In Praise of Folly

The U.S. Commision on Civil Rigths appears to think racism is a thing of the past, and have instead spent most of their time and resources r...

and apparently Jesus Christ: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_07/024880.php . This according to conservative activi...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner announced that the Obama administration will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire yesterday, setting up a ba...

The Sherrod story shows the nature of a news cycle that, unlike say the Watergate scandal, does not wait for anything pesky like fact checki...

The right wing looney tunes are at it again, and the administration seemed to be listening to them this time -- at least the head of the USD...

One of the most commonly agreed upon elements in academic success for k-12 students in class size. Smaller classes lead to better outcomes f...

A few months ago a poll came out that showed those in the Tea Party were disproportionately white, older, more affluent and held more radica...

Obama is speaking up about Republican obstructivism, trying to reframe the nature of politics today. Will it work? One of the problems Democ...

Republicans continue to play the "make changes and we won't support the bill anyway," as the Disclosure Bill now seems destine...

. . . and rioters too. Riots throughout Belfast the past three nights have included kids as young as 9 years old, fighting for the nationali...

This message is brought to you by the New York Federal Appeals court that just struck down the 2003 obscenity policy of the FCC: http://voic...

The devil is in the details, they say. Who "they" are is often unclear, but that's besides the point. It appears John McCain s...

Rush Limbaugh has sold the Upper East Side condo he has owned since 1994, fulfilling a promise he made last year after complaining about tax...

So the World Cup is over and Spain has won, playing sometimes lovely football, though their finishing skills have been suspect throughout. B...

Two things that have defined the Republican Party since their rise to power in the early 80s, are a disciplned union and consistency of mess...

Good news should be reported, and social justice advocates got a positive ruling from the courts today. A federal court in Boston argued tha...

So the inept spies that made Boris and Natasha seem like geniuses are on their way home: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/articl...

Two interesting articles today highlight the ways technology continues to infiltrate every aspect of our lives -- for good and bad. The firs...

In the 20th century, the idea that technological advancement and progress were synonymous became the norm. While many challenged this claim ...

what the hell the party stands for; at least according to outgoing Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett. Quoting Talking Points Memo from a ...

Shooting has just begun on a new History Channel miniseries based on the Kennedys. The eight-hour project has already stirred up some contr...

An important op ed from Paul Krugman on Sunday suggested that we may be on the road to a depression: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/opini...

I write often here about the rhetorical strategies and tautologies conservatives use and the general tenor of conservative discourse. Today,...

There can be no more thankless job in the world than umpiring/referring big time sports (college and professional). When you do a good job, ...

There was a wonderful post in Talking Points Memo a couple of days ago, which you can read here: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/...

It will be interesting to see how conservatives will spin what many might call another Obama/Democratic Congress success -- the passage of f...

The following quote from A.O. Scott's New York Times  review of Knight and Day perfectly captures the problem with Hollywood today: ...

Corporate executives got more good news from the Supreme Court yesterday, as a suit brought by ethically-challenged Jeffrey Skilling of Enro...

I usually allow this blog to sort of follow the news of the day, but I think it is time to ask a broader question that doesn't relate to...

The match that wouldn't end finally did, after three days and 11 hours and 5 minutes on court, with a 70-68 final set victory for Americ...

The U.S. soccer team completed a nail-biting group stage of the World Cup with a dramatic 1-0 victory over Algeria in the 91st minute. It wa...

Following the advice of positive thinking gurus the world over, BP's PR team is in overdrive turning a tragedy into good news ( http://b...

Sarah Palin had a tweet today about the Gulf Crisis . . . “Gulf disaster needs divine intervention as man’s efforts have been futile. Gulf...

New York Times Visual Editor and Op Ed contributor Charles Blow has an interesting Op Ed on the waning popularity of Obama: http://www.nytim...

While we do not have to sell our souls to the corporate devil quite yet, we do apparently have to sell our privacy. So said the Supreme Cour...

During the BP hearings today, Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton criticized the White House’s brokering the $20 billion fund as a “shak...

After eight years of Bush, Cheney and crew arguing that the President has almost unlimited power, Republicans are actually complaining that ...

Seniors and others in the U.S. have called for legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs in America (with much cheaper versions of...

Many think of the Tea Party as a fringe party that is much more active in the backwoods of American life. But as the New York Daily News re...

Boston, MA -- For the first time in six years, Kobe Bryant admitted a foul call. The momentous event occurred with 3:24 left in the fourth q...

A new study finds that college students lack the empathy of their peers from 30 years ago: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100528/sc_l...

In yet another blow to those arguing that all people in the U.S. should have equal access to the institution of marriage, a new study finds ...

poor, it appears. A new study finds that quality of life for American children has fallen to 1975 levels. That translates to 21% of children...

The party of no is starting to say yes -- at least to Internet users who might have an actual platform for them. Rather than telling us what...

I have been absent from my blog the past month or so with an end of semester rush, but wanted to start it up again now. I have talked often ...

Not surprising given attitudes on taxes, the countries trust in government has been trending downward for the better part of 50 years. Pew, ...

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that most Americans think "most taxes" are wasted. A surprising 74% of responden...

Lehman Brothers screwing their investors by hiding its riskier investments through its undisclosed subsidiary Hudson Castle: www.nytimes.com...

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see the new exhibit at the Guggenheim. It provided a sometimes interesting engagement with the evolution of...

There have been some impressive debut novels in recent years, including Gary Schtyngart's The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Jonat...

David Brooks used to be a conservative I could occasionally look up to. When he was on PBS, he seemed to be reasonable and often had interes...