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, Gail Collins, Nicholas Kristoff, &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. From David Brooks’s kind-of-silly column today about happiness: The United States is much richer than it was 50 years ago, but this has produced no...
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Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Good morning, everybody. Ricky’s gay, Sandra’s dumping Jesse, but, worry not!, Heidi and Spencer are staying together. Now, your morning constitutional: President Obama will sign changes to student lending into law today. The changes will replace the current system of the government giving loans through private lenders and instead provide loans directly to students. The CERN Large Hadrom Collider succeeded Tuesday morning in colliding particles at three times the highest energy levels ever recorded. Of course, I have absolutely no idea what that means. Members of the League for Democracy Party in Myanmar voted to skip the country’s...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 29 March 2010
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, Gail Collins, Nicholas Kristoff, &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. And today’s from Ross “Do that thang” Douthat, in today’s column “A Time for Contrition,” in which he inexplicably partially blames psychiatry for the Catholic...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Monday, 29 March 2010
Good morning, folks. Butler, West Virginia, Duke and Michigan State: What in the—? Anyways, here’s your morning constitutional: President Obama made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on Sunday to meet with President Karzai and address the troops stationed there. Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow Metro subway trains this morning, killing at least 36. An obituary for ‘Cap and Trade.’ Seven have been arrested in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana in raids by a FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force on the militia group Hutaree, a self-described Christian militia, this weekend. They are expected to appear...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 26 March 2010
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, Gail Collins, Nicholas Kristoff, &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 Professor Krugman’s vitriolic column “Going to Extreme:” For today’s G.O.P. is, fully and finally, the party of Ronald Reagan — not Reagan...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Friday, 26 March 2010
Good morning, everybody. How about those games last night? Sorry about your brackets, though. Now, your morning constitutional: Russian bombers were intercepted in British airspace. Is Russia’s military getting bolder? Protesters in Iraq are demanding a manual recount of votes in the recent election. The economics of an aging populace. The Obama administration announces plans to help homeowners. A caucus system in Utah that favors conservatives could imperil Sen. Bennett’s reelection hopes. Former militiaman urges people to vandalize offices of members of Congress who voted for health care reform. Calls himself a “Christian libertarian” but cashes government...
Continue reading...I thought he was supposed to be the technology president
Now, in my office, we do this with Word’s mark-up feature. Not that it works that well, and I generally find it easier to just mark-up by hand. But, in any case, where’s the red ink? Any editor worth their salt uses red. This has always been the history of our history purpose. But, to be fair, I agree with just about all these edits. “This has always been our history.” What the hell does that even mean? “This has always been the history of our purpose.” Ah, that’s better.
Continue reading...This isn't over
With the Senate passing the House’s bill with fixes to the health care reform package, and the House ready to take it up tonight (and likely pass it tonight as well), it almost feels like this long, national nightmare is over. It’s not. Not by a long shot. You see, while this health care bill does not take over one-sixth of the economy, as its critics may speciously claim, it is gigantic, and it does touch a great number of sections of the U.S. budget. If you remember your civics correctly, you’ll note that the Congress votes...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 25 March 2010
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, Gail Collins, Nicholas Kristoff, &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 Nicholas Kristol’s column, “Escaping from Poverty,” a sobering reminder of where we are: Over the last 35 years, our economy has almost...
Continue reading...Attention music fans
Readers of this blog: I assume you have huge fans of this thing called “music.” Nearly everybody is, so, statistically, you are too. So, it is with great astonishment and pride that I make the following announcement. Every decade, if we the unwashed masses are lucky, a group of the preeminent musicians of the day gather for a kind of super music festival, the kind that is remembered and gets spoken of for generations. Festivals like Woodstock, Lollapalooza in the 90s, and Bonnaroo, which seems to have taken its place in the aughts. Now, our newly christened...
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