The Oscar Pistorius Murder Case

Have you heard about this Oscar Pistorius murder case?  

In case you haven't, Pistorius is a Paralympic athlete who made international headlines this summer when he competed in the regular Olympics alongside able-bodied runners.  He didn't medal, but he did make the semi-finals, which is pretty remarkable considering he's a double amputee with no legs below his knees.  

Anyway, he's from South Africa and has been described as the most famous athlete in the country.  On Valentine's Day, he shot his girlfriend while she was locked inside the bathroom in their house, and was subsequently arrested and charged with murder.

The police have said that Pistorius and his girlfriend got into a fight in the middle of the night, she went and locked herself in the bathroom, he then put on his prosthetic legs, got his gun, and went to the door and fired four shots, three of which hit and killed her.  How do they know the couple was fighting?  Several witnesses said they heard the sounds of an argument, saw the lights on in the bedroom, then heard the gunshots and a woman's scream.

Sounds pretty straightforward.

Pistorius, however, claims that he shot her on accident because he thought she was an intruder.  He says they were both in bed sleeping and there never was any argument.  He says, instead, that he woke up in the middle of the night and went to the balcony of the bedroom to bring a fan inside and to shut the door (which had evidently been left open to the night air).

When he came back into the bedroom, he heard someone in the bathroom and jumped to the immediate conclusion that it was an intruder.  He said workmen had been working on the house and had left their ladders outside, so he feared someone had climbed into the bathroom that way.

Without putting on his prosthetic legs, he grabbed his gun and went to the bathroom on his stumps, "screaming" for the intruder to leave and for his girlfriend to call the police (he believed she was still in bed).  When he got to the bathroom, he saw the bathroom window open and realized the intruder was inside the toilet room, which was inside the bathroom with its own door.  He could hear the intruder moving around in there.  

At this point, he fired shots at the door and screamed again for his girlfriend to call the police.  When she didn't respond, he went back into the bedroom to wake her up.  The lights were still off.  When he realized she wasn't in bed, it "dawned on" him that it might have been her in the bathroom.  Finding the bathroom door locked, he knocked it open with a cricket bat and found his girlfriend slumped over the toilet, dying from her wounds.

He has stated that he now believes his girlfriend got up and went into the bathroom while he was outside getting the fan on the balcony.  At the time, he says, he did not realize she wasn't still in the bed, and he points to the fact that the lights were off in the room to back this claim up.    

So far, the information in the news is focusing on "inconsistencies" in what the police investigators have been saying about their investigation.  The media, as a whole, seems to be on the side of Pistorius.

However, I find Pistorius's version of events to be remarkable in the extreme, if not downright absurd. It may be true that the police investigation was "botched" as the media outlets have reported, and it may be true that the lead investigator made a very poor showing at the first legal hearing, but I find Pistorius's story to be unbelievable.

To begin with, Pistorius said himself that he kept his gun by his bed, and that's where he went to retrieve it after realizing someone was in the bathroom.  The investigators found the empty holster lying beneath the left side of the bed - which is undeniably the side Pistorius's girlfriend was sleeping on.  How in the world could Pistorius have gone to her side of the bed to retrieve his gun and not have realized the bed was empty?  

Secondly, Pistorius claims that he was filled with terror and paranoia during this event because he did not have his prosthetic legs on and felt vulnerable.  I can totally understand that, especially considering that South Africa has one of the highest murder rates, and overall crime rates, in the world.  Pistorius, however, lives in a gated community in an upscale area of Pretoria, South Africa, and obviously felt secure enough to not worry about leaving windows, and even balcony doors, open during the night. 

As such, why would a reasonable person wake up in the middle of the night, hear someone in the bathroom, and immediately conclude it was an intruder, rather than a member of the household?  

Even if you did make that assumption, wouldn't you make damned sure you were right before you just started shooting at a shut door?  Would you just start shooting in a wild panic, without actually knowing who was inside, or would you maybe call out first and tell them something like: "Hey, you in there, I've got a gun and I'm going to shoot you if you don't get out!"?  Furthermore, wouldn't you maybe go over to the bed and see if your girlfriend was lying there before assuming an intruder was in the bathroom?  It just doesn't add up.  

I realize it's hard to say with any certainty how a given individual might react in such a situation, but I don't fully understand why a reasonable person would just start shooting at a closed door.  Pistorius did claim, of course, to call out to the person, but he said he did this while he was still in the bedroom, and he said only that he screamed for them to "get out" of his house.  Not everyone (especially in America) thinks there's anything wrong with killing a home invader, but wouldn't a reasonable person at least tell the supposed invader they were going to start shooting, especially if they hadn't even actually seen the invader yet?

Finally, the fact that Pistorius's girlfriend locked the door is a significant clue, in my opinion.  Who gets up in the middle of the night to go pee and shuts and locks the bathroom door behind them?  The fact that she had locked herself in the bathroom is an indication, in my opinion, that she was hiding from Pistorius, probably because he had threatened her following an argument.  

Pistorius has responded to this problem by stating that she must have heard him screaming about an intruder, and therefore locked the door in fear.  That's all fine and good, but it raises more questions than it answers. 

1. If she heard him screaming about an intruder, why didn't she also hear him telling her to call the police (thus implying he thought she was still in bed)? 

2. If she heard him yelling about an intruder and telling the intruder to get out, why didn't it cross her mind that he thought she was the intruder?  Especially after he came into the bathroom?

3. Why didn't she, apparently, make so much as a peep if she believed an intruder was in the house and her boyfriend was in danger?  Clearly she made no sounds because Pistorius would have realized it was her in the bathroom otherwise.  If you thought someone was about to kill you and your boyfriend, wouldn't you be screaming or at least yelling for help?

4. In addition to not making a peep, why didn't she take any apparent steps to help her disabled boyfriend in a confrontation with a potential intruder?  Instead, if what Pistorius said is true, she just locked herself in the bathroom and remained as quiet as a church mouse.  Maybe she was just a cold, selfish bitch, or maybe she was just frozen in terror, but it bears consideration.

Another inconsistency in Pistorius's story is that he claims explicitly that he did not have his prosthetic legs on during this event.  That was, in fact, his justification for becoming so terrorized; he was on his stumps and couldn't flee.  The forensic experts, however, have stated that the height, angle, and trajectory of the shots prove that Pistorius had his prosthetic legs on at the time of the shooting.  He wouldn't have been tall enough, otherwise, to put the bullets through the door at the spots where the holes were found.  

And what about those witnesses who saw lights on (which contradicts Pistorius's story of the room being in darkness) and who heard arguing before the gunshots?  Presumably, Pistorius would refute this by simply saying the witnesses were mistaken about when the lights came on, and suggesting that the "argument" overheard was actually just Pistorius screaming at the intruder and telling his girlfriend to call the police.

In the end, this whole sorry story seems rife with problems on both sides of the aisle.  The police investigation has been inconsistent, but Pistorius's claims are also remarkable to the point of being absurd.  If it actually happened the way Pistorius claims, it's a shame he didn't play the lottery that day, because the sheer magnitude of the coincidental nature of this series of events is staggering.  And when it comes down to a situation like this, the old notion of Occam's Razor is a good measuring stick: the simplest answer is usually right.  Clearly, the simplest answer in this situation is that Pistorius killed his girlfriend in a fit of rage.  Otherwise, you have to connect an unbelievable number of coincidental occurrences to explain how it happened by accident.

