I don't know about the rest of your avid readers but "Dissenting Commentator" sounds a lot like Princess Summer Fall Winter Spring, from the legendary "I just saw a f***kin bear" episode. Just a hunch.

Beautifully said. Merry Christmas, Jack.

And lo, a December miracle with Cuban/American relations. I'm really happy-please comment. Is my optimism warranted?

Thanks for the link to Charlie Pierce's blog. "Two-wheeled bilewagon" is possibly the best description/slam that I've ever heard!!!

Great thoughts and sentiments from you and Rilke. Don't stop blogging: Gnostics, Phil Dick, book reviews (am reading Brian Doyles "Mink River" now and will get "Unapologetic" from the HWS Library next week), Duck Dynasty, Fox news, Sts Paul & Augustine, and the real saints: Kafka, Camus and Sartre. The list goes on and always thoughtful and entertaining. Think you should be on Morning Joe to straighten them out sometimes. Thanks fo your great writing. Merry Christmas-James

Jack, Thank you for the well put & beautiful thoughts. What's Christmas without a Phillip Dick quote?! Let me add one from the book "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher": "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is in the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself at sunset."-Crowfoot Blackfeet. Appropriate, I think, for what I hope is a very Merry Montana Christmas. James

Read Quarantine a little while ago but forgot to mention it to you. Just finished The Testament of Mary (in 45 minutes) and can't figure out the controversy. Another two beautiful and thought provoking books in a time that the New York Times Review of Books declares is "post christian" in its lead article (Dec 23) Has Fiction Lost Its Faith? Granted, the article was mostly targeting the American novel but between Saramago's Cain and The Gospel of Jesus Christ and these two new books, I guess that the argument would be more in the definition of "post christian' than in the content and soul of some of todays better literature. James

Just a few quick comments as I await switching from the debate, American Idol and the Australian Open: I have to agree with you on Chris Matthews-I can only think of O'Riley on lots of caffine. I do have to admit watching at least a little of his show almost every day. It's on twice in 3 hours for christ's sake and not during a timeframe with a lot of options! No one can match the great Rachel Maddows on that network but the morning joe has its moments. Colbert will be on tomorrow defending his "fake campaign", as the promo states. Really? I don't think they get it. Keep up the book reviews-please. I had been tempted for a long time to subscribe to the New York Times Review of Books section which you can buy without having to get the whole paper but found it to be really expensive. I fondly remember reading it once a week at the Post Office-hope the real subscriber didn't mind the coffee rings! Anyway, after I decided that it was too costly, I found that the Hobart College Bookstore had a stack of them for free just inside the front door. Don't know if that't one of your sources for book reviews but I would highly reccommend it-especially if you could get it for free at your college or university bookstore. No suprise-the reviews are often better than the books. I have more to say but its almost 8 and I need to warm up the remote. Don't understand why that kind of channel switching drives Bunni crazy. Talk to you soon.

Sorry that I'm "late for the blog"-technical difficulties-but I'm glad that at least you're up and running. Just a few comments on earlier blogs: Thought that the new Walking Dead was good but about a half hour too long. Guess they needed that setup but hope there's payoff in the coming weeks. Check out "American Horror Story" on FX on Wednesday nights. It stretches the tv limits more that any cable show I've ever seen. And it stars the wonderful Jessica Lange. Heard on the debate that Michelle Bachmann will be building a wall on the border after she is elected president. I wonder if she plans on picking my lettuce, planting my garden and drywalling my bathroom too. What talent! I missed the first part of the debate because I was at a pickleball clinic. Pickleball is a sport invented to enable old, falling apart tennis players, to continue to play a racquet sport. As silly as that sounds, it's great fun. Google it (probably not a lot of pickleball courts in Montana though). Speaking of Montana: I wonder what happens there if, during a heated enchange in a bar, one person puts his hand on the other person. What the hell was that all about? And does everything with Rick Santorum (?) have to be about sex? What a group. And why are they tearing Rev Jeffers apart? He's only saying what they're all thinging. Maybe it's that he sounds exactly like Gomer Pyle-looks a little like him too.