Manly Thoughts
If you haven't been reading Manzine this week, here's what you've missed: James Bond Ruined the Martini Sean Connery’s Bond was the essence of cool. But he drank lousy martinis. Steakhouse Steak at Home You don’t need to spend $40 at a premium steakhouse to enjoy delicious steaks. Here’s how to do it in your own kitchen. Man Laws That Should be ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 8, 2009 07:27
Bush on Nation Building
In a sidebar on the Iraq War casualty predictions post, regular commenter Odograph observes, "I think 'Bush was famously against nation-building' is a retroactive political claim." Not at all. While it's hard to imagine in hindsight, Candidate Bush ran against nation building and promised a "more humble foreign policy." Remember, Realist Condi Rice was his chief foreign policy advisor during the campaign ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 17, 2009 09:04
Rumsfeld Bible Quotes
Apparently, a lot of people who use Yahoo! are searching for "Rumsfeld bible quotes" today. This rather odd happenstance is apparently a function of a story that circulated earlier in the week about Rumsfeld putting bible verses on the cover sheets of "Worldwide Intelligence Updates" intended for President Bush. Apparently, the story is largely untrue.Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 22, 2009 13:11
Made-up Wikipedia Quote Makes Obituaries
[caption id="attachment_36114" align="alignright" width="229" caption="AP Photo/Fionn Kidney "][/caption] The erstwhile Dr. Leopold Stotch passes along news of the exploits of a fellow Irish prankster: When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news. His report card: ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 12, 2009 05:44
Quotes of the Day – Big Government Edition
"It was easier for Obama to fire the CEO of a private company than it is to fire most federal employees." - Radley Balko "I don't know if you know this or not but starting today the United States government will stand behind your warranty on a newly purchased General Motors car. Now, that's going to be cool, isn't it? You ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 31, 2009 13:32
Quotes of the Day: Congress Edition
"As bad a precedent as the AIG bill is, there is one positive. Congress has established the principle that $165 million is not too inconsequential a sum as to require strict budget hawkishness. I can’t wait to apply that standard during the next earmark fight." - Bob Krumm "I was thinking: How about imposing a 90% tax on the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 22, 2009 07:27
Productivity Guidelines: Quality Over Quantity
Gina Trapani transcribes a corporate whiteboard offering solutions for "Workday Quality Over Quantity." Check email ONLY: 10AM 1PM 4PM Send any time Set email to check every 3 hours. NO email on evenings. NO email on weekends. EMERGENCY? = Use phone. FOCUS 1-3 Activities max/day LOG 1-3 Succinct status bullets every day on team wiki MINIMIZE chat MAXIMIZE single-tasking OUT by 5:30PM ~No excuses~ This sounds great. But it strikes me as implausible and even inefficient. For ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 28, 2009 09:40
Schwarzenegger: Put Aside Ideology
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ABC's "This Week" this morning and two quotes in particular are garnering some attention. Taegan Goddard awarded "Quote of the Day" honors to this one: Well, Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money, the federal stimulus package money. And I want to say to him: I'll take it. I'm more than ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 22, 2009 19:53
Transparency and Rule of Law Touchstones of this Presidency
When I woke to an NPR report that Barack Obama had pledged, "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," I had to laugh. Not because I doubt his sincerity but because we've heard this sort of thing before. Bill Clinton promised us "the most ethical administration in the history of the Republic," a quote often ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 22, 2009 07:10
Throwing Sister Souljah Under the Bus
Publius thinks it's time to ban the phrase "Sister Souljah" moment, not just because it's hackneyed but because it has been misused. The more benign interpretation is that a Sister Souljah moment occurs when a candidate criticizes some group or idea nominally aligned with that candidate. In short, it’s criticizing your own coalition – or some idea valued by your coalition ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 11, 2008 09:08
Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama’s Cohones
Jesse Jackson's statement that Barack Obama's "talking down to black people" makes him so angry that he "wants to cut his nuts out" has caused quite the stir. Charles Hurt of the NY Post has the most concise report: In a vulgar tirade caught on tape by Fox News, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he wanted to "cut his [Barack Obama's] nuts ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 10, 2008 07:14
Quote of the Day
"What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well-intentioned men, granting to government powers to do something that appears to need doing." – Robert A. HeinleinPosted in Outside The Beltway on July 9, 2008 00:56
Chinese Terror Cops Get Segways
This story is a few days old now, but Noah Shachtman's post is the first I've seen it: Chinese elite anti-terror police officers are wheeling into action ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics on two-wheeled scooters. Members of the country's armed police unit practised on the Segway models that have been re-named 'Anti-Terror Assault Vehicles' in the eastern province of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 7, 2008 11:57
Obama’s ‘Sweetheart’ Home Loan
The Manufactured Outrage of the Day comes to us from Joe Stephens and his page A3 piece for today's Washington Post, "Obama Got Discount on Home Loan." Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 2, 2008 15:15
Wire Service Theft
Bernhard Warner brings an interesting perspective to the fight between the AP and the blogosphere over copyright law. In attempting to bolster the AP's case, he actually weakens it considerably. To understand where the AP is coming from with this caveman approach to copyright enforcement, you have to understand what it’s like to work for a news wire. When I joined ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 22, 2008 09:03
