tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-222161672012-01-09T15:05:59.810-05:00Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.comBlogger3371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-8652140591421091012007-11-28T13:17:00.000-05:002007-11-28T13:22:47.132-05:00

My blog is now found at: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?plckPersonaPage=PersonaBlog&plckUserId=f17093361b6443feb46f05e84c2ec09a&U=f17093361b6443feb46f05e84c2ec09a&plckScript=personaScript&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckElementId=personaDest&category=PluckPersona&sid=sitelife.app.com

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-1042174419991910882007-11-23T13:25:00.000-05:002007-11-23T14:02:05.426-05:00

Civility is a pipe dream. I understand that. This is the blogosphere, the modern-day Wild West. Six shooters going off all over Dodge City and stuff. Fine. Personal insults are the coin of the realm among some, and that's just the way it is. It's a free country. The anonymous are free here to personally insult me: "Your're ugly and your mother dresses you funny" is fine. Hey, it's an

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-28567070177886733482007-11-15T14:01:00.000-05:002007-11-16T09:38:04.094-05:00

I'm going on a road trip to visit my son Christopher in Maine. He's going to show me around the used book stores in Portland, I'll meet his girlfriend's parents, and then on Monday we're going to Boston to see Bruce Springsteen perform at what used to be called the Boston Garden. Lord only knows what corporation has bragging rights to it these days. I'll be driving home Wednesday and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-66701636205736634012007-11-13T12:17:00.000-05:002007-11-13T13:35:57.569-05:00

Just a couple of random thoughts on the news that Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue is going to stand on the steps of the state Capitol today, joined by lawmakers and ministers, and they are all going to pray for rain: 1. I think we can all agree that Purdue isn't the first guy to think of asking God for a lttle help during the drought. Does he believe that if a few more people get together in front of

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-51800369752727453582007-11-12T10:58:00.000-05:002007-11-12T11:23:55.205-05:00

"Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day." ---from the St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's "Henry V''"If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields." Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields" And there, in lines written centuries apart, is the glory and sadness of

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-61893564052321591352007-11-09T09:22:00.000-05:002007-11-09T12:04:31.960-05:00

It's boom time for the unbelievers. Folks like Dawkins and Hitchens are zooming to the top of the best-seller lists championing the cause that God is just a really bad idea. Well, good on 'em, I say. This is America, after all, and we're all free to ply our books, whatever they say. (Speaking of books, I've just started reading Garry Wills' new tome -- "Head and Heart: American Christianities."

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com91tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-71222241819177523982007-11-08T13:11:00.000-05:002007-11-08T14:38:21.289-05:00

I'm always amazed by the bravery of the modern blogger, who somehow finds the courage to say nasty stuff while conveniently cloaked in technological anonymity. My wife wrote a response to an earlier blog of mine and it was followed by this comment: "Anonymous said... why do you even waste your time with this loser? 3:20 PM, November 07, 2007" Anonymous' parents must be stinky with

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-30802566630216431992007-11-05T14:01:00.000-05:002007-11-05T14:22:21.847-05:00

I'm sure my sister-in-law meant well. One of the celebrations for my wife Sue's 50th birthday was a small family gathering at my mother-in-law's place. And Sue's sister had gone all out - a basket full of brightly wrapped gifts. Sue opened one at random: there was a dollar bill in it. Right there, the other shoe dropped - there were 50 baskets. Well, after the initial laughter, what are you

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-73036627059421061082007-11-05T13:53:00.000-05:002007-11-05T14:25:17.392-05:00

So, our staunch ally in the war on terror, the leader of Pakistan, has suspended the constitution, fired a supreme court justice, started rounding up the usual suspects that usually get rounded up when dictators get their knickers in a twist, and pretty much declared martial law. Well, that was 10 billion of our tax dollars well spent. Somebody should have told President Pervez Musharraf that

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-60811907221891884652007-11-02T09:57:00.000-04:002007-11-02T10:59:20.225-04:00

Pulitizer Prize-winning author Richard Russo knows how to write a novel. I hope by now most people have read his books "Nobody's Fool'' and "Empire Falls'' or, failing that, at least seen the movies made from them. The former is one of my favorite movies of all time. Russo has another wonderful novel out now, "Bridge of Sighs," and near the end of the story I came across a paragraph that is as

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-40648849285631228062007-10-31T10:40:00.000-04:002007-10-31T11:05:08.804-04:00

Halloween is the time when you find out that a whole lot of reasonably intelligent people believe in ghosts. Neither my understanding of science or my theology has any room for misty spirits of the dead wandering around this mortal plane. Scientists have come a cropper at finding evidence for life of any sort hanging around after death. And let's face it, those ghostbuster types who shop on

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-78068790805178676602007-10-30T11:03:00.000-04:002007-10-30T11:35:47.909-04:00

The Eagles, nobody's idea of the hardest-working guys in showbiz, have finally released a bunch of new music. Not like the world's been waiting with bated breath for aging LA hipsters to give us their view of the way things are, man. But, you know, some of us thought "Hotel California" wasn't bad, so we'd like to pick up this new CD. But hold on a minute there, hombre. Turns out the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-9957946885022938102007-10-30T10:54:00.000-04:002007-10-30T11:59:49.287-04:00

