David Brooks glimpses the matrix darkly through Elena Kagan: She seems to be smart, impressive and honest — and in her willingness to suppress so much of her mind for the sake of her career, kind of disturbing.
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Re-posted with Oscar night open thread in comments below! Good news and bad. Our associates from the Storyboard blog have brought over three cases of Os and other much needed supplies. But no sooner is one gap closed than another opens up; Dolores, our longtime and beloved comment moderator, will be leaving Untethered today. WeContinue reading
I Love You! I Really, Really Love You!
The New York Times’ Caucus Blog didn’t note if Van Jones teared up when addressing Glenn Beck directly in a speech to the NAACP, but I insist on believing he did. It renders the image so much creepier, and that much more entertaining, when he does a Sally Field channels Jim Jones by way ofContinue reading “I Love You! I Really, Really Love You!”
I’m afraid m0re financial tr0uble t0 rep0rt here. We’ve c0mpletely exhausted 0ur supply 0f a certain v0wel, and haven’t the means as yet to resupply; we’ll be making d0, as y0u see here. And still, m0re semi-c0l0ns than we kn0w what to d0 with! Perhaps we can arrange s0me s0rt of barter with s0me0ne 0utContinue reading
—Oh, the earth is the best! That’s why I’m a vegetarian.–Well, that’s a start.—Uh, well, I was thinking of going vegan.–I’m a level 5 vegan — I won’t eat anything that casts a shadow.The Simpsons If this year’s newly broadened selection of Oscar nominees for Best Picture, doubled from five to ten, isn’t quite asContinue reading
Possession
I confess I’ve never been overtaken entirely by passion. I’ve never given myself over unconditionally and without reservation to anything; neither joy nor grief, hate nor love. Likewise for any given idea; but this is just another way of saying the same thing, for the passions are ideas too. The purest ideas, confounding transposition intoContinue reading “Possession”
Barry Bugs Out
Tom Englehardt nails the true nature of President Obama’s address to cadets at West Point: Certainly, the choice of venue, and so the decision to address a military audience first and other Americans second, not only emphasized the escalatory military path chosen in Afghanistan, but represented a kind of symbolic surrender of civilian authority. RushContinue reading “Barry Bugs Out”
I think I am allowed to conclude, as a fact established by modern history, that everyone, or nearly everyone, in a given set of circumstances, does what he is told to do; and, pardon me, but there’s not much chance that you’re the exception, any more than I was. If you were born in aContinue reading
D’uhccuse…!
He’s just saying there’s nothing wrong with that. Well, they look like a white crowd to me. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it is pretty monochromatic up here. No surprise in terms of the ethnic nature of the people showing up. Nothing wrong with that. But it is a fact. I thinkContinue reading “D’uhccuse…!”
The More Things Change…
From a former jar-head friend now working in Afghanistan as a contractor: About the only thing you really need to stockpile is patience because it’s a military/government project, where the sad but common saying is “f–k up, move up”. You’d be astounded at the incompetence and how deep and swift it can flow through hereContinue reading “The More Things Change…”
untethered 