On Eminem’s new single, “Love the Way You Lie,” the rapper once again takes on the subject of abusive relationships. Somewhat telling, the song features Rihanna, last year’s face of domestic violence. The video highlights a violent and troublesome relationship between characters played by Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan. Many are claiming that the song and video romanticize domestic violence. Truth is, though, I just don’t see it. Other than the characters in this particular vignette being terribly attractive themselves, there’s not much in the song or video that makes a dysfunctional and violent relationship look good...
Continue reading...August 2010
New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Maureen \”The Refrigerator\” Dowd, who in her column \”Don\’t Send in the Clones,\” writes:...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Britney\’s going to be on Glee this season. Now, your morning constitutional: Former Senator Ted Stevens died in a plane crash yesterday in Alaska at the age of 86. It was not his first plane crash—in fact, Alaska has a much higher aviation accident rate than the rest of the country. Why do so many planes crash in Alaska? The Census was 22% ($1.6B) under budget, and is returning the money to the government. President Obama signed into law a ban on cell phone use by federal prisoners. Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul is...
Continue reading...House Representative Mike Pence loves teachers
Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed a bill—by a vote of 247-161—providing states $16B in emergency funding to shore up their Medicaid budgets and $10B in an effort to stave off teacher layoffs. The bill is slated to be signed by the president this evening. According to Democratic estimates, the bill is expected to save 290,000 jobs, including 140,000 teachers’ positions. Republic House Representative Mike Pence of Indiana wasn’t a fan of the bill. When asked by ABC’s Top Line what the Republican strategy would be for teachers who have lost their jobs, his response is,...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Bob \”Day Job\” Hebert, who in his column \”The Horror Show,\” writes: The politicians’...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Bob \”Day Job\” Hebert, who in his column \”The Horror Show,\” writes: The politicians’...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Levi is running for mayor in a new reality show. For real. Anyways, here\’s your morning constitutional: More than 700 are dead due to a devastating landslide in the remote Zhouqu county, Gansu in northwest China. The House is back in session today to vote on a teacher and Medicaid package and a border security bill. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced some controversial budget-cutting proposals Monday, including completely getting rid of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. Fred Kaplan calls it a good start, but inadequate. The Federal Reserve is meeting today to discuss...
Continue reading...Book Rec
I picked up The Myth of You & Me at the library based solely on the title. I was not disappointed. This novel, by Leah Stewart, chronicles the unraveling of a friendship between two women, and more to the point, the intense bond they shared before falling out. The action takes place when the women are adults and looks back on their teenage years in frequent flashbacks. The story is told from the perspective of Cameron, and is propelled forward by several unanswered questions about the demise of her friendship with Sonia– a friendship so close the...
Continue reading...How I'm pretty sure I went to college with Rand Paul
Sure, he might be the sober new leader of the libertarian wing of the Republican party, but, after reading this, I’m fairly certain I must have gone to college with Rand Paul:* The strangest episode of Paul’s time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 (although memories about all of these events are understandably a bit hazy, so the date might be slightly off), when he and a NoZe brother paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul’s teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of...
Continue reading...Great moments in campaign ad history: Nixon Now
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonAuLOIjZ0&w=560&h=445] On August 9, 1974—36 years ago today—President Richard Milhous Nixon resigned the office and went home. What a catchy tune his 1972 campaign advertisement had, though.
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