So it turns out that the U.S. State Department has given immunity to the whole Blackwater crew responsible for various and sundry acts of mayhem and carnage in Iraq. Which makes it hard to actually punish anybody for the crimes. Hasn't Condoleeza Rice ever watched "Law & Order?" Cripes, it's only on TV every blessed hour of the day on basic cable! You give one skel immunity so he'll testify

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-72810893839167447422007-10-26T11:14:00.000-04:002007-10-26T11:32:42.645-04:00

My "Only Human'' column in today's paper, "Not-so-brief-encounter," caused a bit of a stir in the newsroom. Take a gander at it. Go ahead, I'll wait. There. The question seemed to be whether my actions on that Sunday morning indicated that I had done a good thing, a bad thing or an out-and-out stupid thing. Let me tell you - most people definitely came down on the bad/stupid side of the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-59390412699189708242007-10-23T13:51:00.000-04:002007-10-23T14:55:26.558-04:00

Occasionally, I do more than plug myself in these blogs. For instance, let me tell you about a benefit happening Monday, Oct. 29, at Branches, 123 Monmouth Road, Long Branch. A woman named Maria Frangella Cicillini, who with her husband owns the Rigoletto Trattoria in Middletown, is a colon cancer survivor. She has been cancer-free since 1995, and in the last few years has begun a foundation

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-33602805913135337752007-10-22T10:26:00.000-04:002007-10-22T13:06:56.137-04:00

A newly released survey of almost 90,000 employees in 19 countries has found that only about one in five of us proletariats are "engaged workers'' -- engaged being defined as willingness to go the extra mile for the boss. Let's assume for a minute that you're reading this at work. This is not the sort of thing that's going to make you an "engaged employee.'' On the other hand, my writing this

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-24079199355540488182007-10-18T10:25:00.000-04:002007-10-18T12:10:20.901-04:00

Yehuda Baruch, a professor of management at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, has researched the potty mouths of the proletariat and come to the conclusion that regular swearing at work can improve morale. No ****, Sherlock. This seems obvious to me. Oddly enough, though, the opposite was the case back in my days as a pastor. Cussing up a storm was generally frowned upon

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-55214250410579807852007-10-17T10:07:00.000-04:002007-10-17T13:56:09.735-04:00

I really don't want to turn this blog into a Bible study or anything, but it probably wouldn't hurt to look at a passage or two to get the lay of the land. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew, when he tells the story of Jesus' birth, mentions Mary's virginity and says, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com81tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-54193753762633317882007-10-16T11:12:00.000-04:002007-10-16T12:53:39.691-04:00

Somebody responded to my previous blog about Ann Coulter's latest outrage, the one where she said what a wonderful world it would be if all the Jews saw the light, this way: "Ann Coulter says the same thing Michael Riley says (and every other minister and Rabbi for that matter). The difference is Riley says it more politely. Same meaning, different words." Not to put too fine a point on it,

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-60376618124179892322007-10-12T11:06:00.000-04:002007-10-12T12:21:57.142-04:00

So, Ann Coulter thinks the Jews need to be "perfected'' by getting down with Jesus Christ. That's the gist of her latest contretemps, this time on an MSNBC show hosted by Donnie Deutsch. Let's forget for a moment that if Coulter wants to hold herself out as what perfected Judaism looks like, I'm gonna convert to the Druids. She can point to Christian Scriptures all she likes: "Every knee

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-17248721292883282622007-10-10T15:02:00.000-04:002007-10-10T15:49:34.759-04:00

I was talking to a colleague around lunch time when my wife called me. It turns out that she had tried to go to work today and lasted but a few hours before the virus she's had just laid her low and she came on home. After our conversation ended, I turned back to a coworker. "That was the human petri dish I married," I explained. "When it comes to fending off the odd rhinovirus, she's like

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-52327976658008634902007-10-04T10:08:00.000-04:002007-10-05T13:24:54.633-04:00

It's been said that rock and roll is basically happy music about sad things. If that's true, "We're Livin' In the Future" is the happiest song about the saddest things on Springsteen's new album "Magic." Musically, the song is related to "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" or "Out Of Work," a song Bruce wrote for Gary U.S. Bonds. It's bright and breezy, a real toe-tapper. And the lyrics are odd, at first

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-5380456792406152532007-10-04T09:55:00.000-04:002007-10-04T10:53:31.470-04:00

I'm expecting something in the mail, and I said so to a young co-worker. "I'm as excited as a kid waiting for a package from Battle Creek, Mich.,'' is the way I put it. A blank stare from the co-worker. "You don't what I'm talking about, do you?'' I asked. He shook his head, and I explained about cereal boxtops and how you mailed them off to Battle Creek to get your prize. I'm just shy

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-20651831501707407422007-10-04T09:19:00.000-04:002007-10-04T10:51:35.112-04:00

Raymond Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis, said recently that, what with Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's pro-choice position, he could deny the former New York mayor communion. So how does Giuliani respond? "Archbishops have a right to their opinion, you know," he said. "There's freedom of religion in this country. There's no estabished religion, and archbishops have a right

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-60414128967387029582007-10-03T11:55:00.000-04:002007-10-03T14:27:44.511-04:00