I think the case will ultimately come down to whether or not the prosecution cam prove Pistorius had his prosthetic limbs on at the time of the shooting.  If he did, he's guilty.  If not, he might still be guilty, but there probably won't be enough evidence to convict him.

If Pistorius is innocent, this event simply underlines the dangers of keeping firearms in your house to protect yourself against intruders - especially if you tend to be paranoid and jumpy.  Sadly, paranoia is undoubtedly a leading reason why people buy guns for protection in the first place.

It's also worth pointing out that even if Pistorius is telling the truth, in my opinion he is still guilty of something like negligent homicide, because he did something remarkably stupid that caused someone else's death.  Who just starts shooting at a locked door without actually knowing who is behind it, without checking to make sure it's not a family member, or without giving a prior warning?  I don't know if South Africa has any laws like that, but it will be a shame, in my opinion, if Pistorius is cleared of all charges.   

10 Fun Facts About Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States

1. Andrew Jackson was born in the Carolina colony in March of 1767 to Irish-born parents who had only emigrated to the colonies a few years earlier.  Born in a log cabin, he was the first of a string of 19th century presidents to have such humble beginnings.  His two older brothers were both born in Ireland.  Jackson's father died in an accident just a few weeks before he was born.  Because the border between North and South Carolina was not yet firmly established at the time of his birth, it is unclear exactly which state he was born in.

 

2. As a young teenager, Jackson served as a courier for the American forces in the Revolutionary War.  His oldest brother, Hugh, died in battle in 1779, and later both Andrew and his second brother, Robert, were captured by the British and held as prisoners of war.  Both contracted smallpox and Robert succumbed to the disease in 1781.  Shortly after his brother's death, Jackson was freed and his mother began serving as a nurse to American prisoners.  She came down with cholera as a result of this and died in November of 1781, leaving Jackson the only survivor of his family at age 14.  He would become the last president who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

 

3. Having no formal education, Jackson studied law in the 1780's and was admitted to the bar at the age of 20.  He began practicing law in the North Carolina town of Jonesborough, which is now in the eastern part of Tennessee.  In the 1790's he served as a delegate to the Tennessee constitutional convention, and when Tennessee was accepted as a state in 1796, he served as its first representative to the U.S. House.  He later served briefly as a U.S. Senator before being named to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1798. 

 

4. Around 1790, Jackson began living with a married woman named Rachel Robards.  They were married shortly thereafter, even though Rachel was still not divorced from her first husband.  Eventually the divorce went through and the Jacksons remarried to make it legal, but this incident would later lead to charges of bigamy during his presidential career.  The couple never had children of their own, but they adopted three sons, two of whom were Indian.  They also became the guardians of several nieces and nephews after Rachel's brother died.  Later, four more children came under their roof after the death of a family friend.

 

4. In the early 1800's, Jackson began serving with the Tennessee militia and was elected Major General of the militia in 1802.  After leaving the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1804, he devoted himself full-time to his plantation, his business ventures, and his military career.  He became a wealthy slaveholder, land speculator, and horse breeder, and in 1804 built the Hermitage near Nashville, which would be his family home for the remainder of his life.  In 1806, after warring publicly with a rival attorney, Jackson killed the man in a duel and took a bullet to the chest for his efforts.  Lodged near his heart, the bullet was never removed.  This, and other duels and public brawls, gained Jackson a reputation as a quarrelsome and violent person.

 

5. During the War of 1812, Jackson first distinguished himself by leading American troops against Indian attacks in Georgia and Alabama, after which he successfully defeated the invading British armies at New Orleans in January of 1815.  Despite this battle taking place after the peace treaty ending the war had been signed (but before news of the treaty reached North America), Jackson became an instant celebrity.  It was during this time that he acquired his nickname, "Old Hickory." Jackson remained a prominent military figure after the war, winning more battles against Native American tribes throughout the South, and serving for a time in the early 1820's and the military governor of Florida. 

 

6. In 1822, Jackson re-entered politics, being elected to serve again as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee.  He was nominated for president in 1824, running against three other candidates.  Jackson won the popular vote and the electoral vote, but did not win enough electoral votes to gain the presidency (the Constitution requires a candidate to win a clear majority of the electoral votes; since there were four candidates splitting the votes, Jackson - despite winning the most overall - did not have a majority).  The election was thus thrown to the House of Representatives, which elected John Quincy Adams after a lengthy and contentious debate that lasted until February of 1825 - less than a month before the inauguration.  Jackson, who had reasonably expected to win the House run-off, was enraged and vowed to run again in 1828.

 

7. In order to solidify his chances in 1828, Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1825, and began forming a coalition of supporters that would eventually coalesce into the Democratic Party.  During the 1828 election, Jackson's opponents frequently referred to him as "the Jackass," and while it was meant as a slur, Jackson - ever the shrewd politician - turned it into his official campaign symbol.  After Jackson's departure from mainstream politics, the image fell out of use, but was revived again in the 1870's and has become the familiar mascot of the Democratic Party.

 

8. Jackson defeated Adams in the rematch of 1828, and went on to serve two prominent terms in the White House.  He turned the office into a powerful one that took the lead on issues facing the country, both domestic and foreign.  Among his actions in office were opposing the national banking system and overseeing its dismantling (Jackson would probably turn over in his grave if he knew his face was on federal currency), paying off the national debt (the only time in U.S. history this has occurred), and instituting what became known as the "patronage system" in federal politics - appointing party loyalists to prominent federal positions.  This system became heavily corrupted over the years and was finally ended in the 1880's.  

 

9. Jackson's wife Rachel died two weeks after his election to the presidency in 1828.  As a result, his wife's niece served throughout Jackson's term as hostess of the White House (the title "First Lady" did not enter widespread use until the latter part of the 19th century). This niece's husband, Andrew Jackson Donelson, would later run for vice-president in the 1850's on the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic platform of the American Party.  During the last few years of Jackson's presidency, his daughter-in-law also served as White House hostess, marking the only time in U.S. history that two women have served traditional First Lady roles.  In 1832, his first vice-president, John C. Calhoun, resigned over a scandal involving the wives of Jackson's cabinet, the first time a vice-president had ever resigned from office.   

 

10. Jackson died of tuberculosis and chronic heart failure in Tennessee in 1845.  In 1835, he had become the first sitting president to experience an assassination attempt.  An unemployed British immigrant fired shots from two pistols at him as the president was leaving a Washington funeral.  Both pistols misfired and the assassin was captured by onlookers.  He was eventually committed to an insane asylum after telling investigators that he was King Richard III of England - who had been dead for 250 years.  Jackson lived long enough to become the second earliest president to be photographed.  The other was his political nemesis John Quincy Adams, who outlived him by three years.     

10 Fun Facts About Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States

1. William Jefferson Clinton was born in August of 1942 in Hope, Arkansas.  At birth, his name was William Jefferson Blythe III, named for his biological father, who died in a car accident three months before his son was born.  Clinton's mother later remarried, and he eventually took his stepfather's name.  Despite this, Clinton's stepfather was an abusive alcoholic who died of cancer in 1967.

