Apologies all around
So I killed that last post because, honestly, that was an emotionally driven, snarky, stupid thing to write (except the part about how I love you guys, that’s all true). It was something I...
Author: Erik Kain
Caricatures of libertarianism
I’m not a libertarian but I do share many beliefs in common with libertarians. That’s one reason I find this piece by Amanda Marcotte so incoherent. Leaping onto the anti-Koch bandwagon, Amanda comes to...
Will blog for food
Jonathan Strong has an interesting piece on the sometimes-fuzzy line between blogging and paid political advocacy. I think there’s quite a difference between getting paid by an ideological organization to blog (this is hardly...
The Price of Loyalty
Brad DeLong calls The Economist’s profile of Mitch Daniels, “A beat sweetener so sweet as to send us all into hyperglycemic collapse.” He continues: When Mitch Daniels was in a position of power and...
Christopher Walken reads Lady Gaga
The news is mostly depressing these days. So to hell with the news. Here’s Christopher Walken reading Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ instead. That’s more like it. If I have to think about the bloody...
Uncertain America
Over at the Washington Examiner I riff off of this post by Kevin Drum and conclude that America is a lot more uncertain than it should be for many working class families. I’m not...
In the lake of the woods
Ta-Nehisi Coates has a lovely post about isolation that’s well worth your while. You should read it. For some reason the title and the sort of haunting imagery called to mind Tim O’Brien’s novel,...
The stimulus effect
How much unemployment can we blame on the Obama administration? Economist Rob Shapiro dug into some Bureau of Labor Statistics data and came back with the best numbers I’ve seen on the subject. He...
On free markets
[updated] So, just to clarify a position I hold: My belief in free markets is based in the concept of failure. I believe in markets because I believe they allow for failure to occur....
The amazing Dr. Kevin Pezzi
Via John Cole – this is probably the most entertaining thing you’ll read today. In two posts on Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment website, Dr. Kevin Pezzi smears Shirley Sherrod as a racist, claiming that “if...
Hippies with iPhones
I was at the natural health food store last night with my family and there was this hippie girl there, completely decked out in hippie garb with a guitar, a knapsack – the complete...
I’m not Harriet Tubman either
I don’t think the pro-choicers and the pro-lifers are going to agree on this one. But I do think that Ta-Nehisi is either missing what I’m trying to say here, or he – and...
No, I am not Frederick Douglass
[updated] Okay. Perhaps I stirred the pot a bit too vigorously. In any case, let me clarify a few things. Ta-Nehisi Coates – whose work I admire greatly, too!* – has quite a lot...
Abortion, slavery & personhood
So several of Andrew’s readers disagreed with my post on abortion and slavery. And at least one of my readers had some particularly colorful things to say to me in an email after it...
Anne Rice quits Christianity
[updated] Anne Rice offers up some bizarre reasoning for quitting her faith: I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist....
Bloodbuzz Ohio
I was remiss in my last music post. Several readers pointed out that The National’s Bloodbuzz Ohio is an excellent tune and should have been included. Well here it is: Some great lyrics in...
Wednesday jukebox – The National
Why wait for Friday night to do a music post? I say let the jukebox play whenever you put another dime in it, baby. Anyways, I’ve been almost obsessively listening to The National lately....
Consider Phlebas
PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell And the profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose...
