Hi, and this is my first posting—on the day of the Supreme Court victory no less!! First of all, I thank the webmaster and all of the FreeRepublic bloggers for their work and insight.
Ishmael. Don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, but Ishmael could be a reference to Daniel Quinn’s book of the same name. A strange volume (narrated by a talking gorilla no less) containing Quinn’s theory of the start of modern civilization, actually a long essay of dissatisfaction with society as it exists today.
Welcome to FR on a very sad and somber week.
Another poster mentioned this, and I think it is the right connection. Ironic that Son of Sam received his instructions from a talking dog.