All about me

It should come as no great shock that people are starting to talk about the breakup of the GOP-libertarian coalition:

Much has been written in the past couple of days about Charlton Heston's acting career and politics. This pretty much sums up both of them:

Writing in The New York Times nearly 30 years afterward, when the film was re-released for a brief run, Vincent Canby called it “a gaudy, grandiloquent Hollywood classic” and suggested there was more than a touch of “the rugged American frontiersman of myth” in Mr. Heston's Moses.

This may help some of you in deciding on a president. Clinton and MCain oppose outlawing concealed guns. Not Obama:

I am not in favor of concealed weapons," Obama said. "I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations."

The city seems to be doing a lot of feel-good projects. Nearly $650,000 is being spent to rehabilitate a block of Barr Street downtown, mostly with state money supplemented by local funds. Now, we're getting on Oprah's bandwagon:

In the spirit of giving back and giving big, the City of Fort Wayne will match donations dollar for dollar to expand local multiuse trails as part of the Oprah's Big Give Fort Wayne Trails initiative.

I know I have a lot of pet peeves for someone who cautions against being overly fussy about language and grammar, but here's another one:

Depending on who you believe, Indiana could be close to hiring its next basketball coach or the situation could still be in the early interview stages.

You may have noticed that my postings have gotten sparser and even more superficial than usual as the week wore on. It wasn't the vacation. Spending a couple of hours a day cruising the Internet and taking pot shots at the day's events didn't seem much like work.

If this isn't blasphemy, then I don't understand the concept of sacred:

What in the name of Colonel Harland Sanders is going on at KFC? The chain built by his secret recipe for fried chicken is about to give equal billing to — gulp — grilled chicken.

Kentucky Fried Chicken customers will be greeted eventually by lighted "Now Grilling" signs, starting in coming weeks in select U.S. cities.

In the digital age, medical people can share information about us more easily, but our medical privacy is harder to maintain:

You've seen it in movies and novels and on television: Somebody is buying something from an outdoor bazaar in a foreign country and starts to pay whatever price the seller asks. But wait, the buyer is told by more savvy American friends. You have to haggle. Otherwise, they'll take you for an ignorant Westererner, and they may even be insulted. It's a not-too-subtle putdown of Third World quaintness, looking askance at those who aren't "developed" enough to know that setting the retail price is one of the landmarks of civilization.

My visit with my brother was designed to coincide with my sister-in-law's vacation with her mother, which leaves the house unprotected from the whims of its three male inhabitants -- Larry, me and Bubba the Overlord. Bubba rules the place with efficient charm, getting what he wants when he wants it without being too obnoxious  or obvious about it.