I reread The Grapes of Wrath

[Pheidippides]

on a business trip a couple of weeks ago.

I was struck by how neatly it reflects a lot of what I see going on in our current economic climate. Different players, same general story.

I am also struck by how much I like the book now that I am old enough to be mature about it. Okay, so I still snickered at all the baudy sex talk, but at least I would no longer claim that the theme is "Milk: It does a body good!"

[Fiyero]

I rewatched To Kill a Mockingbird on AMC a couple of months ago. I was struck by how similar the southern courts remain today. The civil rights movement has made a huge impact on racism, but the same concept still remains, that of "we will do whatever we want to whoever we want, we don't care what the evidence blatantly shows, what laws are or what the US Constitution says; you're not in Kansas anymore." The theme is "who here is a good ol' boy and who is not?"

[Non Sequitur]

on a business trip a couple of weeks ago.

I was struck by how neatly it reflects a lot of what I see going on in our current economic climate. Different players, same general story.

I am also struck by how much I like the book now that I am old enough to be mature about it. Okay, so I still snickered at all the baudy sex talk, but at least I would no longer claim that the theme is "Milk: It does a body good!"

One of my favorite books ever. I remember being assigned to read it in a class at BYU, and a couple of girls in the class objected to the bad language. They ended up dropping the class rather than be compelled to read such trash.

[Non Sequitur]

I rewatched To Kill a Mockingbird on AMC a couple of months ago. I was struck by how similar the southern courts remain today. The civil rights movement has made a huge impact on racism, but the same concept still remains, that of "we will do whatever we want to whoever we want, we don't care what the evidence blatantly shows, what laws are or what the US Constitution says; you're not in Kansas anymore." The theme is "who here is a good ol' boy and who is not?"

I read an article a while ago that speculated that Truman Capote -- a childhood friend of Harper Lee and the inspiration for the character Dill -- actually wrote the book. Interesting theory.

[New Mexican Disaster]

I rewatched To Kill a Mockingbird on AMC a couple of months ago. I was struck by how similar the southern courts remain today. The civil rights movement has made a huge impact on racism, but the same concept still remains, that of "we will do whatever we want to whoever we want, we don't care what the evidence blatantly shows, what laws are or what the US Constitution says; you're not in Kansas anymore." The theme is "who here is a good ol' boy and who is not?"

I don't see the Southern courts as more out of step with the rule of law than elsewhere. Why do you say that they remain similar?

[Babs]

I hate that book. What's so great about California, anyway?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I hate that book. What's so great about California, anyway?

OK. That was funny.