lullaby pit

Good analysis by Krugman today on the push for a bigger safety net at the state level, but let’s hope he’s wrong about that last paragraph…. [THX: angliss.]

Start with the basic facts: U.S. budget cuts 75% of adult education funds Monday, May 23, 2005 By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette National Bureau WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania faces a 75 percent cut in federal funding for its adult education programs if Congress approves budget reductions proposed by President Bush. If the cuts are approved — as state adult education officials fear

Life is a race, and while we’re all in a sense sprinting for the same finish line, the simple truth is that some folks are born a lot closer to the tape than others. If we’re running a 100-yard dash and I get a 20-yard headstart, you might still beat me. But you’ll have to be 20% better than me

Not sure what got all this cranked up – I think it must have emerged from something kashandkara, dirtyblonde7, and jtjoeman were talking about in class yesterday. Anyway, Kara sent this “Tribute to the Nice Guys” around, and since one good turn deserves another, let me point everybody to an apt rejoinder honoring all the nice girls out there.

I don’t normally bother writing about reality TV, even though I do enjoy some of the shows for reasons I don’t expect anybody else to really get. But I did want to drop a couple comments on last night’s finale of The Apprentice, in which The Donald® hired 26 year-old real estate whiz Kendra Todd to run one of his

Actually, would you just keep hitting me until I’m dead? “Hit Me Baby One More Time, an exciting new primetime summer series on NBC, is a 1 hour music showcase in which veteran hit makers return to perform their greatest hit as well as a cover of a popular, contemporary song. Each show features 5 chart topping artists. At the

sirpaulsbuddy is chronicling a couple diametrically opposed approaches to gay rights issues in my home state here. Let me just say this about that: As a native of Davidson County, NC, can I just say how damned proud I am of the goddamned hillbillies running the place? Of course, you remember my post a few days ago where I said

Jim Booth has some musings on the logic of cover songs over at sirpaulsbuddy, and he’s right. You have your “makes perfect sense” category and your “wtf?” category. I have not much to add there. But it did make me think a bit about what makes a great cover. For me, faithfulness is not only not important, it can be

Our good friend J. Stephen O’Brien has an intelligent take on the whole creationism issue in Kansas (and beyond). JSO doesn’t run his own blog these days, so with his permission I have archived it here. Have a read, and if you would, post your comments here instead of there.

Thx to Cody at Mojo City News for passing this on. It seems that we frequently make the mistake of failing to understand what drives our enemies. Iraq is even tougher because of how fractured and incoherent the insurgency is. A good read….

There’s not any real meat to Larry Gelbart’s evisceration of Anne Coulter, but as pure, gratuitous, vitriolic blindsides go, it’s pretty entertaining stuff. It’s all about the truth, baby…..

The Today Show is on. Their musical guests are Styx. Right now they’re playing “I Am the Walrus.” I don’t want to reopen any sore wounds, but I’m sure this says something important on the Boomer portion of the lingering generational conversation we’re having…. 🙂

Gary Hart has it about right: …most Americans are not feeling secure. And that is because the realities of the twenty-first century, unlike the twentieth, do not lend themselves to military solution. Security in this new age must be understood much differently than just a few years ago. While he’s light on the details (so far, anyway, but this might

Somewhere out there the retail clothing industry is in possession of conclusive research demonstrating that I’m the only man in the entire feckin’ nation who would even think about purchasing a pair of cargo slacks in navy blue. There’s just no other explanation.

I’ve been thinking a bit about ethics and democracy lately, and the latest round of pondering was touched off by Jim Lampley’s inaugural broadside over at the HuffPost. I guess the ultimate question is this: what codes of ethics fuel democracy and what kinds are anathema to it? Whether or not I believe the GOP stole the 2000 and/or 2004