Poplicola

Aw, Americans think they're so smart

globes on wooden table

This is pretty hilarious: The survey also revealed some serious gaps in the knowledge base of Americans following foreign policy. For example, although 78 percent of respondents claimed to “closely” follow international affairs, an equal 78 percent said they had “never heard” of Ban Ki-moon when asked about him. When those surveyed were told that Ban was the secretary-general of the United Nations, 41 percent of respondents still had no idea who he was. It’s actually an interesting survey, done by the Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates on behalf of the United Nations Foundation. It...

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New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 5 May 2010

yellow new york taxi in front of new york times building

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: David “Yawny-Pants” Brooks, 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. Maureen “Refrigerator” Dowd is off today, so today’s has to be from Tawmy Frieds, who in his column “No...

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Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Good morning, everybody. Bret Michaels is out of the hospital. Now, your morning constitutional: Yesterday’s primary results: Neither Secretary of State Elaine Marshall nor former state Senator Cal Cunningham won the North Carolina Democratic nomination for Senate outright, forcing a run-off. Former Senator Dan Coats won the Republican nomination for Senate easily in Indiana. Lt. Governor Lee Fisher won the Democratic primary for Senate in Ohio. Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American man arrested for the attempted Times Square bombing, admits role in bombing plot. BP announced Wednesday morning that they have managed to shut off one of the...

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The Number of the Beast

white paper with black text

You’d be remiss to not check out Richard Eskow’s new post on his blog: Revelation/Channel 13: “Biometric ID,” The Mark of the Beast, and Immigration Reform, where he does a spectacular job explaining why many evangelical/fundamentalist Christians will fear the proposal in immigration reform requiring workers to carry biometric identification by comparing it to the the “Mark of the Beast” referenced in Revelation, and why the administration may want to tread carefully on this: If Arizona’s draconian new law has put immigration back in the public consciousness, the  proposal for a national “biometric ID” is about to...

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New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 4 May 2010

yellow new york taxi in front of new york times building

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 David “Yawny-Pants” Brooks, who in his column “The...

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Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Good morning, everybody. Will there be a sequel to the hit comedy Anchorman? Now, your morning constitutional: Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan, was arrested last night in connection to this weekend’s Time Square bombing attempt. He was on board a plane to Pakistan at the time of his arrest. Statement from Attorney General Eric Holder. How the attempting bombing will bring terrorism politics back to the forefront. Three lessons from the Times Square bomb. Talks over renewing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, an exercise that takes place every five years, pits Iran against the West....

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Tony Award Nominations

The 2010 Tony Award nominations were announced this morning. Quick thoughts: It’s nice to see a female playwright get a nomination for Best Play (Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play). I’m a little surprised that Kristin Chenoweth didn’t get a nod for Promises, Promises despite the fact that I haven’t seen her performance. Lots of Hollywood folks got nominations: Jude Law, Alfred Molina, Liev Schreiber, Christopher Walken, Denzel Washington, Laura Linney, Kelsey Grammer, Sean Hayes, Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Alan Grier, Angela Lansbury, Scarlett Johansson. Actually, every actor in the Best Leading Actor in...

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New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 3 May 2010

yellow new york taxi in front of new york times building

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...

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Morning Constitutional – Monday, 3 May 2010

Good morning, everybody. Was Obama funnier than Leno at this weekend’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner? Here’s your morning constitutional: Sidewalk vendors were hailed as heroes yesterday for their roles in identifying an SUV in Times Square containing an explosive device. Police now seek the man responsible for the device, who appears to have been caught on tape. With the oil patch in the Gulf of Mexico expanding, and with the robotic submarines so far unable to plug the leak, officials are grim in their forecast, suggesting it may take weeks or months to contain the leak....

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