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POPSAt the circus And that's just what's happening in the center ring. Read what echidne has to say about what's happening in the other rings, out of the spotlight.
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POPSDumb bunny In her now notorious column in the Washington Post's Outlook section arguing that women are just not all that bright, the poor dears, Charlotte Allen graciously offered flighty, innumerate, shoe-loving self as Exhibit A, causing Professor Hilzoy to remark:
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POPSObjective-reality based thinking is so old-fashioned Sean Carroll observes that Climate Debate Daily founder Denis Dutton, "who," says Sean, "occasionally enjoys ranting against the postmodern obscurantism of the left-tilting academy," has discovered "that a touch of relativist anything-goes-ism can be useful in certain circumstances: in particular, when science is telling you something you don’t want to hear" such as climate change is real and not a good a thing.
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POPSEven exterminators have principles Tristero, slapping his forehead over Nicholas Kristoff's fatuous column in which Kristoff praises John McCain for betraying his principles on the grounds that at least he has principles to betray, notes that Kristoff seems to think the world divides neatly into the principled and the unprincipled. But, tristero points out, even disgraced and indicted former pest control specialists have principles:
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POPSDynastic dreams Roz says Obama reminds her more of Tony Blair than of JFK, but she doesn't like either reminder:
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POPSHow her weather is Blue Wren makes her winter out in the Sierras sound a lot purtier than ours here in the Hudson Valley. There's a nice photo to go with it too:
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POPSThe womanly art of self-defense echidne thinks that an op-ed piece in the times by Caitlin Flanagan preaches a gospel of fear to girls and responds with a guide to "The Womanly Art of Self-Defense."
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POPSDo onto some of the others Over at Sadly, No!, Clif finds another conservative pundit who has suddenly discovered the importance of keeping religion out of politics, thanks to Mike Huckabee's scary habit of talking as if Jesus meant what he said about doing unto others and storing not treasures up on earth...
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POPSThe getting along guys At No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve M. observes some similarities in the appeal of Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee, but he notes a wee bit of difference too:
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POPSIdol smashing Unlike Christopher Hitchens, Mark Kleiman doesn't mind that other people believe in folk tales he himself doesn't believe in.
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POPSPresident Underdog Do-Over In today's NYT, TIME Magazine's Mark Helperin tries to make the case that George Bush is a lot like Bill Clinton. Rob Farley points out the obvious:
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POPSRush and the Noah Principle Mike the Mad Biologist has a theory about the debasement of our political discourse and the persistent success of media clowns like Rush Limbaugh. To understand it, Mike says, all you need to do is listening to morning radio, as he was forced to do recently at the gym:
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POPSHow dare they? Avedon Carol has a question for her two "liberal" Senators, Mikulski and Cardin, who voted yesterday to condemn MoveOn's General Betrayus ad, "HOW DARE YOU?"
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POPSWhy he should fight Idaho's gone today, here tomorrow Senator Larry Craig wants to take back his resignation apparently because, after conferring with his family, he realizes that people will think that by resigning he'd be admitting that he is in fact...gasp...gay. Friends say Craig's a fighter so he's going to fight to keep his job. Melissa McEwan thinks he should fight, but he's fighting the wrong fight:
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POPSIt has to be said Atrios says it, Greenwald says it, lots of people say it, but the message's not getting through to the Beltway Insiders who need to hear it. Now Publius says it, and it comes down to this: Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. Which is why it has to be said again:
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POPSA lifetime of restless isolation Music critic, editor,and writer Tim Page has a touching and painful essay in the New Yorker about his life-long as someone with Asperger's Syndrome to navigate through a world whose rules he could never quite figure out. It's a must-read for everyone, I think, but regular readers of this blog will probably guess why it means so much to me.
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POPSThe Last Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia has announced he won't be running for re-election this fall. Phil Nugent bids the man a respectful farewell:
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POPSProust on a plane Dan Leo, praising Marcel Proust, takes a shot at one of my least favorite contemporary authors, David Foster Wallace.
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POPSUnited we stand NY Daily News columnist wishes for terrorist attack so he can feel that jolly family feeling we all felt after the last big one. Will Bunch says:
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POPSTalk to the self Jaquandor gives himself a pop quiz, and one of the questions requires him to go back in time and talk sense to his younger self:
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POPSBut he used to be such a cuddly guy Hugh Hewitt was talking to Dick Cheney's Boswell, Stephen Hayes, and together they were shaking their heads in wonderment that some of Cheney's old Democratic friends aren't speaking up to tell the world what a swell guy the VP is. Steve M wonders about that too:
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POPSIt's not impossible that they're right It's just highly unlikely. Lemieux on passing judgment on Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon's op-ed in the Washington Post arguing that things are getting better on the ground in Iraq:
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POPSThe voodoo that we do so well Ezra Klein reviews Sicko and says it's not about health care. It's about what Roger and Me, Bowling For Columbine, and Fahrenheit 9/11 were about.
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