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Monthly Archives: February 2008

Dentist Examines Gift Horse

Friday, February 29, 2008

Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY — That would be me, a metaphorical dentist, just for the morning. Even though as a journalist, ethics forbids me from volunteering in politics I have over the years taken on other tasks outside the newsroom. It’s a nice way to meet interesting people, and one actually gets [...]

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Epistolary in Your Pocket

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Book report: The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland Is that epistolary in your pocket, or am I just glad to see a writer pull it off? Yes, I am impressed, not only for a novel comprising journal entries and letters — and e-mails — but also a novel within a novel. Discovering a solid comic [...]

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In My Inbox

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock This is a “found poem.” That’s like “found art,” where the artist roots around an alley or someplace and puts what he finds into some kind of combination. Here are lines — spelling, capitalization and punctuation intact — found: In My Inbox,

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No Country for Old Dudes

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” – Uncle Ellis, No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy Book report: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Yes, I read the book first, finishing it a few hours before the matinee. It’s a contender for the decade’s Great American [...]

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We Ran Her Off the Road

Monday, February 18, 2008

You can’t have a dope business without dopers.” – Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock Proposed laws about paparazzi are worse-than-useless. There are already laws on stalking, creating a public nuisance and any number of other categories that would apply and hold up in court [...]

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Eat Cancer in Our Lifetime

Friday, February 15, 2008

Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock One of the outcomes of a Democratic presidential victory come November likely will be national health care sooner not later. And one of the outcomes of national health care will be a sudden and welcome drop in pretentious fundraisers. Nearly nine years ago I wrote an offensive column. I apologized [...]

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Book ‘em, Benno

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

“Book ‘em, Danno” is a stick-in-your-brain phrase I’ve no memory for this. A book is mentioned and I’ll remember if I’ve read it, and how long ago, and whether it was paper or audio, as I also “read” about 1 1/2 books a month on CD while commuting. (There’s no best verb for drinking in [...]

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Fake Off

Monday, February 11, 2008

When one goes for a hit of news, it’s amazing how often it’s been cut with spin. Not bias, not commentary, but flapdoodle. It’s right after shipment where the purveyors can’t help but allude to it so it stays. Example 1. Former President Clinton’s tactics a few weeks ago while campaigning for the candidacy of [...]

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