Quote of the Day/Week- Christopher Hitchens

On Dec. 15, 2011, the world lost a very vocal person who everyone likely either agreed or disagreed with at one point or another irregardless of where one stands in the political landscape. That was very vocal person was renown essayist/intellectual/pundit/culture critic Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011).

This month, we are quoting famous people who died in 2011. And, we start with a controversial figure as we did with Dr. Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011) on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Hitchens was perhaps most known for being one of the world's leading atheists, and in the process, he outraged Christians, Muslims, Jews and even Hindus and Buddhists alike. Other atheists and many secularists were also uneasy about Hitchens' outright disdain for religion which he articulated in his book "God is not Great" (2007).

Though Hitchens was not only liberal, but even a Marxist in his younger years where he gained prominence for covering the war between Turkey and Greece over the island nation of Cyprus as a young journalist in 1974, he did end up supporting many neo-conservative causes, most notably the War in Iraq.

But, where exactly Hitchens stood politically or philosophically at the time of his death age 62 may still be a source of debate. Interestingly enough, he supported Ralph Nader (2000), George W. Bush (2004) and Barack Obama (2008) in the last three American presidential elections. Many perceive that Hitchens went from left to right, but there is some dispute to that because he was an ironic supporter of British conservative Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher, also known as "The Iron Lady," in many areas, including the UK's highly controversial war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

Hitchens would disagree with liberal atheist Bill Maher, whom he was reportedly close friends with, over the War in Iraq, yet he would also argue with the likes of Sean Hannity on the right about the existence of God. He was also critical of both the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and Noam Chomsky. In his lifetime, Hitchens' work took him to 60 countries, including North Korea.

Here is his quote from "God is not Great," these are the views of the late essayist, and they do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog:

"Religion is man-made. Even the men who made it cannot agree on what their prophets or redeemers or gurus actually said or did."

Status Update_ I Finished the Millenium Triology

I have ineeed finally finished the late Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology, which included "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl who Played with Fire" and "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Test." I not only read the three novels, but I saw their film versions as well. In both mediums, "Dragon Tattoo" seemed to work the best.

SIDEBAR ONE: We have to wonder if the far right-wing talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity will be coining the ridicilous term jihadist mango as Pakistani mangoes will now be available in American supermarkets, according to the NPR show "The World."

SIDEBAR TWO: Perhaps, this is a sign of the times, but while reading an article about a new book on the thriving '70s Scandanavian porn industry, but Danish 'actress' Louise Frevert is now a spokesperson for a far right group!

CLARIFICATION: We forgot to mention that with the $70 roast lamb dish at the Washington, DC, restaurant we talked about, you get the whole lamb!

Images of Virginia (5 of 10) Monticello

Monticello in Charlottesville was the home of our third president Thomas Jefferson, who was (of course) also known for writing The Declaration of Independence. He is thus one of the few Democratic presidents that a right-wing, fringe lunatic like talk show host Sean Hannity admires.......well, that is a presumption.


I have fond memories for a trip not taken to Monticello back in high school. I was supposed to get up at the crack of dawn for the excursion. I didn't make it:) To date, even though I have been to Charlottesville many, many times, I have yet to see this landmark home.