3 Ring Binder

Does this ever happen to you? You pick up a Shakespeare play after not having read one in a while, and none of it makes sense to you? You step back, collect yourself knowing full well that you are intelligent enough to understand the language, particularly given that it is your own language and supported by the fact that you have actually understood Shakespeare in the past? This is how I feel slogging through laws, regulations, and executive orders. Now you can shake your head and think that there is no way to understand the impossibly convoluted language of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 . Or you can try to sharpen your legal ease reading skills, and move on to the provision of the TARP under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 . Then, with these in mind, or if you are very devoted, under your belt, you should next attempt President Obama's proposed budget . Of course, unlike the promise of a Shakespeare play where the reading becomes its own rewar...

To the Soure Reader by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) If thou dislik'st the piece thou light'st on first, Thinke that of all that I have writ the worst: But if thou read'st my booke unto the end, And still do'st this and that verse reprehend, O perverse man! if all disgustfull be, The extreame scabbe take thee and thine for me. Herrick's instructions to the reader near the beginning of his Hersperides , Volume I.

Renée Loth has written a good op/ed piece in today’s Globe entitled The Yoga Fatwa . (I know! I was shocked, too.) In it she describes not only the difference between Europe and America in their acceptance of different nationalities, but also points to how capitalism in America helps that integration in our borrowing from different cultures the “shiny items we choose to ornament our lives.” America's embrace of other nationalities may be part of its democratic character, but it's also accelerated by capitalism: Almost no artifact is too exotic or sacred to be repackaged into a hip new consumer good. I get a catalog in the mail that features sandalwood prayer beads, neti pots to clear the sinuses, and statues of (your choice) St. Anthony, the Buddha, or the Virgin of Guadalupe, conveniently sized for a home altar. She mentions religiously motivated violent behavior as a failure of assimilation and she counts it as a black mark on the “enlightenment ideals” of Europe; that our ow...

For those of you interested in Objectivism, the latest round-up can be found here . For those of you not interested in Objectivism, it can still be found here (as you are no doubt aware, it doesn’t go away because you don’t want to look at it ).

That's right. I practiced this diction exercise in chorus today! What? You were thinking that I could tap like that after three lessons? That'll take at least another three. Decades.

Look for it from a politician near you. That video was removed! But this one shows how Gibbs handled Santelli's complaint - by accusing him of not reading the plan.

I have started at least four posts of some substance and been sidetracked by one thing or another, so I've decided to let loose some of the linky love (TM) I have built up inside (or in the coffee mug on my desk if you prefer). Is it wrong to have a two year-old as my new fashion icon ? I don't care. She works that wig like nobody's business. I have fallen into another doggie-do pile. This time it's the Iditarod Dogsled Race! Check out all that is Iditarod on both the official website , and on the website of my friend and fellow homeschooler, Fiddler . We are still in the planning stages of constructing a giant wall map (thinking about using painter's tape) and then picking our mushers to follow. The race starts on March 7, so there's still time for you to prepare. Two new blogs have caught my eye - well, let's face it - I noticed because they stopped by my blog. Both bloggers seem to be just starting out, but had the serious good taste to link to my blog i...