The Commentariat -- July 30, 2014
Internal links removed.
** Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Nearly every criminal case reviewed by the FBI and the Justice Department as part of a massive investigation started in 2012 of problems at the FBI lab has included flawed forensic testimony from the agency, government officials said. The findings troubled the bureau, and it stopped the review of convictions last August. Case reviews resumed this month at the order of the Justice Department, the officials said."
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that if the House passes a $659 million border bill with policy changes, he could use it as a vehicle for comprehensive immigration reform. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is trying to round up enough votes for a pared-down border bill that spends far below the president's request for $3.7 billion and includes policy changes to speed the deportation of illegal minors from Central America. Reid said the policy changes would give him an opportunity to attach the comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed last year with the support of 14 Republicans." ...
... CW: Gee, I wonder if John Boehner, who has repeated claimed he wanted to pass comprehensive immigration reform, will work with Reid on this? ...
... Steven Dennis of Roll Call: "Speaker John A. Boehner vowed the House would not allow the Senate to add any 'comprehensive immigration reform bill or anything like it, including the DREAM Act' to the House's $659 million border bill Tuesday. 'Senator Reid, embarrassed that he cannot strong-arm the Senate into passing the blank check President Obama demanded, is making a deceitful and cynical attempt to derail the House's common-sense solution,' the Ohio Republican said in a statement...." ...
... Erica Werner of the AP: "Even as they grapple with an immigration crisis at the border, White House officials are making plans to act before November's mid-term elections to grant work permits to potentially millions of immigrants who are in this country illegally, allowing them to stay in the United States without threat of deportation, according to advocates and lawmakers in touch with the administration. Such a large-scale move on immigration could scramble election-year politics and lead some conservative Republicans to push for impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama, a prospect White House officials have openly discussed."
Ramsey Cox of the Hill: "The Senate on Tuesday sent a highway bill back to the House with changes, putting the legislation up in the air with only three days left to act before the August recess. The Senate voted 66-31 to amend the House's $10.9 billion funding bill so that the funding only lasts until Dec. 19. That would force lawmakers to pass another extension in the lame-duck session after the election."
Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "The Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to confirm Robert A. McDonald, the 61-year-old former chief executive of Procter & Gamble, to take the helm of the sprawling and embattled Department of Veterans Affairs after a scandal over the manipulation of patient wait-time data led to the ouster two months ago of Eric Shinseki."
Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Tuesday that McDonald's is jointly responsible for workers at its franchisees' restaurants, a decision that if upheld would disrupt longtime practices in the fast-food industry and ease the way for unionizing nationwide. Richard F. Griffin Jr., the labor board's general counsel, said that of the 181 unfair labor practice complaints filed against McDonald's and its franchisees over the last 20 months, he found that 43 had merit on such grounds as illegally firing or threatening workers for pro-union activities."
Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The European Union on Tuesday overcame months of misgivings about forcefully confronting Russia and unleashed a wave of tough economic sanctions intended to push Moscow into backing down from its destabilizing role in eastern Ukraine. President Obama immediately followed the European action by announcing a new round of U.S. sanctions that he said would impact 'key sectors of the Russian economy,' including 'energy, arms and finance.'"
Bradley Klapper & Donna Cassata of the AP: "Democrats and Republicans in Congress vowed urgent support Tuesday for a $225 million missile defense package for Israel, boosting the likelihood that legislation will clear Congress before lawmakers begin a monthlong vacation at week's end.... Amid a daily barrage of Palestinian rocket fire, Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system has been credited with knocking hundreds of missiles out of the sky. While the Obama administration has pressed for a cease-fire, it also has backed Israel's desire to replenish its missile defense stockpiles. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel extended Israel's request to Congress last week."
William Booth & Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Domestic support for [Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu]'s prosecution of the war in Gaza, which has left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead, has only grown over the past three weeks, as the Israeli public and political class rally behind an aggressive, definitive campaign against Hamas and its rockets and tunnels. The deep support among Israelis, from left to right, for the military's Gaza offensive and Netanyahu's leadership is almost unprecedented, political analysts say.... Analysts say the current Gaza offensive is more popular than past major military campaigns -- in 2008-2009 and in 2012 -- because more Israelis are now under the threat of more powerful rocket fire from Gaza.... But the Israeli military's discovery of more than 30 tunnels, built and used by Palestinian militants to enter Israel and attack soldiers, has particularly shocked the Israeli public and galvanized support for the war." ...
