The word from Dave: Unelected conservative ideologues—such as Rush Limbaugh and George F. Will—can mutter in frustration, but Republican politicians recognize what was written here as long ago as last Dec. 2: “If the Republican Party really wanted to hold on to the White House in 2009 … it would grit its teeth, swallow its…
No problem, officer. I’m sure I was speeding! By the way, nice headlights!
WTF? It’s the U. S. Library of Congress, of course, up to its old tricks and celebrating the 100th anniversary of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. And, no, your eyes don’t deceive you. That’s Jayne Mansfield herself handing out the summons, circa 1962, apparently in promotion of something called Charles Brown’s Court Corps. (WTF on that one too,…
Richard Holbrooke, acting bold, sort of
Richard Holbrooke, former ambassador to the United Nations back in the Clinton days, doesn’t mince words when describing the Bush Administration’s efforts to eliminate the poppy crop in Afghanistan: “the program, which costs around $1 billion a year, may be the single most ineffective program in the history of American foreign policy. It’s not just…
That’s a Trend?
Are times tough all over? Michael A. Fletcher and the Washington Post would have you think so. As Mike tells it “The problem [long-term unemployment] is ensnaring a broader swath of workers than before. Once concentrated among manufacturing workers and those with little work history, education or skills, long-term unemployment is growing most rapidly among…
Calling All Twain Scholars! Calling All Twain Scholars!
Early on in Huckleberry Finn, Jim tells Huck “You wants to keep ‘way fum de water as much as you kin, en don’t run no resk, ‘kase it’s down in de bills dat you’s gwyne to git hung.” The words have a wondrously ominous ring, but what precisely did Twain intend them to mean, and…
Bank Shot
In its January 11 editorial, “Ron Paul’s Appeal,” the Washington Post gives the Texas Republican a deserved cuffing for his obviously bigoted, segregationist past and his other follies, including his suspicions regarding a “NAFTA superhighway,” presumably intended to put every good old boy in Texas out of work. After having established the fact that Mr….
What sort of man reads Playboy?
Well, not me, though God knows I’ve tried. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been gnawing away at Playboy Cover to Cover: the Fifties, an indispensable compendium of Playboy’s first bloom. Yet in the old days, people really did read Playboy—not for the articles, but for the fiction. For Hef and the gang, fiction…
Broder gone wild!
David Broder, the MSM’s squarest square, totally bitch slaps poor Al From, long suffering head of the Democratic Leadership Council, who’s constantly getting his butt kicked by the people who hate David Broder! But it’s Broder himself wielding the stiletto this time: “Al From, the head of the Democratic Leadership Council and a longtime defender…
Ellen on Scotch
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Ellen DeGeneres, America’s favorite lesbian, had a mind meld with a Borscht Belt standup? OK, maybe not, but I think it might go … something like this: Hey, what a crowd. I haven’t seen so many wooden beads since Alice B. Toklas was on This Is Your…
I believe that should have been “literature aren’t data,” Mr. Franzen
“Yes, in theory, words are words. But literature isn’t data. The difference between Shakespeare on a BlackBerry and Shakespeare in the Arden Edition is like the difference between vows taken in a shoe store and vows taken in a cathedral.” Jonthan Franzen, ruminating on truth, beauty, and wood pulp at the behest of David Sarno.