In Praise of Folly

A look at the absurd world in which we live, through the lenses of popular culture, sports and politics.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tween Queens

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Some of us remember the age when kids should be seen but not heard, or maybe even not seen that much. Youth was to be lived freely, spending...
Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Oped Objectivity?

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Michael Bloomberg has just announced that he is adding an opinion section to his financial news organization: http://www.salon.com/news/m...

Population Trends Favor GOP

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The U.S. Census Bureau released findings today that show an expected shift away from Democratic strongholds in the Northeast and Midwest to ...
Monday, December 20, 2010

Fluoridation Conspiracy?

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In the classic Stanley Kubrick spoof Dr. Stranglove , a mad general believes the Russians are contaminating our water to take over America. ...

DADT Finally Over ... Missile Treaty Might Die as Well

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A piece of good news emerged today as Obama finally came through -- ending Don't Ask Don't Tell and hopefully putting a first nail i...
Saturday, December 18, 2010

What's at Stake?

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As I contemplate the Republican victory in the election last month, it occurred to me what is at stake in a broader sense. I have often spok...
Friday, December 17, 2010

Extra Extra . . . Don't Read All About It

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A Bloomberg poll on the eve of the election found that two-thirds of likely voters believed that, under Obama and the Democrats, middle-clas...
Thursday, December 16, 2010

Some good news . . .

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A new poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal shows that Obama holds an early lead over all Republican contenders in his presumed bid for re...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Facts Are Stupid Things

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Reagan once offered this line and beyond absurd adherence to Reaganomics and trickle down economics, this appears to be another legacy he ha...
Thursday, December 09, 2010

The Will to Act

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In an interesting article in the November 25, 2010 New York Review of Books "The Way Out of the Slump," Paul Krugman and Robin Wel...

Who America Voted For and What We're Getting

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So Republicans will soon take over the house and use that position to enact their policy agenda. After the tax cut deal with Obama, two trou...
Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Obama/Bush Tax Cuts Extended

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One of the signature elements of Obama's campaign for change was to repeal the Bush tax cuts, which exacerbated a 30-year trend toward i...
Monday, December 06, 2010

The Absurdity of Conservative Discourse

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Missouri state treasurer Sarah Steelman, announcing her intentions to run for the Senate in 2012, made the following comment, ""...
Monday, September 06, 2010

The Tax Trap and Democratic Fecklessness

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Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) met with President Obama a few weeks ago and according to a report on ABC News reports that he is willing to ...
Sunday, September 05, 2010

The "Partisan" President?

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This is what passes for media coverage today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/04/AR2010090402579_pf.html . App...

The "Polarizing" President?

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This is what passes for media coverage today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/04/AR2010090402579_pf.html . Appa...
Thursday, September 02, 2010

History Rewritten Again

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Republicans are at it again, rewriting inconvenient truths to serve their larger national ambitions. This time it is Mississippi's GOP g...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Cynicism & Republicans

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I wrote my dissertation on cynicism and democracy and have often wrote here about the topic as well. When Obama won the election in 2008 I h...
Monday, August 23, 2010

Elections for Sale

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Last week we heard that Fox was giving $1,000,000 to Republicans to help win the midterm elections. Now the magnanimous folks at the Chamber...
Sunday, August 22, 2010

What Good for the Goose . . .

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Republican logic generally has little to do with fact or rationality. In the latest example, they are now arguing Saudi Arabia would never a...
Saturday, August 21, 2010

Where Are You? . . . Just Check Facebook

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Facebook has just launched Places a new application that allows you to check in at various places across the city: http://www.slate.com/tool...
Friday, August 20, 2010

Mosque Melee

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The ongoing controversy of a Mosque being built by the site of the World Trade Center seems to highlight a fundamental disconnect between co...
Thursday, August 19, 2010

Be Stupid

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You may have seen the 2010 Diesel advertising campaign somewhere around town, on a billboard, in a store and or in some other instantiation....
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We Don't Want No Subway Restaurant

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Springdale Utah is fighting an interesting battle at the moment -- trying to keep chain resaturants out of their quaint little town of 500, ...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Jetblue Blues

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Steven Slater appears to be the latest media spectacle to become a household name, after he told off a cabin full of JetBlue customers, grab...
Friday, August 06, 2010

Lame Duck Congress?

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So Republicans are now passing out oaths to Congressmen asking them to pledge not to engage in any lame duck Congress activity. Ironically, ...
Wednesday, July 28, 2010

To Fight Racists or Not to Fight Racists

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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...
Sunday, July 25, 2010

Teabaggers are like the founding fathers . . .

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and apparently Jesus Christ: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_07/024880.php . This according to conservative activi...
Friday, July 23, 2010

Billionaire Blues

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner announced that the Obama administration will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire yesterday, setting up a ba...
Thursday, July 22, 2010

Media Malaise

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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...
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Will She Stay or Will She Go

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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...
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