Ilene Prusher of Time: "Israeli officials have said in the past week that their main goal in the war against Hamas in Gaza is to destroy as many of what it calls 'terror tunnels,' the underground passages built by the militant group that have repeatedly been used to infiltrate Israel. But following a day in which Hamas militants managed to kill 10 Israeli soldiers, Israel responded Tuesday with massive air strikes that seemed aimed at both major infrastructure as well as the visible symbols of Hamas's power in the Gaza Strip." ...
... Jonathan Chait writes a thoughtful piece titled, "Why I Have Become Less Pro-Israel." ...
... Paul Waldman in the American Prospect, on being "pro- or anti-Israel": "... once you step outside it and stop worrying about which team you're on, it can become easier to see things clearly."
Oleksandr Savochenko of AFP: "When Ukraine's military offensive to oust pro-Russian rebels from the restive east began in mid-April with humiliated soldiers meekly surrendering their armoured vehicles it looked doomed to failure. But after more than three months of brutal fighting that has claimed some 1,100 lives, a sudden advance by battle-hardened government forces in recent weeks has seen them snatch back a string of key towns and left the once confident insurgents scrambling." ...
... Timothy Heritage of Reuters: "With an about-turn all but impossible for [Russian Presidnet Vladimir] Putin after a fierce media campaign that has demonized the West, painted Ukraine's leaders as fascists and backed the rebels to the hilt, he appears to have passed the point of no-return."
Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: "Boehner and other Republican leaders are now trying to walk an impossible tightrope. On one hand, they're arguing that they have no interest in impeaching the president -- they know that it would be a political catastrophe if they did -- and any suggestion to the contrary is nothing but Democratic calumny. On the other hand, they're arguing that Obama is a lawless tyrant who is trampling on the Constitution.... Like so many of their problems, this one has its roots in the uncontrollable Tea Party beast that they nurtured but can't control." ...
... Jonathan Capehart: John Boehner calls impeachment talk a "scam" emanating from the White House, but House GOP leaders refuse to say they've taken impeachment "off the table." ...
... Sahil Kapur of TPM: "President Barack Obama's promised executive actions on immigration are shaping up to put Speaker John Boehner in a bind between the passions of his conservative base and the GOP's long-term viability as a national party."
... Bob Cusack of the Hill: "A Republican congressman opposes legislation that would authorize a lawsuit against President Obama for his executive actions. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) told The Hill that the lawsuit, spearheaded by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is 'theater, is a show.'
CW Interlude: Hey, Jones sounds like the rare reasonable Republican here, doesn't he? But wait, there's more:
"'Why not impeach instead of wasting $1 million to $2 million of the taxpayers' money? ... If you're serious about this, use what the founders of the Constitution gave us,' Jones said.... Other Republicans who have expressed support for impeachment include Reps. Louie Gohmert (Texas), Steve Stockman (Texas) and Michele Bachmann (Minn.). Pressed on the lack of support in the House Republican Conference for impeachment, Jones said, 'That's why the Republican Party is in trouble.'" ...
... Steve M. "Boehner is winning this one. He may still lose if Obama makes an immigration move and the crazies howl for impeachment. But he's also giving them a reason not to."
Greg Sargent has a good explanation of how the language on which Halbig hangs ended up in the final bill. This explanation completely undercuts the Halbig plaintiffs' argument. CW: Not that it matters. If this case gets to the Supreme Court, I'll be surprised if the Ideologues show the slightest interest in facts & reason. ...
... Brian Beutler of the New Republic questions the integrity of conservative healthcare reporters who have suddenly become "Halbig Truthers," often contradicting their own earlier reporting.