When I first heard this, I thought it was a "she done him wrong'' song. With a chorus like "You'll be comin' down now, baby/You'll be comin' down/What goes around, it comes around and/You'll be comin' down,'' that's what springs to mind. If this was the case, it would be unusual. Springsteen rarely does these kinds of songs. Relationships go south in his music, but the blame is generally fixed

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-42186283654946761302007-10-02T11:17:00.000-04:002007-10-02T15:03:45.145-04:00

Springsteen's new album with the E Street Band, "Magic,'' hit the stores today and Springsteen fans will pore over it like linguists studying the Rosetta Stone. The man can turn a phrase and write a tune.The thing is, those of us who grew up on Springsteen are now getting older with him and what we hope is that the songs will still tell us things we need to know about our lives these days.It's

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-43233315576399004752007-10-02T10:06:00.000-04:002007-10-02T12:33:42.227-04:00

The Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear a challenge to Alabama's ban on the sale of sex toys. And what do you want to bet that Clarence Thomas breathed a sigh of relief over that particular turn of events? ("Oh, come on guys. Let's not go there. I don't need the aggravation.'')So it's illegal to buy sex toys in Alabama, but not illegal to own them. You just have to cross state lines to get

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-44362309802271282602007-10-01T09:38:00.000-04:002007-10-01T13:37:04.167-04:00

The Supreme Court begins its work today, the first Monday in October. Judging from news accounts of the cases they will decide, this has to be an easy term for them. This probably explains why Clarence Thomas is all over television hawking his new book. The guy has a chip on his shoulder, if you ask me.But the nine judges can clear at least some of the docket pretty toute de suite:Lethal

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-57729272728361009962007-09-27T10:46:00.000-04:002007-09-27T12:05:10.798-04:00

According to a couple of recent studies, men, it seems, are happier these days than women.This is a stunning reversal of affairs from 30 years ago, when women had the upper hand in the smiley face department.My wife and I were watching a television report on the findings this morning, and I turned to her and said, "Hey, I do my part to make women happy. And if if weren't for those pesky wedding

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-34552773366329956232007-09-27T10:11:00.000-04:002007-09-27T12:02:51.953-04:00

At the Democratic Candidates' Debate in New Hampshire last night, Hillary Clinton said she wouldn't approve of torturing a suspected terrorist to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb.Well, good for her.There a few reasons why torture is almost always a bad idea:1) From a practical standpoint, it doesn't work. John McCain, a man who knows something about torture, has said that a torture victim

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-5843871833927378532007-09-25T12:03:00.000-04:002007-09-25T16:18:22.816-04:00

Do you think that the Christian fundamentalists might move to that heaven on earth, Iran, now that the president of that nation has announced that there are no homosexuals in Iran?

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-46677736717281410952007-09-25T11:59:00.000-04:002007-09-25T16:15:27.985-04:00

There are a few perks now and then that come with working for a newspaper. I got in to the Springsteen concert last night as part of doing a story on the local color surrounding the event. That's the good news. The bad news is that Bruce and the band were lollygagging so long that I had to leave to file my story before one note had been played.Oh well....

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-67488500337994527772007-09-24T14:58:00.000-04:002007-09-24T15:29:35.215-04:00

"."RIP

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-47992426644421686102007-09-21T14:03:00.000-04:002007-09-24T15:28:53.488-04:00

The U.S. Census Bureau says my marriage is not divorce-proof. Do they know something I don't? The figures they've come up with put the lie to the myth that once you've reached the 10-year matrimonial time-post, you can relax a little. Nope.According to a USA Today story from earlier this week, we hear that the hard work of staying put goes on and on:"People are at risk of divorce throughout their

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-63698373130513805402007-09-19T13:34:00.000-04:002007-09-19T14:32:05.159-04:00

The associate director of something called The Living Tongues Institute, a linguist named K. David Harrison, has recently announced that a language goes belly-up every 14 days, when the last speaker of said language dies. There are about 7,000 distinct languages in the world and that seems to me a pretty rapid rate of extinction.I have mixed feelings about news like this.On the one hand, there's

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-76301258718980704832007-09-18T09:41:00.000-04:002007-09-18T12:59:01.538-04:00

Just when I was thinking to myself, "Man, my rubber chicken is getting pretty old and ragged,'' comes across my desk the most recent supplement of the Johnson Smith Company catalog, called "Things You Never Knew Existed.''Fine purveyors of novelties and magic tricks and tasteless jokes since 1914, I was sure they could meet my rubber chicken needs, and sure enough on page 19 there it was -- item

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-34359703870572633822007-09-14T11:05:00.000-04:002007-09-14T14:40:04.592-04:00

Springsteen isn't the only guy taking his act on the road this fall. I myself have 3, count 'em 3, gigs this month.On Sunday 9/16, I'll be giving a talk on "The Problem of Evil'' at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 367 Cranbury Road in East Brunswick, at 9 a.m. We'll examine 2000 years of Christian thinking on the subject in the course of one hour! Must be seen to be believed!On Sunday 9/23, I'll be

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-59297485827669848312007-09-13T05:18:00.000-04:002007-09-13T10:30:11.378-04:00

Yesterday morning, my son Alex and I were trapped in that particular circle of hell known as Route 287. Construction has rendered a particular stretch of that road nearly impassable given that practically everybody in the state needs to traverse it at the same time I do.It took so long to get from point A to point B that we needed to get off the road before Point B to make a pit stop at a donut

