‘Little House’ Books a Collaborative Effort?

Those of us over a certain age recall the "Little House on the Prairie" television series and many of us read several of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books upon which it was loosely based. An interesting New Yorker profile by Judith Thurman examines the story behind the story. Wilder scholarship is a flourishing industry, particularly at universities in the Midwest, and ...

Financing the Life of the Mind

Russell Jacoby laments that it has become almost impossible for intellectuals to sustain themselves without institutional backing: Yes, a few souls manage to hustle and do quite nicely, for instance, Christopher Hitchens. Yes, a few magazines like the “New Yorker” pay a living wage, but for most to survive, if not flourish, requires a working (and willing) spouse, family money or ...

Great Compromise Not So Great?

Matt Yglesias has discovered the facts that 1) each state gets two Senators and 2) some states are bigger than others, a condition that has obtained since the inception of our current system in 1789.  There was, as some may recall having read, this thing called the Great Compromise whereby delegates representing sovereign states under the extant Articles of Confederation ...

Air Force One Flyover Frightens New Yorkers

An aircraft that would have been "Air Force One" except that President Obama wasn't on board staged an ill-fated photo op in New York City yesterday morning. It was supposed to be a photo opportunity, a showcase of Air Force One alongside the sweep of New York City skyline. But as the low-flying Boeing 747 speeded in the shadows of skyscrapers, ...

Extreme Beer

[caption id="attachment_28211" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Gordon Biersch Somerfest pints"][/caption] Burkhard Bilger explores the rise of craft beers for The New Yorker. “When you’re trying to create new brewing techniques and beer styles, you have to have a certain recklessness,” Jim Koch, whose Boston Beer Company brews Samuel Adams, and who coined the term “extreme beer,” told me. “Sam has that. He’s fearless, but ...

OTB Radio – Tonight at 7 Eastern

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live tonight from 7-8 Eastern. Dave Schuler will be joining me tonight to talk about recent events in the news.  Possible topics include: The New Yorker cover flap McCain and Obama's evolving Iraq and Afghanistan plans Freddie and Fannie bailout Alternative energy solutions just around the corner? Please join us. We'll ...

Only Muslim Extremists Get Upset About Cartoons

Good line, purportedly from Jon Stewart: Obama is not upset about the cartoon that calls him a Muslim extremist. Who gets upset about cartoons? Muslim extremists. via Steve Garfield. See "New Yorker Obama Terrorist Cover" for background and commentary on the story. UPDATE:  Amusingly, I see via Memeorandum, the hubbub goes on.  Obama is continuing to beat this dead horse: Democrat Barack Obama said ...

Presidential Succession Crisis?

Bruce Ackerman has read a novel and heard unsubstantiated rumors and from these concocted a Constitutional crisis which he's convinced the folks at Slate to publish. New Yorker writer Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, opens with a shocker. Apparently sometime in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan issued a "secret executive order" that in the event of the death of ...

New Yorker Obama Terrorist Cover

The liberal blogs are in a tizzy about the cover of the July 21 New Yorker, an illustration by Barry Blitt which shows the Obamas in terrorist outfits, doing a fist bump with a big portrait of Osama bin Laden over their mantle with an American flag burning in the fireplace: Given that this is the liberal New Yorker and that ...

Subsidizing Home Ownership

Ezra Klein jumps on a growing meme the home ownership isn't all it's cracked up to be and that the government should stop subsidizing it. He points to Paul Krugman, who argues in today's NYT that it's time to rethink our decades-long bipartisan consensus that home ownership should be encouraged. While everyone stresses the advantages of owning ...

New York Recognizes Gay Marriage

While gays still can't marry in New York, marriages performed out-of-state will now be recognized when they come home. Same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere will be recognized in New York in response to a state court ruling this year, Gov. David Paterson's spokeswoman said Wednesday. State agencies, including those governing insurance and health care, must immediately change policies and ...

Rebuilding the Republican Brand

It's not exactly news that the Republican Party is in the doldrums at the moment. It lost control of both Houses of Congress in the 2006 elections, its president is at historic lows in the polls, it has lost a string of special elections and its incumbent Congressmen are retiring in droves, and the odds are better than even ...

Charlton Heston Dead at 84

Hollywood legend and longtime NRA spokesman Charlton Heston had died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Robert W. Welkos and Susan King for the LAT: Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who achieved stardom playing larger-than-life figures including Moses, Michelangelo and Andrew Jackson and went on to become an unapologetic gun advocate and darling of conservative causes, has died. He was ...

McCain and Giuliani GOP’s Best?

Collapsed I-35 Bridge Rated Deficient Years Ago, Mirrors National Problem

The span of I-35 bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis last night was rated structurally deficient two years ago, Dan Browning reports in the Star Tribune. The highway bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday was rated as "structurally deficient" two years ago and possibly in need of replacement. That rating was contained in the U.S. Department of Transportation's National ...