Sofia Resnick of RH Reality Check: "When a very pregnant Felicia Allen applied for medical leave from her job at Hobby Lobby three years ago, one might think that the company best known for denying its employees insurance coverage of certain contraceptives -- on the false grounds that they cause abortions -- would show equal concern for helping one of its employees when she learned she was pregnant. Instead, Allen says the self-professed evangelical Christian arts-and-crafts chain fired her and then tried to prevent her from accessing unemployment benefits.... Her allegations -- as well as those brought by other former Hobby Lobby employees -- call into question the company's public claims when it comes to protecting life and operating its business with Christian values. Additionally, they highlight a practice by which Hobby Lobby prevents its employees from seeking justice through the courts." ...
... Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "... forcing employees to sign documents waiving their right to sue the company in order to be hired should be as illegal as the yellow-dog contract. I would ask how something like that is even legal in this nation, but of course I already know why -- because corporations control our lives in ways they have not in a century." ...
... CW: I don't see any inconsistency here. The Hobby Lobby Corporate Person does not believe in unemployment insurance. After all, "the Lord helps them that help themselves." (Okay, that's a Greek [or other ancient] saying with no Biblical equivalent, but the Hobby Lobby Corporate Person has a First Amendment right to its own special beliefs.) Those Hobby Lobby moms should have thought of that. And also too, the HLCP does not believe anyone should sue it, as it believes it is infallible. In support of that theology, I would note that the HLCP has god-like characteristics -- for instance, an ordinary mortal cannot see it & must infer its existence from the testimonials of the Five Dancing Supremes.
David Frum, former Dubya speechwriter, in the Atlantic: "... for all its merits, the [Paul] Ryan [poverty] plan is backward-looking.... The proposal is premised on a way of thinking about poverty that made excellent sense a decade ago -- but that is not equal to the more difficult circumstances of today." [Next,a graf about Bush's marvelous "compassionate conservative..., faith-based initiative."] "Ryan's anti-poverty proposals ... start from an assumption that poverty is an unusual and marginal issue in U.S. society.... Unless Ryan has utterly repudiated his previous budget plans, his ... [proposals] do imply large cuts in other forms of means-tested assistance, most likely food stamps and Medicaid." CW: Frum goes on to make his own proposals, which are TERRIBLE. ...
... More on David Frum from Bag News: "Defending Israel with the objectivity and intensity of the Bush speech writer he once was, David Frum, the Senior Editor at the Atlantic, alleged to his 100k Twitter followers on Thursday (not once, but eight times) that the NYT, Reuters (and AP, apparently in collusion, too) had staged a photo in a Gaza hospital." You'll have to read the whole post to see why Frum just might be wrong. CW: It is quite difficult to take conservatives seriously, even when you try. ...
... Kristen Hare of Poynter: "The New York Times says Atlantic senior editor David Frum is incorrect to claim that some photos taken in Gaza last week were faked or staged. 'David Frum's claims are false,' Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told Poynter. Frum sent several tweets last week claiming the photos were faked."
CW: Here's something I missed while driving. Matt George of the National Constitution Center: "Last Saturday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the city [of Washington, D.C.] cannot prohibit individuals from carrying firearms in public."
Not with a Bang but a Whimper. Jake Sherman & Anna Palmer of Politico on Eric Cantor's final days as House Majority Leader.
Beyond the Beltway
Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "A federal appeals panel on Tuesday blocked a Mississippi law that would have shut down the only abortion clinic in the state. The three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, ruled by 2 to 1 that in closing the state's sole clinic, Mississippi would have shifted its constitutional obligations to neighboring states. Closing the clinic, the court said, would place an undue burden on a woman's right to seek an abortion. The ruling upholds a preliminary injunction...."
Chris Geider of BuzzFeed: "After Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall had been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples for more than a month, the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered her to stop doing so for the time being. Hall's office reported Tuesday that it granted 202 licenses to same-sex couples since starting doing so last month."
Steve Pardo & Christine Ferretti of the Detroit News: Detroit "Mayor Mike Duggan vowed Tuesday to help customers who can't afford to pay their water bills, while holding those who can accountable as he began to take over responsibility for the city's Water and Sewerage Department. Duggan's statements to help 'the truly needy' came after Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr decided Tuesday to let the mayor assume more control over the department -- something the mayor has pursued to help solve regional and city rifts on water policy." ...
