Most of West's essays are a pean to the government building the people's spirit through enlightened understanding and policy measures. It's considerably more complicated but if you've read any of his essays in Race Matters or some other book of his you probably know what I'm writing of.

Yeah, on second glance, I think you're right. He's standing in front of the poetry section.

Oh
According to that bookshelf, O'Rourke is a fan of Jorge Louis Borges. Good on him.

Are you Cornel West?

I genuinely love this guy
I disagree with him about 97% of the time. However, he's usually pretty funny and he can be a really good writer when he wants to be.

Banana Bar,

Well, you fellas convinced me. There is nothing wrong with owning a gun. As long as you're of age, you should be able to get a gun by whatever means you choose as long as its legal. And if it isn't and the person who sells it to you goes to jail, then everything is fine. And nothing should be changed in any way…

Seriously, blaming the gun laws is the stupidest possible conclusion to come to in that situation? Tell you what, I'm going to run a mental asylum so if one of your loved ones needs help, bring im on over: Every patient gets a pair of scissors, a carving knive and a fridge full of sleeping pills. I tell people all the…

So the fact that it was legal for minors to purchase guns without a background check is okay. Got it. No problem there. Keep it moving. Would you support handing out guns on the street? Just curious. I usually don't use this internet cliche but can I subscribe to your newsletter?

1) Yes, I think massacres can be blamed on how people feel about something. The Iraq War can be blamed on the fact that a lot of people (including much of the media) didn't think a war time president could be challenged on anything. And anyway, I added regressive gun policies to the list. Like, oh I don't know,…

You're right, it should have read "regressive gun policies and…"

Assuming the Canadian health system is the worst possible thing in the whole wide world, what about the British health care system? French? Australian? German? Swedish? Italian? Spanish? They're not all the same. Why just pick on the Canadian when you still need to dismantle the many other countries that do have it?

I guess this leaves me slow on the uptake, but I don't get AW's attack at all. I think he's implying that capitalism is the reason why some people get free schoolings and food stamps (so why would Moore criticize capitalism) but those aren't capitalistic policies, they're socialist. So what's his point?

Well, I have more books by him than any other author so I did pay some money for his stuff. However, most of it I've found at second hand book stores, cheapish anthologies at chain bookstores and Amazon. Sweet Amazon. And even if it has been a large amount of money, I've been more than happy for what I've gotten in…

He had the mumps as a young man, which some believe rendered him impotent.

Saki is wonderful. A little harder to get into than Wodehouse but still a treasure. I seem to remember liking the stories in Chronicles of Clovis and Toys of Peace in particular.

So I know and you know
that Michael Moore can be obnoxious and sanctimonious and FAT FAT FATTY FAT FATT (like every other right thinking person, I perfer to watch thin, pretty people tell me what to think) but it seems like a lot of his detractors stop there. He is for a bunch of sensible, middle of the road policies…

My apologies. That is what the two threads above are about. But yes, Wodehouse=English.

"He only spent the early 40's in Germany because he had been taken prisoner by the Nazis."

I should add that he kept a cottage in England but rarely visited it for more than a season or two. He owned several homes in Europe and America but ironically enough (considering his stories) his English home was the one he was at the least.