Monthly Archives: August 2007

It’s been a slow day here at Vandam Manor. After a lousy night’s sleep and seven varieties of indigestion, I threw together a morning of puttering around followed by an afternoon of inactivity. That landed me, a quarter hour ago, … Continue reading →

Last night, pitching against his original team, the first place Boston Red Sox, 45-year-old Roger Clemens took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He finished that inning after giving up one run on a home run by David Ortiz. The … Continue reading →

Jimmy Carter praised him, but stopped short of endorsing Edwards. Then Edwards got into the saddle of his high horse Hypocrisy (a lovely bay gelding) and tried to ride away, but Amber from the RNC wouldn’t let him: “My own … Continue reading →

Richard Jewell has died. He was the security guard who was falsely accused of the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta during the ’96 Olympics: Jewell was working as a private security guard in Centennial Olympic Park about 1 a.m. on … Continue reading →

I guess everyone has by now heard something about Idaho senator Larry Craig getting busted for behavior suggestive of lewdness in a toilet stall in the Minneapolis airport. It strikes me as not quite a high-priority mission when a police … Continue reading →

This story, from the Times Herald-Record, is virtually a case study in either a) the journalist as incompetent (not that I want to single out this reporter in the midst of an epidemic) or, worse, b) the journalist acting in … Continue reading →

I would never have suspected that Maurice was less than a total nut, but there it is in black and white. He refused to co-sponsor a measure to impeach Dick Cheney: KINGSTON – Several members of local anti-war groups, upset … Continue reading →

Sequels are always fun. No? If you enjoyed the wonderful comedy of the Moriello Pool bathhouse project, then don’t miss the hijinks that are building around the up-coming construction of the community center, which is scheduled to be built behind … Continue reading →

I was asking myself the question, “why don’t you do more serious reporting on this blog and less general commentary?” Well, the obvious answer is that serious reporting is more difficult and takes more time, but it’s not the real … Continue reading →

Beck has the youngsters marching about the property with military precision. Here are some stills of the action. I gotta tell ya, I just laughed with joy when I saw the little tykes.

Billy Beck pulled this out of The Corner: I’d encourage your youngest one to abandon kindergarten altogether. Almost everything I learned was learned outside the classroom, and school itself interrupted my education. Moreover, school locks you in with your peers. … Continue reading →

That’s the title of a new program on New Paltz Channel 23 produced by Mark Portier. He has thrown the first episode onto YouTube in two parts, here and here. It’s a good-looking production. The location and the participants are … Continue reading →

Fr. Neuhaus reports (second item, though the first item on Sartre is pretty hard too) that at least one reviewer doesn’t like the new book by, ahem, someone’s old law professor: Douglas Laycock, a distinguished professor of law at the … Continue reading →

I’ve got to give Jon Stewart of The Daily Show credit here. He conducts an alert and respectful interview with Lt. Col. John Nagl, one of the writers of the U.S. military’s Counterinsurgency Field Manual. If you’re interested in the … Continue reading →

Great baseball teams, when they are demolished by an opponent, as the Yankees were the night before last by the Los Angeles Angels, hear the message and take matters in hand. The Yankees did precisely that last night, shaking off … Continue reading →

It’s because it’s essential to a free and independent mind, and the first remedy to the hot breath of the state on your neck: Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free … Continue reading →