Politics
The next Bill of Rights: A few suggestions
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#690) The next Bill of Rights: A few suggestions by David Benjamin PARIS — One of the charms of a few weeks among our French friends is hearing them bellyache about the government. Not ours. Theirs! They gripe about weak leadership, legislative gridlock, a chaotic and divisive party…
Read More“… I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#689) “… I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours” by David Benjamin PARIS — Friend Steve, visiting Paris from rural Japan, posed the thesis that the Tea Party movement in the U.S. is a spent force. I replied that with southern governors…
Read MoreMy rights are bigger than your rights
MONDAY, JULY 28, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#685) My rights are bigger than your rights by David Benjamin “In recent decisions, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has made clear its view that corporations are people, with all the attendant rights. They are entitled to free speech… They are entitled to religious beliefs… Up…
Read MoreThe semantic conundrum of the war in Ukraine
MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#684) The semantic conundrum of the war in Ukraine by David Benjamin “I haven’t got a brain… only straw.” — Scarecrow, The Wizard of Oz MADISON, Wis. — War is always more about semantics than ideas. This principle applies bleakly to the mess in eastern Ukraine, where an…
Read MoreOink
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#683) Oink by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Thanks to the Supreme Court’s recent anti-contraception decision, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which enshrines in American Constitutional law the novel notion that corporations are not only persons but they’re also, well… holy, we finally have a literary parallel for…
Read MoreThe Bergdahl paradox
THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#679) The Bergdahl paradox by David Benjamin “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be…
Read MoreWho is Ben Gozzy, and why the hell doesn’t he shut up?
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#675) Who is Ben Gozzy, and why the hell doesn’t he shut up? by David Benjamin “Gowdy’s rapid ascent in the party fits closely with what House Republicans are doing in this midterm election year: abandoning any pretense of legislating in favor of unremitting hostilities with the White…
Read MoreMovie treatment: "North by Southwest by Way of Queens"
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#673) Movie treatment: North by Southwest by Way of Queens by David Benjamin (Opening scene, the Oak Room of a luxury New York hotel) Ad exec Roger Thornhill [played, ideally, by George Clooney but Matt Damon would be OK] phones his mom. Afterwards, he’s intercepted by suited thugs.…
Read MoreGoing "nuclear"
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#671) Going “nuclear” by David Benjamin TO: Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) FROM: Me Dear Senators Baldwin and Johnson: One of America’s stickiest dilemmas, lamented equally by Republicans and Democrats, is the decline of the single-breadwinner household, in which there’s always a parent at home…
Read MoreIs sex Republican?
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#671) Is sex Republican? by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — After studying the sexual assault allegations by two women against Wisconsin state Rep. Bill Kramer, I can finally understand Missouri Congressman Todd Akin’s seemingly benighted views — blurted out last year — about “legitimate rape.” Evidently, Republicans like…
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