David Benjamin
David Benjamin is a novelist and journalist who splits his time between Paris and Madison, Wis. His novel, a "noir comedy" entitled Three's a Crowd, has just been released by Event Horizon Press. His previous books include, The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked and SUMO: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Japan's National Sport. He blogs at http://benjaminsmess.blogspot.com/.
Articles by this author
|
Views Friday, October 18, 2013 The Strange Stalinization of the American Right “The tea party’s theory of government and the fear and loathing that many adherents harbor toward minorities find a truer expression in the Confederate flag than in the Stars and Stripes …” — Harold Meyerson, Washington Post Read more |
|
|
Views Sunday, October 06, 2013 Little Statesmen “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance PARIS — As I observe, from a nation where health care is universal, simple, cheap and far more healthful that the free-market medical blackmail that afflicts and sickens the United States, I think of a question not asked. Read more |
|
|
Views Thursday, July 04, 2013 The Definition of American Patriotism (ca. 2013) MADISON, Wis. — According to the “originalists” who currently dominate the Supreme Court, little has changed in American politics and culture since the Fourth of July, 1776. But if you look closely, 237 years after the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, there are a few teensy differences. Read more |
|
|
Views Wednesday, February 15, 2012 A Cup of Really Hot Coffee with Gingrich and Santorum BROOKLYN — The latest bulletin on “religious liberty” is about Saudi journalist Hamzi Kashgari, who’s just been bundled off, by the government of Malaysia, to Saudi Arabia. Once he’s “home,” he’ll be flash-tried and summarily beheaded for blasphemy against Mohammed. Kashgari’s offense was to circulate, through Twitter, his personal doubts about the divinity of the Prophet and the infallible truth of Islam. Read more |
|
|
Views Wednesday, February 08, 2012 'Hey! You talkin’ to Mitt?': Mitt Romney's 'Robert DeNiro Moments' Watch for it. At least once a week, as he’s hit in the chops with a sudden impertinent question from a reporter or some seditious moderate in a town-hall forum, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has a Robert DeNiro Moment. Read more |
|
|
Views Wednesday, November 09, 2011 John Boehner’s “Job-Creatin’ Fifteen” Bills: An Overview BROOKLYN — Whenever I see Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) defending GOP obstruction on the President’s jobs package, I notice that he mentions “15 jobs bills” already passed by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, only to languish in the U.S. Senate — blocked by obstructionist Democrats. If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it 15 times. Read more |
|
|
Views Thursday, September 22, 2011 The End of Economics: Down Reagan's Rabbit Hole At the end of the Cold War, historian Francis Fukuyama stirred a few months of lively controversy — and eventually embarrassed himself — by declaring the “end of history.” Despite Fukuyama’s example, however, I suspect the first person to declare 2011 the beginning of the “end of economics” will be seen as a prophet. Read more |
|
|
Views Friday, August 05, 2011 Lying to Ourselves About the Good Old Days BROOKLYN — A popular right-wing fantasy-bite now winging virally around the World Wide Web is a snatch of phony nostalgia called “The Green Thing”. Read more |
|
|
Views Thursday, July 28, 2011 The Tax-Free American Aristocracy PARIS — The Republican vision for America’s future keeps popping up in old movies. Read more |
|
|
Views Thursday, July 07, 2011 For President… er, Emperor in 2016: General Dave Petraeus BROOKLYN — Right now, he’s seasoning in Langley. But five years from now, America is going to want General David H. Petraeus, overwhelmingly, as next President of the United States. Well, not exactly “President.” Read more |