The Nature of Things

(1.) The FBI seems to be on a roll lately, having made several high profile arrests. The latest was this week's capture of one of their Ten Most Wanted, "Whitey" Bulger . Bulger had been on the lam for years, apparently with the complicity of some law enforcement people who had been paid off to turn a blind eye. Some of those folks are already serving long prison sentences and, with the capture of the man himself, it is possible that others will soon follow. Bulger, who is thought to be responsible for at least 19 murders, should be right behind them. We sometimes get the impression that our law enforcement agencies are incompetent, but the FBI is going a long way toward redeeming its reputation. It's very nice and confidence-building for the average citizen to see things working the way they are supposed to. (2.) If Rick Perry decides to run for president, it seems that he will have a rumor problem. The rumor is that he is gay . Whether or not there is any tr...

There's been a lot of hullaballoo about the fiftieth anniversay of To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee's masterwork and only work. Libraries around the country, including our own Houston Public Library , are celebrating the anniversary with special events. And well they should, for Mockingbird is certainly a significant book in the literary history of this country. It may not be a great book by strictly objective literary standards, but it is great in its message of humaneness and humanity and in its moral weight. Lee's story of the summer when Jem broke his arm and all the things that led up to that moment in a small town in Alabama is a simple enough tale of children beginning to learn what the world is all about and losing their innocence, but it is also the story of an ordinary man's moral dilemma, how he faced that dilemma and did the right thing, even when it would have been so convenient and so much more comfortable to do the wrong thing. As readers of the boo...