Friedrich --

I just had lunch with the first person I've met thanks to being fellow bloggers -- Jim Kalb, who runs a site called View From the Right. You can explore it here -- a blog, plus many other pages and essays.

Lunch was a treat. Jim's a superbrainy guy who's one of the few true traditional conservative intellectuals I've met -- ie., not just temperamentally conservative (everyone has a bit of that, if not more), but a reasoning, educated, thinking, and (in his case) sharper-than-Gillette one. An excellent mind to run up against, as well as sweetly tolerant of, and maybe even a little amused by, my arty babble. Also quite brilliant and funny on the (to me) endlessly fascinating topic of "Why are lefties so intolerant"?

And it's all thanks to being a blogger.

[Note to skeptical lefties: You pride yourself on your tolerance and ability to appreciate other points of view. Why, then, do you demonize rightwing thought, usually without really knowing the slightest thing about it? (Old joke: Lefties are tolerant of everyone except those who disagree with them.) Try opening yourself up to the right. It's a little scary, but it won't kill you, and you're likely to get something out of the effort. Jim's site is a first-rate place to begin the process of moving beyond what is -- let's face it -- the left's own kind of bigotry.]

Best,

Michael