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-73634694464654530372007-09-10T12:00:00.000-04:002007-09-10T13:20:56.067-04:00

The wife and I watched the first episode of a new HBO series called "Tell Me You Love Me'' last night about three couples and their sex lives and their therapist.Now I'm used to racy stuff on TV and nekkidness aplenty. But man, oh man. There's more male nudity here than in a Harvey Keitel film festival.And what that nice Jane Alexander was doing at the end of the episode...Happy endings all

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-69602169452674647452007-09-10T11:42:00.000-04:002007-09-10T13:19:46.914-04:00

This morning, I pulled carefully between two white lines in a supermarket parking lot, and promptly stepped into some advertising. No foolin'. Somehow each white line has been painted or decal-ed with the words "Parking for DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Sundays ABC''Is there nowhere on God's increasing paved-over earth where we're free of someone trying to sell us something?

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-14537535627002799062007-09-07T09:39:00.000-04:002007-09-07T17:10:37.809-04:00

A friend recently e-mailed a notice about a new illness making the rounds. If you want to take a day off, you call your boss and tell him or her you have a case of "anal blindness.''If the boss asks what that is, you say, "I just don't see my butt coming into work today.''Let me know how it works out.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-2376618394161016232007-09-07T09:32:00.000-04:002007-09-07T17:12:29.980-04:00

With all the tongue-clicking and head-shaking going on over the latest run of NJ public officials arrested for bribe-taking, I've tried to find a sliver living.One of the 12 arrested Thursday, Assemblyman Alfred Steele, D-Passaic, is also a church pastor. It's about time the clergy expanded its repetoire. It's been a while since we've seen a man of God charged with greed instead of lust.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-12868420410359632112007-09-04T10:06:00.000-04:002007-09-04T10:52:25.164-04:00

As if Idaho Sen. Larry Craig didn't have enough problems, what with the foot touching and hand reaching and the resigning from the Senate over a guilty plea to disorderly contact because of what might have been the beginnings of a solicitation to have sex in a men's room, along comes Jim McGreevey with some advice.In a letter published yesterday in the Washington Post, the former governor and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-68452750439406103602007-08-31T11:24:00.000-04:002007-08-31T14:06:25.145-04:00

I've never understood America's fascination with British royalty. Didn't we have a revolution precisely so we wouldn't have to deal with all that rigamarole? And yet, here on the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, the airwaves are filled with the sights and sounds of a memorial service and all the gossip about who didn't show and why they didn't.Diana's death was tragic, to be sure. No

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-80324741707442196322007-08-28T09:53:00.000-04:002007-08-28T10:56:59.056-04:00

So, another family values politician has been caught with his pants down, if not quite red-handed.Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho has pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in a men's room in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. This is the kind of disorderly conduct that is sometimes described as "lewd.''According to the arresting officer, Craig sat in the stall next to his and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-67274951048171503172007-08-27T14:03:00.000-04:002007-08-28T11:01:29.671-04:00

The saint-to-be had a troubled faith and her dark night lasted for decades.This is the news from the soon-to-be published volume of her letters, "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light."She referred sometimes to Jesus as "The Absent One'' and struggled to feel the touch of God's spirit.She once wrote to a spiritual confidant, "Jesus has a very special love for you . . . [but] as for me, the silence and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-65264251039064308272007-08-23T14:19:00.000-04:002007-08-23T14:45:12.238-04:00

Word reached me today that a group of researchers at the University of Chicago has released the results of what is said to be "the first comprehensive national survey of sexual attitudes, behaviors and problems among older adults in the United States." You can read a summary of the study's findings at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20395551/site/newsweek/.Needless to say, the fact that sex is an

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-75577184023575202822007-08-21T08:54:00.000-04:002007-08-21T10:45:08.321-04:00

With the announcement that Bruce Springsteen is releasing a new album Oct. 2, we here at the Asbury Park Press are now at Defcon 4. Any rumor concerning The Boss will be run down and checked. If the past is prologue, we'll find out where he and the E Street Band are rehearsing, and I'll be sent to stand outside for hours and put my ear against an outside wall to listen to the muted tones of the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-43359765881693404242007-08-21T08:50:00.000-04:002007-08-21T10:42:37.424-04:00

That bridge, the big one with the unrealistic 35 mph speed limit? The one that garnered me a speeding ticket? Days after I was slapped by the long arm of the law, the speed limit on the span is now 50 mph.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-43494597506726086622007-08-20T10:09:00.000-04:002007-08-20T13:28:27.754-04:00

They're all in on it, from the cop on the beat to the defense attorneys and prosecutors all the way to the judge. It's a conspiracy that apparently everyone knew about but me.I was stopped for speeding a couple of weeks ago, on the downside of a brand-new bridge near where I live. The expanse is wide and traffic generally light. And the speed limit is about a sloth-like 35 mph.I explained to the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-79329558439308273802007-08-16T12:54:00.000-04:002007-08-16T13:43:41.422-04:00

There's a front page story in USA Today that states that more Americans, lured by great climate and lower prices, are seeking nursing home care in Mexico (available online at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-15-mexnursinghome_N.htmThat's all well and good as long as the residents don't have to get their daily medications by taking a whack at a pinata every morning.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-87995378488371798852007-08-15T10:01:00.000-04:002007-08-15T11:20:17.469-04:00

