-
Stein Loses Meagher
June 14, 2013 | 15 comments
-
Inside the Gates of Eden
June 3, 2013 | 29 comments
-
Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby Is Tops
May 28, 2013 | 45 comments
-
From the Obama Ministry of Truth
May 21, 2013 | 69 comments
-
Alan Abelson, RIP
May 10, 2013 | 20 comments
Ben Stein's Diary
Late July
Sandpoint, Idaho, was never more glorious than this past summer.
(Page 2 of 2)
Saturday
SHOPPING. My wife was not feeling
well, so Phil and I went to buy furniture for my new condo up here.
I hate furniture shopping so I do it really, really fast. I have
full confidence in Sandpoint Furniture, the local store, to have
great beds at great prices, so I just lay on three beds, found the
one I liked best, and bought it.
Then, across the street to the local J.C. Penney to buy linens. As I looked at pillowcases, two adorable little girls were studying super high-heeled shoes with platforms. It was so cute. The heels were almost as tall as the girls. It was like a setting for a Norman Rockwell painting. The girls got all excited when they heard me talking to the saleswoman and presented me with two wrinkled scraps of paper to autograph.
I noticed that one of the girls had a really professional eye makeup job on her little face. “Hold on,” I wanted to say to her. “You don’t need to grow up so fast. You spend a lot of time being old and only a little time being young. Enjoy it.”
I have to be honest here. I think that one of the characters in one of the best movies ever made, The Last Picture Show, said something like that. It’s not original with me. By the way, Midland, where we just buried the immortal Barbara Duke, reminds me of The Last Picture Show. I find Texas extremely evocative everywhere, but West Texas is magical. I feel as if I could have been a stronger man there, though that’s probably wrong.
Then off to a sport shop to buy a bike for Phil. He is not happy with the used miserable bike I lend him, so he wants his own bike, and why not? We found him one he loved, made conversation with a lady biker who was riding the Selkirk Loop, a biking train I consider immensely trying, and then went back to home.
Rest, and then a rapid trip on my mighty Cobalt across the top of the lake to Bottle Bay. It was too crowded and I didn’t really enjoy it. Back to rest and watch Will Ferrell, shower, and then to bed. I don’t feel well.
Sunday
WOW, THIS IS A HOT DAY. Phil talked
me into an insanely long bike ride along a bike path paralleling
Highway 2 and then we rode through the leafy west side where Tommy
and I used to rent a home all summer long. We passed a shaded yard
where a mom played with her small daughter. The daughter had
flaming red hair. Her hair and the leaves and the grass and the
swing set were a perfect tableau. The mother seemed so utterly
at ease talking to me about the hair colors in her family. It all
looked so wonderfully safe, I felt I had to take a picture, to try
to capture it. To shroud it in amber.
Far, far from Capitol Hill. Far from Kandahar. Far from Oslo.
Then a nap and then a ride up to Priest Lake. I stopped in Priest River at my new favorite store, Mitchell’s, and bought tea. That store has ultra-friendly people. So does the Safeway in Sandpoint. The people are the main attraction here. Why are the people here so friendly? Why are they so totally, utterly different from the scared, scary suspicious, cagey people in Beverly Hills? Why? Why are they so incomparably more friendly than the customers at the Watergate Safeway? (N.B. The clerks at the Watergate Safeway are perfect.)
We got up to Hill’s Resort, took the Thompson out on the lake with the help of my pal and first mate, Tim Farmin, and raced north. It was incredibly beautiful. Pristine mountains, calm, balmy water and air, very little wake, and the smell of barbecuing spare ribs in the distance calling us into port. That Thompson is too small, though. I think I may need a new boat—a new, used, bigger boat—to keep at Priest. That’s my fantasy, anyway.
I have a lot of fantasies when I am in North Idaho.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Ben Stein
More Articles From Ben Stein's Diary
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/10/03/late-july
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- A World Turned Right Side Up
- The Continuing Crisis
- His Reach Exceeded His Grasp
The Spectacle Blog
Democrat Dan Maffei Blames Budget Cuts for Girl’s Rape, Mother’s Murder
Robert Stacy McCain | 4:12PM
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Douglas Fletcher | 10.3.11 @ 7:06AM
Ben, burying his head in the sandpoint.
Herb| 10.3.11 @ 8:51AM
At first I was appalled at Ben's lack of umbrage at his rotten treatment by the two flight attendants. Asking them their names and informing them that a formal complaint will follow would seem the logical response.
But then, post 9-11 passengers have become prisoners of the flight crews' every whim. A cross word from Ben might have triggered "Unruly passenger! Turn the plane around! Nobody leaves their seat! Call the Feds!"
Farfetched?
Denver Todd| 10.3.11 @ 10:40AM
Sometimes redemption or forgiveness is a better choice. Everyone has a bad day. Nobody should fear for their jobs when they have one.
Occam's Tool| 10.3.11 @ 11:48AM
The stewardesses may be TAS readers, pissed off at his raise taxes mantra.
I despise flying.
Occam's Tool| 10.3.11 @ 11:49AM
By the way, Ben---loweing taxes did raise revenue. Spending went up even faster.