... ** Detroit as a Platonic Experiment. Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor, writes a compelling New York Times op-ed on the "emergency management" of Detroit. CW: This might be the best piece of "applied philosophy" I've ever read.
Virginia Is for Extramarital Lovers. Matt Zapotosky & Julian Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "The marriage of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife Maureen had 'broken down' and the first lady had developed a crush on the man who is the star witness at the couple's high-profile corruption trial, her attorney said Tuesday.... [Maureen's attorney William] Burck told jurors Maureen McDonnell was not a wife scheming with her governor husband so they could enrich themselves; she was instead a woman craving attention as her own marriage soured.... It's clear ... that the first couples' deteriorating marriage will be central to their claims of innocence and the trial will delve into painful detail about their relationship." ...
... More from Trip Gabriel of the New York Times on Bob McDonnell's My-Wife-Is-a-Tramp defense.
News Ledes
New York Times: "The United States economy rebounded heartily in the spring after a dismal winter, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday, growing at an annual rate of 4 percent from April through June and surpassing economists' expectations. In its initial estimate for the second quarter, the government cited a major advance in inventories for private businesses, higher government spending at the state and local level and personal consumption spending as chief contributors to growth."
Guardian: "At least 19 Palestinians were killed and about 90 injured early on Wednesday when a UN school sheltering people was hit by shells during a second night of relentless bombardment that followed an Israeli warning of a protracted military campaign. Gaza health officials said at least 43 people died in intense air strikes and tank shelling of Jabaliya, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. The death toll included the people at the school who had fled their own homes." ...
... AP Update: "Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault of the Gaza war on Tuesday, destroying key symbols of Hamas control, shutting down the territory's only power plant and leaving at least 128 Palestinians dead on the bloodiest day of the 22-day conflict. Despite devastating blows that left the packed territory's 1.7 million people cut off from power and water and sent the overall death toll soaring past 1,200, Hamas' shadowy military leader remained defiant as he insisted that the Islamic militants would not cease fire until its demands are met."
Los Angeles Times: "Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Tuesday with lying to regulators during the immediate aftermath of the deadly 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight people and ravaged a San Bruno, Calif., neighborhood. The new indictment includes obstruction charges related to what the company said about its records immediately after the incident, according to a release from the Northern District of California U.S. attorney's office. The filing comes three months after an April indictment claimed that PG&E violated federal pipeline safety laws."
Los Angeles Times: "A top Los Angeles utility official faced tough questions Tuesday night about the response to a massive pipe break that flooded UCLA and surrounding areas with millions of gallons of water and threatened the near-term use of Pauley Pavilion. The rupture of the 90-year-old main sent a geyser shooting 30 feet in the air and deluged Sunset Boulevard and UCLA with 8 million to 10 million gallons of water before it was shut off more than three hours after the pipe burst, city officials said."
Reuters: "Militant fighters overran a Libyan special forces base in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday after a battle involving rockets and warplanes that killed at least 30 people. A special forces officer said they had to abandon their main camp in the southeast of Benghazi after coming under sustained attack from a coalition of Islamist fighters and former rebel militias in the city."
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Reader Comments (10)
So now we have a definition of "undue burden;". Wiping out every last abortion clinic in a state would be just too much. Honestly, I was wondering what the heck "undue burden" could possibly mean, what with various courts upholding things like forced waiting periods, compelling doctors to give patients misleading medical information, requiring abortion clinic docs to have admitting privileges to the nearest hospital (when - among other problems - hospitals won't grant same) and on, and on. But, good to know the Federal courts have some limit in mind - as wildly ineffective as it is. One clinic: for a whole state.
Now that I know Maureen McDonnell is just a poor neglected wife who made the mistake of looking for love in all the wrong places, I think we should require Bob and Mo to have 5 weekly sessions of
intense marriage counseling--beamed live to Huff Po--in addition to the long prison sentences they so "richly" deserve!
Wimpy old Obama, wouldn't you know, while making his more sanctions on Russia announcement, decided to eschew the obvious opportunnity and kept his shirt on.
