Autodidact: Homer 3
See full text of complete series here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
From Under the Rubble 4: Washington’s Criminal Conspiracy
Washington’s Criminal Conspiracy By Thomas Fleming One way or another, the provisions of the Patriot Act will be confirmed and strengthened. There is nothing that either libertarian Republicans (Rand Paul) or leftist civil libertarians (Bernie Sanders) can do to stop it. Conspiring against the citizenry is the lifeblood of our government. Most of the debate on the renewal has been focussed on practical and legal matters: Are the Feds listening to my telephone calls and monitoring my email? Has Federal surveillance actually stopped acts of terrorism? Does this surveillance violate the US Constitution? These are serious questions, and they are...
From Under the Rubble 3: Hijab Rules!
Hijab Rules By Thomas Fleming In an 8-1 decision that surprised no one, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Muslim woman’s right to wear a head-scarf in defiance of an employer’s dress code. Abercrombie and Fitch—a maker of overpriced preppy status clothing—had implemented a dress code that required sales staff to dress in in the style of A&F’s product line. Among the prohibited items was any form of head-covering. A Muslim woman took the job without informing the company either of her religion or her intention to wear a head scarf. A&F’s lawyers took the line that...
The Autodidact: Homer 2
See full text of complete article here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
The Autodidact I: Homer Part 1
See full text of complete series here: https://fleming.foundation/2022/01/the-autodidact-homer/
Reading for the Movies
Revisions 1: Reading for the movies: A. I. Bezzerides by Ray Olson It’s my habit, ever since reviewing movies in the Sixties for the Minnesota Daily, campus paper of the University of Minnesota, to read the book a movie’s based on before I see the movie. Not always, but whenever the book’s or its author’s reputation piques my interest, I give it a try. A. I. Bezzerides is well-known as the writer of a handful of very good films noir. The screenplay of Kiss Me Deadly is his, based on one of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer mysteries and, says James...
From Under the Rubble 3: Same Sex Sex No News
From Under the Rubble 3: Same Sex Sex No News Thomas Fleming The gibbering classes were alternately elated and depressed by two “news” on same-sex marriage. They were thrilled when Irish voters lived down to expectations by voting overwhelmingly to legitimate the love that used to be said that it did not dare speak its name but now shouts it from the rooftops, but they were depressed when it turned out that a “scientific” study on changing attitudes toward same-sex marriage was, according to its principle author, bogus. These two stories are all the proof you need that a...
The Best Revenge 2: Going Greek
Sometimes I slip, almost by accident, into some other universe, such as the Byzantine Empire in the Tenth Century or Stuart England or Paris before World War I. I am not quite sure how it happens. Sometimes, it is because I have started reading a book or it might happen that I hear a piece of music. Once, in the short drive from my office (when I had an office) to my house, I was asking myself whether or not I should do a program in Scotland. My schedule was busy, but to plan such a program ten or twelve...
From Under The Rubble 2: No News is Good News
HilaryClintonHilaryClintonHilaryClintonHilaryClintonHilaryClintonHilary ClintonHilaryClintonHilary Had enough? I know I have. Not a day goes by that Ms Clinton’s critics and defenders do not make her candidacy front page news. Let me say it here for the first time—and, believe me, I am going to say it many times in the coming months: News is a waste of time. It it is simply gossip about strangers that distracts us from the duties of everyday life. News commentators are like the bored English housewives and secretarial spinsters who spend their days tittle-tattling about the Royals. Turn them off and fix breakfast for the...
The Best Revenge 1
19 May: Spiritual Advice Four dinner parties in a row is three too many. Two of them were to celebrate a visit from an old friend, whom I serve as “spiritual advisor.” The does not mean that I provide counseling aimed at edifying his soul. My advice has strictly to do with spirits of the sort they bottle in Tennessee and her neighbor to the north. I am not a whiskey snob or even a wine connoisseur. I have connoisseurs of every kind. You know the sort—people who take wine appreciation classes and torture the poor waiter or wine steward...
