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History doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes.

I don't know who said that. It was a brief soundclip in a promotional spot for NPR's All Things Considered.

I also don't know who uttered one of my favorite quotes ever. It came to mind again when I heard about the Mel "I am not a bigot" Gibson anti-Semitic tirade during his drunk driving arrest.

Years ago, a stand-up comic on some Comedy Central show made perhaps the singlemost brilliant social observation I have ever heard. Racism and bigotry and prejudice are the stupidest, most imcomprehensible things in the world, he said, "especially when you consider all of the perfectly legitimate reasons to dislike people on an individual basis!"

I don't know about you but it has been my experience that Jews (or blacks or Hispanics or whatever minority you want to pick) are assholes in about the same proportion that you'll find in the population as a whole.

So you see, Mel? You don't have to hate someone because he's a Jew. That's silly. Hate him because he's an asshole. But be careful, to hate all assholes it sounds like there's going to be a lot of self-loathing involved.

I recently installed a StatCounter on this blog and found, much to my surprise, that as many as a half-dozen people visit a day. OK, so on some days it's the same person coming back six times but I happen to think loyalty is a virtue.

If you're one of the few, I'm one of the proud that you're here. Sorry I haven't contributed more lately.