Every once a while in this space, someone will bring up my wife, usually with a "tsk, tsk'' practically audible in their typing fans."Does she know what is going on here in the blogosphere?'' someone will ask. Or, "Does your wife agree with your position on X, Y, Z?'' I'll read. As if I've got a whole bunch of secret views on the world that I have left my wife in the dark about for nigh onto the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-73973332042847543012007-08-14T08:43:00.000-04:002007-08-14T10:12:45.317-04:00

This week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that California ground squirrels have learned to intimidate rattlesnakes by heating their tails and shaking them aggressively. As do many strippers, as I've found in my own extensive studies.Scientists say they aren't quite sure how the squirrels heat their tails. There are no hot plates or electric socks

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-32071852737228322902007-08-13T11:07:00.000-04:002007-08-13T13:10:01.007-04:00

On the way into work this morning, I heard a couple of talk show hosts talking about some survey that claimed that nobody wants to be middle management anymore. I haven't found the survey they were talking about, but my first reaction was, "Any more???"Nobody wants to be in middle management. Even the middle managers don't want to be there. Talk about living your life in fear - that defines

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-64170759105007829932007-08-13T10:58:00.000-04:002007-08-13T13:13:05.333-04:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like every time the space shuttle goes up, stuff falls off of it? Stuff like heat shield tiles, pieces of foam and the like. And sometimes the foam falls off and knocks a few heat shield tiles off to boot.I think, how would I feel if every time I backed my car out of the driveway, parts just dropped away. (OK, bad example ... that's exactly what happens every

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-72432430566274907802007-08-10T10:12:00.000-04:002007-08-10T11:10:21.934-04:00

According to a brief item in the current issue of Atlantic Monthly, researchers from the National Institutes of Health are suggeting that life-and-death decisions for treating comatose patients might best be made by computer rather than relying on the guesses of your family as to how you might want to be treated. It's the old "pull the plug dilemma.''Of course, any reasonable person stands

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-10201402465143439632007-08-07T08:52:00.000-04:002007-08-07T09:26:14.369-04:00

A colleague here at work complimented me recently; she was amazed, she said, "at the breadth of my knowledge.''That's a nice compliment for a Monday morning, but probably because it was a Monday morning, I wasn't up for it."Oh, yeah?'' I answered. "Try being married to it for 26 years. The bloom comes off that particular rose pretty darn quickly.''I guess I do know a lot of stuff, a lot of it

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-20582662481943546292007-08-03T10:56:00.000-04:002007-08-03T12:09:41.762-04:00

I'm booming down Route 287 this morning and find myself behind a dump truck with a blue tarp flapping on top of its load. On the back of the truck, I see this warning: KEEP BACK 100 FT.OK, a little presumptuous, maybe, a certain Diana Ross diva-ness creeping into the trucking industry, I figure, but hey, there's an unnecessary warning if ever there was one. This is New Jersey and God only knows

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-16563007058462467332007-08-02T13:20:00.000-04:002007-08-02T15:53:14.984-04:00

Barack Obama's talk of invading Pakistan under certain circumstances reminds me of the time Richard Pryor shot up his wife's car. Pryor shot out one tire of the parked car....."and that vodka I was drinking said, 'Go ahead. Shoot somethin' else.' ''While it is true that Obama's view is more Bush Doctrine ("Get the terrorists and anybody who hides or supports the terrorists) than George Bush would

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-85769209267637220762007-08-01T14:31:00.000-04:002007-08-01T16:02:25.205-04:00

Indeed they are, and researchers at the University of Texas have spent five years figuring out why. They have just published their findings in the August issue of the "Archives of Sexual Behavior.'' (Renew your subscription now and they'll throw in a variety of marital aids! -- No, they won't.)I think these folks have pretty much locked up the Nobel Prize for something or other.Discovering

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-66609577580619140322007-07-31T14:31:00.000-04:002007-07-31T15:36:48.123-04:00

Just like in real life, one thing usually leads to another when you're searching for something on the Web. You find these great sites and you don't even know how you got there, or what you were originally setting out to find, especially if you tend to be like me: chimp-like and easily distracted by shiny objects.But one way or another, there you are, eventually, in a field full of lush banana

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-62005882840018545002007-07-30T10:59:00.000-04:002007-07-30T15:25:20.335-04:00

So, the wife and I had a huge fight last week. We don't have those kind of apocalyptic spats very often, maybe every five years or so, but they can be epic, especially when I combine rhetorical brilliance with an abundance of Anglo-Saxon-derived cuss words. (Believe me, there are just times when all that marriage counseling hoo-ha about how to argue just doesn't cut it.)The details here are

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-53282770736719346112007-07-26T12:02:00.000-04:002007-07-26T14:18:01.951-04:00

My column for Friday, July 27, is about time's winged chariot, about the ticking of the clock on the wall and how we approach our inevitable mortality. My mom turns 90 in October and my wife turns 50 in November.Which, to hear the Old Testament tell it, is a mere drop in the bucket. Back in the day, people lived centuries, Scripture tells us. Adam, the original ne'er-do-well, 930 years. Noah

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-35914467874771653222007-07-24T09:06:00.000-04:002007-07-24T11:08:40.015-04:00

