I saw reports this week about former Florida Governor John Ellis “Jeb” Bush thinking about taking his rightful place running for President of the United States in 2016. As Lawrence Welk might be saying from up above, “wunnerful, wunnerful!” Nothing more to say right now about another Bush in the White House—really—but I did enjoy Frank Bruni’s piece, Fathers, Sons and the Presidency, from the 10/25 New York Times. Never mind tax returns and medical exams; we need a psych exam on anyone polling above 5% in the primaries.

And speaking of presidents, The American Conservative posted Obama is a Republican on October 21. Bruce Bartlett wrote the piece. He advised Ronald Reagan and served in the Treasury Department

Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee died on Tuesday afternoon at his home in Washington. He was 93.

Many people tell us:  “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Mr. Bradlee was blessed in many ways, and he delivered, and then some! I never met this journalistic giant, but I rely on good friends who knew him well for confirmation that I missed out, big time!

Having contact with charismatic people is one of life’s guilty pleasures. We don’t talk about those situations, to avoid pomposity or self-aggrandizement, but we know they’re special circumstances. I’m blessed to have some contact with charisma—albeit on a smaller stage—and think I know how hard such a loss must be for those in

In have a theory about time, which may explain why it seems to pass ever more quickly as I age. The theory? On my fifth birthday I’d been alive for 261 weeks; fifty years later 2870 weeks had passed. Simply, as a percentage of my life which has passed, some 50 years ago a week was a big deal, and now I suspect my calculator will require scientific notation to express a week as a percentage of my life. Bottom line? It’s harder and harder to lift my backside out of a chair, and the weeks are flying by!!!

Joe Pinsker wrote The Psychology behind Costco’s Free Samples for The Atlantic on October 1. Truthfully, don’t you sometimes drop by

It’s Coming Around Again is how I feel every Tuesday, as The Wednesday Curator comes around again. So, as you read the post, enjoy Carly Simon, one of my major crushes.

For reasonable people it seems like the same-sex marriage battle is over. Here’s Garrett Epps for The Atlantic with The Same-Sex Marriage Fight is Over on Monday, October 6. Alas, we do still have Senator Ted Cruz, (R-Tex.). Here’s a report, titled Ted Cruz:  We Must Amend U.S. Constitution to Defend Marriage, from Time on October 6, by Nolan Feeney. Knock yourself out, Senator; as long as you’re busy tilting at windmills, you’ll matter less on those issues where you might matter more! (One frequent Mark Rubin

Thirteen more Wednesdays—after this one—in 2014, and we’ll end the year with a Wednesday Curator special on New Year’s Eve (Wednesday, December 31, 2014). For this week I’m mostly going through the curator’s attic. Too many pieces I tagged that I haven’t shared yet.

I struggle most of all about what I’m ignoring. And those subjects are? Climate change, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and guns. So Rebecca Solnit’s post for tomdispatch.com, at Salon on September 21, The Politics of Pretending are Killing Us really resonated. Now, Paul Krugman thinks climate may be cheap or even free, and he speaks his mind in Errors and Omissions in the New York Times on September 18. Even Mr. Krugman, though, would surely agree

Let’s start with How Gary Hart’s Downfall Forever Changed American Politics by Matt Bai, written for the September 22 New York Time magazine. This is an exceptional piece of reporting/writing about one of the exceptional figures from the last 25 years of the last century. Definitely worth your time!

For political junkies, there’s also been lots of news out of Kansas in the U.S. Senate race. Senator Pat Roberts, the incumbent Republican whose time has probably passed, was barely beating the D and the I in a three-man race. The D pulled out of the race and asked that his name be removed from the ballot, the Secretary of State claimed his letter didn’t say “pretty please” in quite the

Let’s cut right to the quick. Here’s 9 Habits That Lead to Terrible Decisions, written for the HBR (Harvard Business Review) Blog Report by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman on September 1. No fessing up from me!

Check out The Obamacare Apocalypse from The Daily Show on September 11. Especially great? The speedy and basically silent departure of Betsy McCaughey, health care tool and liar extraordinaire!

For reasons unknown—I mean, why would anyone be focused on Iraq right now?—The Atlantic reposted a piece by James Fallows, an exceptionally talented journalist, titled Blind into Baghdad. It is dated January 1, 2004, it’s very long, and it’s definitely worth reading. I fear we’re on the march

When it comes to Mark Rubin Writes, the two comments I get most often are “when do you find the time” and “I can’t keep up.” In fact, less than 24 hours ago I got the second comment from someone very close to me, who said “maybe you shouldn’t write so often.” On that one I responded (to her and, by posting here, to all of you all):

Read what you want/have time to read. There’s no quiz or test!

And on the first point—and yes, it is Wednesday, and I am in curator mode—I don’t sleep much. Which is why I related to The Benefits of Lucid Dreaming by The Wall Street Journal online from 8/12. Interesting stuff, and

Welcome to the 30th edition of The Wednesday Curator!

I rarely write about the Middle East. Lots of emotions are bound up in any exchange, and I truly believe regular people don’t/can’t know what’s really going on, any more than we can know what’s really going on here in the United States. So it’s with a high degree of wariness that I share The End of Liberal Zionism by Antony Lerman, published in the New York Times on August 22. Mr. Lerman’s provocative piece raises hard questions, not to be considered in the midst of a war but soon after, and for a while. Again, I claim limited knowledge, truly, but I know the status quo cannot be sustained,

It’s the last Wednesday of summer—if summer is the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day—and the Curator wants to know, “Where did it go?” Hard to believe the kids are back in school, and that summer can only justify one more “I’m slipping out at 4 on Friday.”

Speaking of school, here’s a piece from NPR.com, A Picture of Language:  The Fading Art of Diagramming Sentences, by Juana Summers. TBT, I can’t diagram a sentence to save my life. Honors English all through junior high and high school, and I never learned the skill. I also have no easy time with identifying various parts of a sentence, and many “sentences” in my first year of college included