Current Wisdom
Jackasses, Assorted
CURRENT WISDOM MSNBC InterNight The new secretary of state, Tom Brokaw, picks up where Warren Christopher left off: We always welcome you in this country, Mikhail Gorbachev. We're especially...
...When the feet are sweaty, the bacteria have a field day...
...I raised my hand and told the sister...
...The answer, I suppose, is his character...
...Louis Post-Dispatch Another discerning mind speaks out from the chorus of the St...
...reassures us that a first-rate education isn't necessarily a disqualification for leadership in American democracy...
...My daughter, far more direct than I, was accosted in the hall by an assertive boy who thought he had the right to kiss her...
...Besides, the obstacles would not be as hard to overcome as you might think...
...Challenging Boundaries," a conference on November 8-10, will bring together theorists and practitioners to explore the boundaries, both constructive and destructive, that define the major issues facing women today...
...Perhaps one day again we'll see you in political office in Russia...
...In my case, eons ago, a rodent-faced little boy named Robert Samanawith stole a kiss from me...
...I doubt that any woman can fail to recall an unwanted advance in the first grade...
...Elizabeth Magraw Manchester [OCTOBER 25,1996] Sacramento Bee One of these days, Alice ...er, Arlyne: The recent backlash over a stolen kiss is overkill, and points out the sense of entitlement men have from a very early age...
...And although decisions do have to be made in obscenity cases, an absolute belief in the First Amendment would mean that viewing of questionable materials—especially communal viewing—would not be required...
...Well," the nun said, "you shouldn't have complained about being kissed...
...She said, "Be glad someone wants to kiss you...
...Do you remember the woman from San Diego, the most widely respected judge of the superior court there, by everybody, whose nomination to the federal district court had to be withdrawn because of Republican opposition based on the fact that some years before, she had awarded custody to the same sex partner of a child's parent, after the parent died...
...But we also hope to entice you back to Yale Law School to join us for some lectures, conferences and other intellectually challenging activities that are also oriented to life after the year "naughty naught," as our forebears put it a century ago...
...Symposium participants with diverse interests, experiences, and political philosophies will address how deep conflicts among groups should be regulated under our Constitution...
...Clinton...
...The wearing of judicial robes pretty much precludes remarks about personal appearance...
...Character flaws are less disturbing than hate groups...
...FALL 1996] The Times From the venerable Times of London evidence of cultural renewal among Tory purists: Twice in the past few weeks there have been reports of men being ostracised because of their smell...
...NOVEMBER 21, 1996] New Republic From "Washington Diarist" Jeffrey Rosen, surely an effort at humor: Given the contradictions at the heart of Clinton's presidency, what is it, precisely, that I admire about him...
...I think the problem lies with the mainstream media's lack of ability or willingness to produce it intelligently...
...She decked him...
...Louie intelligentsia: Here is an older adult's explanation of why many are voting for Bill Clinton...
...Unless you enjoy the pandering mean-spiritedness of The American Spectator or the recycled bathroom jokes of the late-night boys, you're out of luck...
...But, as Clinton demonstrates in his moving speeches to black churches, a Whitmanesque capacity to embrace contradictions isn't always a vice in a balkanized age...
...I sat down, confused...
...At the March Conservative Club in Cambridgeshire, the committee suspended a member for six months and expressed the wish that during this time he should have treatment for his feet, which smelt so badly that even when he was wearing clean socks, other members could not enjoy their drinks...
...NOVEMBER 1996] At Random In Random House's magazine twelve writers are asked their lofty advice on what the next president should do, and the justly unaccoladed Jacqueline Carey serves up this perfect cohabitation of imbecility and impudence: The next president should appoint Anita Hill to the Supreme Court...
...I suppose, in the end, that I also admire Clinton's intelligence and his passion for argument, which vindicates the Madisonian premises that Ronald Reagan's success called into question...
...Jeff McKinnon, a Quarterly Gentleman from Halifax, remarks on the low condition of things risible in the American "peep show"—funny line, that: I thoroughly enjoyed David Kamp's fabulous article about the sad state of political humor in the United States...
...Dole has been saying along his campaign route that Americans ought to be able to keep more of "their money...
...My self-esteem plummeted as I realized that being in the right doesn't mean you are politically correct...
...I do what I want and it just works out," she said...
...Even though I am only 16 and just a casual observer of the peep show that is American politics, I found myself laughing and nodding knowingly throughout my read...
...We traveled to Colorado and back by air, thus benefiting from the sophisticated air traffic control system the government—supported by our taxes—thoughtfully provides...
...Sometimes, it's a show of dominance and power...
...Clinton's defining impulse, after all, is not insincerity but a surfeit of empathy: he earnestly does believe in the possibility of reconciling contradictions that can't be logically reconciled: Reagan with Roosevelt, racialism with color-blindness, family values with civil liberties...
...Somehow Cher blithely moves ahead, saying whatever is on her mind...
...It would be easy to remove Coca-Cola products from the cafeteria and the vending machines in the Supreme Court building...