Mornings at my house are not leisurely affairs. I left my bedroom at a pretty rapid clip this a.m. Halfway down the hallway, I realized that I had forgotten to kiss my beloved goodbye, and hurried back to buss my wife.She was smiling and waiting expectantly."Forget something?'' she said and puckered up."Hold on there a minute, hot pants,'' I said. "I notice you weren't about to chase me down the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-85749073810226681892007-07-20T11:43:00.000-04:002007-07-20T14:56:22.754-04:00

Well, I won't be in line at a book store picking up the final Harry Potter book, that's for sure. My sons never took to the young wizard and his quest. Fine with me, as long as the kids read something, I'm good.If, in fact, the boys were gaga over those books, I would carry them off in the darkness and make sure we were among the first in line.I've never been sure exactly where this yearning to

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-10720018950585426692007-07-19T14:54:00.000-04:002007-07-19T16:11:36.871-04:00

So, this morning local TV news stations were covering the eruption of Mt. Grand Central Station, the steam pipe explosion in Manhattan.One of these yo-yos was talking about panic in the streets, about how just like during 9/11, people didn't know what was happening.Not to put too fine a point on it, but on 9/11 we knew exactly what happened. There were planes sticking out of the sides of

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-8274565025515882212007-07-19T13:44:00.000-04:002007-07-19T16:09:40.273-04:00

I'm still working my way through Harry S. Stout's moral history of the Civil War, "Upon the Altar of the Nation.'' And every once in a while, you read something that gets you in the head of someone who lived over 150 years ago, and you know that the weirdness back then still exists in certain people today.Stout refers to another historian who dug up a letter from Union Private Henry Abbot to his

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-68331431428397220082007-07-18T10:35:00.000-04:002007-07-18T11:51:58.095-04:00

I'm about one-third of the way through a fascinating book by Princeton professor of religious history Harry S. Stout. "Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War'' is a door stop of a book, but it is as engaging and well written as any work of history I've read.Stout points out that one of the many things the Confederacy had against the Union was that it was founded on, quite

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-57554650444618212772007-07-17T08:40:00.000-04:002007-07-17T10:20:29.556-04:00

Pope Benedict recently took the opportunity to remind Christians everywhere that the Catholic Church is the big enchilada of Christendom. In fact, the rest of us aren't even little enchiladas, not churches at all but rather "ecclesial communities.'' We're a side of nachos. At least we still have a shot at heaven, except without all the bells and whistles.There is nothing new here and nothing to

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-49873958631607114002007-07-16T12:23:00.000-04:002007-07-16T13:46:07.820-04:00

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I was channel flipping and came across one of those little bulletins at the bottom of a 24-hour news station that reported Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said American forces can get the hell out of his country "anytime they want.''Well, that's it then, I said to myself. ''We stand down when they stand up,'' we've been told for years. And now here's the

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-91037186449733020962007-07-12T14:56:00.000-04:002007-07-12T15:20:05.484-04:00

I'm not a stupid man, nor am I a philistine. I don't have to like a work of art to "get'' it. It's the same way with popular music. I don't listen to Nirvana, for example, but when my kids brought the band's music home, I understood just what Cobain's wail in "Smells Like Teen Spirit'' was all about: the anger, self-pity, ennui and disaffection of a whole generation.Personally, I think CCR did it

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-11849730487122814172007-07-11T09:04:00.000-04:002007-07-11T11:42:27.447-04:00

Two recent studies have caused a stir in the Riley household.The July 6 issue of the journal Science reports that women do not chatter more than men. In fact, the research showed that both men and women speak 16,000 words a day."That seems strange,'' Sue said to me when I told her about the study. "You generally use 16,000 words before breakfast. In fact, you never really shut up. But I suppose

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-30293044589140433272007-07-10T13:59:00.000-04:002007-07-10T14:34:28.753-04:00

So, the mayor of Belmar got his knickers in a twist when he was mistaken for a girl while he was riding his bike with his wife. An apparently near-sighted resident in town invited "the ladies'' up to his porch for a little sunset pick-me-up.The mayor, Kenneth Pringle, should realize there are worse things than being mistaken for a babe in the eventide:A woman used to pass a pet store every day on

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-628272105849647902007-07-09T10:07:00.000-04:002007-07-09T11:45:04.508-04:00

I'm back from vacation, tanned, ready and rested, as they used to say about Richard Nixon when he would periodically come back from whatever justified obscurity he'd landed himself in.And I see that you've carried on in my absence, arguing about the existence of God and the nature of His political opinions.Let me see if I can make myself clear (although why this time should be any different is

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-53700718029031375232007-06-27T10:51:00.000-04:002007-06-27T11:18:17.767-04:00

I'll be on vacation for a few days. I hope I can trust you all to behave yourselves in my absence.There's not a person reading this blog that doesn't love America, so may your Fourth of July be filled with pride, fun and joy

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-21532452790030712852007-06-26T09:14:00.000-04:002007-06-27T11:20:40.534-04:00

Who would have thought that Mrs. Hall, my ninth grade civics teacher, was a complete moron. Here she was, teaching us that the Executive Branch included the vice president. What a fool she was! Dick Cheney certainly showed her with his assertion that he's not really a part of the Executive Branch, what with his role as tie-breaker in the Senate, and thus is exempt from presidential orders