2. Deciding as a teenager that he wanted to be a politician, Clinton earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, and later studied at Oxford before earning a law degree from Yale.  At Yale he met Hillary Rodham, a fellow law student, and they were married in 1975.  They have one child, Chelsea, who was a teenager during her father's time in office.

3. Clinton's first foray into politics occurred in 1972, when he helped coordinate the Dallas office of Democrat George McGovern's presidential bid.  While working on the McGovern campaign, Clinton met Steven Spielberg, who was, at the time, a little known TV director.  The two have remained friends ever since.

4. Clinton ran for Congress in 1974, but was defeated by the Republican incumbent.  Two years later, he was elected Attorney General for Arkansas in an uncontested election.  Only two more years after that, he was elected governor.  At the age of 32, he was the youngest governor in the nation, and the second youngest elected in the 20th century.  He lost his re-election bid in 1980, but won again in 1982 and kept the office until his presidential bid in 1992.

5. Clinton considered a White House run in 1988.  This was in the middle of one of his terms as governor, and the idea was floated that if he resigned as governor to run for president, Hillary might run to replace him as governor of Arkansas.  The idea was eventually dropped, and Clinton gave his support to Democrat Michael Dukakis.  He also delivered the opening night address of the Democratic National Convention that year, as one of the party's rising stars.

6. In 1992, Clinton ran for president against six other contenders, including the popular California governor, Jerry Brown.  Despite a slow start in the primaries, Clinton began attracting attention late in the primary season and ended up winning the nomination.  In the general election, he faced George H.W. Bush, who had seen his popularity during the Gulf War evaporate under a broken pledge not to raise taxes and a weak economy.  In addition to this, the Republican ticket was largely split by a major third party run from Texas billionaire Ross Perot.  Perot ended up winning almost 20% of the popular vote.  Clinton won the election with 43% of the popular vote, the lowest total for a winning candidate since 1912, and the second lowest since 1860.

7. Clinton's time as president was a successful one for the country, though Clinton himself remained consistently under scrutiny from his political enemies.  Despite this, he managed to pass a significant amount of popular legislation, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the North American Free Trade Act, the Brady Bill regarding gun control, bills on immigration reform and welfare reform, a balanced budget bill, and Don't Ask/Don't Tell, which effectively allowed gays to serve in the military.  He attempted to pass a major bill overhauling healthcare early in his presidency, but this measure was defeated in Congress.  In 1994, the Clinton administration launched the first White House website.

8. Despite legislative success and a booming economy, the last few years of Clinton's presidency were marred by the revelation of an affair with a White House intern, which Clinton lied about while under oath.  This led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives, the first such action taken by the U.S. House since the 1860's.  The Senate, despite having a significant Republican majority, acquitted him of the charges.

9. Unlike most presidents, whose approval ratings tend to drop over time, particularly during their second term, Clinton's actually improved significantly during his second term, and he left the White House with an approval rating between 65 and 70%, the highest for any president upon leaving office.  His peak approval rating, about 75%, actually came right in the middle of the impeachment proceedings against him in late 1998 and early 1999.

10. Having taken the White House as one of America's youngest presidents, Clinton has had a prominent post-presidential career, writing a best-selling memoir and devoting his time to charity work with other former presidents.  He has also remained active in politics, supporting his wife in her own presidential run in 2008 and through her term as Secretary of State under Barack Obama.  Clinton has won two Grammy awards for spoken word albums, and although he was the first president to win a Grammy, both Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama have since won the award as well.  Hillary Clinton has also won a Grammy.  Clinton's vice-president, Al Gore, has controversially won both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize.  

2012 Reading List

It's that time of year again - January - which means it's time for another run-down of my annual reading list.  With 18 books finished, 2011 was my lowest year ever (since I started keeping track), but I only barely bounced back in 2012, finishing just 20.  That's a total of 38 in the last two years, which is less than I used to do in a single year.

That being said, the books I read now tend to be longer than in the past, as I have largely given up the mindless thrillers and adventure novels and turned instead to lengthier, denser works of fiction and non-fiction.

Watching 120+ episodes of "Lost" reruns in the first few months of the year is what really set me back.  I only finished 1 book in the first three months of 2012.  So it was a game of catch-up after that.

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The Deeds of the Disturber - Elizabeth Peters

This is the 5th book in the Amelia Peabody mystery series, and while I really liked the first four, this one never grabbed me.  I started reading this one in mid-December of 2011 and didn't finish it until almost the end of February, 2012 - more than two months later.  And it was just a short little paperback mystery!  I could have read it in three days if I'd wanted.  I haven't read any more books in the series since this one, but I plan to start up again with the sixth book this year, hoping to write off Disturber as just a bump in the road.  

Rock Deadly - Kathryn Lively

This is a murder mystery written by a friend of mine - an indie author in Virginia who happens to be a fellow Rush fan.  If you like good mysteries with a touch of humor and a rock n' roll theme, I highly recommend it.

The Selkie Spell - Sophie Moss

This is another indie authored book.  I don't know this writer personally, but the book was a good one.  It takes place in modern Ireland and is about an abused woman taking refuge from her murderous husband in a little Irish town.  My wife read part of this one and commented that the reason I liked it so much is because her writing style was exactly like mine!  

Speaks the Nightbird - Robert McCammon

I just can't say enough about Robert McCammon's novels.  He's one of those authors that you discover one day, and once you do, you are a fan for life.  As a writer myself, he's also one of those authors whose books I wish I had written.  This one is the first in an ongoing series starring law-clerk-turned-private-eye Matthew Corbett.  This first novel is set in 1699 in the Carolina colony and is about a witch trial in a tiny little town on the edge of the wilderness.  It is absolutely magnificent.  

The Queen of Bedlam - Robert McCammon

Book 2 in the Matthew Corbett series.  In this one, Corbett has moved from the Carolinas to post-Dutch New York City.  It is 1702 and a murderer called "the Masker" is loose in the town.  A worthy follow-up to Nightbird.  

Queen Isabella - Alison Weir

This is a history book about Isabella, Queen of England and wife of Edward II.  A great read for anyone interested in Medieval Europe.  Isabella's story, though not widely known, is a really interesting one.  After becoming disenfranchised with her neglectful husband, who was also widely known to be a homosexual, she fled to France, took one of Edward's mortal enemies as a lover, gathered an army, then invaded England.  Isabella and her lover overthrew Edward, had him imprisoned and eventually murdered, and set her son up as king in his place (as Edward III).  Included are daring escapes from the Tower of London and a very persuasive theory that Edward II may, in fact,  have survived his own assassination.  

If this stuff hadn't really happened, it would seem like a great novel.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson

Book 3 in the popular "Dragon Tattoo" series.  I had read the first two books a year or two ago, and finally got around to finishing the series.  Overall, I give the whole series a B-minus.  I certainly don't understand what all the enormous fuss was about when these books were the hottest thing going.  But there's certainly no rhyme or reason to what kind of tripe people will go ga-ga over when it comes to pop fiction.

