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 Gail “The Colander” Collins who, in her column “Rich Man, Bad Yacht,” writes: Once...
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Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 19 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Conan O’Brien is releasing two albums on vinyl featuring Frankenstein’s monster and rockabilly. Now, your morning constitutional: The last combat brigade has left Iraq, two weeks ahead of schedule. Around 50,000 troops will remain in advisory roles. At least four million are homeless due to the extreme flooding in Pakistan. New applications for unemployment reached 500,000 last week, the highest number since November. The bulk of job losses are coming from small businesses. A growing number of Americans think that President Obama is a Muslim, according to a new poll by the Pew Research...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
On Saturday, I’m leaving for vacation! On the beach! I’m rather excited. In this week’s poem, Ogden Nash celebrates the joys of doing nothing. On the beach. Thanks to my friend K., who introduced me to this very pleasant piece. Pretty Halcyon Days by Ogden Nash How pleasant to sit on the beach, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun, With ocean galore within reach, And nothing at all to be done! No letters to answer, No bills to be burned, No work to be shirked, No cash to be earned, It is pleasant to...
Continue reading...Welcome to the Terrordome
Sometimes, it’s a little hard to like Majority Leader Harry Reid. Okay, not sometimes: Often. Sure, once in a while he’ll accomplish the historic passage of a Republican health care bill, but, generally, he’s blasé at best and offensively useless at worst. Or maybe just offensive. Offensive it is, again. Yesterday, in addressing the recent (cynical) outrage over the planning of an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site, his spokesman, Jim Manley said, “The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else.”...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Tila Tequila was attacked on-stage by stones, bottles and various other things at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos festival in Illinois. Now, your morning constitutional: In Pakistan, one-fifth of which is under water due to horrific flooding, water-borne diseases such as typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis and cholera may bring further tragedy. At least 59 were killed by a suicide bomber at an army recruitment center in Baghdad. Five months after the election, with no government yet formed, coalition talks have been suspended after Nouri al-Maliki claimed the al-Iraqiya bloc, the winner of the most...
Continue reading...Annals of Disturbing Polling Results
From the Nutrisystem Diet Index (TM) comes some truly frightening findings regarding Americans’ attitudes toward weight loss. In national surveys, over half of women said they’d rather give up sex for a summer than gain 10 pounds. more people said they’d prefer to lose 10-20 lbs than get a promotion. almost 3/4 of respondents reported that they would give up television, cell phone, or computer “for a flat tummy this beach season.” Really? Really? Like many people (women especially), I’m not 100% satisfied with my weight, but I think that would be true no matter how much...
Continue reading...Mad Men,"The Rejected"
Peggy, to Allison: “My problem is not your problem.” Well, it looks like Allison did not take Don’s rejection as well as it appeared last week, or even at the beginning of this episode. On the conference call, it’s clear how good Allison is at her job — she even gives Don a little bit of attitude. “Why is this empty?” he asks, holding up a bottle of booze. “Because you drank it all,” she quickly shoots back. But when Don gets a Polaroid of himself with Anna from his recent trip to California, Allison notices and...
Continue reading...The Girl Who Was Not Impressed
My interest in books tends to vary inversely to the amount of hype, so I had about zero curiousity in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But then both my parents recommended the series highly, and they both have great (and divergent) taste in books, so I figured if they both enjoyed it, maybe I really was missing out in my Stieg Larsson-less existence. So I borrowed Dragon Tattoo, the first novel of the trilogy, and I slogged through the first hundred or so pages before finally finding myself engrossed. I didn’t expect that it would take so...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week: Child at Heart Edition
I’ve been suffering from some vague anonymous illness for the past week and a half, which is no fun. Unlike this poem’s protagonist, I’ve not been playing hooky, though on the plus side, it’s been very quiet in my office this week. In honor of mystery sicknesses, here’s one of my childhood favorite poems, which as I recall I memorized for a contest in middle school. Sick by Shel Silverstein ‘I cannot go to school today, ‘ Said little Peggy Ann McKay. ‘I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My...
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 Paul “The Little Professor” Krugman who, in his column “Paralysis at the Fed,” writes:...
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