Seriously?
Paul Bettany’s best role to date was as a 19th century naturalist. Now he’s playing Charles Darwin in Creation, which can’t find a US distributor because – wait for it – the Theory of...
Author: Will
Jordan in the Hall of Fame
Apparently, Michael Jordan’s acceptance speech was pretty awful, and I think it points to the fact that he’s not a very nice guy. That said, this remains one of my favorite sports-related commercials:
Let’s all go back to Geocities
Here’s an interesting Prospect article on Geocities and online memory that also discusses the Myspace-Facebook class divide:
9/11
After eight years, the best sentiment remains the one immortalized by a classmate’s homemade t-shirt the day after the attacks: “Fuck Terrorism.”
ThinkProgress can’t distinguish between “death panels” and euthanasia
This is pretty dumb: Apparently, if you’re against irresponsible rumor-mongering about death panels you’re also not allowed to raise legitimate concerns about euthanasia.
Point of Order
An unanticipated side-effect of Joe Wilson’s outburst has been a pretty interesting discussion of parliamentary procedure, both at home and abroad. Congress Matters explains the relevant Senate rules and Andrew Sullivan compares Wilson’s interjection...
Birthers vs. Truthers
Jonah Goldberg lands some solid blows against the Left’s knee-jerk defense of Van Jones here, but contrasting the travails of our dearly-departed green jobs czar with the conservative establishment’s response to the “Birther” movement...
My Questions for the Seasteading Road Trip
Will Wilson is embarking on what sounds like the coolest road trip ever: a visit to a convention of libertarian seasteaders intent on seceding from the mainland United States. He’s also soliciting questions from...
Merit Pay, continued
Stepping back from the weeds of the merit pay debate, it’s kind of amazing to survey the arguments against compensating teachers based on performance and realize that this stuff literally wouldn’t fly in any...
obligatory reaction post on Obama’s healthcare address
To start things off, I should say that I’m not particularly sympathetic to the Dems’ lackluster efforts at healthcare reform. I’m willing to be persuaded that a robust public option would promote healthier outcomes...
Why not give merit pay a shot?
I confess I’m somewhat baffled by Dana Goldstein’s beef with merit pay: Forty years of psychological research demonstrates that when someone is faced with a complex, creative task — like teaching — money is...
Sarah Palin’s latest foray into the healthcare debate
Here it is. There’s a lot to digest – some good, some less so – but my first impression is that criticizing Obama for installing unelected, unaccountable and (at least according to her) unpopular...
A decent interval
The uncanny resemblance between his latest offering and Ross Douthat’s New York Times column from a few weeks back should (finally) put to rest any notion that New Gingrich is a font of original...
Fisk me gently
Chris Bodenner picks apart some dumb objections to closing Gitmo. Memo to the Dish: Keep the interns blogging after Sullivan gets back from vacation.
Friday Night Jukebox: Remix Edition
I dig this track (click on the link for the full version): Wamp Wamp (Vampire Weekend Remix) – Les Bank Robbers
McDonnell’s thesis
A friend pointed out that a lot of the discomfort surrounding McDonnell’s thesis comes from its arcane terminology – words like “fornicator” and “homosexual” are less common nowadays and suggest some distasteful religious overtones....
Magazine Subscriptions, ctd.
I’m a big fan of The American Conservative. But Buchanan’s tendency to write crazy shit is hurting their chances of getting subscriptions from the all-important “League of Ordinary Gentlemen” demographic.
Let’s Review
Attorney General Eric Holder has announced a preliminary investigation into abusive interrogation tactics. This investigation was recommended by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The scope of the investigation is limited to people...
Yes, facts do change minds
I have my own reservations about George Will’s column on Afghanistan, but accusing Will of slavishly following public opinion is just silly. The argument – such as it is – seems to be that...
