Add New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to the list of Republican candidates and non-candidates who assert that we must not “turn our back on the world.” Republicans insist that the U.S. must be engaged continuously in some manner of good works all around the globe—which mostly but not entirely means either killing people or selling…
Rick Perry, ahead of his time
Poor Rick Perry! When he busted into American consciousness as a bona-fide candidate for the Republican nomination, he had a killer rap: “I’m Rick Perry, bitch! I hang more men before breakfast than y’all do all day!” Rick’s no apologies, what you see is what you get image, of which he is obviously very proud,…
Shakespeare yes, anatomy not so much
The NYT has a review by Dwight Garner of Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, which is probably better than its title. Greenblatt’s book tells the story of Renaissance humanist Poggio Bracciolini, who found a manuscript copy of De Rerum Natura (“On the Nature of Things”), the Epicurean epic of the Roman…
The Wall Street Bourbons—still disgusting after all these years
In a little piece on the Billionaire Boy’s Club that keeps pushing the vaporware candidacy of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the New York Times gives a glimpse into the mindset of the Wall Street princes: they’re pissed at the President! Why? Well, it’s all because of “Mr. Obama’s fiscal profligacy and harsh attacks on…
VSOP II—Well, You Needn’t 1983
Herbie Hancock – Piano, Ron Carter – Bass, Tony Williams – Drums, Wynton Marsalis -Trumpet, Branford Marsalis – Saxophone It doesn’t get much better than this. Because it can’t. Posted by “leatherlips.”
So you think you’re a sociologist!
These are the faces of big-time college sports in America—black players and white cheerleaders. Everybody sees it, nobody mentions it. What are the socio-erotic implications for the American mind? You make the call! Afterwords The hypocrisy level here is almost equal to that of the perennial “controversy” over whether college athletes should be paid.* Kids…
Peter Orszag—Greedy and Tone-Deaf, or Greedy and Stupid?
They must love Peter Orszag at the White House. Af few years back, Pete quit his job as director of the Office of Management and Budget to go to work for Citigroup, that banking colossus that perhaps should be referred to as “Citigrope” for violating the public trust in stunningly profitable ways. Now, Pete’s back…
Still not the New Yorker
Okay, I guess it’s going to be cartoon Mondays from now on. We’ll move the jazz videos to Tuesday. For prize-winning captions from the New Yorker, unlike these, go here. “All right. This is a hostile takeover. But not an impossible one.” “Yes, I did claw my way to the top. Are there any more…
U.S. accuses China of stealing our idea for stealing ideas
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has lowered his mighty rhetorical boom on China for its habit of requiring U.S. companies that establish production facilities on the mainland to share their patent rights. “They [China] have made possible systematic stealing of intellectual property of American companies and have not been very aggressive to put in place…
That’s my little Bank of America
Over at iWatch News, Michael Hudson gives us the story of Eileen Foster, an employee of the now defunct Countrywide Financial Corp,, infamous poster child for the moral meltdown of the U.S. mortgage industry, which did so much to pitch us into the valley of economic despair through which we now wander. Foster was appalled…