Read For Comprehension
I already covered this back in November. Pierre Tristam’s post, You Mean It’s Not Apartheid?, went over it in mid-December.
Now James Wolcott comments on it in the second part of Serial Comma Killer, Qu’est-ce que C’est?, Pat Lang mentions it in his post, War Against the Boogey Men, Juan Cole covers it in Attempts at Marginalizing Carter Intensify, and OhDave at Candide’s Notebooks looks at the “controversy” in Jimmy Carter’s Holy Land.
Essentially you have people screaming because Jimmy Carter isn’t rabidly pro-Israel. If you notice that Israel is not following the rules you are an anti-Semite and want Israel wiped from the face of the planet. Get a grip. Jimmy Carter has been at this longer than any of the current leaders in Israel and Palestine. He knows what deals were proposed, and what the conditions are on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza. He also reads all of the newspapers in Israel and knows that significant number of Israelis oppose some of the policies of their current government.
I’m a good deal more interested in the national interests of the US than Israel. Blindly supporting Israel is not in the US interest.
January 14, 2007 4 Comments
Serial Commas
I’m rather surprised that the serial comma has become an issue, but apparently a lot of people are rebelling against one of the few rules that actually exist in English.
I seem to remember Steve Bates of Yellow Doggerel Democrat commenting on them earlier, and then I saw the Wolcott post, Serial Comma Killer, Qu’est-ce que C’est?, which seemed to indicate that there is a move afoot to change the rules, or ignore them.
I stand with the standard use of the serial comma, including the one before the conjunction. That’s the rule Miss Delores Smith stated, and that makes it good enough for me.
January 14, 2007 7 Comments
Passing the Plate
January 14, 2007 Comments Off on Passing the Plate