Dr. Harrington| 10.3.11 @ 8:51AM
Ben's petty ramblings are sounding more and more like dementia. Time for TAS to "retire" him.
Anthony| 10.3.11 @ 9:08AM
I quite agree Dr. If only we can get RET to give Stein the same treatment as the flight attendants did.
Gee Ben, it's an unsavory world out there, perhaps private air travel is more your cup of elitist tea. No need to deal with the hoi polli and nasty flight attendants who don't appreciate you as much as we do here at TAS.
No doubt you got the best of these nasty beasts by refusing to give them autographs. Serves them right!!
Dan Hirsch| 10.3.11 @ 10:54AM
So nice to hear from an economist who cannot conceive of a condition wherein a sale, i.e. reduced price, does not result in a net increase in total revenue because the percentage increase in the number of sales is bigger than the percentage decrease in unit price.
Too hard for you, ol' Bennyboy? Try it like this, if I give a 10% price discount and my sales go up 100% (they double), will my revenue be bigger or smaller? My revenue will go up by 90%.
What does this have to do with supply-side you ask? Well if I give everybody a 10% income tax cut, and twice as many people start earning, the tax revenue WILL go up by 90%. Get it yet, ol Ben?
Ben always works hard to sound so normal. He's finally convinced me that he is normal, which in this country means oblivious to the fundamental laws of economics, mathematics, and reason.
Couldn't we get somebody else to report on their occasional traipse amongst us little people experiencing Americana with too much wealth and too little sense? Please! We really have too may know-nothings talking already.
DTOM
Dave| 10.3.11 @ 11:00AM
Yeah Ben, those crazy, irresponsible supply-siders really got it wrong, Reagan the worst among them!
Hey Ben, you're a whiny, not-so-bright, not-so-interesting writer. I'm done wasting my time reading your clueless complaining.
bill glass| 10.3.11 @ 11:49AM
Getting their names and such would make it easy to file a complaint - at least a friendly letter to let their bosses know about it... they'd want to know.
Anita| 10.3.11 @ 12:18PM
Within the next year and a half I will be losing my job. I will turn 65 and have to have for supplemental plans for Medicare and pay for them. I will also probably be losing my house.
Be nice to have a Sandpoint to go to.
Intelligent Design| 10.3.11 @ 2:57PM
Nice report from Idaho. Now here is a sample of what's happening in the world:
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has the right idea, re cutting funds to the UN and the Palestinian/Hamas coalition. Taxpayers' money is supporting terrorists who want to kill Jews, destroy Israel, and destroy the United States.
The U.S. Congress should cut off aid to the Palestinian/Hamas coalition, and defund the UN program called UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). If it doesn't, then American taxpayers will continue to fund terrorists.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is in Israel today, pressuring Israel to make concessions to terrorists, warning Israel not to attack Iran, and telling Israel that Obama opposes withholding American taxpayers' funds from the PA (the PA-Hamas, terrorist coalition). Per the Zionist Organization of America's Fall 2011 Report, the PA receives hundreds of millions of dollars per year from U.S. taxpayers.
So Obama is making a very deliberate decision to fund terrorism. Repeat: The President of the United States is giving our money to terrorists, also known as the ENEMY. When is Congress going to impeach Obama?
Junius| 10.3.11 @ 6:17PM
What ole' Ben forgot to mention is that the real reason the flight attendent was surly is because Ben was wearing his pants down low - gangbanger style! A major no no when flying Southwest.
Shill Watch| 10.3.11 @ 7:08PM
Stop spending our money and stay at home. Do the people of Idaho a favor.
Boston12GS| 10.3.11 @ 11:30PM
Still advocating raising the costs of job creation on the "millionaires and billionaires" of American society?
Huge fan of your Ferris Bueller spot. But that was a long, long time ago.
Enjoy your wife and dogs, and live a long and happy life. You are blessed with fortune.
For all other purposes, please go away. My family and I don't enjoy your lifestyle, and actually need jobs--jobs that will almost certainly be financed by the "rich" you so desperately want to tax further, and not by the "poor" trust fund babies blockading the Brooklyn Bridge and striking out at police officers.
Bob K.| 10.3.11 @ 11:56PM
Here is a word for your Researcher, Liz Heyman, Mr. Stein.
She deserves deserves a word of praise for doing your research on whether Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger deserves praise for their actions in the Yom Kippur war!
Damn, it must be great to have someone do your work for you!
Did you really write this article?
Squiddly| 10.4.11 @ 9:45AM
I find it fascinating that so many people come here to post negative comments about Mr. Stein. If you don't like his work, don't read it. It's a very simple concept.
Dave| 10.4.11 @ 2:03PM
Advice taken, thanks.
Paul Richert| 10.5.11 @ 5:25PM
We enjoyed spending two days in Sandpoint this summer on a two week trip to Idaho. It was fun.
After crossing the border going on the Selkirk loop I think the Southwest flight attendants are in training to become American or Canadian customs service agents.
Forrest in Sandpoint | 10.6.11 @ 5:22PM
Just the US side. The Canadians are far more civilized and get better results.