Intimate Ballots
The “joke” in the Dunham-for-Obama ad is the equivalence it posits between voting and sex. But a more basic premise of the ad—one which I think is not challenged by either its irony or...
Monthly Archive: October 2012
Post-post-racial America
Looking at the polling data earlier this week, I noticed my longtime worst nightmare for the 2012 presidential election was becoming a distinct possibility — a cardiac-arrest-close Obama defeat due to his losing white...
I sit and wonder why eye eye eye…
I’m off to scout Hands Creek on Three Mile Harbor as a hurricane hole.
Friday Jukebox: Music Is Better Than Politics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnw3wHMdJMU That is “Timebomb” by the Old 97’s, a fantastic song that has been included on several soundtracks, including the relatively good one that accompanied the entirely forgettable Clay Pigeons. Without getting too heteronormative,...
Sketching Out States in Fantasy: Two Cases from Avlis
As promised here are two cases from Avlis of magic equipped societies. I will begin with a (moderately) short description of each state, then compare the place of magic and its political economy. This...
Baseball…reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again
…or why Major League Baseball and its business model are vastly preferable to the NBA and NFL. It’s fall. And that means it’s the best time of year to be a sports fan. Baseball...
Because the last thing we want is for Juan Peron to beat both Romney and Obama
Great news for everyone worried about voter fraud! The Europeans are here to save us! It appears that the UN-affiliated watchdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be sending election monitors...
Brennan’s World: Drones and Future Administrations
So hot on the heels of Jason’s thought provoking piece, the Washington Post has an interesting profile of the role played by John Brennan in the Obama Administration’s counter-terrorism policy. Bobby Chesney has an...
Win the NBA Trivia Challenge and Rule My Gravatar!
Believe it or not, we’re now less than week away from the start of the new NBA season. After last year’s lockout debacle, it’s especially comforting to know I’ll have my League Pass to help...
Jacobin-ing
Have you seen any ads for the History Channel’s new miniseries, The Men Who Built America?
Touche
“Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.” I wish I could say more than, “Bravo!” But I can’t....
Being in Uncertainty
Claire Creffield, an atheist who finds that, sometimes, “invoking the concept of God seems a very compelling way indeed of doing justice to the strangeness, the beauty and the peril of our lives,” asks...
How Big Is the Multiplier?
by James Hanley This guest post is in response to a discussion with Clawback on the multiplier effect of government spending for fiscal stimulus. I argued there was no consensus about whether that multiplier...
The Cheap-Ass Gourmet – Thai Coconut & Lemongrass Soup
This is the second part of a three-part series of economic meals, all of which stem from a simple roast chicken. (We also looked at using leftovers from that same meal to make chicken...
Hmmmm…
What ought one think about a “I [heart] Gitmo” bumper sticker? I saw one on the way to work today. I am genuinely befuddled… UPDATE: Apparently, he was just supporting the US military…
The Towering Legacy of George W. Bush
Conventional wisdom errs when it says that George W. Bush was incompetent. He was a president of overwhelming influence, the most effective chief executive since FDR. We live in the world that W. created,...
Let’s Not Demand an Apology from Ann Coulter
Although I like my “job” (grad student and lecturer in philosophy) enormously, it has its downsides. Ann Coulter’s “job” has many advantages over mine: she makes a lot more money, people likely treat her...
Presidential Debates Should be Deemed Cruel and Unusual
In the comments here James Hanley called the debates “pure political theater.” To the degree that last night’s romp was light on substance and heavy on posturing it certainly was politically theatrical. And yet...
