The continuing joys of cantaloupe

The New Neo Posted on by

I wrote recently about my inordinate love of cantaloupe, and how wonderfully tasty they’ve been this particular year.

I just wanted to say that the joys continue unabated. Every single cantaloupe I’ve eaten since I wrote that piece on June 28—and believe me, I’ve eaten a lot of them—has been better than all the cantaloupes of yesteryear.

What’s going on? Have they injected them all with some sort of flavor enhancer, the MSG of the melon world? Have they developed a new and sweeter variety, like they did with corn back in the early 90s? Anyone have a theory?

Arguing politics

The New Neo Posted on by

Since I became a blogger I don’t enter into political arguments too often in the real (as opposed to the virtual) world.

One reason is that I’ve found such talks only rarely to be fruitful and civil, even though I try mightily to preserve both attributes. Another is that most of my friends know my general point of view already, and most are not all that politically oriented—after all, a decade ago I was a person who rarely discussed politics at all. A third reason is that this blog focuses my political energy and takes care of much of my personal motivation to be part of such exchanges.

But that’s not to say that the subject never comes up in what’s known as real life. Continue reading →

Obama roleplays at commander-in-chief

The New Neo Posted on by

When I read this news about Obama’s Iraq reversal—and then his reversal of his reversal—one sentence struck me as strange, but I wasn’t exactly sure why (it’s the second one in this quote):

I am absolutely committed to ending the war. I will call my joint chiefs of staff in and give them a new assignment and that is to end the war.

It seemed to me to have an odd tone, something like a child play-acting at being commander-in-chief. Continue reading →

Therapists to the rich and famous

The New Neo Posted on by

This reads like an Onion article, or Tom Lehrer patter.

But, unless the NY Times has taken on a new identity and become a purposeful parody rather than an unintentional one, the piece is actually a totally serious exploration of the travails of the very very very rich, and the therapists who specialize in treating them to the tune of $600 measly bucks an hour. Continue reading →

Why Obama’s flips don’t matter

The New Neo Posted on by

Obama’s figured something out. Or maybe he figured it out a long time ago.

That’s this: if you are so obscure that the public doesn’t know much about you, then changing your mind and then spinning on almost every issue on a daily basis—including issues that you’ve said are core values you hold, such as campaign reform—won’t register. Continue reading →

Giving McCain a Vietnam history lesson

The New Neo Posted on by

Joe Conason thinks McCain doesn’t know much about history, in particular the Vietnam War and the lessons he should have learned from it.

Conason, as the possessor of a 1975 degree in history from Brandeis where they no doubt taught an unbiased version of the entire Vietnam conflict, knows better than McCain. And his subsequent stints at The Real Paper, the Village Voice, Details, and the New York Observer have undoubtedly objectively filled in whatever knowledge gaps might remain.

So what does Conason think McCain should have learned about Vietnam and didn’t? Continue reading →

Hostage rescue: another reason to celebrate this Fourth

The New Neo Posted on by

Hearing the wonderful news of the rescue of the Colombian hostages, I immediately thought of Entebbe. I guess I’m not the only one.

And, since the Entebbe resue occurred on July 4, 1976 and concerns liberty, it’s a fitting event to ponder this Fourth of July.

[ADDENDUM: One of the underhyped successes of the Bush administration seems to have been against FARC, which wasn’t doing so well even before the hostage rescue. Bush and the US have been supporting the battle against FARC for quite some time.]

Here’s a memorable Fourth of July

The New Neo Posted on by

Here’s one you might remember. I certainly do:

Fans of the movie “The Great Escape” (and I must confess that I am one, big-time) will recognize the above as the Fourth of July celebration scene, featuring the incomparable Steve McQueen playing the flute and James Garner with the drum. Continue reading →

Good news in academia—if it’s true

The New Neo Posted on by

The NY Times has what I would consider some very good news: my tiresome cohorts, the baby boomers, are starting to retire from academia, and so their dominance of that particular venue seems to be coming to an end.

I’m not so sure. It’ll be quite a while before all the boomers have left the ivory tower. But the article seems to indicate their replacements among the younger folk are less ideologically bound and less reflexively and relentlessly Left.

Can it be that all those years of indoctrination haven’t borne the desired fruit? One can certainly hope so.

Tennis: always in fashion

The New Neo Posted on by

I grew up playing a fair game of tennis on the public courts of New York. Just to show you how long ago that was, the courts were made of reddish clay that had to be rolled after the games (an implement was kept in the corner for this very purpose), and the rule was that you had to wear all white. And it was enforced.

Those days are most definitely gone, as are the days when my mother used to stop me from going out of the house wearing jeans because they looked too slovenly. Continue reading →