Outside the Beltway

Michael Wilbon departs the Washington Post after more than 30 years to work full time at ESPN. Here are his last — and first — columns.

SNL’s Julian Assange spoof isn’t their best work but it’s mildly amusing

While the University of Oregon’s athletic programs are flourishing in a seas of green, its academic programs are woefully underfunded.

The editors of the Washington Post want you to know that “Fair Game,” the new movie about the Valerie Plame affair, is “Hollywood myth making.” Propaganda and lies is more like it.

Shocking Headline Of The Day: “Willie Nelson charged with pot possession in Texas.”

“Ugly Betty” actor Michael Brea killed his mother with a samurai sword while screaming Bible passages.

Because no one should live in a world where Han didn’t shoot first.

The Atlantic’s Dave Thier laments that, “The Beatles on iTunes Means Your Kids May Never Hear ‘Her Majesty’

The NFL’s “especially mercenary” push to extract new stadia from cities–even where the stadium’s practically brand-new.

A new survey shows that political ideology leads to different television viewing habits. This shouldn’t be surprising.

Bristol Palin’s success on Dancing With The Stars is apparently due largely to the fact that she is Sarah Palin’s daughter. That tells us much more about Sarah Palin’s supporters than it does either Sarah or Bristol.

His career seemingly over after being trounced in an independent bid for the Senate, Florida Governor Charlie Crist is turning his attention to the pressing matter of three-decade-old conviction of a long dead pop singer.

An imaginary letter from Mick Jagger to “the journalist Bill Wyman” in reference to Keith Richards’ new autobiography has been making the rounds. Oddly, everyone seems to think Jagger actually wrote the piece.

“I’m terribly surprised that everyone everywhere on the political spectrum (here and there) is using Tuesday’s results as confirmation of the assumptions they’ve held all along.” – Josh Marshall

Now that the Republicans have control of the House, wheres the jobs? Why isn’t the economy fixed yet? Why do we still have a deficit? Why are we still in recession? Are Republicans secretly Muslim and trying to ruin our country?

Harvard’s Jack Hamilton extols “Robert Plant’s Second Act” for the Atlantic. In so doing, he gives us an interesting look at the more important First Act.

Too many copyright owners are stupidly invoking their rights to keep short clips off of YouTube and other services, losing potential customers in the process.

The Onion spoofs life at a think tank with Boy, I Really Thought Like Shit Today.”

Did President Obama degrade his office by appearing on “The Daily Show”? Or is that notion a relic of a bygone era?

Amazon is making the complete “I Love Lucy” television series — a whopping 5394 minutes of entertainment on 34 discs — available for one day only at $84.99.

Video of President Obama on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.

An ad for Republican Senate candidate Roy Blunt complains that his opponent voted to cut Medicare in order to support “government-run health care.”

The folks who gave us “So You Want to be a Lawyer?” follows up with “So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities?”

Randy Barnett will be giving a lecture at Boise State on the 28th. If he were a real lawyer, he’d lecture instead at a school in the SEC, Big 12, PAC 10, or ACC. I mean, where’s the challenge in lecturing in the WAC?

Washington City Paper editor Michael Schaffer has put out a satiric memo mocking the policies NPR and others have issued to reporters regarding this weekend’s Jon Stewart – Stephen Colbert rallies

Paul, World Cup ‘psychic’ octopus, dies in Germany.

Automated constructive blog comments cartoon fro xkcd.

If you’re like me, you think of William Shakespeare’s plays as being rendered in an archaic but decidedly upper crust British English. It turns out that this is an artifact of modern theater.

Merle Haggard was not gay. But he’s been retroactively gay married — twice! — for want of a comma.

Michigan Iraq War veteran gets NOT FUN vanity plate.