“Cheer up, so you’re not good at sports. It’s a very small part of life.” – Marge Simpson “Sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports.” – Homer Simpson A few weeks back, The New York Times ran a story about what they called a “sports tax”, which basically boils down to this: But ESPN [...]
Archive for December 2011
What Is ESPN?
Reducing: An American Pastime
“I am going on a diet. From this day forward, I pledge there will be no pork chop too succulent, no donut too tasty, no pizza too laden with delicious toppings to prevent me from reaching my scientifically determined ideal weight! As God as my witness, I’ll always be hungry again!” – Homer Simpson The [...]
The End of (Part of) the War
“Don’t get discouraged, Dad, only four vertical miles to go.” – Bart Simpson The stealthy, unannounced withdrawal of the last American troops in Iraq was done in the dark of night and witnessed, fittingly enough, only by one of our robot warriors, high in the sky. There were no sweets and flowers, no cheering crowds, [...]
Percentages
“So, it seems like we have enough people now, when do we start taking down the corporations?” – Stan Marsh Writing at TomDispatch, Barbara and John Ehrenreich have produced one of the calmest and most cogent explanations of why “the 99%” has emerged as a resonant political idea. Their take is generally hopeful, but they’re [...]
Red Through Blue
Tragically Common Climate Comedy
“Would it help if I told you you’re not responsible for Krusty’s death?” – Lisa Simpson “Yes! Yes, it would.” – Bart Simpson “Well, I can’t. You’ll just have to learn to live with your mental problem.” – Lisa Simpson About a decade ago, after climate change had become an undeniable reality but before anyone [...]
Mainstreaming
“Marge, what can we do?” – C.M. Burns “Well, you could give them healthier snacks, theme days . . .” – Marge Simpson “You mean like, Child Labor Day?” – C.M. Burns “Actually, I was thinking of Funny Hat Day.” – Marge Simpson Gary Kamiya has recently made a welcome and charging comeback onto Salon, [...]
Pat McCarran Lives
“Just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the ‘Army’, but a more alarmist name would be, the Kill-Bot Factory.” – Kent Brockman There was much tumult this week as the Senate, in a move that was brazenly craven even by its spineless standards, [...]
