The Retorts column by Jim Tortolano is taking a week off. This is a classic “Retorts.” Pat Ryan, in his sci-fi novel “Alas Babylon,” wrote that “civilization is like snow in […]
Retorts: Not ready for roughing it yet
Retorts: New Red scare in Little Saigon
In the Cold War Fifties, one popular political slogan was “Better Dead Than Red!” Most of us look back on that era ruefully, as a time when there were “Communists under every […]
Retorts: The long road to acceptance
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King For a lot of us who have been around a bit, the current gear-grinding over the issue […]
Retorts: Maybe you can buy happiness
“Not having is no excuse for not getting.” – Anonymous. The devil, or just another devilishly intriguing sort of critter, whispered in my ear the other day. It used the magic words […]
Who’s watching now? And who cares?
You may remember the War on Drugs from the Eighties. You probably also realize that Drugs won, as evidenced by the march of decriminalization and legalization across the Republic. Today’s bogeyman is […]
The appeals and perils of symbolism
Who are you? Are you simply the sum of your allegiances, fears, desires and experiences? Are you defined exclusively by your class, your race, your clan, and your profession or whom you […]
Retorts: Rain, rain, don’t go away!
Farmers aren’t the only people who pray for rain. I love precipitation. I favor rain, but I can also find things to praise in hail, sleet and snow, in moderate amounts. Living […]
90 % of knowledge is 50% quotations
I’m a quote kind of guy. I love a good quotation because they can often sum up the essence of a truth in just a few words or sentences, much more so […]
The seductive appeal of “victimhood”
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.” […]
No surplus hugs, and let’s shake on it
I have never been much of a tree-hugger, even though I consider myself a sort of environmentalist. The fact is, I’ve never been much of a hugger at all. One’s willingness to […]