WOW! So the once handsome southern governor whose advocation of the vagina probe in Virginia is now throwing his wife under the bus or one of his fancy cars. It's all his wife's fault, the defense says, cuz she done cozy up to that guy who showered her with lavish stuff that helped assuage her rage at her mister. What a crock! Greedy people like these two need to serve some time in the slammer and reflect on their great adventure while wearing the newest orange jump suit––so de rigueur these days.
Really interesting piece by Jason Stanley. Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink. And what would his Plato have said to a commenter that mentioned Stanley's comment how single mothers had to heat up bottled water in order to wash their children's faces saying if those mothers can afford bottled water they can pay their bloody water bill. What, indeed.
PD,
Bob n Mo may not get to wear orange jumpsuits even if they are (as they richly deserve--wink, wink) convicted.
The Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" has, to the dismay of some, conferred upon orange jumpsuits a nascent hipness, and early adopters of the latest fashion trends have donned them to remind everyone of their innate coolness, as opposed to a recent stay in the slammer.
This is just too much for some.Saginaw County Sheriff, William Federspiel, has no interest in allowing coolness to upset his imposition of shame and punishment. Orange is out and old fashioned, breakin' rocks style is back in the form of horizontal black and white stripes. Besides, as Mr. Federspiel opines, a show like "Orange" "...lends empathy to inmates" and god forbid we should allow any of that bleeding heart crap. Wonder what party Mr. Federspiel votes for?
Anyway, that aside, in the interest of the public good, and to help Bob n Mo consider their next fashion statement, I bring you a convict's version of everything old is new again. Hope they like black and white..
Tee-hee.
News junkie that I am, my first glance upon calling up the hallowed pages of RC, is invariably to the left. But a quick darting of the eyes to the right the other day brought me to a link to the New Yorker archives, a treasure trove sure to satiate devotees of fine writing and piquant observations.
Today I found a piece from April of 1940 by Joseph Mitchell, whose work I have always admired as a model of finely wrought, highly readable prose (David Brooks, please take note).
The piece, "The Old House at Home", a fond look at the history of the oldest tavern in New York City, the famous McSorley's Ale House, although it appeared in the New Yorker the same week Germany invaded Norway, is a time tunnel to the mid to late 19th century with a quick trip through the early 20th, inviting the reader to sit, stay a while and watch the ghosts of an America long gone pass by.
Some of these are personages of another age entirely, ones you could no more expect meet in today's America than you would expect to see Jamie Dimon serving the homeless in a soup kitchen. One such worthy was Peter Cooper, entrepreneur, industrialist, and railroad magnate who founded the Cooper Union school. Although he was one of the richest men in the country, Cooper spent evenings in McSorley's back room hob-nobbing and chatting with working men and the assorted random souls passing through.
He supported unions and believed education should be free for all (the Cooper Union didn't charge a penny to any student who could get in, at least until 2012). He was considered just one of the boys. He ran for president as a member of the short lived Greenback Party whose interests included organized labor and--horrors--socialism!
Can you imagine Mittens Romney knockin' 'em down with the boys in the back room? He'd race for the nearest shower as soon as he could escape his photo op. Paul Ryan would pretend to be pulling pints for the customers, but the place would be emptied of any real ones, so the lighting could be just right for the Lyin' One and no unseemly questions needing to be avoided from inconsiderate hoi polloi who didn't appreciate his importance and their irrelevance.
When I lived in NYC I made the obligatory Hegira to McSorley's a number of times. They poured pints with heads big enough to enclose two George Bush sized brains. A sign outside reminded you that they were here before you were born. I thought of that some years later when a band I played in did a regular gig at an old fashioned bar whose sign proclaimed it as the place "where your grandfather drank".
The bric-a-brac and assorted odd items you see stuck on the walls of many corporatized restaurants, in the hope that they will provide a patina of authenticity and connection to the past, must have been inspired by McSorley's where every square inch is decorated with the real things, not corporate imitations and reproductions.
Mitchell relates that old man McSorely, who began this practice, once had a newspaper clipping on the wall that reported the first day of the battle of Waterloo. Lincoln drank here, and there's a picture of him next to the mirror. I also loved the shillelaghs behind the bar. They reminded me of my grandfather's which was hung up over the furnace in our cellar when I was a kid.
