Pinter always had serious mental problems. Anyone who sits through more than 2 of his plays will also have serious mental problems.

Both of those so-called poems were ridiculous. If they are any indication of his "talent," I think that I'll pass on his other work. Any semi-literate, angst-filled 8th grader could come up with that kind of trash.

BTW, when did any collection of words strung together become "poetry?"

I noticed that Pinter opposed our invasion of Afghanistan. Great.

Like Arthur Miller's subliminal pro-communist tripe in our schools today, the socialist Euro-trash are probably going to make it a mandate that all kids read Pinter's shit in high schools throughout the E.U.

Wikipedia had this interesting tidbit in their Miller entry:

[In 1985, Miller visited Turkey and was honored at the American embassy. After his traveling companion Harold Pinter was thrown out of the country for discussing torture, Miller left in support.]

Douchebags alike.

It's funny you mention Arthur Miller. When i was in High school (Oh so long ago) and was exposed to "Death Of a Salesman" I thought it was pretty good, but I completely did not identify with the Moral of the story.
I understand that Miller was trying to say that Willie Loman raised his kids wrong, teaching them to rely on their looks, charisma, and contacts to get by, rather than any real ability.
However, even at that age I could see that if you have looks, charisma, and contacts, thats a winning strategy. Certainly it pays off much more often than a plain looking person from the wrong side of the tracks working their ass off.

Hey Raygun,

Whose torture do you think they were discussing? Ours or Turkey's and when did you become a big supporter of torture? I agree Ray the world would be a far more interesting place if all the novelists, playwrights, painters and others that find fault with America were not studied in our schools. Then you could just sit there and stare out the window contemplating the oxymoron of your existence and intelligent design.

Annika- consider the “left’s” template like this: do you think it is a defect of imagination that causes gun manufactures to all make their bullets cylindrical?

No offense there Mr. Strawman but your parallel between the Left's template and gun manufacturers' use of cylindrical bullets is some pretty weak shit. I've come to expect a little better rhetoric from you. Next time maybe....

For the record, Annie, the Nobel in 2001 went to V.S. Naipaul, who is about as right-wing as you can get and still be published in English letters. The Nobel committee has made some mystifying choices and overlooked worthies (I am pulling for Doris Lessing or Phillip Roth), but it doesn't invariably skew left.

Mike,

I don't believe Reagan was attempting to make a point about torture; by my reading, he was simply pointing out that, in line with his expectations, Miller and Pinter were friends.

Right, Reagan?

Correct, Matt.

Instead of closing with "douchebags alike", maybe I should have said "birds of a feather...." instead.

Kyle:

I had to read The Crucible in high school AND college. I had to learn and write papers about the evils of Joe McCarthy and anti-communist Republicans twice. Fuck Miller I say.

Strawman:

You misunderstood me. I never supported torture, and I'm not a big fan of the Turks either. As Matt said, I was just pointing out the "guilt by association".

"I agree Ray the world would be a far more interesting place if all the novelists, playwrights, painters and others THAT FIND FAULT WITH AMERICA were not studied in our schools."

It would be a nice change if there were more books that pointed out the goodness of our country instead of constantly shoveling self-hating American Leftist literature into the classrooms of future generations of our citizens.

Most of my American history courses in college were devoted to telling us how awful we were to the Native Americans, Mexicans, blacks, and women. Besides The Crucible, my literature instructor also threw in some anti-war satirical short story(W.D. Howells' "Editha") about the Spanish-American War a month before the conflict in Iraq began. I've had it with the liberal bully pulpit crap.

Intelligent Design? I wonder how you would have felt about Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mike? She was a Republican and a Bible-thumper. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, she cited the Lord's name often when making her case against slavery. Almost every character in that book was devoutly religious and PRAYED often except Simon Legree and the slave traders. Does this book's apparent church/state violation in our schools make your skin crawl?

If not, would you be comfortable if Stowe were alive today to write a fictional book with strong Christian influences that espoused the abolition of abortion AND if that book were required reading at public schools?

Birds of a feather flock together.
Douchebags alike... uh... take a hike? Ride a bike? Wanna be like Mike?

"Most of my American history courses in college were devoted to telling us how awful we were"

i think its funny that my professors tried so hard to turn me into a liberal, and look what happened.

Nice rhymes, Annika.

I'm grateful that people like you and the other Bear Flag Leaguers could resist the overwhelming influence of the Left on the West Coast during your formative years.

Funny you say that Annika, I am currently getting a second degree in History, and it seems that the dark times (at least at my university) are on the wane, By that I mean that most of the courses are very reasoned and make claims only that are backed up with copious research. That is not to say most of the proffs arn't lefties, they are, But they are not far out foaming at the mouth moonbats.

Madonna says we're all going to hell if we don't stop our wicked behavior. Bad poetry and eternal damnation, what next?

I so agree with you on Pinter. I still propose a mass exodus (with blessings) of the anti-American populous at large.

You are my idol.

Dave