Yizkor/Arafat/

For Yizkor

great article Jan 29 2007 issue of Weekly Standard by Joseph Epstein.
Kid turns 790 and no one cares.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/187mcmga.asp
Here is a piece of it

Schopenhauer holds that the chief element in old age is disillusionment. According to this dourest of all philosophers, at 70 we have, if we are at all sentient, realized "that there is very little behind most of the things desired and most of the pleasures hoped for; and we have gradually gained an insight into the great poverty and hollowness of our whole existence. Only when we are seventy do we thoroughly understand the first verse of Ecclesiastes." And yet, even for those of us who like to think ourselves close to illusionless, happiness keeps breaking through, fresh illusions arrive to replace defunct ones, and the game goes on.



By the way, in the same issue, my friend Scott Johnson of the great blog Powerline, wrote this piece, well worth reading
How Arafat Got Away with Murder
The State Department covered up his responsibility for the 1973 slaughter of two American diplomats.
by Scott W. Johnson

http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/013/192ioiwy.