Frank's AshesFrank McCourt
died.
Those of you who are not Irish may only vaguely remember the name, but the Irish among us will never forget Angela's Ashes, McCourt's recounting of a terribly deprived childhood of an alcoholic father and an enabling mother.
It was a huge bestseller; I doubt there are many Irish in America who will confess to not having read it. It is a quite compelling and tragicomic story. Frank and his brother, Malachy, often went hungry because their father would go on a bender whenever he got paid, which unfortunately wasn't often because he was too much a drunk to stick with anything for long.
Where the story does become comical is on those paydays, as Frank and Malachy fantasize all the food they're going to eat when Daddy gets home. But of course as the afternoon turns into evening, and the evening into night, they realize that he's gone on an other bender, and by the time he returns there will be no money left for food.
As a result of his book, McCourt became a prominent professional Irishman and was featured extensively in the PBS series,
The Irish in America.
Labels: Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Don't Blame Me, I Voted for the Loosertarian CandidateNot the dumbest thing Stacy McCain has said, but
right up there.
Yes, and how did this happen? Because I voted for Bob Barr in Maryland? I think not. The GOP nominated as its presidential candidate the only candidate in the primary field for whom I could not vote. (S. 2611.) The most electable candidate in the Republican field, Mitt Romney, quit two days after Super Tuesday.
The most electable candidate in the Republican field was the guy who couldn't win in the Republican primaries? How ironic is that?
As I will eventually tire of pointing out, McCain did
better than the GOP candidates for Senate in 2008. So far from McCain dragging down the GOP, the GOP dragged down McCain. I can understand why some people want to ignore this, but I don't understand why we should listen to them when it is quite obvious that they are wrong, and when they contributed to Obama's victory with their constant carping about how the GOP's candidate was completely unacceptable.
Unlike Stacy McCain, I will pledge here and now to support the GOP's candidate in 2012. Even if it turns out to be Ron Paul.
Labels: 2008 Election, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Robert Stacy McCain
