Chirac Mauled by Poodle

They say that "dog bites man" is not news. Au contraire: "Chirac Mauled by Clinically Depressed Poodle."

All Political Corruption is Local

Matt Yglesias is befuddled that Michael Bloomberg is ineligible for re-election as NYC mayor: It really does seem a bit odd that a mayor with a 67 percent approval rating should be forced from office because of a term limits law. I suppose I understand the theory that presidential-level term limits serve as a check on tyranny, but there doesn't seem ...

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 ...

Limbaugh Issues ‘Operation Chaos’ Pause

For a variety of reasons, I haven't heard more than a few snippets of Rush Limbaugh's show in years. I haven't figured out yet whether his "Operation Chaos," where he's urging the Dittoheads to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary Clinton, is a serious bit of agitprop or camp. Regardless, he's weighed the latest developments in the ...

A Retraction

On two separate occasions in the past month, I condemned John McCain for being honored to receive endorsements from Rev. John Hagee and Rev. Rod Parsley. This condemnation was on the basis of statements I read in articles about them, statements I freely admit I do not know the full context of. Additionally, I don't know if those ...

Obama’s ‘More Perfect Union’ Speech

Barack Obama gave his big race speech today. I haven't heard it, just read the transcripts of the pre-release text and the as-delivered version. My colleague Dave Schuler observes, "I’ll wait for the overnight polls. Otherwise my remarks would just be a Rorschach test which is what the commentaries I’ve heard so far have been." I'll take ...

Late Night OTB – Muppet Edition

I've had this stuck in my head for three days since reading UGO's Top 5- TV Shows of All Time (it gets a shout out in #6, a show my family watched together every week), so I'm sharing it with all of you. I was 12 the last time I heard this duet. Brought back a lot of memories.

Kurt Loder on ‘Sicko’: Heavily Doctored

I was a bit (pleasantly) surprised to see this article by Kurt Loder. Loder takes a critical look at Moore's latest film, 'Sicko' and finds it lacking in terms of facts. Michael Moore may see himself as working in the tradition of such crusading muckrakers of the last century as Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair — writers whose ...

Our Biotech Future

Freeman Dyson is excited about the direction of biotechnology. While far from a Luddite, I find his vision rather chilling. Will the domestication of high technology, which we have seen marching from triumph to triumph with the advent of personal computers and GPS receivers and digital cameras, soon be extended from physical technology to biotechnology? I believe that the ...

A Sensible Vicious Dog Law

The town of New Bedford Massachusetts has come up with what is actually a good law in regards to dangerous/vicious dogs. Basically, the law is structured to focus on "the deed, not the breed". That is, the law is geared to imposing penalties and restrictions on individual dogs that show signs of being dangerous/vicious. "It goes after the deeds ...

Mourning the Death of a Pet

Megan McArdle was chastised by an insensitive blogger of whom I've never heard for posting a poem on her blog mourning the passage of her dog, Finnegan. She is, understandably, perplexed and angry at having the legitimacy of her emotions called into question. Obviously I do not think that losing a dog is like losing a person; no one sane ...

Neal Boortz May Be Pulled from Virginia Radio Station

David Grant reports for the Collegiate Times that nationally syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz' show may be pulled from Pulaski, Virginia's WFNR AM for some controversial remarks he made in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. Boortz echoed a theme expressed by many that the victims were “standing in terror waiting for (their) turn to be executed.” ...

Hitler, Mozart, and Abortion

Gerard Vanderleun laments the social cost of abortion, wondering, "Of all those babies we destroyed, how many were Einsteins, how many were Mozarts?" Harvey Olson retorts, "Statistically, about as many as there were Hitlers, Dahmers, and Chos." A debate ensues about the statistical likelihood that a given aborted fetus would mature into a genius vice a sociopath with a side ...

Break a Compact Flourescent Bulb and Spend $2,000

No, really. Here is a really, really good reason NOT to buy compact flourescent bulbs (CFLs). On that Tuesday, Bridges was installing one of the spiral-shaped light bulbs in her 7-year-old daughter’s bedroom. Suddenly, the bulb plummeted to the floor, breaking on the shag carpet. Bridges, who was wary of the dangers of cleaning up a fluorescent bulb, called The Home ...

Update on the Pet Food Recall

Over at my home base, The Glittering Eye, I've been posting on the pet food recall obsessively, almost to the exclusion of everything else. This must have puzzled many people. There are a number of reasons for my interest in this story. First, I'm a committed dog owner, my dogs are an important part of my life, and anything ...