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-84254922927375041162007-06-22T09:56:00.000-04:002007-06-22T11:22:45.298-04:00

More than 2,000 folks have applied to be guinea pigs in the European Space Agency's 520-day "Mission to Mars'' simulation, according to a recent Associated Press story. There are 12 spots open for people who want to spend a year-and-a-half in cramped quarters with bad food. (And really, how many of us want to go back to the halcyon days of dorm life? Ooh, wait, this "trip'' forbids drinking and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-90262463404700003302007-06-20T09:17:00.000-04:002007-06-20T11:29:13.960-04:00

There's a lot of "Let's you and him fight'' in this blogging stuff.I post a little something and then watch people go at each other like Sunnis and Shiites at a potluck supper.It's a sight to behold. Occasionally, there's a glancing blow to something I've said, but most of the time it's like I'm not even there.A blog posted lasted week titled "The chicken and egg of faith and politics'' has

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-67620046858038222892007-06-20T09:06:00.000-04:002007-06-20T09:56:23.230-04:00

Have you seen the video for the debut single from 65-year-old former Beatle and Wings-man Paul McCartney?It's right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNXrkBSp_oGo ahead. Take a gander. I'll wait.So, is it just me or is Sir Paul auditioning for a position in the Wiggles?Man, how the mighty have fallen.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-13578385863920408132007-06-19T10:05:00.000-04:002007-06-19T11:16:55.547-04:00

Sometimes, the commercial promo is all you need to know about a TV show and provides the reason why you will never watch it. NBC is airing a show called "Does Age Matter?'' that seeks to answer the question, "Will a beefcake-type guy go for devastatingly beautiful fortysomethings or devastating beautiful twentysomethings?''This is being touted as some grand sociological experiment, which I

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-85582449040046747232007-06-18T09:38:00.000-04:002007-06-18T12:05:29.283-04:00

Charles Webb, the guy that wrote the novel "The Graduate,'' hasn't got two nickels to rub together. This is not a case of a writter frittering away his wealth in the vain pursuit of the frivolous. He didn't drink it away or gamble it away.He gave it away.A profile of the writer and his wife "Fred'' (don't ask) appears in the current issue of Radar magazine. It's compelling reading. The author of

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-21470831968234955802007-06-14T13:07:00.000-04:002007-06-14T13:28:24.577-04:00

In a response (mostly off-point, but that's life in the big blogosphere) to yesterday's blog posting, someone named "pat'' wrote:"...what is readily apparent to any regular reader of your column and blog site... Michael Riley is a liberal first and a Christian second. ''This is, I would imagine, designed to be a particularly devastating criticism.And yet, I would make the case that it is

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com149tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-40077756535657524282007-06-13T09:26:00.000-04:002007-06-13T11:26:42.160-04:00

Sex has the unfortunate side effect of sometimes making people stupid. And not just the people engaged in its myriad permutations, but often the people who legislate it.Case in point is the Georgia legislature, which, with passionate intensity, crafted a law that has put Genarlow Wilson in the slammer for a decade-long sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. Wilson, a

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-28162417536111217872007-06-11T16:00:00.000-04:002007-06-11T16:36:21.548-04:00

My 22-year-old son, Christopher, is living and working in Portland, Maine, this summer.He called me today and was obviously shaken. Turned out he had a vision of sorts that sent an icy shiv into his spine. We Rileys are really not the "visions'' type, so I was interested in what he had to say about what could be a genuine paranormal experience, something out of Poe, Lovecraft and Bierce.This is,

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-2676272795213303102007-06-10T22:09:00.000-04:002007-06-10T22:55:36.307-04:00

WARNING: SOPRANOS FINALE SPOILERS AHEADSo, the Sopranos ended.I wasn't looking for Yeats, despite A.J's having stumbled onto that poem with its 'the center will not hold..'' and its "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity'' and its "rough beast, its hour come round at last''What I thought we'd get is some T.S. Eliot, with the world ending with a "bang'' or

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-15703332776263074542007-06-08T09:20:00.000-04:002007-06-08T10:56:36.529-04:00

I'd take a bullet. I'd give any one of them a kidney. I'd donate as much of my liver as he needed. Hell, I'd even offer my heart whole if it meant life for one of my boys.But, my God, there are limits.My 10-year-old, Sam, wants me to take him this August to the PNC Bank Arts to see song parodist "Weird'' Al Yankovic in concert. The first thought I had was "Is this guy still around? I thought he

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-1266038826421688082007-06-07T09:47:00.000-04:002007-06-07T12:19:14.403-04:00

It seems that President Bush's nominee for surgeon general is of the "Tab A fits into Slot B and there ain't any two ways about it'' school of human sexuality.James W. Holsinger, a cardiologist, wrote a paper in 1991 with the wonderfully loaded title, "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality” in which he pointed out that males and females are built to fit together in ways that two men aren't, and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-39208896718880786472007-06-06T10:40:00.000-04:002007-06-06T13:11:09.647-04:00

Every few years, it seems, there's a hue and cry in the land to make English the official language of this country.As if we Americans need more laws to make us even more arrogant.Somebody once said that if you're annoyed talking to somebody with a heavy accent you should remember that he or she is at least bilingual. Americans are almost defiantly monolingual these days."Hey,'' some seem to imply

