Cure-alls and Remedies
Carla Bruni went from heiress to model to singer/songwriter. Her new release shows she has the wisdom to copy her betters rather than write poor facsimiles. She sets poems by Emily Dickinson , W.B. Yeats , Dorothy Parker , Walter de la Mare , W.H. Auden , and Christina Rossetti to music. Listen . (…
Incorporating the results of the 2006 election cycle, Ronald Klain argues that Progressives cannot afford to put election reform on the backburner. Rather, Klain suggests that, unless reforms are aggressively pursued, partisan gerrymandering will continue to weaken voter choice and participatory democracy in ways that ultimately hurt progressives in the long run: 1. There are…
I came across a blog a while back that argued that Walmart’s size and distribution has put them in a state-like position vis-a-vis their workers, the communities in which their stores are based, and the regulation of their distributors. When you think about it, there’s a strong congruity between communist architecture and Sam’s Club chic….
Women’s petition against coffee from 1674: Thus like Tennis Balls between two Rackets, the Fopps our Husbands are bandied to and fro all day between the Coffee-house and Tavern, whilst we poor Souls sit mopeing all alone till Twelve at night, and when at last they come to bed smoakt like a Westphalia Hogs-head we…
Here is why I love the economic analysis of policy. It’s an article by Mark A. R. Kleiman, detailing some simple rule changes and common sense redistributions of law enforcement budgets in order to maximize the efficiency and fairness of our drug enforcement policy. Imagine if we asked the DEA, the FBI, and the Army…
I’m late in getting to this news, but on January 18th, President Bush amended Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review. The new order, EO # 13422, has some interesting and potentially troubling new provisions. Here are some links: pro, pro, pro, con, con, con. Public Citizen identifies three problems with the new order,…
Last night I saw Erin Mckeown at The Basement. It was my first taste of both, though they’re apparently both well-known and fantastically well-endowed with talent. Here’s a video of Mckeown on Conan O’Brien. Here’s a link to her newest album: Sing You Sinners, a reworking of lesser-known standards form the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s….
Recently, a woman asked whether being told to “grow a pair” was evidence of misogyny, since it assumes that the only way to be courageous is to be masculine. I responded with some nonsense about the Laches and ᾳνδρειᾳ, stubborn manliness, which is the Greek word for courage. Still, it’s an interesting question: in the…
How to deal with rejection? Console yourself with the rejection slips of great authors.
“300” is slated for release on March 9th. Call me a Hellenic fanboy, but I’m excited. The Battle of Thermopylae pitted 300 Spartan warriors, 400 Theban hostages, and 700 Thespian volunteers against an army of Persians reputed by Herodotus to be 5,283,220 strong.