Isn’t it just like the New York Times to get on the story about how hip Brooklyn is — about 8 years after the fact — and then almost immediately publish a column that says that if you still think Brooklyn is hip, don’t you know everyone is so over that?

It is a cute column and the author tries so hard to establish his cred, mentioning Brooklyn celebs like Spike Lee and Norman Mailer despite never having met them.

Which reminds me that I turned Norman Mailer down.  Or at least his assistant.  In the early ’90s while in college I put up flyers all around Brooklyn Heights offering to type resumes and term papers, as well as do transcription.  Mailer’s assistant called me up and said that I could transcribe his tapes, because that was a part of his process of writing.  He would not pay more than $1.50/page.

I turned it down considering that it can easily take an hour to transcribe 6 pages if the person is mumbling, and knowing that Mailer wrote his books “by the pound”.  I am so cool. 

Next up:  How I almost ran down Susan Sarandon and her kids in my 1983 Toyota Corolla.  It is riveting.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) went to Iraq, came back to his constituents and told a war story about how he wanted to go to the Green Zone gym and was turned away by a “two-bit security guard”.  That would be, of course, a servicemember or contractor who has spent months in a war zone away from their family. 

I am not proud to say the following words: 

This reminds me of an old JAG episode.

Yes, my secret vice.  Right up there with The Love Boat or Fantasy Island.  I do not own the DVDs. 

The episode, This Just In From Baghdad, featured a Department of Defense official who wants to play weekend warrior and winds up being a burden on the soldiers and gets in the way of the mission.  In the end he panics and runs out into the open, where he is gunned down by sniper fire.

In the real world, Rep. McHenry is not gunned down and has pretty much the lamest war story I have ever heard. 

[I first saw the video on kimbaland. and followed her advice to tell McHenry that he is a two-bit Representative.]

In the past few weeks, the Navy Times has had an online ad with the teaser, “As a Christian in the Armed Forces, What Does Active Duty Mean to You?”  I found it provocative, probably because I’ve been reading about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. 

MRFF has not been able to convince the courts that there is a systemic DoD-condoned problem of religious intolerance but I can see why MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein believes that evangelicals are trying to “take over” the armed forces.  It is an understatement to say that Weinstein, a former Air Force JAG, is a grandstander who can make his critics sound reasonable. On the other hand, there is no dispute that chaplains are only authorized to provide spiritual guidance and are not allowed to prosyletize and that some have disobeyed their orders.

It turns out that the ad is for a school that trains veterans — not active duty servicemembers — to become missionaries.  Judging from their website, high-caliber weapons are apparently helpful in the program when the Bible is not enough.