…I’m not one of them, and never was. I never imagined the song could be about me. Actually, I’ve never been inside an A&F store, on some sort of vague “principle” formulated when I was about 14. That was also the age when I became a teeny bit obsessed with the band LFO. My years of listening to top-40 radio were limited but intensive. In particular, I would often listen to the top 8 at 8 on Q102, and then call in to try to be the 8th caller and win a prize. One night this worked,...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 10 September 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’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 “Things Could Be Worse,” writes:...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Friday, 10 September 2010
Good morning, everybody. Lou Reed made Susan Boyle cry. Now, your morning constitutional: In San Bruno, California, a natural gas line ruptured, causing a massive fire that has so far killed six and engulfed at least 53 homes and sent fireballs shooting through the air. The fire raging west of Boulder, Colorado, continues to burn, and officials are concerned that high winds may push the fire toward the city. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips has ruled that the military’s ban on openly gay service members from serving in the arms forces is unconstitutional. Afghan protests...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
Part II of last week’s theme: villanelles. I’ve read and re-read this poem in at least three different English classes, and haven’t yet tired of it– to the contrary, I find more to like each time. And it seems apropos in the whirlwind of unpacking to post a poem dedicated to the fine art of losing things. One Art by Elizabeth Bishop The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door...
Continue reading...List
Things that suck about moving: -packing -unpacking -no Internet in apt for days (thank you, Cleveland Park library) things that don’t: – awesome friends; who make moving lots faster and more enjoyable. Yay community! Also, pizza. -getting furniture finally into the best conceivable arrangement, after first dragging it all over the room in all kinds of ugly ways -windows, finally, after 1 1/2 years in the cave -sitting in my new reading nook, next to the bookshelves I’ve just filled. Books are my favorite part of both packing and unpacking. Bookshelf organizing strategies, folks? I went with...
Continue reading...A land where everybody's drunk and ugly
Maybe when you read this: The nation’s females were lambasted when asked which country had the ugliest women in an international poll. Votes poured in, with people from around the globe eager to point out how overweight, unladylike, and generally foul British women are. Major complaints centred around how many are ‘rude’, ‘drink pints of beer like men’ and ‘end up drunk in the gutter’. The UK’s (not so) fairer sex were also accused of unashamedly breaking wind and belching in public, of letting their fat hang out, were smothered in ‘bad tattoos’ and committed crimes against...
Continue reading...The Stakes
Forget for a moment about Speaker of the House Boehner or Senate Majority Leader McConnell, or the likelihood of complete legislative stalemate. Often overlooked down-ticket races have even bigger consequences that affect races for the next decade: Republicans are within reach of gaining control of eight or more chambers in statehouses around the country this fall, according to interviews with Republicans, Democrats and independent political analysts. That would give Republicans the power to draw more Congressional districts in their favor, since the expected gains come just as many legislatures will play a major role in the once-a-decade...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Good morning, everybody. David Letterman would like to kill that Jon Stewart bastard. Now, your morning constitutional: Thousands have been evacuated from areas west of Boulder as a 7,100-acre wildfire blazes out of control. The report from BP’s own investigation into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill unsurprisingly focuses on blaming other companies rather than their own negligence. Fidel Castro criticizes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and escalating conflict between Iran the West. Taxpayers in New Jersey, as well as other places in the country, are still paying for stadiums that have been...
Continue reading...The New Republic Editor Martin Peretz is a bigoted asshole
I mean, at least Fox News couches their hysterical Islamophobia in polite-speak. Martin Peretz, the editor-in-chief of The New Republic, on the other hand, eschews propriety and lets the bile just roll out: But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Good morning, folks. Mark David Chapman is up for parole again this week. Now, your morning constitutional: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will remain prime minister, although with a minority government, after winning the support of two key independent MPs. However, six months after its election, Iraq still has yet to form a government, which one minister is suggesting may be encouraging insurgents. The Obama administration is pressing Congress to stimulate the economy with $50B in transportation spending, $100B business tax credit, and a tax write-off for capital investments. The ideological polarization of the current Supreme Court...
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