Bad attitude and strange bedfellows at the dawn of the Reich, and What Would Hunter Do, anyway? Ever since five members of the Supreme Court declared the Constitution unconstitutional yesterday morning I’ve been in something of a snit. Along the way, I’ve said a variety of things that struck me as insightful, pithy, even witty. Others, however – bitter, lonely
Read moreSomething wicked this way comes. Item: Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino says “we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” Item: GOP apologist Mary Matalin says President Bush “inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history.” Item: Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani says “We had
Read moreTen years ago, at the turn of the millennium, Nostraslammy took a stab at predicting the 21st Century, with a promise to check back every ten years to see how the prognostications were turning out. Odds are good I won’t be able to do a review every ten years until 2100, but I figure I’m probably good through 2030, at
Read morePulitzer- and Emmy-winner William Henry‘s famous polemic, In Defense of Elitism (1994), argues that societies can be ranked along a spectrum with “egalitarianism” on one end and “elitism” on the other. He concludes that America, to its detriment, has slid too far in the direction of egalitarianism, and in the process that it has abandoned the elitist impulse that made
Read moreIn Mike’s most recent Nota Bene, he points us to a disturbing, if not altogether surprising little vignette from Capitol Hill. When House Democrats gathered on Friday for their end-of-the week caucus meeting in the basement of the Capitol, caucus chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told the group he wanted them to hear first from Rep. Michael Capuano, who’d just returned
Read moreRemember the scene in Spiderman 3 when Eddie Brock (played by Topher Grace) goes to church and prays that God will kill Peter Parker? That probably got a laugh out of most viewers because, well, how over-the-top preposterous is it to pray to God to kill someone you don’t like? Jesus us a god of love, isn’t He? But hey,
Read moreHappy Final Big Shopping Day Before Xmus. Our friend Lee Camp lays the nard-stomp on American culture, and we’re okay with it.
Read moreHere’s a story that makes you think. Abusive GOP lawmaker Slips her something that distorts her perceptions Beats the hell out of her during allegedly consensual sex No safe word to make it stop Damn. Sounds kinda like a metaphor for American political life, huh? UPDATE: Woops – now it’s a felony assault charge….
Read moreLet’s begin with a quick trivia question. What legislator’s Top 20 donor list includes the following? Blackstone Group (Financial Services) Bain Capital FPL Group (Energy) DLA Piper (Corporate law firm, representing Global 1,000 and Fortune 500 companies) Kindred Healthcare Beacon Capital Partners Comcast Corp Brownstein, Hyatt et al (Corporate law firm) Venable LLP (Corporate law firm) Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Read morePart two in a series. “Elite” hasn’t always been an epithet. In fact, if we consider what the dictionary has to say about it, it still signifies something potentially worthy. Potentially. For instance: e·lit·ism or é·lit·ism (-ltzm, -l-) n. 1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived
Read morePart one in a series. Is there a more radioactive word in American politics today than elitist? Admit it – you saw the word and had an instinctive negative reaction, didn’t you? If not, then count yourself among the rarest minority in our culture, the fraction of a percent that has not yet had its consciousness colonized by the “evil
Read moreThe other day our friend MentalSwitch offered up a delightful little post entitled “Hello Nurse!” It featured a photo of an attractive model dressed as … well, hell, rather than me trying to describe the shot and failing miserably, why don’t you just click on over there and see for yourself. But before you do, please be forewarned that the
Read moreAmerica’s democratic ideal doesn’t work perfectly. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, and in these cases it feeds our cynicism to the point where we’re tempted to conclude that the very possibility of true freedom is a sham. I know whereof I speak, because there are few people out there more soaked in bile than I am. Still, this whole
Read moreUPDATE: We’ve revised this post to replace disputed Rush comments with confirmed-by-video ones. After all, we want to be fair. And balanced. ________________ Rush Limbaugh wants to be an NFL owner. Or does he? Jason Whitlock says it’s a publicity stunt, and he may be right. Glenn Beck has been getting a lot of run lately and Rash needs to
Read moreOn September 22, Politico ran an article by Glenn Thrush that egregiously misrepresented the words of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). The subject was town hall meetings and racist comments that he had witnessed. In due course Thrush’s “error” was “pointed out” and Perriello’s actual words were substituted. (The original post, corrected, appears here.) Thrush then issued an explanation and apology.
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lullaby pit 