Words I Never Thought Would Be Necessary
“1. If there are people who want to drink from the toilet, shouldn’t we just let them do whatever makes them happy and keep all the good water for ourselves? 2. If a person...
Monthly Archive: November 2010
Armistice Day
Today is Armistice Day. It marks the end of an era. Before the First World War, the western understanding of warfare was that it made plain things noble. It allowed superior individuals to show...
Everybody Loves Biden
The best part about this is the pretense that Biden doesn’t have time to be interviewed about a spate of hilarious Onion articles: A spokesman for Mr. Biden, Jay Carney, said the vice president...
An Early Look at the 2012 Congressional Outlook
Over at Fourth Branch, Publius crunches some numbers and determines that the combination of the election results last week and the results of the census will likely give Republicans a significant advantage in redistricting...
Fundraising Drive Day Two
Once again, I’m back with another request for donations. We’re still looking at possibly moving to a better host and other ways to speed up and generally improve the site. Both writers and readers...
What Do You Call It When…
life doesn’t just imitate satire, but skips right over it and somehow becomes a parody of a parody while simultaneously being all too serious? Because that’s what the FDA seems to be shooting for,...
The Bathtub Gin of Cannabis (and Other Substances), Now with Bath Salts
The Erowids remain the most important authors around on drug policy. Consider their musings on the state of recreational drugs today: Take “Ivory Wave” (recently renamed “Vanilla Sky”), with its shiny, corporate, mass-produced packaging....
Quote for Today
“Librarians are the worst enemies of books there are.” He smiles sardonically when he says this, an amiable old fart that the library keeps around to shelve books. With his fire-hose arms and gut...
DADT and Legislating from the White House
Image via Wikipedia Confession: At first I was sort of conflicted about Adam Serwer’s suggestion that the president repeal DADT by executive order. Obviously I recognize that the military’s policy of discriminating against its...
“Their money did not stink.”
I don’t have anything to add to the Great Sanitation Throwdown, but I have to note that basically everywhere in the USA we’ve got it pretty good whether our sanitation is handled by authoritarian...
Exceptionalism Means Shouting “Best Ever!” and “Complete Genius!”
Or so thinks the anti-anti-exceptionalist right. Others (well, mostly just Larison) have already done a good deal of talking about American exceptionalism and Republican rhetoric of late, so I’m going to be brief. Andrew notes...
Crowd sourcing vs. network news
(Update Below) A missile was fired off the coast of California. CBS repeatedly referred to it as a “mystery missile” and bothered the ambassador of NATO about it, with moderately comic results: “It’s spectacular…...
The Church of Sit-Up Cycling
I’m very pleased to see that the fight against fast cycling, spandex, helmets, thin seats, and other automotive-like cyclalia has taken on a religious dimension.
Formatting and fundraising update
Well, I’ve changed the formatting again and I plan to continue to tinker. I very much appreciate all the feedback over the last couple of days so please do keep it coming. Also, if...
Meet the New GOP, Same as the Old GOP
No compromises on extending the Bush tax cuts, even if that means they expire completely and taxes go up considerably. After all, it’s still the case that “there’s only going to be one person...
Kierkegaard Bleg
I’d like to read some Kierkegaard. But I’m terrified of Either/Or. It’s just so… huge. I know I might ask the impossible, but can anyone recommend another of Kierkegaard’s texts as a good starting...
Underestimating the internet
While Joe Carter and I decide how to proceed with the debate in a more specific and purposeful manner than I’ve provided for thus far, I’d like to bring attention to this Newsweek article...
Kip’s Law Sighting: Trash Collection Edition
One of my earliest blog-buddies, Kip Esquire, used to have a running feature called “Kip’s Law Sighting.” Kip’s Law is simply described as: “Every advocate of central planning always — always — envisions himself...
