Keeper of the Clown Bell

21st Century children appropriate Puritan culture I travel 45 minutes every morning to drive my kids deep into the woods so that they might attend a country school that embraces "cultural appropriation" and understands it to be the primary strength of Western Civilization. The capacity for the western mind to pluck the best of other, sometimes opposing, world cultures and incorporated the views, dress, music, food and customs of these cultures into the ever churning mixing bowl of Western Civ. is one of the greatest things about living in Europe or America or Australia. I love the fact that I can wake up on a Sunday morning, do my Yoga practice, read a little KJV Bible and thank God for my blessings, watch my beloved Washington Redskins play some football and cook up some fried rice in my wok for lunch then listen to some Tuvan throat singing in the afternoon stretched out in front of the crackling fire with my dachshund. It's all part of the "western" exper...

Malcolm Young died last Saturday at the age of 64 and I believe he squeezed a lot of life out of those years. AC/DC is always referred to as an Australian band but the Young brothers were born in Scotland and though they did emigrate down under as tykes they carried a lot of Glasgow right along with them (Bon Scott was also a Scottish immigrant) . Malcolm Young, who has died aged 64 after suffering from dementia, was the driving force behind AC/DC, the rock outfit that sold more than 200m albums over 40 years to become one of the highest-grossing bands of all time. His brother Angus, the band’s lead guitarist, may have been the most recognisable character in AC/DC, largely thanks to his habit of wearing school uniform on stage, but it was Malcolm whose inventive rhythm guitar and storming riffs formed the backbone of the band’s sound. Malcolm often took the crucial decisions about the band’s strategy, and he became notorious for abruptly firing various managers, producers and band ...

"Tell me, Mr. Harrigan. How does it feel gettin' paid for it? Gettin' paid to sit back and hire your killin's with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so god-damned right?" Answer: "Good." When I was a lad my loving uncle took me to the cinema where we watched Sam Peckinpah's epic western "The Wild Bunch" and I have to say that it was a pivotal event in my life - A film that I will never forget and one that, in hindsight, altered my perspective on life and death. I'm not sure that this "red pill" had an altogether beneficial impact on my young psyche but, like it or not, it certainly shaped my thinking and upon repeated viewings over the years I've come to accept the great directors vision as mostly true (as far as day to day living is concerned) and plotted my life according to its overall themes while allowing for some necessary restraint. So when I heard Steve Bannon quoting the films dialog a few ...

I was meandering down a back country road the other day and heard the most imperfect messenger , Glenn Beck, ranting about current events squawking from my pick-up truck speakers. Mr. Beck and his radio side-kicks were talking about... what was it again? Was it a terrorist attack? Sexual harassment? The DNC scandal? Uranium One?Pedophilia? Iran? NorkNukes? I just can't remember right now but I do remember Glenn's declaration that he "hardly recognizes the country he's living in anymore" and how darn confusing and scary everything has become (Note: buy a Liberty Safe and some Gold). And Glenn often says " I do not recognize my country anymore " but this time it struck me as a little odd because everything he was complaining about has been going on in our (formally his) country for the past 30 years. He is nominally a "newsman" having worked at CNN and Fox and, having lived and worked in the belly of the beast (so to speak), he should be aware ...