Excalibur - Bernard Cornwell

Book 3 in Cornwell's series about King Arthur.  Like all of Cornwell's stuff, these books are must-reads for folks who like historical "action-adventure" fiction.  There are not very many people out there who can write historical novels like Cornwell.  He's one of my "old friend" writers - one of those authors who, when I sit down with their books, I feel like I'm sitting down for drinks with an old friend.

Death of Kings - Bernard Cornwell

Book 5 in Cornwell's ongoing series about King Alfred and the Viking invasion of England.  Noticing a trend here, with "series" books?  I made a sincere effort throughout 2012 to get caught up on all the ongoing series novels that I was involved in.  Series' are the new "thing" in modern fiction, and frankly I hate it.  But it is what it is, and it's almost unavoidable nowadays.  I still prefer stand-alone novels, though.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Yes, I let the 20-something girls I work with at the hospital talk me into reading this series.  After about five of them pestered me for six months to read the books, none of them acted like they even cared once I finally started.  Typical.  :)  Like the Dragon Tattoo series, I give Hunger Games a B-minus, and that's being nice.  I'm sure if you're a 19-year-old girl without a literary bone in your body, you'd probably love it.

Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins

Higgins is another "old friend" writer.  He writes short, gritty adventure novels, mass produced like cigarettes in a factory, but somehow really, really good.  When I'm looking for something quick, easy, and predictable to absorb myself in for a few days, a Higgins novel always hits the spot.

Shit My Dad Says - Justin Halpern

This is another book that was recommended to me by friends at work.  If you are familiar with the famous Twitter feed, or the short-lived sitcom, you'll know what it's about.  Another B-minus.  It was amusing, but no more than that. 

Clockwork Angels: The Novel - Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart

This was a novel that accompanied the release of Rush's latest studio album, also called Clockwork Angels.  As a novelty (pardon the pun) it was a fun read, but I can't say that I would recommend it to anyone who wasn't either a big time sci-fi/fantasy fan, or a big fan of Rush.  It read more like an indie book than anything else, even though Anderson is apparently a best-selling sci-fi writer.  

Presidential Inaugural Addresses

I got this book for free on my Kindle, and it's exactly what it sounds like - every single inaugural address, from George Washington in 1789 to Barack Obama in 2008.  It was interesting to see how the "big issues" have changed over time, how the language has changed over time, and how the ideology of the nation, in general, has changed over time.  

Lionheart - Sharon Kay Penman

This is book 4 in a series about Henry II of England and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, although this books takes place after Henry has died and been replaced by his son, Richard the Lionheart.  The entire book covers Richard's adventures on the 3rd Crusade in the 1190's.  One more book in the series is planned, covering the remainder of Richard's life.  

I loved the first three books in this series, but I found Lionheart to be a bit plodding.  Being about the Crusades, it was naturally top-heavy with military strategy and battle scenes, and frankly I don't think that sort of thing is Penman's strength.  This is a subject more suited to someone like Bernard Cornwell.  Still, I enjoyed it and look forward to the final installment.  

Mister Slaughter - Robert McCammon

The Providence Rider

These are books 3 and 4 in the Matthew Corbett series.  Yes, I sort of had a thing for Robert McCammon this year, in case you hadn't noticed.  

Mr. Slaughter was up to par with the previous two books, but The Providence Rider was a bit on the weak side.  That's relatively-speaking, of course.  If Nightbird and Bedlam were both 10's, then Slaughter was a 9, and Providence Rider was a 7.5.  They continue the story of Corbett as he establishes himself as a private investigator in early 18th century New York, chasing down murderers and bad guys, and ultimately squaring off with his arch nemesis, Dr. Fell.  Dr. Fell is sort of a "master criminal" type based on Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes fame.  

Napoleon's Pyramids - William Dietrich

I got this book for my Kindle about a year ago after seeing it offered for free one day.  I finally got around to reading it and was not particularly impressed.  It's the first in a series (imagine that) set in 1799 and starring American ex-patriot Ethan Gage as he goes to Egypt with Napoleon's army, aiming to figure out the mystery behind a medallion he won playing cards.  The best way I can think to describe this novel is that it's a mix of Dan Brown intrigue and Indiana Jones adventure, set during the Napoleonic wars.  Gage is sort of a lovable rogue type and, like Indiana Jones, manages to get involved in some pretty amazing predicaments, but always comes out clean on the other side.  He also gets laid a lot.  

Even though Dietrich is actually a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, his novel-writing skills are only okay, and overall I kind of found the book to be a bore.  But that's probably because I just am not really into this sort of fiction anymore.  I suspect that 10 years ago, I would have loved it.  

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I didn't realize it until I sat down to write this post, but I seem to have read a lot of books this year that I didn't really care for!  Not sure why it turned out that way, but I suppose that's just how it goes.  

In any case, I started the tradition last year of naming a Serene Musings Book of the Year, which basically goes to my favorite book from among those that I read that year.  Last year's winner was Swan Song, by Robert McCammon.  I went back and added Books of the Year for each year that I've been doing a reading list, and you can see them at the bottom of the blog page.  

Among this year's books, my favorites were Queen Isabella, Speaks the Nightbird, and Excalibur (with honorable mention to Queen of Bedlam and Mr. Slaughter).  

And the winner of the 2012 Serene Musings Book of the Year is......(drum roll please)...............

Year in Review: 2012

As we approach the end of yet another year, I thought I'd do a bit of reflection on the year that has just passed.  Not a reflection on all that has happened in the world since January, but rather a reflection of my own experiences through this two thousand and twelfth year of the common era.

For Christmas last year I got a Kindle Fire and a membership to Amazon Prime, so by January of this year I was riffling through all the free movies and TV shows available for live streaming.  I was wary at first of watching anything significant because the Kindle Fire screen, in case you don't know, is very small.  It's larger than a smartphone, of course, but only about 2/3rds the size of an iPad - slightly less than 8" by 5".  After doing a couple of test runs on a few Family Guy reruns, I decided I could handle watching an entire TV series on the Kindle screen.

As such, I started my love affair with Lost.  

When Lost first premiered back in 2004, I was intrigued by the countless commercials I saw for it, but wasn't in a place where I felt like I could dedicate myself to a weekly TV series (it was obvious from the commercials that this was the kind of show you had to watch every week to keep abreast of what was going on).  So instead, I put my interest in it on the back burner and figured I might watch it some day on DVD.  That "some day" finally arrived when I discovered Amazon Prime had the entire 6-season series for free.

I was completely, totally, and utterly hooked within the first ten minutes of the first episode.  

Long story short, I spent most of January to March watching Lost.  Instead of climbing into bed and reading, as I typically do, I climbed into bed each night quivering with excitement over the next installment.  I would turn the lights off, plug in my headphones, and watch the show with an eagerness that was almost stupid.  Sometimes I would watch two or even three episodes a night, depending on how early I had to get up.  I woke my wife up more than once gasping at some unexpected turn of events.  

She typically didn't share my enthusiasm.        

