I understand that the following actually took place yesterday somewhere in New York City, according to a first-hand account I have seen (not sent directly to me so I’m not going to use the woman’s name):

A woman (as I understand it an African-American woman and a woman of faith) was on her way to lunch when she passed an apparently homeless man who wielded a sign saying, “Vote Obama, I need the money.” She laughed and entered the restaurant. Lo and behold, her waiter arrived to her table wearing an “Obama ‘08″ tie. She ate her lunch, and then, when he brought the bill, she told him that she was going to explore Barack Obama’s concept of redistribution of wealth. She said that she had decided to give his tip to someone she deemed as being more in need; that is, the homeless man outside. The waiter stood there in disbelief and then stormed off. She gave the tip to the man outside, and told him that she’d decided he could use the money more, and to thank the waiter inside.

She concluded from her experiment that redistribution of wealth is something people can swallow more easily in concept than as a practical reality. And also that redistribution of someone else’s wealth is what tends to look like such a great idea.

The woman is right, of-course. And it is one very delightful story, I must say.

Addendum 2:45 pm: Delightful story it may well be, but I’m no longer sure the woman in question was the actual protagonist, or whether she was circulating a story she had read somewhere else. Therefore take it for what it’s worth. Even as a fable it has its value, I guess. (But people had best be real careful about forwarding stories written in the first person as if they are their own.)

…

New blogger on the block (and author of Blood on the Tracks: A Novel) Tom Grasty posts on Bill Ayers the Weatherman at The Disgruntled Dylanologist. I don’t entirely buy into his point of view on Obama and Ayers, because I don’t think either man’s story is about isolated errors in judgment so much as it is about just having an entirely wrong standard of judgment, deep down. But welcome to a new voice and another Dylan fan.

…

Spengler uses his look at a new book by Natan Sharansky as a jumping off point for a typically fascinating and provocative short essay on national identity and Jewish identity.

Jews often are loath to make theological claims for their own importance, which sound megalomaniac to secular ears. But the Jews might as well resign themselves to being hanged for a sheep as well as a lamb. Except for its religious implications, the world has little use for Jewish nationhood, and considers the presence of a few million Jews in the Middle East an inconvenience at best, and a danger at worst. That is why the only true friends of the Jewish state are American and some other evangelicals, and a few leaders of the Catholic Church.

…

Bob Dylan kicks off his new tour tonight in Victoria, British Columbia. There are twenty dates scheduled, and he’ll finish in Oneonta, New York. As ever, Bill Pagel’s page has the scoop.

...................
Share this!

Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• Why you don’t need (or want) a weatherman
• Game changer?
• To Mel With It