The Last Ephor

The Anti-hero as the archtype I've always enjoyed reading. Many of the stories I read as a kid had a protaganist who was a hero. He embodied all the qualities of a hero. He was noble, good, right, moral etc. In contrast, films have embraced the anti-hero as the archtype. He is flawed, often to the point of being indistinguishable from the bad guy (aside from a wife and/or child who must be kidnapped in movie cliche fashion, a badge, not-so-witty one liners and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of bullets and perfect marksmanship to boot.). I can understand Hollywood trying to make the characters "more human" or accessable or whatever but one example that has vexed me considerably is the in LOTR: The Two Towers POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT enough space? Good. Anyway, the changes to Theoden and Faramir dimish them as heroes and make them quite ordinary. In the book, Theoden, King of the Mark of Rohan is...

Dave Kopel

DUI Gestapo

Drinking and Driving Deaths Plummet Is it tougher laws or raised consciousness? By Eric Peters Getting liquored-up and getting behind the wheel hasn't been cool for 20 years at least — and the general public opprobrium has had demonstrably positive effects. According to data just released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the number of "alcohol-related" traffic deaths has dropped by more than 50 percent since the early 1980s — 0.63 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2001 vs. 1.64 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1982. The question is, are tighter penalties for drunk driving — and more vigorous enforcement — deserving of the credit for this reduction in carnage? Or is it more a consequence of mass enlightenment that drinking to excess and driving don't mix? Groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which actively pushed for ever-stricter laws and penalties in state legislatures around the country, argue ...

Sand in the Gears This is awesome. On the money w/ the world's policeman thing.

The New Yorker: Shouts and Murmurs

A Tale of Two Selfish Men Larry Miller's take on Cardinal Law and Trent Lott. A good read.

Misc for the day..... How the Palestinians Stole Christmas http://www.townhall.com/columnists/emmetttyrrell/et20021212.shtml Columnist R. Emmett Tyrrell reports from Jerusalem on Palestinian Muslims' war against Christianity: *** QUOTE *** Whereas the Israelis respect sacred places, the Palestinian Authority does not. Their police have taken over the Temple Mount with the sufferance of the Israeli government that controls it. Against the will of Jews and Christians, who judge it sacred, and of archaeologists, who consider it worthy of careful study, these religious bigots are carting away tons of ancient earth to build a huge mosque for political purposes. They are defiling a sacred and archaeologically invaluable location on a 3,000-year-old site to establish a political claim to the site, and no one is stopping them. The desecration is not unprecedented. Think back four years ago, to when the Taliban conspired in the destruction of the ancient Buddhist st...