I managed to watch the whole thing, more than 120 one-hour episodes, in just a couple of months.  And I gotta say....waiting 8 years to watch it was well worth it, because instead of having to wait a week between every episode, and months during the summer, I got to go from one show to the next at my own pace.  This helped dramatically to keep the ongoing plot issues straight in my mind.  Anyone who has seen the series will know how utterly mind-boggling it can be at times.  Not having to wait a week or more between episodes made the progression of the plot much easier to follow.  After each episode, I would go to Wikipedia to read the summary of the episode I had just watched, and this also helped to keep things straight in my head (it was also useful for going back and reminding myself what had happened in previous episodes - this was particularly good because sometimes a plot element would be introduced in one episode, but not followed up again for a span of 10 or 12 or even 15 or 20 episodes; by the time they got back around to it, I'd forgotten what it was about).  

Anyway....totally loved it.  Highly recommend it.  

The only problem with my Lost obsession was that I got virtually no reading done whatsoever for those first few months of the year.  For a brief period of time, I basically became a non-reader.  Which was really weird, because I have been a more-or-less daily reader since at least the age of 30, and I was a frequent reader for a decade before that.  To go three months and read hardly anything at all (I think I finished one very short paperback during that stretch) was really out of character.

After the series ended, I got back on my reading wagon and actually managed to read more books this year than I did last year (more on that when I post my 2012 Reading List...I know you can't wait).

I turned 37 in February and celebrated with friends from work at a little bar called Mt. Lookout Tavern in Cincinnati.  We had a really good turn-out (which, of course, made me feel all warm and fuzzy) and I think a fun time was had by all.  I know I sure enjoyed myself - the gallon of beer and countless shots I drank helped significantly, although I'm sure I was hating life the next morning.  Don't actually recall, to be honest.  You only remember the good times.

This picture pretty much tells you everything you need to know about that night.

In March the NCAA tournament started, and I spent much of my free time fretting over whether my beloved Kentucky Wildcats were finally going to break their long championship drought.  I should never have worried: they had a run through the NCAA tournament that has got to be one of the most difficult stretches for an eventual champion in tourney history, and never really came in danger of losing a game.  It was topped off by meeting, and defeating, their cross-state rival, Louisville, in the Final Four - a situation that has literally been dreamed about by fans in Kentucky for decades.  The final victory over Kansas - the fourth "blue blood" school they had to face in their tournament run - was almost like an afterthought, on the heels of the win over Louisville.  

In the summer our family vacationed in Georgia at a place called Tybee Island.  We had a nice trip, but the accommodations were not as nice compared to where we stayed in 2011 in Isle of Palms, South Carolina.  I don't think any of us were able to keep that comparison out of our minds, and it led to a general feeling of letdown throughout the trip.  Still, there's no such thing as a bad trip to the beach, and despite nearly being blown away on the beach one day by a summer squall that blew up out of nowhere with disturbing speed, we had a nice time.  

The first night we spent there, I got so drunk I basically didn't get out of bed the next day.  Not a fun memory.  And not a very smart thing to do on a family vacation with not only your children, but your in-laws.   

The good thing that came from that night's debauchery, however, was that I used my hangover as an impetus to stop smoking and to start using my e-cigarette exclusively.  I made it three months on the e-cig until, sadly, I went back to the real thing this autumn.  Getting ready to try another brand to see if I can make it stick this time.  It's one of my New Year's resolutions, although I generally hate those things (New Year's resolutions, not e-cigs). 

After the joy of experiencing Kentucky's epic NCAA championship, I was pleased to have my hometown Cincinnati Reds dominate their division all year in major league baseball.  I thought there was a very, very good chance that both my teams were going to win championships - Kentucky in the NCAA's, and Cincinnati in the World Series.  Unfortunately, the Reds choked on their own vomit and failed to even make it to the NLCS, despite winning the first two games of the NLDS on the road.  Such a huge, huge letdown.  

During the summer, I made the very stressful decision to switch to second shift at work.  I angsted about it for several weeks, and actually turned down the offer the first time it was presented to me.  But after talking it over again with my wife (she was strongly opposed to me passing the opportunity up), I went back and agreed to make the switch.  The money is certainly better, and the hours work better for my own personal living habits, but I miss the camaraderie I shared with my friends on first shift, and I don't see my wife and kids very much during the week.  We've gotten those issues (mostly) ironed out at home, but I feel like some of my friendships and relationships at work have suffered as a result of the move.  I don't feel the closeness anymore that I used to feel with some of my co-workers from first shift, and I haven't really developed those warm, comfy relationships with anyone on second shift.  Both of those things are a real drag.  I also don't get to work much with the students anymore, and I don't like that either.  

In addition to these issues, of course, was the biggest public issue of all in 2012 - the presidential election.  I always get emotionally involved in presidential elections.  My blog pretty much attests to that.  Still, I think I did a pretty decent job this year - publicly, anyway - of staying above the fray and being as objective as reasonably possible.  I really liked the post I made in March about Mitt Romney's chances of winning in November.  If you missed it, you should check it out.  I think my analysis proved accurate.  I also correctly picked the winner in 47 of the 50 states.  The only ones I missed were states where I picked Romney over Obama.  Obama won every state I predicted for him.  

That wasn't just luck; analyzing polls really does lead to accurate predictions - which is why it's such a sham when political analysts or candidates' spokesmen get on television and suggest that polls aren't trustworthy.  They are trustworthy, if you know how to analyze the data, and you're honest.  Both those ingredients are required.  Some of my friends were shocked at Obama's victory in Ohio; that's because they don't know how to analyze the data.  Karl Rove does know how to analyze the data, he's just dishonest, intellectually and in every other way humanly possible.  

I've ended the year with a succession of four 3-day weekends in a row - all completely unplanned except for one.  I've managed to give away several of my shifts to people wanting to pick up hours.  I have plenty of vacation time, so I've still gotten paid.  It's been nice to have a little break from the grind each week.  We've already had more snow this week than we had all of last winter combined.  Not particularly happy about that, but so it goes.  

My plans for 2013 include losing weight, quitting smoking permanently (I've had way too many false starts), and finishing my book on political party history in the United States.  We'll see how I've done come next December.

Gratuitously irrelevant picture of Rush in the 1970's.

The Last Christmas of Innocence

I've never done this before, but I'm going to re-post an old post from a few years back.  I wrote this in December of 2006, and was thinking about it today.  I like it.  The pictures are new additions.

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Some of my best childhood Christmas memories were of the Living Christmas Tree at Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

The minister of music, Gene Sutherland, would put on a Christmas extravaganza every year that included a 50-foot Christmas tree packed with singers. Starting at the bottom, each row would have successively fewer singers, until the very top row, where a single female singer always stood, like the angel atop the tree.

Typically, there were several weeks of performances, for which practice would start in the early fall. Accompanying an array of Christmas songs would be various stage acts as well, usually incorporating more singers and children.

Since my parents were active in the choir, they were both routinely part of the Living Christmas Tree each year. I don't think my Mom did it every year, but I know my Dad did. Dad was always on the second row from the top - a row of only two people - right below the angel. I always felt that this meant he garnered a position of importance within the hierarchy of the Walnut Street Choir. I was proud to be his son.

Vinyl album from the 10th Year Celebration.  The picture is too blurry for details, but the figure at the very top, on the right, is my father.

My memories of the Living Christmas Tree are warm and cozy - good music, great visual effects, and that latent feeling of excitement that seems to stick in every child's mind throughout the month of December.

