“What could I have done differently? In certain conversations, what should I have said, what could I have done?” This is what Richard Fuld, lately CEO of the late Lehman Brothers, asks himself a lot these days, according to Steve Fishman’s excellent article in New York magazine. Since there’s nothing I enjoy more than helping…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Alan Vanneman has a heart of gold, part II
Well, I do, and to prove it, I’ll link to someone I really don’t like, Mickey Kaus, who has some really smart things to say about the hideous terror attacks in Mombai. The massive death toll was in large part due to the utter incompetence of the Indian police. Quoting from an article in the…
Forget the high-speed rail—there’s a brand-new way out of Folsom!
Readers of either Matthew Yglesia’s liberal blog or Reason’s libertarian one know of the liberals’ passionate love of high-speed rail (why can’t we be more like Europe?) and the libertarians’ detestation of the same (because Europe sucks, that’s why!). Well, James Fallows, inspired by the burgeoning air-taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area, may…
Broderfreude
The classic earmark, so to speak, of the classic Washington weenie is the pleasure one gets in seeing David Broder fall on his self-important ass. It’s an odd sort of pleasure, because Broder himself never feels the impact. For an old Washington hand like Dave, error isn’t a cause for embarrassment. Rather, it’s an opportunity…
Thanksgiving Day Special: Live from the Colonial Room—it’s Joey Standish!
What a crowd, what a crowd. I haven’t seen so many buckle shoes since John Milton’s bar mitzvah. And I want to tell you. John Alden is here with us tonight. Is this an ugly Puritan? Seriously, John. Lose the pointy hat. Seriously. Why do Puritan men die before their wives? Because they want to!…
P.G. on the Web
Josh Frost has a terrific cartoon version of the first half of an early Bertie & Jeeves story here. For more Frost, check out the Adventures of Nathaniel Bright, here. If you want to know more about P.G. Wodehouse, the creator of B&J, go here. Like many writers, I’m a P.G. Wodehouse addict, though a…
The Mind of Ross
Ross Douthat, whom I sometimes like to call Ross Dumbfuck,* leaves off caterwauling about the possibility that the Republican Party will abandon its “abortion is murder” mantra (which does not, of course, imply that women who get abortions are murderers) to say what needed, so much, to be said about … Adrian Grenier: Sometimes I…
Alan Vanneman has a heart of gold
To prove it, I’m linking to one of the noirest, if not bêtest, of my bête noirs, the Weekly Standard, to bring you Irwin Stelzer’s words of wisdom re the economics and the politics of the auto industry. Bottom line: Let GM go Chapter 11, and provide government backing for GM warranties. “Throw in government…
Matthew Yglesias makes fun of 101-year-old man
At his blog, Matthew Yglesias snickers at Washington Institution Mark Russell, noting in amazement that Mark’s trademark toothless wit is offered as special bonus for anyone ponying up $440,000 for the Shoreham’s “44th Commander-In-Chief” package—four days and nights in the Shoreham’s Presidential suite, tickets to the Inauguration, and more! “I’ve gotta say, ‘in-room dinner with…
Words stolen from Alan Vanneman’s brain, when he was helpless and asleep
“I Often Dream of Trains may be the most Syd Barrett-influenced album of Robyn Hitchcock’s career ….” David Malitz, Wash Post, Nov. 20, 2008. Oh, and how about that mammoth shit?