Thanks, Joel -- I Needed That

An interesting piece by Palm Beach Post columnist Joel Engelhardt PRAISING violent video games. Finally, someone other than Larry Flynt who is unafraid to speak truth to puritan lunacy, though forcing one's kids to watch "In Cold Blood" as a Niebuhrian reminder of life's dark passions reminds me a bit of Alexander Cockburn's odd memory of needing comfort in a moment of distress and having his father, Claud, hand him a copy of Marx -- and I don't mean Groucho. ("'When all seems dark,' my father, Claud, used to say when I was a teenager, 'try reading a little Marx. It puts things in perspective.' As I'd mope over the defection of some girlfriend, he'd thrust a copy of the Eighteenth Brumaire into my hand and tell me to cheer up.")

Yes, kids grow up faster nowadays. That's not a bad thing.