Subject: Mind My Dust
Re: "Jurisprudence: Habeas Corpses"
From: The Bell
Date: FriMar 15  11:29 a.m. PT

The state—acting as the agent for the whole of society—deserves the final word on the disposal of any corpse because, in the end, it will inherit the ultimate stewardship that temporarily passed at the time of death to the next of kin. … That which is essential and eternal is already supposed to have moved on—ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Who owns the dust? Who owns the grass? ... Whatever happens to me after my death remains the ultimate mystery. However, I retain at least one sense of immortality in knowing that, given the constancy of human bureaucracy, someday in the future the state will be erecting signs somewhere admonishing the living not to walk on my hair.

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Subject: Big Con
Re: "Press Box: Who Duped Slate?"
From: James J. Cramer, director and co-founder, TheStreet.com
Date: Wed Mar 13  11:26 a.m. PT

Congratulations to Jack Shafer for being persistent enough to try to bring "Robert Klinger" to press justice. Ravi Desai, the alleged perpetrator, relies on elaborate ruses, snottiness, outrage, and cunning to game the system in a way that would have made him a shrewd executive assistant to Ken Lay or Jeff Skilling. It is a shame: If the alleged perpetrator were to work for the CIA, his fantastic charades and ruses might be put to excellent use. The man has distinctly missed his calling. I await for him to resurface as someone else shortly. My hope is that when he does, Jack's work will, at last, stop the endless game of impersonation.

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Subject: Shared Interests
Re: "Foreigners: Did 9/11 Snuff the European Left?"
From: Joseph Britt
Date: Tue Mar 19  10:13 a.m. PT

Many Americans get way too excited about anti-American pieces that appear in British and European newspapers and miss this crucial point. Europe is not the Muslim world; voters there do not reflexively blame their countries' problems and failings on the United States, and sooner or later will hold their governing class accountable for how effectively it promotes their interests in security and economic growth. Those interests are entirely compatible with ours, which means that official anti-Americanism in Europe is neither sensible nor sustainable.

[Find this post here.]

Subject: The Impossible Issue

Re:  "Chatterbox: Slavery Reparations—Con or Meme?"

From: Thrasymachus

Date: Wed Mar 13 10:21 p.m. PT