George Thomas Clark

Rev. Al Sharpton in the Pulpit

July 3, 2007

Later on we’ll talk about Al Sharpton the bold political activist and brazen race baiter, the man who strives to build communities and the one who’s addicted to public controversy.  Right now it’s Sunday morning and none of that matters.  Reverend Al has come to Bakersfield and is somewhere in the church.  The pews are…

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Breaking the Fast of Ramadan

October 25, 2006

Dawn till dusk Ramadan adherents forsake food, drink, sex, and destructive behavior to “cleanse bodies and souls, empathize with less fortunate, embrace self-purity and self-restraint, cut themselves off from worldly conflicts, and focus on purpose of life by constantly being aware of God.” Month of rigor ends with consumption of dates followed by feast. Afterward…

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The Most Difficult Choice

June 13, 2006

Only yesterday did I realize how harsh and mistrusting I’d been.  Only then did I understand I should have helped in December 2004 when I received an urgent email from Mrs. Rita Savimbi, wife of heroic Angolan revolutionary and guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi.  The erudite Mr. Savimbi, who lyrically spoke seven languages, dedicated forty years…

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Fantasizing on Highway 99

April 26, 2005

Pretty soon you’ve got to drive from Bakersfield to Sacramento.  You are, of course, thankful you don’t have to start further south in Los Angeles and thus crawl up and down scorched and barren mountains that separate the city of glamour and poverty from the rest of the state.  Your journey, instead, will take you…

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Letter to Holocaust Deniers

February 6, 2005

A few days ago I received several e-mails from a group that says it didn’t happen. To the RePorter NoteBook: Your insinuations and assertions that the Holocaust never happened are preposterous and insulting, and your general explanation of how the ruse was pulled off is pitiful: Americans in the conquered West and Russians in the occupied East lied about the…

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Navigating the Amazonian Universe

November 19, 2003

“Find Hitler Here,” I said to the computer expert. “It’s right there,” he said. “Not the old, out-of-print edition with the swastika on the cover. The current edition, with Hitler’s menacing portrait on the cover, the one you designed.” The expert, who in his living room has two monitors as large as respectable television screens…

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