Monthly Archives: July 2004

Supreme court tries my faith

In The Maltese Falcon, Kaspar “the Fat Man” Gutman tells Humphrey Bogart’s detective Sam Spade, “By Gad, sir, you are a character. There’s never any telling what you’ll say or do next, except that it’s bound to be something astonishing.”
I … Continue reading

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For argument’s sake, draw your own analogies

When the Athenian statesman Phocion gave a speech that the public applauded, Plutarch claims, he turned to some friends and asked, “Have I inadvertently said something foolish?” How many politicians would ever have such a reaction today? Yet how many … Continue reading

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