Archive for March 2008

Part of a Balanced Breakfast

“I’m an old man, I hate everything but ‘Matlock’.” – Abe Simpson A couple of weeks ago I fixed up an old Hewlett-Packard laptop for my dad.  It had been my brother’s laptop but as he’s moved on to a new and better one the three year old HP got passed down (or is it [...]

Debts of Honor and Open Doors

“When my family arrived in this country four months ago, we spoke no English and had no money in our pockets.  Today, we own a nationwide chain of wheel balancing centers.  Where else but in America, or possibly Canada, could our family find such opportunity?” – Truong van Dinh Our Mesopotamian adventure reached two milestones [...]

I Want My NCAA TV

“We interrupt this public affairs program to bring you a football game.” – Municipal Roundtable Announcer “Yes!” – Homer Simpson I have spent a great deal of time watching college basketball over the last couple of days and there are eight more games scheduled for this afternoon. It is a wonderful spectacle and for much [...]

Nothing’s Quite Like the First Time

“Now that’s what I call a sticky situation.” – Eric Cartman Barack Obama seems to be getting high marks for his speech yesterday but it’s too soon to tell what the final spin and lasting fallout will be. It may put this farcical stuff about his preacher behind him for awhile, it may not. It [...]

Why Obama Matters

The Dude Abides

“If horseracing is the sport of kings, then surely bowling is a…very good sport…as well.” – Homer Simpson The brothers Coen won a Best Picture Oscar a couple of weeks ago for No Country for Old Men.  It’s an entertaining enough picture, though if it were up to me I’d have given the nod to [...]

Disconnected

“Do you get HBO?” – Bart Simpson “No, that would cost extra.” – Kang As I post this the credits are rolling on the last new episode of The Wire. It was a staggering program, unlike anything else on television. From the opening scene of another pointless murder to the finale of McNulty driving off [...]

Programming Note

“Why don’t we talk about something besides Zapp for awhile?” – Leela Tethered Swimming was never intended to strictly be a platform for me to rant about domestic American politics. It more or less became exclusively that over the last few months due to the unusual length of the Red and Blue nominating contests. With [...]

Pyrrhic Victory

“Loyal Stonecutters, let us begin our re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg.” – Homer Simpson “Homer, you can’t just keep hanging out with these Colobus monkeys.  Somebody’s gonna get parasites.” – Marge Simpson Note: All delegate math done “back of the envelope” style. It may take a few news cycles for the sheen of victory [...]

A Fight We Can Win

“I am not cleaning that….enh, who am I kidding?” – Marge Simpson Wednesday’s news cycle was dominated by debate wrap-ups (consensus: Clinton campaign almost dead) and memorials to William F. Buckley Jr. (consensus: actually dead).  All but lost amid that hubbub was a very sharp exchange between Barack Obama and John McCain over Iraq.  Put [...]

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