Pleonastic Ephemera

5.07.2004 posted by William 18:10 link	The cicadas are back. I vaguely remember when they last emerged in 1987. I was finishing up kindergarten, and there were these loud, ugly things all over the yard. The best part was crushing the dry, brittle shells they left clinging to tree trunks and leaves. A few times when I went to crush a shell, there was still a live cicada inside. That wasn't cool.
5.06.2004 posted by William 00:11 link	Conservative commentator George F. Will is eager to distance himself from the neo-cons in his latest column, "Time for Bush to See The Realities of Iraq". It's a good sign when Republicans are turning on their own, right? He writes of remarks the President made last week which I haven't seen reported anywhere else that they indicate Bush's normative mental view of America's people is "white", and in discussing them comes dangerously close (for a conservative) to acknowledging multiculturalism. He notes that pragmatic leaders of the right, people he would label real "conservatives" (like himself), have always agreed on the inherent intractability of forcing government down a country's throat. And he sneaks in a nasty cut on the Democratic Party. Good reading.
5.04.2004 posted by William 20:14 link	"Pat isn't with God,'' he said. "He's f -- ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f -- ing dead.'' So said Pat Tillman's brother at Tillman's funeral. This is the first and probably will be the only article I've read about his death.