Sense and Nonsense

The Dog Stars and Other Good Books

Oh, my.  I've just finished reading a truly excellent book: Peter Heller's The Dog Stars.  It's set in a postapocalyptic future, after most of the human race has been wiped out by a virulent flu epidemic.  The protagonist, Hig, is a bush pilot, who still has access to his old Cessna.  The story focuses on his efforts, along with a few other people, to survive in the area of the country that used to be Colorado.  They have to fight off hostile outsiders who show up periodically.  It might sound a little like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but it's really not.  It's a lot more like Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It: it's full of lyrical, poetic beauty and strong connections to nature.  And if you're lucky enough to be a pilot of small planes, I suspect this wonderful book provides special thrills, both visceral and cerebral.

 

 As long as I'm at it, I might as well take note of some other good novels I've read lately.

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

Alys, Always by Harriet Lane

Where We Belong  by Emily Giffin

Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman

 

Mitt Romney: Prevaricator

Mitt Romney likes to boast about his willingness to "tell people what I actually believe."  That's utter nonsense.  He's the artful dodger.  Here's his "straightforward" explanation in 2005 of his position on abortion:

“I can tell you what my position is, which is — and it’s in a very narrowly defined sphere — which is, as candidate for governor and as governor of Massachusetts,” Romney said, “what I said to people was that I personally did not favor abortion, that I am personally pro-life. However, as governor, I would not change the laws of the commonwealth relating to abortion.

“Now I don’t try and put a bow around that and say, what does that mean you are? Does that mean you’re pro-life or pro-choice? Because that whole package, meaning I’m personally pro-life but I won’t change the laws, you could describe that as — I don’t think you can describe it in one hyphenated word.”

See the wonderful opinion piece by Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post, in which this quote appears.  Yup: Mitt Romney, straight talker. 

Romney's Inanity, Redux

                           Cartoon: Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe.

Two posts below, I commented on Mitt Romney's inane performance on his recent foreign trip.  Tom Friedman had a column in this morning's New York Times that perfectly summarized what's wrong with the long pattern of American politicians cozying up to Israel (and Jewish voters here at home) and what's wrong with Mitt Romney's recent behavior in Israel.  Good reading.  You might as well read Maureen Dowd's delightful mockery of Romney, too.

It's pretty funny to see in today's news that Romney also praised Israel's health care system while he was there.  The Israeli system has far more government control than the new American system, which Romney says he deplores.  Romney will say anything to curry favor with an audience.  

UPDATE:  On what's wrong with Romney's emphasis on culture as the primary explanation for the difference between Israeli prosperity and Palestinian impoverishment, see this excellent piece by James Fallows.