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 David \”Yawny-Pants\” Brooks, who in his column \”Nation Building Works,\” actually encapsulates the fragile...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Bristol Palin and David Hasselhoff are going dancing. Now, your morning constitutional: The war is over. Reliable security, a functioning moderate West Bank government, and a growing Palestinian economy are encouraging signs as preparations intensify for a Palestinian-Israeli summit at the White House on Thursday. Mexico fires 3,200 police officers as it invokes new rules to weed out corruption. Hurricane Earl, now at Category 4 strength after edging Puerto Rico, moves toward the U.S. east coast and could affect the Carolina coast later this week. As the military deals with more overweight and physically...
Continue reading...Late Summer Book Review
The plus side of my rainy Cape Cod trip was that I had plenty of time for reading. I finished two of the books that I brought with me (the one I won’t write about today is Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, which I thought was good but not great). This was the one I liked better: The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver As a former English major, I always have trouble naming favorite books or authors– just too many to choose from. But Kingsolver has been high on my list since high school, when my mom first introduced...
Continue reading...A Complete History of the Soviet Union Arraged to the Melody of Tetris
This is pretty bad-ass. From the YouTube description: Buy the whole album at http://www.pigfaceboy.co.uk Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pigfaceboy A Complete History Of The Soviet Union Through The Eyes Of A Humble Worker, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris. Music by “Pig With The Face Of A Boy” Written and performed by DONALD NEWHOLM and DAN WOODS, with MALCOLM GAYNER & ROBIN HARRIS Photographed by TIM JORDAN Costumes by LUCY NEWHOLM Production assistant NICOLA LINCÉ Special thanks to JAMES LAMONT and REMY LAMONT Produced by CHRIS LINCÉ and DAN WOODS for the ‘Musical Comedy Lab\’ Directed, animated, and edited by...
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 Ross \”Do That Thing\” Douthat, who in his column \”Mr. Beck Goes to Washington,\”...
Continue reading...Stay Classy
From the GW Hatchet, the George Washington University newspaper: Though the rally was a mostly peaceful gathering, two rally attendees got into a heated argument with an employee at the GW Deli over the D.C. bag tax, which ultimately resulted in the tea party member throwing a sandwich in the deli employee’s face. The GW Deli declined to comment on the issue. The D.C. bag tax is a fee levied on disposable bags from stores and restaurants. It costs five cents per bag.
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Monday, 30 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Modern Family and Mad Men are apparently really good shows. Now, your morning constitutional: Hurricane Earl is strengthening into a major hurricane as it moves into the Caribbean, and is forecast to become a Category 3 today as it moves toward Puerto Rico. The storm could affect areas on the U.S. East Coast over Labor Day weekend. Even as much of China\’s growth is the result of private businesses, it is China\’s state-owned companies that are the growing fastest, in large part because of state-bank spending and stimulus measures. Officials in Pakistan say that...
Continue reading...Cute Kid of the Day + More Poetry
So I’m back from vacation, and it was fun even though the weather was not particularly cooperative (by which I mean it rained for four straight days. Fact: there is nothing to do in Cape Cod when it is raining). Anyway, welcome back, me. Thanks to Poplicola for posting the great Edna St. Vincent Millay poem and keeping the V&V poetry tradition alive this week. Today I have some bonus poetry, courtesy of this freaking adorable video of a three year old kid reciting the Billy Collins poem “Litany” that I posted here a few weeks back. ...
Continue reading...Alaska Republican candidate for Senate Joe Miller compares Senator Murkowski to a prostitute
Via Swing State Project. Alaska Republican (and tea party sweetheart) candidate for Senate Joe Miller : “What’s the difference between selling out your party\’s values and the oldest profession? http://bit.ly/93kXBr #teaparty #tcot #alaska #ak” The link is to the Daily Caller, which cites a report from the Daily Beast that someone inside Lisa Murkowski’s senate campaign has said that if she does lose the Republican nomination, she might consider running under the Libertarian Party, because the deadline for filing as an independent has passed. As unlikely a scenario this is, it’s not even relevant yet, as it...
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 \”This Is Not a Recovery,\”...
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