I guess my favorite Living Christmas Tree year was 1987 - the only year I was involved in the production. I was asked that year by Gene Sutherland to play a role in one of the stage acts. Basically, I stood on stage with a plastic trumpet, and at the appropriate time in the song, I raised the trumpet up as though to herald the birth of the Christ child. There were 3 trumpeters in the skit, rotated between performances among about 5 guys from the youth group.

As the skit/song that heralded Jesus's birth, this was probably the highlight of the entire program. It was a very powerful song, with a spine-tingling climax, and it always received the most raucous and heart-felt applause. In one performance, a black lady got caught up in the spirit and stood up after the striking of the final chord and spontaneously shouted "Hallelujah!" I know it seems odd - and it's quite funny in retrospect - and yet even now, 18 years down the road, I'm getting chills just thinking about it - that feeling of religious ecstasy which that song brought on, and which was put into words by that spontaneous utterance.

I sort of miss being able to feel that way...to feel so caught up in a religious moment like that, where any doubts and any skepticisms are washed clean away, leaving only certainty, comfort, and spiritual bliss.

When we did the last performance that year, I remember walking out into the parking lot with my Dad afterward, heading out to the car. And I remember walking there in that parking lot, the lightposts casting long, orange shadows across the dark pavement, while my breath condensed on the chilly air, and I remember feeling so utterly depressed - maybe more depressed than I had ever felt in my whole life. I didn't even understand it. I wanted to cry.

The reason I was so depressed is because it was over. All that hard work, all the rehearsals, dressing up in the costume, getting to stand there during that powerful song every night, experiencing the warm camaraderie with the other actors, feeling important because I was part of the show that people were flocking to come see - now it was all over. Finished. The tree would come down and be put away in some storage facility until next year. And I might not even get to be in it again. Maybe this was just a one time thing, and they wouldn't ask me next year.

Well, as it turned out, I wasn't in it the next year, and, in fact, I was never in it again. But that wasn't because I wasn't asked. In March of 1988, my grandfather died after a long bout with cancer.

Oscar Kirby, the way I like to remember him.

Then in the early summer, we moved to Cincinnati.

Nothing was ever quite the same after that. I remember Christmas of 1988, in our new house, and I do recall that particular Christmas with fondness - in fact, I've long said that Christmas, our first in Cincinnati, was the last Christmas of my childhood. It was the last time I remember having that distinct childhood excitement associated with Christmas. It was the last time I really felt consumed by the season.

I was 13 years old.

But, in retrospect, I think the last real Christmas of my childhood was in 1987. Our last Christmas in Louisville, my first and only experience performing in the Living Christmas Tree, and my last Christmas before starting that long, difficult, awkward road that took me through adolescence and young adulthood.

It was the last Christmas of innocence.

And I think the innocence first began to bleed away that cold night in mid-December, when I walked through that parking lot with my Dad, realizing that the show was over. Little did I know, then, that it wasn't just the show that was ending.

I got to see some Living Christmas Tree performances in later years - we would come back to Louisville to visit my grandparents, and we'd go see the show. I guess the last time would have been sometime in the early 1990's.

On doing a little research today, I discovered that Walnut Street no longer does a Living Christmas Tree performance. I know that Gene Sutherland is long gone (he died some years back), and I suppose his successors didn't continue the tradition. I don't know how many years its been since they quit doing it.

Strangely, on doing an Internet search, I came across a different Walnut Street Baptist Church. This one is somewhere in Arkansas.

And, remarkably enough, they have an active and current Living Christmas Tree program.

I don't quite know why, but somehow that's a comforting coincidence.

Album Review: Clockwork Angels

Clockwork Angels is the 20th studio album by the Canadian band Rush.  It was released in the summer of 2012, reaching #2 on the U.S. charts and #1 in Canada.  It was promoted by a world tour that, as of this writing, is still ongoing.

The band's first studio album in five years, Clockwork Angels is a concept album that mixes a modern progressive rock sound with themes and styles reminiscent of classic Rush masterpieces.  Though the band is famous (some might say "infamous") for their grandiose concept music of the 1970's, the fact is that 2012's Clockwork Angels is the band's first true concept album.  Their epic, "rock opera" music of the 1970's was always limited to individual tracks (such as 1979's 18-minute tour-de-force, "Hemispheres") and never included themes that covered all the songs on any one album.  The album 2112, for instance, had a 20-minute song of the same name on the front side of the original record, but all the songs on the B-side were unrelated to it.

Rush, circa 1975, in their "grandiose" days.  Alex Lifeson (left), Geddy Lee (right), Neil Peart (center).

Thus, Clockwork Angels is the band's first and (so far) only concept album, a collection of twelve tracks all linked together by a single theme.

Typical of Rush's intellectual and philosophical tendencies, together with their tastes for science fiction, Clockwork Angels plays on a modern genre of music, art, and literature known as "Steampunk."  Steampunk is a popular sub-category of science fiction that typically fuses a 19th century industrial setting of steam-driven machines and gadgetry with a science fiction or alternate universe theme.  Imagine, for instance, a 21st century still driven by the technology of the 19th century, and you can get an idea of what Steampunk tries to convey.

An example of the Steampunk-inspired art accompanying the album. Illustrated by long-time Rush collaborator, Hugh Syme.

Through it's twelve tracks, Clockwork Angels tells the story of a young dreamer's search for self-actualization in a dystopian clockwork universe ruled by an oppressive Watchmaker.  In the opening track, "Caravan," the narrator is boarding a steam-driven airship (a "steamliner") to escape his rural home and find his future in the alluring city.  As his travels and adventures are related song-by-song, the narrator encounters all the highs and lows of the human experience: success and failure, romance and broken love, security and vulnerability, belief and disbelief, hope and disillusionment.

In a unique twist for modern rock bands, the "story" of the album was actually novelized by sci-fi writer Kevin J. Anderson, in collaboration with Rush's drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart, and released in September of 2012.  It reached #18 on the New York Times Bestseller List.  I read the book; it was just okay, and I would have a hard time suggesting it to anyone who wasn't a sci-fi reader and a Rush fan.  But that's not, by any stretch, a critique of the album.

The music of Clockwork Angels is very guitar-centered, with a slew of solos and growling riffs that fans of Rush's music are certain to enjoy.  The pacing of the individual songs varies, of course, but overall, the album has a very "driving" feel to it: a feeling of forward progression helped along with lively bass riffs, rhythmic guitar chords, and, of course, immaculate (one might say "clockwork") drumming.    

The first two tracks, "Caravan" and "BU2B" (which stands for Brought Up to Believe) were released in digital format in 2010, a kind of "teaser" for the album that would come along two years later.  Both are heavy and fast-paced, with "Caravan" detailing the narrator's journey away from his mundane home, and "BU2B" describing his struggles with religious belief in a benevolent God (symbolized by the "Watchmaker" in the album's universe).

The title track, "Clockwork Angels" is an epic song with many musical layers, ostensibly describing the narrator's experience with the divine guardians of his world, but clearly speaking metaphorically about the deep human drive for worship and spiritual awe.

Clockwork angels spread their arms and sing.  Synchronized and graceful they move like living things.  Goddesses of light, of sea and sky and land.  Clockwork angels, the people raise their hands...as if to fly.  

This picture really has no relevance to this review, but it just had to be posted.