Mitchell's recounting touches on various political movements that changed the world outside McSorley's (one of the old man's best friends was an anarchist) even as the inside stayed pretty much the same from the Buchanan Administration on.
One quirky piece of McSorley's history which connects it with another time in America is the fact that it was the last establishment of its kind to admit women, and then only at the legal requirement of a Supreme Court ruling.
With this piece you come for the history but stay for the writing. Mitchell's is wonderful. And, to top it off, I found out what a hob is, and that's more than you can shake a stick at, in'it?
Thanks, Marie, for this opening. I probably would have missed it entirely if not for your link. A reminder of used to be's that ain't no more, and what great writing is all about.
Republicans have been screaming "IMPEACH" even louder than they've been shouting "BENGHAZI", for years now. I think impeachment was on their minds before the 2009 inaugural parties were winding down. But now that it's clear that voters think impeachment talk is the sign on unstable minds, they're suddenly blaming Obama and the Democrats for the starting the impeachment craze.
What balls these guys have.
And they don't have to worry about backing it up, Fox will doctor some videos that have the president or some Democrats responding to the impeachment blather and roll an edited tape that has a dozen people saying the word "impeachment" as "proof" that they're right.
But then, they're always right. Right?
Yes, Akhilleus, J. Mitchell should not be forgotten. Thanks for the reminder. His last collection, "Up in the Old Hotel," is one of the books on my shelf I take down and with eyes and hands caress from time to time. As you say, hard to beat the prose and the bright picture its essays present of (for those my age) a not-so-far past that still speaks to the present.
Your comment on seeing Mitchell mentioned on RC reminds me of a memorable reading experience I had forty years ago. Had picked A. B. Guthrie's "Blue Hen's Chick," a book-length autobiographic piece by one of the great writers of American "westerns." In it I encountered four or five other authors, including one of my college teachers, who were members of the same small circle of writer friends. I remember feeling like I had stumbled into the creative colloquia that if it up to me would constitute my ideal Heaven. I still smile fondly at that moment.
I mention it because I often get the same fine feeling from RC and its circle of contributors.
Thanks to you all. You keep the campfire warm.
Cruel hearts, no coronets.
The topic of immigration, through the offices of Republican do-nothings and GOP TV, has curdled much of whatever milk of kindness was left in the American soul.
An AP/Gfk poll just released indicates that a majority of Americans who have been Foxified and turned curmudgeonly and hateful by congressional chicken littles are dead set against any help for children attempting to escape political and social violence.
A big win for Fox and for a heartless, mean spirited conservative agenda. That stuff about tired, huddled masses? Bludgeon those words off the base of the statue. They can all go to hell.
Other parts of the poll indicate the runaway success of the "Both Sides Are to Blame" meme. Many respondents blame the president and Republicans equally, which is like assigning as much blame to the guy calling for water as the people who started the fire and have turned off the hydrant. A fair number of respondents agree with the current Republican plan of not bothering with any niceties, not caring about refugee status or asylum, or any interviews, and taking every kid, loading them one by one in a trebuchet and firing them back over the border.
This is yet another example of the insidious effects of non-stop dissemination of lies, half truths, and a vicious ideology. Voters hear about little criminals coming in waves from terrible places ready to kill them in their beds, steal their money and grow up to take jobs from their kids, and then they're asked should we (A) put them up in the Ritz and buy them computers and give them candy and Coke until they're old enough to steal your homes from you, or (B) send their mooching asses back to wherever the fuck they came from, yo!
The funny thing is that those voters who consider themselves better informed (ie, who watch Fox all day and night) are the most hateful, with zero tolerance for any kid pleading for relief from terrible conditions.
These are the people who, beginning in the 30's, would have sent back every Jewish coming to America to escape persecution and eventual annihilation.
Nice, huh?
Ken,
"The Way West" is on my list of books I probably should have read by now. I've never been a huge reader of novels with western themes, although he did a very nice job with Jack Schaefer's book "Shane" (one I actually have read--a ripping story, too).
Recently read Zane Grey's "Riders of the Purple Sage", another pretty good book, except for the wildly distorted (at least I think it's distorted) picture painted of Mormons.
Anyway, it's nice to find those moments of creative energy when you encounter good writers and writing.