The Last Ephor

Perry on Politics ? 2004 Timothy Perry Another amazing letter home from a Marine. I wonder where we get such men.

Back in New York City. (a work in progress) Back in New York City. I've always thought of New York as old leather. It's comfortable and molds right around you no matter how long since you've last worn it. I've always felt the ebb and flow of energy in New York. Even as a child when my parents would take me into Manhattan I could feel it. I think you can only sense the change when you cross the bridge if you don't live there. I lived in The City (briefly) and I think after a while it starts to dull your sensitivity to it. It's like the "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriving at Penn Station in just a few minutes. There's some traffic ahead of us and as soon as the platform is clear we'll be ready to debark." I stepped off the train and onto the platform. Joining the rush for the narrow escalator that would take me out of the oppressively hot and humid bowels of Penn Station. Ascending into the cool, almost cold, air that filled the

Ok, this one is getting a bit stale, but I have to post it. I wrote this a week ago and never posted it. Here it is warts and all. Andrew Sullivan goes off the rails. Note: I try to refrain from meta-blogging as it is usually because the blogger is trying to ride the coatails of the original writer. I certainly am not. I don't have an audience at all. I've not told a single soul of this blog and not sure I intend to. (This is more of a diary of sorts.) What follows is my mental splinter picking. It's bothering me and I have to pick at it to ease the pain. I've been reading his blog for about 2 years now. It's been an eye opener for me as he was always difficult to pin down. He's gay and conservative (usually) and Catholic. He has interesting and well thought out opinions about things (even when they're wrong). In the past I've disagreed with him but understood his viewpoint. Since his return from the hammock I'm starting to think he'

Am I the only one that thinks the 527s have been a huge negative in politics? I know the intent of McCain-Feingold was good but this is IMNHO a huge huge oversight. In prior elections each campaign had to police their own to keep them from going around the bend with negative ads, accusations and the like. With the 527s the fringe elements of both parties can do whatever they like, however they want and there's little the candidate or party can do to temper those messages. I submit we should remove all restrictions on money in politics and simply require 100% disclosure of who is funding what. Anything else ends up with nasty unintended consequences.