Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
If you look to the right, you will see a blogad for Intellectual Morons, which I am almost finished reading. I wil have a review up for you in the next couple of days.
Quick Preview: I love it. Click and buy it. Trust me.
*** Update ***
Unlike Oliver, I am reading the book before commenting on it- novel idea, hunh?
You remember this Monty Python sketch, don’t you:
Albatross Woman: Albatross! Albatross! Albatross! You’re not supposed to be smoking that! Albatross! Don’t take them!
Audience member: What flavor is it? What flavor is it?
Albatross Woman: Seagullsickle! Pelican-bonbon! Albatross!
Man with hat: Could I have… Could I have two ice creams, please?
Albatross Woman: I haven’t got any ice creams, I just got this albatross!
Retailer Toys R Us Inc. slammed by intense competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart, may sell its toy business and focus on its fast-growing Babies R Us unit, the company said Wednesday.
Toys R Us, whose shares fell 6 percent on the news but later recovered, said it plans to separate the ownership of its two businesses and is looking at many ways to accomplish this, including a spin-off of Babies R Us.
(Via Drudge)
Blogs were just mentioned on the Dead Zone on USA.
Here is the real reason Andrew Sullivan wants to makes sure the gay marriage issue is resolved in the courts:
Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday to ban gay marriage, the first such vote since the historic ruling in Massachusetts last year that legalized same-sex weddings there.
Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri, experts said the campaign served as a key barometer for which strategies work as the gay marriage battle spreads to ballot boxes around the nation. At least nine other states, and perhaps as many as 12, will vote on similar amendments this year.
The amendment had garnered 70 percent of the vote with 91 percent of precincts reporting.
I really think the gay community overplayed their hand with the rash of gay marriages earlier this year. At any rate, I wonder if Sully will come back from vacation to tell everyone in Missouri that they are bigots?
Yankee Matt Yglesias notes:
Down South, naturally enough, one sees more Confederate flag bumpers stickers than are evident in my more habitual environs (New York, Cambridge, Washington, Maine, Europe…I’m quite the liberal elitist) and they were often paired with exhortions to “support the troops” or some other such thing. This brought to mind something that I always think is strangely neglected in the on-again-off-again Stars and Bars debate in this country, to wit: the Confederate flag is a flag of rebellion against the United States of America and thus an odd symbol for the erstwhile uberpatriots of Dixie.
The rebellious culture of Dixie is only neglected when people are stating that the only thing the flag stands for is racism. I disagree with Confederate flag wavers state that the rebellious culture is what the flag is all about, just as much as members of certain minority communities state the flag is all about racism. It seems to me that if Matt thinks this part of the debate appears to be missing, he really has not been paying attention to the debate at all.
For the record- I have no dog in this fight, and find it unfathomable that some members of the Dixie brigades do not recognize that like it or not, the flag is to many people a symbol of racism.
Pejman asks:
A couple of weeks ago, I was with a law school friend of mine, and we wondered at the sudden popularity of poker. Various tournaments are now shown on TV, with Texas Hold’Em being the most popular version of the game. What accounted for the poker renaissance?
He then links to this Justin Peters Washington Monthly feature which contains awhole bunch of generational psycho-babble gobbledy-gook.
I can tell Pejman what has caused the increase in popularity in poker in several words (and, in fairness, Peters does reference one aspect deep in his piece):
Keyhole Cameras and Satellite Freeze-outs
Poker has been televised for years, starting with the Texas crew and Binion’s World Series of Poker. The problem was, it was about as exciting as watching the America’s Cup. You had no idea what was going on, but with the keyhole camera, you know what people have when they are playing, and it makes the show exciting and dynamic.
Satellite freeze-outs made it exciting for everyone to play, because instead of the old stylewith the cronies playing for a few days and then voting on a winner, you played until someone had all the chips. Add to that the concept of anyone being able to somehow make it to the top (see Moneymaker, Chris), and you start to catch the drift.
I am as big a fan of the internet as anyone, but claiming the internet caused the increase in popularity is as silly as the rest of the psychological nonsense in Peters piece. The interest was caused by the television, and ther internet merely provided an outlet to fulfill the thirst for the game.
And, btw, the reason Hold ‘Em is the most popular is because it is the purest form of poker. It really is that simple.
I have already had my say on gay marriage, and it is safe to say I am agnostic. I would rather not have government involved in the whole marriage issue, but at the same time, I recognize why there are those who wish to codify marriage as between a man and a woman.
What I do find a little amusing is the blogger reactions. Hyperbole will be in overdrive on this issue for a while (as Jon Henke capably demonstrates).
*** Update ***
I might add, that in the big picture, this decision by Bush makes me less likely to vote for him in the general election. Not because I think he is a gay-basher, not because I think he is mean-spirited, but because this is the sort of thing that clearly shows a lack of priorities.
*** Update #2 ***
I note that I am not the only one who seems to think this is reflective of a clear lack of priorities, as Michele and Alex Knapp state their similar opinions. BTW- I remember when Alex started blogging, and he just keeps getting better and better.