Book: Picked up a paperback version of "The Bible's Greatest Stories" [so no psalms, proverbs, prophetic literature, epistles], a Signet Classics compilation put together and translated into modern language by Paul Roche. Roche’s comments about the importance of keeping the flavor of the original in translations was a good point – it amazes me really how some manage to make translations of Latin, Greek, and so forth sound so poetic. After all, recall how one is supposed to read the Koran in its original language.
Overall, the Bible is great literature – it is basically a shame that so many twisted its meanings so much over the years. Roche adds some explanatory comments throughout, which also adds to the reading. If anything, and this includes those who believe the Bible is the Word of God, reading the book without such understanding is counterproductive.
TV: I finally (via C-SPAN, which complained about bootleg copies ... surely not a usual problem) watched the whole Stephen Colbert speech at the White House Correspondents' dinner. The blogosphere discussed the issue of the speech not getting proper respect, including Richard Cohen's whining about how it was mean and so forth. Let me just comment on the content. It was pretty funny, but went too long.
The last five or so minutes was a faux audition tape for press secretary ending with a dragged out bit of him being chased by the grand dame of the press corps, who challenged him on why Bush fought the war (a take-off on an actual question, which the decider bungled). My overall sentiment is that it takes guts to in effect do a "screw you" to the POTUS basically to his face. [The whole thing was done in his Bill O'Reilly-esque pro-Bush persona.]
Anyway, I find The Daily Show a bit pretentious, but I did catch a few bits of Colbert's own show. Tell you what -- it is hilarious, if perhaps something that might get old after awhile (like basketball, a few excerpts will do the trick). Going back to blogosphere talk (well the left side, at least), it does draw blood. One bit from the routine that he apparently uses on the show was the news is what one gets at press conferences.
A take-off on the "press as transcribers" criticism. At the dinner, he said investigative reporting was a waste of time, and mostly just promotes depressing stuff. The reporters should just listen to what is said at press conferences, write it down, and spend time writing about courageous reporters ... you know, fiction. That was the ultimate pleasure many had with Colbert -- he did not let the "official line" rule, which the White House Correspondent dinner tends to do. Everyone was there -- the Bushs, Scalia, the Plames, etc.
So, let's not rock the boat -- let's show nothing really bad has happened. You know, like Joe Torre and Willie Randolph doing a Subways commercial after the Subway Series. Let's have a cute impersonator of Bush on the stage with bits about how hot Laura is. (She killed someone as a teenager. Imagine if HC did that, hmm?) Let's honor how indie McCain is. The left's favorite Republican! (Doonesbury had a bit about this in '04.)
Let's not. Rohe did not. That is Jean Rohe, who showed up Sen. McCain's attempt to use a speech at her graduation for (at least in part) political reasons. Reasons that suggest why he was booed a bit, selective denunciation by the Right aside. Rohe and others clearly have drawn blood of late re "straight talk express" boy, even given some naysayers.
Stay on message.