...I don't remember...
...AUGUST 15, 1996]St...
...Our family was admitted to Rocky Mountain National Park this summer for a mere $4, and we could spend as much time in that wondrously maintained location as we wanted...
...We're especially pleased to have you tonight on InterNight...
...What he doesn't say, but must know as well as anyone who has walked the corridors of power for years, is that taxes are the price of membership in a nation as large and complex as our own...
...Nobody forgets Paula Jones...
...If you ask me, the problem with political humor, especially the narrowly defined political satire, lies not with an ignorant, Ricki Lake—addicted public...
...My god, you can't tell me that the press hasn't covered her charges in greater detail than, say, Republicans blocking progressive judicial appointees—a subject which outrages me much more, and doesn't earn anybody the cover of anybody's magazine...
...What was her name...
...I hated Robert...
...For more information, please contact the Journal at (203) 432-4056...
...OCTOBER 29, 1996] Detroit Sunday Journal Simple truths from the pen of the Rev...
...And I also realized that my world view was not respected...
...Small talk about films in particular could be banned, no matter how exotic the bodies of the actors or how curious their relationships with animals...
...the American people are more informed and aware than ever...
...NOVEMBER 11, 1996] Boston Herald Another inscrutable moment in the public discourse of our great Republic, this time produced by someone called Cher: Apart from her irrational fear of getting wrinkles, Cher's only problems are that her career has been in a nose dive and she just turned 5o...
...Remember her...
...When she told me, I was proud of her, but disappointed when I learned she had been punished for "fighting...
...Lani Guinier will be the keynote speaker, and panels will focus on such topics as Transracial Adoption, Sexuality, Health Care, Poverty, Labor Unions, Domestic Labor, and International Human Rights...
...We know that you've devoted your life to peace and to changing your country, and those of us who have gotten to know you count ourselves among the privileged...
...You can talk about abortion and hear the words, but a suction machine gives you a much better view of the situation," said Cher, who also plays the doctor who does the abortion...
...Robert smirked, and then reached over and broke my ruler...
...Think of what you'd get in return: a woman who—even when blind-sided by irrelevancies, falsely accused of perjury,bombarded by insinuations about imaginary faxes, characterized as suffering from a rare mental disorder, and generally hounded for all to see by some of the most powerful men in the country—can, with great dignity, still tell the simple truth...
...This move would not be free of difficulties, but what bold, decisive step ever is...
...And her career seems to be moving ahead, too — finally — after six years of decline...
...Perplexion has remained to this day when things don't make sense...
...Our rented car traversed hundreds of miles of federally subsidized freeways—again, our tax dollars at work...
...No extra charge...
...The conference is sponsored by the Yale Law Women, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, the Women of Color Collective, the Schell Center for International Human Rights, and the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Law Students Association...
...I raised my hand again, still hoping for justice...
...The problem of smelly feet occurs when acid forms as a result of dead skin being broken down by bacteria...
...Some of it doesn't...
...Well, some of it works out...
...They are voting against the NRA, the American Spectator, the militia movement, Liddy and Limbaugh, the Klan, the religious far right and other extremists...
...Arlyne Jones Sacramento [NOVEMBER 7, 1996] Yale Law School From a "Dear Graduate" letter, instructive information on how the Kultursmog is spread at hoary Yale, boola boola: Dear Graduate: Wholly apart from the fall programs I'm about to describe, it would be worth a trip to New Haven just to inspect the wonderful renovations—many of them completed, others still in progress—which will almost magically preserve the building of your memories while meeting the needs of the new century toward which we seem to be hurtling at ever faster speed...
...A kiss isn't just a kiss...
...Harry T. Cook, Communist instigator: Mr...
...OCTOBER 25, 1996] 80 January 1997 • The American Spectator GQ Mr...
...NOVEMBER 11, 1996] Slate More delirium inspired by feminist thought, this time within the cavernous cerebrum of Susan Estrich, "law professor": Is there anyone in America who doesn't know who Paula Jones is...
...Nevertheless, her outlook remains sunny...
...And we offer our very best, of course, to Raisa Gorbachev, and we hope that you'll have a long and happy life...
...But life in these United States is pretty special, and we think we ought to help pay for it...
...On Sunday, she makes her directing debut in an episode of HBO's "If These Walls Could Talk," a three-part film about abortion...
...Her episode, which includes a simulation of an actual abortion, promises to be provocative...
...Dole is cynically appealing to the base selfishness of human nature and the irrational anti-government sentiments of stupid Americans who never had it so good...
...On Thursday, November 14, the Yale Law Journal will host its 1996 Symposium, "Group Conflict and the Constitution: Race, Sexuality, and Religion...
...OCTOBER 10, 1996] The American Spectator • January r 9 9 7 81...
...Yes, we'd like to keep more of the money we earn...
...For further information, please contact the Journal at (203) 432-1666...
...I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you know...
...Three very timely conferences will also take place at 127 Wall Street in November...
Vol. 30 • January 1997 • No. 1
