries and the Southern California herd mentality. While I have no problem, and even agree, with their attitude towards Tito's Tacos or Pink's Hot Dogs, I must rise to the defense of my beloved Junior's Deli.
Richard had the gall to query what special characteristics lured diners into Junior's, and so I will reply. It is fun to eat in a restaurant that has been open for half a century. Eating at Junior's automatically marks your place in the history of this city. By entering Junior's in search of pastrami on rye, you link yourself with the many others who have gone before you. You bind yourself to the customers who entered in fedoras and coats, to those who there discussed Cuba, Watergate, and the Berlin Wall. Decades have passed and taken that which we love -- bell bottoms, sideburns, and skinny ties (although they're making a comeback) -- but we can still go to Junior's and remember those heady times. Plus, my grandma used to take me there to eat when I was a kid.
As to Richard's complaint that the food is too expensive, I must remind him that a Junior's sandwich is no ordinary sandwich. Have you ever been able to finish one while at the deli? If so, I applaud your fortitude. As for myself, I always end up taking at least half home. Thus, a Junior's sandwich is actually two sandwiches. That means it's true cost is less than Subway, Quiznos, or the like. And I do not feel the need to point out the difference in quality and diner satisfaction.
Finally, Richard's salvo that Junior's has only three parking spaces was pure hyperbole engaged in a desperate attempt to disparage something which should be esteemed. There are at least seven spaces!
Thus, in conclusion, I must invite Team Hawkins to cease and desist from further insults to my favorite eateries. Do not attempt to mention In 'N' Out or Rubio's in less than endearing terms. If so, I will be forced to enter the domain of the frumpy states from which you came and post about . . . White Castle!
Richard had the gall to query what special characteristics lured diners into Junior's, and so I will reply. It is fun to eat in a restaurant that has been open for half a century. Eating at Junior's automatically marks your place in the history of this city. By entering Junior's in search of pastrami on rye, you link yourself with the many others who have gone before you. You bind yourself to the customers who entered in fedoras and coats, to those who there discussed Cuba, Watergate, and the Berlin Wall. Decades have passed and taken that which we love -- bell bottoms, sideburns, and skinny ties (although they're making a comeback) -- but we can still go to Junior's and remember those heady times. Plus, my grandma used to take me there to eat when I was a kid.
As to Richard's complaint that the food is too expensive, I must remind him that a Junior's sandwich is no ordinary sandwich. Have you ever been able to finish one while at the deli? If so, I applaud your fortitude. As for myself, I always end up taking at least half home. Thus, a Junior's sandwich is actually two sandwiches. That means it's true cost is less than Subway, Quiznos, or the like. And I do not feel the need to point out the difference in quality and diner satisfaction.
Finally, Richard's salvo that Junior's has only three parking spaces was pure hyperbole engaged in a desperate attempt to disparage something which should be esteemed. There are at least seven spaces!
Thus, in conclusion, I must invite Team Hawkins to cease and desist from further insults to my favorite eateries. Do not attempt to mention In 'N' Out or Rubio's in less than endearing terms. If so, I will be forced to enter the domain of the frumpy states from which you came and post about . . . White Castle!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
We've finally joined the ranks
We finally started a blog, but, unfortunately, I have nothing to say right now. This is quite the first post.
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