The album's fourth and fifth tracks - "The Anarchist" and "Carnies" - continue the narrator's story as he encounters subversiveness (embodied by the "anarchist") and then finds a job working in a carnival.  These songs deal with themes of discontent and disillusionment, pointing towards those people in society who are perpetually dissatisfied and driven by greed, jealousy, and anger.

"Halo Effect" is one of the few songs Rush has ever written about love and romance.  This is a topic that Rush has intentionally steered clear from over the years, due to a general perspective that love songs are sappy, banal, and give unrealistic perspectives on human relationships (this according to an interview I read once with Neil Peart - sadly, I don't recall the source).  The band delves into this topic with "Halo Effect," as part of the ongoing human story of the narrator.  Typical of Rush - contrarians to the end - and fitting with Peart's comments about why the band typically doesn't do love songs, the song is about the illusion of "true love" and how "being in love" blinds people to reality.

What did I see, fool that I was?  A goddess with wings on her heels.  It's shameful to tell just how often I fell in love with delusions again.  

"Seven Cities of Gold" has the narrator searching for a mythical lost city, and deals with themes of the all-too-human tendency to chase impossible dreams, finding only disillusionment at the end.  This song has a fantastic opening bass riff by Geddy Lee that just growls in your chest before being picked up later by Alex Lifeson on guitar, making for a powerful melodic line.  The song is underscored, as always, by Peart's (seemingly) 8-handed drumming.

Track number 8 is called "The Wreckers" and is one of my favorites on the album.  Lyrically, the song discusses the frailty of human life and how easy it is to find your world turned upside down.  The song's title characters appear as pirates in the accompanying novel, and (like the anarchist before them) they symbolize life's destructive forces.

All I know is that sometimes you have to be wary of a miracle too good to be true.  All I know is that sometimes the truth is contrary to everything in life you thought you knew.  

This song is made even more poignant when you know lyricist Neil Peart's personal background: in 1997 his only child - a teenage daughter - was killed in a car accident on a Sunday evening while returning to college for the start of the fall semester.  Less than six months later, his wife of twenty years died of cancer.  Peart, quite literally, found his entire world in shambles around him.  The band did not write, record, or perform for nearly five years.  Eventually, Peart remarried and had another child, but the song's final line is a heart-rending statement that seems drawn from that tragedy:

All I know is that memory can be too much to carry, striking down like a bolt from the blue.

"Headlong Flight" is, in my opinion, the best song on the album, and probably the overall best Rush song since 1987's "Mission" from the Hold Your Fire album.  At more than seven minutes, "Headlong Flight" is the longest song on the album, and it is an absolute masterwork of modern progressive rock.  Hard-hitting and fast-paced, the song features guitar work by Lifeson that threatens to peel the skin from your face, drumming that illustrates why Peart is the best in the world, and vocals by Lee that probably represent his best performance in decades.  Like their radio classic "Freewill" from 1980's Permanent Waves album, "Headlong Flight" includes a long instrumental that is, in essence, a three-part solo.  No other band that I know of can pull this phenomenon off with such masterful precision.  My words don't do the song justice.  You've got to listen to it.




The very first time I listened to "Headlong Flight," on CD in my car, before the song was even over, one phrase was going over and over in my mind:

Instant. Fucking. Classic.

The album's tenth track is a short reprise of "BU2B" called (fittingly enough) "BU2B2."  At just over a minute long, the lyrics are written in the form of a pantoum - a type of poem where the second and fourth lines of each 4-line stanza are repeated as lines one and three in the next stanza, and the final line of the poem is the same as the first line.  Peart first toyed with this type of writing on 2007's Snakes & Arrows album, in the song "The Larger Bowl: A Pantoum."  "BU2B2" is a sort of dirge, describing the narrator's loss of religious faith and his growing disillusionment with life.

"Wish Them Well" picks up where "BU2B2" left off, with the narrator shaking off the depression resulting from failures, regrets, and injustice, and deciding that the best way to deal with those who treat you badly is to simply move forward and "wish them well."

The grudges you've held for so long.  It's not worth singing that same sad song.  Even though you're going through hell, just keep on going.  Let the demons dwell.  Just wish them well.  

The album's final song, "The Garden," is another instant classic.  Incorporating everything from strings to piano, it is a ballad that includes acoustic as well as electric sections.  The lyrics focus on finding inner peace and self-actualization through the tending of the garden - which itself is a metaphor for one's own life and loved ones.  The song is beautifully arranged, and contains some of Peart's best lyrical work.

The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect: so hard to earn so easily burned.  

The future disappears into memory with only a moment between.  Forever dwells in that moment.  Hope is what remains to be seen.  

I rate this album a strong 10 out of 10, with no throw-away songs.  Each track has its place in the story, providing coherent lyrical content that not only carries the story along, but doubles with poignant references to the human condition.  The music is sublime and well-orchestrated, with the band playing at the absolute height of their powers.  For Rush fans especially, but also for anyone who enjoys modern rock with meaningful lyrics and skilled playing, Clockwork Angels is a must-have.   

Notes from the Cave

My parents were here for Christmas this past weekend, flying in from Texas on Friday.  We had dinner at The Pub on Friday night, then saw A Christmas Carol at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park on Saturday.  The kids got to open their presents from their grandparents, and I got a badly overdue new cell phone - a Galaxy S3, which I am thrilled with.  It's the first time I've ever owned a top-of-the-line cell phone.  When it comes to phones, I've always been 3-4 years behind the curve.  Of course, this one will be surpassed, no doubt, in a few months by something else, but at least I'll have a respectable phone for a while to come.  

Next weekend, I will be off Saturday through Tuesday.  I am really looking forward to that extended weekend.  It'll be the longest I've had off at one stretch since my vacation in July.  (Although, I can't really complain because I'm just finishing up the second 3-day weekend I've had in a row, and this will, as I said, be followed by the 4-day weekend coming up.)  

Despite two 3-day weekends in a row, I haven't gotten any legitimate writing done on my new book.  The book is a history of American political parties called Washington's Nightmare, and I had been making really good progress on it until a few weeks ago.  Now I'm stalled out, not because of writer's block, but simply sheer laziness.  I keep getting involved in other things.  In my defense, however, even though I've had double 3-day weekends, I've been really busy with family things throughout both of them.

In the wake of last Friday's horror in Connecticut, I considered writing a piece on gun control, but ultimately decided that nothing I would have to say hasn't already been hashed out by others who can probably say it better and more persuasively than I can.  Still, I thought I might make one comment to give people a little food for thought:

In the United States, we value our rights to own and use firearms.  This right is enshrined in the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution.  But like any valued freedom, there is a cost.  The cost, for instance, of freedom of expression is a multibillion-dollar porn industry.  The cost of freedom of speech and assembly is a KKK march or a Westboro Baptist Church funeral picket.  The cost of a fair judicial process is that sometimes murderers get acquitted.  The cost of free elections is that uninformed and misinformed people still get to vote.  

The cost of the right to bear arms is that, sometimes, schoolchildren get slaughtered.

The U.S. has one of the highest gun-related murder rates, suicide rates, and accidental death rates in the entire world.  Among developed, or "First World," countries, the U.S. is at the top of all three of those lists involving gun-related deaths.  

