The Nature of Things

I'm so glad Gail Collins is back from her book break and writing her regular columns for The New York Times once again.  I have missed her clear-eyed and often humorous view of the world over the last couple of months.  Heaven knows I could have used that view during that period. Often when I am at my wit's end over the latest tea party outrage or the latest stupid thing said by John Boehner/Sarah Palin/Michele Bachmann/Rick Perry, I'll click on Gail's name in the online Times  and find that she has written a column about it, but instead of letting herself be frustrated to the point of apoplexy about it, she has found the essential humor. She explores the hypocrisy and the egotism that are often a large part of the public persona of individuals, without losing sight of their humanity.  She is able to make fun of the idiots in public life without ever seeming mean-spirited.  (Maureen Dowd should take lessons!) And now that Gail is back from her break and all is...

Gail Collins had an excellent column in The New York Times the other day, as she usually does whenever she contributes an op-ed. This one was entitled "Another Inconvenient Truth" and it spoke of the sour, me-first attitude that seems to prevail in the United States today. The latest manifestation of this attitude is the mayor of New York's about-face on having trials of terrorists conducted in his city. Suddenly, it would be too much of an imposition, an inconvenience for the people of New York, to have such a trial held in their city and it would give the terrorists a "platform to air their views." Plus, it might make New York a target. As if they and all of us are not already targets of fanatics who want to kill us. On the contrary, it seems to me that the symbolism of having the trial in New York where the major part of the killing took place would be a powerful one. It would show the whole world that we are courageous enough to live up to our ideals ...