We all have pet peeves when it comes to language – terms or phrases that grate on our nerves, common misuses that drive us bonkers, etc. But past the mere annoyances there’s a more corrosive category of terminology that does actual damage to the culture. Words and expressions that, when we hear them, signal that either someone is an idiot
Read moreThe mid-1970s were a wonderful time for music lovers. For starters, exciting and innovative new music was popping up all over the place. And when it did, it actually got played on the radio. The UK was especially fertile ground during this period, as scores of punk and New Wave acts emerged (many from the “pub rock” scene) in the
Read moreThey say that politics makes for strange bedfellows. But this is ridiculous. Kenneth Starr’s Law Firm Gives More Money to Clinton By Lindsay Fortado July 31 (Bloomberg) — Lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm that’s home to Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and Bush administration official Jay Lefkowitz, have given more to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign than to all
Read moreWe’ve seen a slow trickle of ship-jumping (or jump-related jibber-jabber) in recent days as a variety of GOP rats have come to understand that President George Walker Bush now stands as the biggest obstacle they face in Campaign 2008. But Sweet Fancy Moses, this morning’s news features a couple of Rodents of Unusual Size (RoUS) swashbuckling off the Black Pearl
Read moreEvery once in a while stray facts and rumors collide in a way that causes my antennae to twitch. Sometimes it’s nothing, but sometimes it’s not. In any case, I like to get it out there to see if anybody can flesh it out or explain why I’m just being paranoid. Such a case buzzed around this morning. Item: A
Read moreJim Booth does a nice job on The Dick and some of the lies he told a Wyoming Boys State crowd a few days ago. It’s asking a lot of a guy – even somebody as smart and thorough as Jim – to address every lie that Cheney tells, and I thought I’d take a moment and point out one
Read moreVirek must have seen it too; he screamed, and Baron Samedi, Lord of Graveyards, the loa whose kingdom was death, leaned in across Barcelona like a cold dark rain. – William Gibson, Count Zero I miss Hunter Thompson. Always, but especially on days like today, where I’m contemplating what the Democratic leadership has done to the sense of relief I
Read moreFor a few moments there it seemed like the new Dem “leadership” had really gotten its act together. Now, though, it begins to look like they’re the very gutless dupes that Republicans have been telling us they are for so long. They have “reached out” to President Bush, and using a mandate backed by a good 70% of the public
Read morePresident George Bush says he will not support attaching benchmarks to funding of the Iraq occupation. Rice: Bush Would Oppose Iraq Benchmarks Bush Would Not Support Bill That Sets Iraqi Government Benchmarks, Secretary of State SaysBy BEN FELLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Apr 30, 2007 (AP)President Bush will not sign any war spending bill that penalizes Iraq’s government for failing
Read moreOkay, first Mitt made up some wack story about 7-year French marriage contracts. Then he made up that Sueng-Hui Cho shot up Virginia Tech because of video games and the devil rock. (Link.) Now his magical mystery tour takes on foreign policy: Saddam had WMDs but he hid them in Syria. Okay, okay – Saddam may have hid WMDs in
Read moreSteve Reynolds, friend of the Pit, sent me today’s NY Times op-ed by Bob Herbert, and it just set me off on some things I’ve been meaning to say lately. So I said them. Have a look at the op-ed first, though. Sorry folks, but this little editorial just caught me wrong. The ultimate irony is the nature of who’s
Read moreA couple interesting links forwarded to me by a co-worker: “The Battle Between Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon” “What Was Rumsfeld Thinking?” The first is a good analysis of the planning leading up to the war, while the second speculates on why Rumsfeld has been so insistent on a policy that stretches US forces so thinly. The reasoning seems plausible
Read moreA roundtable between Paul Barrow, Jay DeFrank and myself . It began last night when Aaron Butler sent me Mark Franchetti’s recent piece for the London Times, “Slaughter at the Bridge of Death: US Marines Fire on Civilians.” Brutal, ugly, horrific – this was war at its most disturbing. So I sent the URL around and encouraged people to read
Read moreOkay, I did my little evil scenario blog the other day. Next morning, out of feckin’ nowhere, ABC News (Diane Sawyer Division) is doing this story in southern Iraq, I think, where people were happy to be liberated (they hate Saddam), but were already bitching about where’s the humanitarian aid. One guy they have on camera is saying there’s no
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