Rollback: Repealing Big Government Before the Coming Fiscal Collapse by Thomas E. Woods Jr. Regnery Publishing, pp232 ~$17 (Powell’s, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon) “I’m having a little trouble with the government.” – Hank Scorpio “Aww, those jerks, always walking over the small businessman. Don’t get me started about the government.” – Homer Simpson There are [...]
Author Archive
Dinner Party Intellectualism
Mitzvah
The Crisis of Zionism by Peter Beinart Times Books, pp289 ~$20 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “And for you, sir?” – Izzy’s Deli Waitress “Oh, let’s see, I want a nice sandwich, but the Joey Bishop? Eh, too fatty. The Jackie Mason? I don’t know, sauerkraut makes me gassy. The Bruce Willis? I don’t even [...]
Tri-Corner
The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism by Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson Oxford University Press, pp 245 ~$20 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “By the power vested in me, I hereby strip you of your ceremonial bell . . .” – Mayor Quimby “No! Nooo!” – Homer Simpson “. . . and [...]
Trust, Risk and Appropriate Paranoia
Liars & Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs to Thrive by Bruce Schneier John Wiley & Sons, pp 366, ~$20 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “Isis headquarters makes Fort Knox look like a gingerbread house. Only two means of ingress, the first, at street level, impenetrable after six. The second, through an access door [...]
How Marty McFly (Didn’t) Bring Down the Republic
Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World WE Live in Now – Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything by David Sirota Ballantine Books, 276pp, ~$15 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “You know, that dance wasn’t as safe as they said it was.” – Fry Syndicated columnists employ a variety of tricks to [...]
A Better World
Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben Times Books, 261pp, ~$10 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben Times Books, 253pp, ~$10 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “And I found the new Al Gore book!” – Lisa Simpson “Sane [...]
They Hate Us for Our Science
Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter Penguin Press, 294pp, ~$15 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) “But first, we all stink.” – Kent Brockman “We all? Hey!” – Citizen “That’s according to a national survey ranking Springfield as the least popular city in America. In [...]
[Stage Whisper] Fuck the Poor
Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer–And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson Simon & Schuster, pp 368, ~$15 (Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) The Great Risk Shift: Why American Jobs, Families, Health Care and Retirement Aren’t Secure — and How You Can Fight Back by [...]
Let’s Keep Wasting Time
“Isn’t that just pointless busy work?” – Lisa Simpson “Bulls eye. Get cracking.” – Miss Hoover A little digging into the archives tells me that it’s been more than three years since I did anything resembling site maintenance around here. Hopefully that’s a testament both to my laziness and to the relative decency of this [...]
What Drones?
“You know, you humans are so scared of a little robot competition you won’t even let us on the field.” – Bender On Monday, in an event that was equal parts participatory democracy and election stunt, President Obama took questions via Google Plus that had been voted on by Americans connected enough to know and [...]
Psst, We’re Still Still Not Bombing Iran
“Nuc-u-lar, it’s pronounced nuc-u-lar.” – Homer Simpson “Oh, whatever.” – Drill Sergeant “Nuc-u-lar.” – Homer Simpson Even before the Iraq War started, there was a fantasy on the right for using military force against the Islamic Republic of Iran. After our Mesopotamian adventure went tits up, any chance of that being a full scale ground [...]
Mutual Ignorance
“Gentlemen, we’ve got to sink this Lisa Lionheart doll, and fast! It’s time to call in a favor from Washington.” – Malibu Stacy Executive “Yes. Yes, I understand. I’ll take care of it personally.” – Congressman “Dad, did you hear something?” – Lisa Simpson “I-unno.” – Homer Simpson After last Wednesday’s unprecedented strike and the [...]
The Russian Is Cut
Other People’s Rules
“Stop it, you two, this is Thanksgiving, so glue friendly or I’ll take your glue away and then no one will have any glue to glue with!” – Homer Simpson “Dad, this isn’t about glue. It’s about territoriality. He only wants the glue because I’m using it.” – Lisa Simpson For the first time in [...]
A Moment of Clarity
“I work like a Japanese beaver!” – Homer Simpson “Oh, really? I came to see you three times today. Twice you were sleeping and once you were kicking that ball of electrical tape around.” – Marge Simpson The main political internet brushfire this week wasn’t New Hampshire. It was the pathetic, hat in hand, please-sir-can-I-have-some-more, [...]
Perennial Killer Silence
“Nothing beats a stroll in cattle country. Hi, I’m Troy McClure! You may remember me from such educational films as ‘Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun’ and ‘Firecrackers: The Silent Killer’.” – Troy McClure As the Granite State anti-climax echoes among the politically engaged today, heavy with themes about the inevitability of Mitt Romney and [...]
Tabling a Debate
“I’m not saying it won’t work, I’m just saying it’s dishonest.” – Marge Simpson “Well, if we agree, then why are we arguing?” – Homer Simpson There’s an old saw about academic fights that says that the reason they can get so vicious is because there is so very little at stake. The same rule [...]
Sometimes Satan Cloaks Himself in Truth
“Homer, I’m as permissive as the next parent. I mean, just yesterday I let Todd buy some Red-Hots with a cartoon devil on the box.” – Ned Flanders The people of Iowa are waking up to a Santorum-Romney hangover this morning, and the political gossip press is a whirling dervish of pointless analysis. Romney’s reflexive [...]
The Perpetual Nature of Conservative Reactions and Right Wing Apocalypses
“I promise you zombies more raw human flesh than any President since Roosevelt!” – Duke Phillips The most hopeful conception of the political conflicts of our time is that, three or four decades from now, rational people will look back on our arguments and foibles and conclude that we were harmlessly deranged. After all, what [...]
What Is ESPN?
“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 [...]
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 [...]
