Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

There were times during the first half of the debate last night while John McCain was talking to his “friends” that I wondered what was going through Barack Obama’s mind. And I pretended that I knew.

This man is unraveling before my eyes. He sucked up to all of those people he hated in 2000, he [...]

Reading this article made me want to make a few endorsements of my own:

Churches should no longer receive tax exemptions. They don’t need them. They shouldn’t want them. A blunt line between church and state is better for both the church and the state. Besides, then preachers can say whatever the hell they want.
But if [...]

Sometimes government does right where the market does not. Congress — finally — passed a federal law requiring health insurers to cover mental health in the same way as physical health. The law was long overdue, and yet easily could have been shelved for another session. As a Minnesotan, I’m heartened that a Republican like [...]

I have decided to suspend my writing career. I think we can call agree it’s the only prudent thing to do, given the financial crisis our fundamentally sound economy is enduring. These times are just too critical to do anything but sit and think about a subject that, like others, I admit I know almost [...]

Three years ago I flipped on Book TV and was introduced to Sam Harris. I hadn’t before and haven’t since heard an author present his material in a more compelling way. So I bought a copy of his first book and after that bowled me over I’ve pretty much read everything he’s written since.
Of late [...]

Imagine if you opened a newspaper and learned the results of a national election in which the “winner” received a half-million fewer votes than the loser. That would seem odd, likely prompting you to read on. Then you read that the election hinged on a series of sketchy details — confusing ballots, a mysterious and [...]

I’m no economist, and I don’t play one in blog posts, but can’t we all agree — at least all of us who value evidence — that trickle-down economics is a failed idea?
Attempting something that continually fails expecting a different result is (and I know this from considerable experience with repeated failure) the definition of [...]

When I open the laptop, I feel optimistic. I read the headlines. I scan the polls. This campaign has my attention. And my attention has ample targets.
Many bright and educated minds spend no small part of every day contemplating the strategies, issues and numbers. With a few clicks I find intelligent analysis, thought-provoking ideas and [...]

I read this poem a couple of weeks ago and it’s still in my head. What lingers is the vivid truth the poet tells. Every day people live through situations like this one. If you don’t have a good job (or any job), life can be so hard. Yet even though fewer and fewer people [...]

They can tell me plastic is better than paper. But that doesn’t mean I must believe them. Next they’ll say that other noteworthy efforts to save the planet are in fact accelerating its demise. That sunscreen, not the sun, causes skin cancer. That People stimulates the noggin as much as A People’s History. Or that [...]

As newspapers sink, usually books coverage is the first chair off the deck. So this is hardly shocking news even if it’s still discouraging news. I wonder how long it will be before daily books news will be found one day a week in the New York Times and elsewhere only when the eighth Harry [...]

I was whining about newspapers the other day and, obviously, I’m not the only one. For a long time I have been of the mind that at some point the people who run newspapers would realize that even in an ever-increasingly online world they still offer a unique and necessary product — a depth of [...]

The ritual was almost nightly. After my stories were filed I would go to the all-night Jack in the Box and by the time I had finished dirty bombing my gut with Sourdough Jacks and extra fries the late-night editors would have put the newspaper to bed. I’d return to the then empty newsroom, flip [...]

Sometimes a single statistic reveals more about human values than a thousand comment-laden blogs. I scribbled down one such jarring fact while reading Jonathan Alter’s often-insightful column: We essentially spend more money every six months in Iraq than we’ve spent in the past 30 years on cancer research.

I should just stick to the Web, I know, but too often on election night I am tempted to turn on the tube. It’s like eating at Outback. Sounds like a good idea … until it’s too late. As you wait for the gut bomb to explode, you wonder why you even considered the option.
Last [...]

Finally saw There Will Be Blood and a day later two impressions stick. Daniel Day-Lewis is such a gifted actor I could have enjoyed his performance with the sound turned off. The soundtrack was so maddening I considered that option.

If in the next nine months you wake up one morning and find yourself in Schenectady, consider a stop at the Iroquois Indian Museum, which will soon launch an exhibit called Baseball’s League of Nations: A Tribute to Native American Baseball Players. Looks pretty cool to me. I assume there is a prominent feature on [...]

By now you’ve heard about The Speech. Probably seen a clip or two. Or at least the talking heads on the tube. Likely you’ve been told what you should think about The Speech. I am, in fact, resisting the temptation myself. The words stirred me in manners and degrees I did not expect. I have [...]

What’s your take on the steroids fiasco? When the question first popped up I figured folks were asking because of my bulging pectorals. But, sadly, no. I now realize that Roger Clemens’ congressional testimony has been scrutinized as though it is the sequel to the Zapruder film — I have an nine-channel cable package and [...]

Twenty-four hours a day I can engage a machine, slip in a card, punch a few numbers, and receive cash and a piece of paper telling me not only how much cash I just received but how much cash is remaining in my checking out (not bloody much, usually, but that’s beside the point).
How is [...]