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 Paul \”The Little Professor\” Krugman, who in his column \”America Goes Dark,\” writes: So...
Continue reading...August 2010
Mad Men, "The Good News"
Stephanie: “Nobody knows what’s wrong with themselves, but everybody else can see it right away.” Despite finding themselves in a precarious financial position as New Year’s approaches, 1964 was a good year for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. It has not been a great year for most of our characters’ personal lives, however. The episode focuses mainly on Don, Joan, and Lane — each of them dealing with the loss or potential loss of someone they love. Don discovers that his best friend, Anna Draper, the one person who knows absolutely everything about Don and still loves him,...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Monday, 9 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Pop-Tarts World, a Pop-Tarts store, has opened in Times Square. Now, your morning constitutional: While the Obama administration has been deporting a record number of immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, students who came to the U.S. without documentation have for the most part been spared. Rwandans today are voting to elect their president, and incumbent Paul Kagame is expected to win by a landslide. How Paul Kagame has used the law to muzzle Rwanda\’s media. Even with unemployment high, some companies are having trouble attracting applicants. Chrysler doing better, although not quite...
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. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Paul \”The Little Professor\” Krugman, who in his...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
One of my recent Netflix picks was Bright Star, the biopic about the poet John Keats and his lady love Fanny Brawne. I thought it was lovely–sad at the end, of course, but also unabashedly romantic. I could now present to you a poem by Keats, but that would be too obvious. Instead, here\’s one about the poet. Keats by Christopher Howell When Keats, at last beyond the curtain of love’s distraction, lay dying in his room on the Piazza di Spagna, the melody of the Bernini Fountain “filling him like flowers,” he held his breath...
Continue reading...63-37
Just moments ago, I watched the Senate finish voting to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan by a vote of 63-37. You\’ll note that I made a silly bet with Lady Blaga that the vote would be 60-40. So, I\’m paying the lady her Hamilton. Sen. Ben Nelson was the only Democrat to vote nay, while Republican Senators Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, Judd Gregg and Richard Lugar voted yea. Scott Brown, as I expected, voted nay and released a statement to that effect, citing her lack of judicial experience. That said, Ben Nelson is the first...
Continue reading...I win!
Ok, I slightly overestimated the vote count, but as of a few minutes ago, Elena Kagan has been confirmed to the United States Supreme Court in a vote of 63-37. Ben Nelson was the only Dem to vote no, while 5 Republicans voted yes: Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and Judd Gregg. Congratulations to now-Justice Kagan! Hurray for 3 women on the Court for the first time ever. And yay to me for decisively proving how much smarter I am than Poplicola (ha). I look forward to collecting on my substantial winnings.
Continue reading...It's International Beer Day! Thank Jimmy Carter!
SEE UPDATE/CORRECTION BELOW Today is International Beer Day,* and if you’re a lover of fine micro-brews (and I know you are), you have but one person to thank. No, not Jim Koch. The person you must thank is none other than former President Jimmy Carter. E.D. Kain explains: To make a long story short, prohibition led to the dismantling of many small breweries around the nation. When prohibition was lifted, government tightly regulated the market, and small scale producers were essentially shut out of the beer market altogether. Regulations imposed at the time greatly benefited the large...
Continue reading...The Party of Lincoln, or the Party of Jefferson Davis?
Steve Benan on recent Republican efforts to revisit the 14th Amendment: Take a moment to consider what’s become fairly common in GOP circles of late. A sitting Republican congressman and governor have openly speculated about secession. A Senate candidate in Nevada has raised the specter of armed insurrection against the United States government. A Senate candidate in Kentucky has spoken out against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota believes states should be able to ignore federal laws they don’t like. None of these developments have drawn even mild rebukes from the party...
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. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Gail \”The Colander\” Collins, who in her column...
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