Is your right to own a handgun, because you enjoy target shooting (or any other reason), worth all those lives?  

10 Fun Facts About Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States

Be sure to check out my newest book, Washington's Nightmare: A Brief History of American Political Parties, available now at Amazon.com! 


1. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., was born in Vermont in 1872, the only U.S. president born on the Fourth of July.  His father was a successful farmer and small business owner, and later served in both the Vermont House of Representatives and state Senate.  His mother died when he was 12 years old.  After attending Amherst College and then studying law, he opened his own law practice in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1898.

2. In 1905, Coolidge married Grace Anna Goodhue.  They had first met several years earlier after Grace caught site of Calvin shaving in front of a window in nothing but long underwear and a hat.  The hat, apparently, was worn to keep hair out of his face while he shaved.  Together they had two sons.  At the age of 16, and while his father was president, the younger son, Calvin, developed a blister on his foot after playing tennis and died a week later from sepsis.  The elder son, John, became a successful businessman and died in 2000.

3. Coolidge enter local politics in the early 1900's, holding several locally-elected offices.  It was during this time that he suffered the only electoral defeat of his career - a seat on the Northampton school board.  In 1906, he won a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican, later served as the mayor of Northampton, then served in the Massachusetts Senate, where he eventually became Senate president.

4. Following his time in the Massachusetts Senate, Coolidge served several terms as lieutenant governor to Samuel McCall before being elected governor himself in 1918.  Coolidge was a moderate Republican: fiscally conservative, but supporting women's suffrage and opposing prohibition.  He gained national prominence among Republicans in 1919 when he helped put down a strike, with subsequent riots, in Boston involving police officers who were attempting to unionize.

5. At the 1920 Republican National Convention, Coolidge was discussed as a possible presidential candidate, but ended up coming in 6th on the balloting.  However, his name was brought up again during the balloting for vice-president, and he unexpectedly won the nomination to be Warren G. Harding's running mate.

6. It was during his time as vice-president that Coolidge earned the nickname "Silent Cal."  Though he was known for being an eloquent public speaker, in private he was withdrawn and quiet, typically deferring to his wife, who was equally known for her outgoing personality.  His tendency to withdraw from social situations intensified after the death of his son in 1924.

7. President Harding died suddenly in August of 1923, while Coolidge happened to be visiting his father in Vermont.  By that time, his father was a notary public, so in the presence of gathered reporters around 2:30 in the morning, he administered the oath of office to his son, after which the unexcitable Coolidge went back to bed.  There was some concern over whether a state notary public had the authority to administer the oath, so it was re-administered after Coolidge returned to Washington.

8. After finishing Harding's term, Coolidge was easily nominated for president in 1924, and despite a third-party candidate who effectively split the Republican Party, Coolidge still won in a landslide, thanks largely to a booming, post-war economy.  His inaugural speech that year was the first in history to be broadcast on the radio.  Though he had been associated with the Progressive faction of the Republican Party early in his career, as president he moved toward the right, embracing low taxes, deregulation of industry, decreased government spending, and famously stating that "the chief business of the American people is business."  His Secretary of Commerce was Herbert Hoover.  

9. Coolidge opted not to run for re-election in 1928, noting that it would mean he would be president for ten years, and ten years was simply too much.  He had very famously butted heads with his own vice-president, Charles Dawes, on numerous occasions, and when the 1928 Republican Nation Convention considered putting Dawes on the ticket with Herbert Hoover, Coolidge intervened and stated that he would take such a move as a personal insult.  The convention honored his wishes and chose Charles Curtis instead.  Dawes would later win a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to rebuild Europe following World War I.

10. In his retirement, Coolidge wrote his memoirs and also wrote a syndicated newspaper column in the early 1930's.  Like his old running mate before him, Warren G. Harding, Coolidge died unexpectedly of a heart attack in January of 1933.  He was buried in a simple plot in the town cemetery of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where he was born.

10 Fun Facts About Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States

1. Hiram Ulysses Grant was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1822.  Growing up in rural Georgetown, Ohio, he entered West Point in 1839.  His mother's maiden name was Simpson, and on his admittance papers to West Point, his name was mistakenly listed as Ulysses S. Grant (with the initial standing for his mother's maiden name).  Rather than correct the mistake, Grant decided to keep it, recognizing its patriotic implications.

2. Grant was a poor student who frequently got in trouble at West Point for refusing to attend required church services.  He excelled in horsemanship, but upon graduation he was overlooked for the cavalry appointed to the 4th U.S. Infantry.

3. Grant served with distinction during the Mexican War of 1846-48, and upon returning home in 1848, married his longtime girlfriend, Julia Boggs Dent - who was a sister to Grant's West Point roommate.  Grant's parents disapproved of the match because Julia's parents were slaveholders; they subsequently refused to attend the wedding.  The Grants had four children, three boys and a girl.

4. Now a captain, Grant remained in the military until 1854, at which time he abruptly resigned due, in part, to continual drinking problems that threatened his position.  Stationed in California at the time, he returned to his wife and children in Missouri, where he took over his father-in-law's farm in St. Louis.  Unable to produce much income, he briefly became a bill-collector before accepting a job with his father's tanning business in Galena, Illinois.  The Grants and their four children settled there in 1860.

5. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War a year later, Grant - being the only military professional in the area - was asked to assist in raising volunteers for the war effort.  Invigorated by the opportunity to do something other than farm or sell leather goods, Grant obliged.  He also began applying for reinstatement into the regular Army.  These applications, however, were ignored, and instead Grant was given command of the 21st Illinois Volunteers.  He was promoted to the rank of colonel, thanks to a recommendation from U.S. Congressman Elihu Washburne, who happened to be from Galena.

6. By February of 1862, Grant had led his regiment in a series of bold and successful battles along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.  News of his successes spread across the nation and Abraham Lincoln promoted him to Major General.

7. In March of 1864, after continued success, Grant was elevated to Commanding General of the U.S. Army.  In 1866, Congress created a new rank for him, called General of the Army, and he became the first 4-star general.  That same rank would later be used for the 5-star generals of the World War II era.

8. Following the disastrous presidency of Andrew Johnson, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republicans for the 1868 presidential election.  His popularity as a general helped him win in a landslide.  At age 46, he was the youngest man (at the time) ever elected to the presidency, and the first person to be elected president while both of his parents were still living.

9. Grant served two terms in the White House, and his presidency was marked by a return to stability following the war and Reconstruction Era, but marred by numerous scandals involving his cabinet and other appointees.  Following his presidency, Grant and his wife embarked on a high profile publicity tour around the world that lasted more than two years.  Upon his return, Grant ran for president again in 1880, but narrowly failed to win the Republican nomination, which instead went to James A. Garfield.

10. His trip around the world, as well as several failed business ventures, left Grant virtually destitute, with only his military pension as income (his pension had been forfeited when he became president, but an act of Congress restored it). As a result, at the behest of his friend Mark Twain, he decided to write his memoirs as a way to make money; Twain functioned as the publisher.  He finished the 2-volume work just a few days before his death of throat cancer in 1884.  The book became an immediate bestseller.  Grant was buried in New York, in what would prove to be the biggest mausoleum in the United States - Grant's Tomb.