Not every book I read, movie I watch, or album I listen to gets a write-up on the blog. I’ve been needled several times in the past for not commenting on a media object of interest, and my usual reply is something like: I’m not a professional critic – I write about things when I have something in particular to say about them.

David Foster Wallace has a new short piece of fiction at the New Yorker titled “Good People” about a religious, unmarried young couple dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. This story has ignited some debate on the wallace-l mailing list:

The first few paragraphs of this article from today’s Las Vegas Sun might give you an idea of the, uh, intellectual capacity of Nevada’s new governor:

Sorry it’s been quiet around here – it’s been a busy week for me. Anyway, many of you have probably already seen this, but this past week our Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stated that “there is no express grant of Habeas Corpus in the Constitution”. His reasoning goes that it only says when it can be taken away (invasion or rebellion) but never states when it is a given:

So the midnight swearing in ceremony of new Nevada governor Jim Gibbons gets weirder. Today’s Review-Journal has an article positing that the purpose of the unusual time and hour of the ceremony could have been to manipulate a legal loophole that might allow Gibbons to undo a last-minute political appointee of former Governor (and Gibbons rival) Kenny Guinn:

It’s been awhile.

The Las Vegas police have been approaching homeless people with shopping carts and telling them that if they remove any possessions from them, they will be arrested for the theft of a cart. Then, after no one fesses up, they are confiscating the shopping carts and having them, along with their contents, compacted in a garbage truck right in front of the owners’ eyes. We’re talking about everything these people own – including clothing, blankets (and Vegas had several inches of snow last night), identification, medication, and other possessions necessary for survival – being completely destroyed based on an intimidation tactic. Absolutely disgusting, and about as unethical as law enforcement can get while potentially skirting the rules. You can read the Review-Journal article here. (It doesn’t mention the compacting, but I’ve heard secondhand that this occurred to several witnesses.)

The war on the homeless population in Las Vegas continues. First, the city closed Circle Park, a popular congregation point for the local homeless, after a murder took place there – clearly a politically-motivated overreaction. Now, the city is arresting the homeless for breaking nonexistent laws. I’ve never seen such a 1) inhumane and 2) incompetent approach to the homelessness problem.

I’m back from my vacation, which means that you should see some action here again. I spent some time in L.A., San Francisco, and the coast in between, catching only two movies (The Fountain and Casino Royale) and reading a mere 10% of Pynchon’s latest.

The above photo, depicting the 1979 execution of twelve Kurdish men in Iran, won the only Pulitzer prize ever given to an anonymous author. It became a symbol of the tyrannical Iranian regime which came into power after the overthrow of the Shah and since then, dozens of people have claimed credit. Today, the Wall Street Journal finally reveals Jahangir Razmi as the photographer and tells the full story behind the picture. (via kevin drum)

I’m back from my vacation, which means that you should see some action here again. I spent some time in L.A., San Francisco, and the coast in between, catching only two movies (The Fountain and Casino Royale) and reading a mere 10% of Pynchon’s latest.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, which I’ll be spending in L.A., and then I will be taking a bit of a vacation – my first since 2005. I don’t expect to be around many computers during next week, but it’s possible that a post or two might pop up. Luckily, I have found a guest blogger to take over crazymonk.org for the next week or so. His name is Sacha Baron Cohen, and you should be hearing from him soon.