Morgan Street

In a Nation book review John Powers writes about "All Governments Lie!": The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone, by veteran reporter Myra MacPherson. Powers writes about "I.F. Stone's Weekly" the paper Stone started in 1953:

"boasting such early subscribers as Bertrand Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. (J. Edgar Hoover read it compulsively, in order to be outraged--he downed Stone's words like Red Bull.)"

I often wonder if the Pope political empire is located along Morgan Street so that the name Morgan can act "like Red Bull" to the many Pope operatives, a constant reminder to eschew bi-partisanship and to persist in divisiveness with renewed vigor.

It surrounds them on street signs and in bold letters at the entrance to the building housing the John Locke Foundation as they zealously undermine the foundations of democratic society.

When Rudy came to town for "ConservaFest2007" there were special arrangements to close the "left lane".

Further down Morgan Street some protozoal members of the Flat Earth Society meet every month over flat bread. The Wake County Young Republicans convene at a pizza restaurant located where cars are parked in the "right lane".

They find themselves at a crossroads, literally and figuratively. They are part of a party with a platform that would exclude some of them. Perhaps they think they can change the party from within but there are powerful forces dragging them to the far right. Perhaps that is why they meet at the junction of Morgan and Boylan.

Let me end by bringing us back to Power's review of Stone:

Reading all this, I realized that were he working today, Stone would be the greatest blogger who ever lived. Not only would the guy be indefatigable--linking everything crucial--he wouldn't be content with commenting on other people's work the way nearly all our bloggers do (yes, I know there are exceptions). He'd escape the meta-media hothouse by going out and reporting--uncovering new facts that other people could link and comment on. And he'd tie all this together with a rich sense of how such facts fit in to the way people actually live, beyond ephemeral pop moments.

Looks like I have some more summer reading - and reporting - to do.