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-44668525497892129582007-06-05T04:36:00.000-04:002007-06-05T10:08:47.733-04:00

Did you ever find out that something you learned a long time ago turned out to be not just wrong, but completely wrong -- the exact opposite of what you've always believed?I was leafing through a book with the rather pompous title "The Intellectual Devotional'' and a cover blurb, which read "365 Daily Lessons From The Seven Fields of Knowledge." (Who knew there were only seven?)One of those

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-23968214571404818152007-06-04T10:56:00.000-04:002007-06-04T12:11:38.563-04:00

Monday morning and I get my news from Good Morning America, which was promising juicy details about the "secret pact'' that Bill and Hillary made back before they were married. And I'm thinking, "Hey! Maybe this is about how Bill sealed the deal to be able to cheat on his spouse with a profligacy and abandon not seen since the days of the Old Testament monarchy. And still stay married.''Because I

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-86483101547817716452007-06-01T10:03:00.000-04:002007-06-01T10:41:26.968-04:00

Just a reminder that this Sunday night (June 3) the East Brunswick Library will present "Scars, Tatoos, and the Funny Bone: An Evening With Michael Riley.''And yes, I'm as surprised as some of you are that people would actually attend such an event. Even my wife Susan isn't all that thrilled about the prospect. Allthough, in truth, I won't be eating Cheetos in my underwear watching TV, which is

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-14353353356913936442007-05-31T09:23:00.000-04:002007-05-31T10:19:37.688-04:00

Part of the greatness of America has always been the ability of people to turn a profit by making other people more stupid than they were before they bought whatever it was that somebody was selling. From P.T. Barnum to Jell-O shots, from Ozzfest to astrology, we often pay for the privilege of going dumb.The most recent example seems to be down in Petersburg, Ky., where the Creation Museum opened

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-74574027346911292052007-05-30T10:54:00.000-04:002007-05-30T13:14:08.969-04:00

Talk all you want about the 12-20 million illegal aliens pouring across our border. The real trouble comes from the Mexicans who are staying put on their own side of the Rio Grande.Reuters reports that Mexican farmers are setting fire to their crops of blue agave and planting corn for ethanol use instead.Where's the National Guard when you really need them? This is just the kind of thing that

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-20589009220538634452007-05-30T09:00:00.000-04:002007-05-30T10:07:51.349-04:00

I preached Sunday at a church in Woodbridge. I used to do that for a living. And it's nice to get back in the saddle once in a while to see if I still have the chops for sermonizing.What was interesting to me this time was that several members of the congregation came up to me to tell me about a big-time preacher who had visited their church the week before. Getting this guy is a bit of a coup,

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-59001892198899690542007-05-29T09:13:00.000-04:002007-05-29T14:44:39.285-04:00

Turns out that time may not exist, although try explaining that to those editors so enthralled with the illusion of time that they tend to get loud and red in the face when you miss what they so charmingly refer to as "deadlines.''And when I say that "time may not exist,'' I'm not talking about some epiphany during a bong-fueled late-night bull session at the frat house.There are actual

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-65610058379999146632007-05-25T11:22:00.000-04:002007-05-25T11:39:21.499-04:00

What follows is my reaction to Whoopi Goldberg's commencement address to my son's graduating class, the Montclair State University class of 2007, as recounted in my weekly "Only Human'' column: Be the person you want to be" pretty much sums up Whoopi Goldberg's advice to my son Joshua. Ms. Goldberg was the commencement speaker at the Montclair State University graduation ceremony May 18 where

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-36281353737345315952007-05-24T13:15:00.000-04:002007-05-24T14:20:50.275-04:00

Wednesday, May 23, was my 26th wedding anniversary. It completely slipped my mind, what with work and the 50,000-mile checkup of my internal defibrillator yesterday. Forgetting anniversaries is generally frowned upon, I know. But I escaped unscathed, praise Jesus. Turns out that my wife, Sue, forgot as well. She might well have the better excuse: she sprained her back big time on Saturday and

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-39584756162909139662007-05-23T13:26:00.000-04:002007-05-24T11:28:48.906-04:00

There is, quite literally this afternoon, a song in my heart. This morning I had a visit with my electrocardiologist to get a checkup for the device they stuck in my chest five years ago when my ticker stopped and I dropped dead. I have a combination defibrillator/pacemaker inside me -- the same make and model, I understand, that VP Dick Cheney has. (And I think "Wow! If this gizmo works on a guy

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-4744512737002618532007-05-22T12:31:00.000-04:002007-05-22T13:49:38.962-04:00

Here's what the president said recently about beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "He has done nothing wrong.'' What's amazing about that sentence is you can lop off the last word and still have the sentence be absolutely true. The attorney general can fire U.S. attorneys willy-nilly for any and no reason. That's the deal that many of us "at will'' employees face. But Gonzales, judging

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22216167.post-41479939463482442962007-05-17T13:09:00.000-04:002007-05-17T15:36:45.820-04:00

I won't be in the office on Friday. I'm attending my son's graduation from Montclair State college. My joy would be wholly unadulterated were it not for the fact that the commencement speaker is Whoopi Goldberg.She's not exactly the person I want giving my child advice as he sets sail for the real world.This should be quite the affair.

Michael Rileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09086642393515318995noreply@blogger.com15