By this Author

Edward Cone: We didn’t start the fire (it was you)

dshelton — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:00:22 -0400

Feeling the Elephant, or The Blame Game: A Tragedy Played as Farce

The curtain rises on an opulent building, which is afire. Many rooms in the building have been destroyed, and the structure is in evident danger of collapse, an eventuality that seems likely to ignite the entire neighborhood. On the street, people are arguing over the best way to put it out, while others debate the cause of the conflagration.

Fire Chief Paulson: Let's spray it with money. Townspeople, empty your pockets!

The Congress of Firefighters: OK!

Paulson's cronies: Huzzah!

The death of thrift and the rise of casino culture

dshelton — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:00:57 -0400

Thrift, that once-great American value, passed away at roughly the same moment as my father, one of its most fervent practitioners, who died in 1987. Just a coincidence, of course, but one that struck me as the world copes with a financial crisis that stems in some large part from our thriftless culture.

What do we mean when we say socialism?

dshelton — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:00:45 -0400

A gentleman of my acquaintance took a moment at a recent social event to say some nice things to me about my newspaper column. He paused, then added, "Except for the socialism, of course."

Of course.

Cone on the Edwards affair: Johnny, we hardly knew ye

dshelton — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0400

If scandal were an Olympic event, the John Edwards version would be a decathlon. Rarely does a story have so many moving parts, and we may be learning more about parts of this one for some time to come.

Speaking of politics: Libertarians, Hagan-Dole and recession

dshelton — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:00:00 -0400

Some semi-related thoughts on the political scene, presented in a semi-bloglike fashion:

Rewiring our minds, for better or worse

mgrossman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:15:02 -0400

The old lament about the impact of electronic media is that we don't read anymore. The new lament is that we can't read anymore.

So says Nicholas Carr in a much-discussed cover story in The Atlantic, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Carr, a technology writer known for being both provocative and un-stupid, worries that the quick-hit, hyperlinked style of the Internet has changed the way he deals with text - remaking not just his reading habits, but the actual mental processes behind them.

Edward Cone: Justin's story: Balancing faith and doubt

import — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:00:00 -0400

Many religions reserve a special enmity for nonbelievers. In recent years, nonbelievers have returned the favor with a series of belief-skewering books. Now comes Justin Catanoso, ambling onto the scene with an open heart and a reporter's notebook, to offer a different take on faith and skepticism.