What’s Better Than a Graphic Novel?

A graphic memoir, of course. But the subject would have to be suitably stirring to warrant the treatment usually accorded superheroes. You’d want a real-life hero: someone like William Ayers. William Ayers? Of course. Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly writes: Teachers College Press, a scholarly, professional and trade publisher focused on the theory and practice […]

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More Stories from “The Miracle on the Hudson”

WSJ has the accounts of some passengers from Flight 1549 who held onto a life raft that was trying to escape the scene, and we now have video of the landing. If I’m getting this right, the vid that AllahP posted is from the New Jersey side of the river; the plane comes into frame […]

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It Wasn’t Me.

It was my nose: it found another book, and dived in. This time it’s Professor Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions, which encapsulates rather perfectly many of the philosophical differences behind what we call “liberalism” and “conservatism” today. There is, among progressives, a long and abiding belief in the perfectibility of human nature, which leads many […]

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Yesterday Evening, I Found Myself at a Rally.

I had told my 72-year-old mother exactly how to get to the parking lot at the Petersen Building in Los Angeles, right between Beverly Hills and the Miracle Mile. I had forgotten that it is right across the street from the Israeli Consulate. When I entered the parking lot I first saw what appeared to […]

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Legacy Media: Saved!

And right in the nick of time: NEW YORK CITY, NY – In deep financial trouble , the New York Times has ceased printing news stories and, instead, begun selling a variety of home-baked pies. “Some of our staff have experience making such things,” said Times spokesperson Julian Van Dyke. “As a result, we’ve laid […]

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Experience.

It isn’t important when the Dems nominate Barack Obama for the Presidential Election. Then it is important when McCain picks Palin as his running mate. Then it isn’t again, when the Democrats vote Obama into the newly minted “Office of the President-Elect” (I added a hyphen; I could not help it). Then it isn’t again, […]

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Treacher on Palin’s Turkey “Gaffe”

Ah, yes. Sarah Palin’s latest “misstep.” The media are on her like poultry farmers on a hapless little chickie: “If this had been Biden . . .” I heard about it first; when I saw it, it seemed pretty mild. I’m of the mind that anyone who isn’t a vegetarian shouldn’t be complaining. Where do […]

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Oh, No! Not “World of Warcraft”!

The economy is affecting everything. HOWLING FJORD – High above the Great Sea, once the site of fierce battles, Valgarde settlement now sits empty. Stung by plummeting real estate prices, Alliance and Horde forces have returned to Kalimdor, leaving behind foreclosure signs and broken dreams. All across Northrend such depressing sights abound. In Dragonblight, Wyrmrest […]

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Spreading Lies About Senator Biden

Uh-oh. Someone’s been sliming Joe Biden: WASHINGTON D.C. – Best known for verbal fumbles, gaffes, and crazy talk, Democratic vice president elect Joe Biden often uttered quiet, self-aware statements in private. An anonymous aide to the senator recalled Biden saying, “My helicopter was never forced down in Afghanistan by terrorist gunfire. I guess I wanted […]

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Over at The Oil Drum,

a nice essay on the history of oil in Alaska—and a reminder that even if we can buy time by utilizing fossil fuels from ANWR, the Gulf, and both coasts—and we must—it’s important to move forward with alternative energy sources and alternative liquid fuels. And there is, indeed, a “gold rush” going on with respect […]

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Of PUMAs and the Need to Vote . . . No Matter What.

Slublog over at Ace of Spades HQ: You know who I love most this election season? The PUMAs. Their blogs have been the most consistently optimistic and yet full of a gleeful disdain for Barack Obama and his campaign. They tear into Obama with a contagious mirth, and they love Sarah Palin more than certain […]

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The Fort Dix Dance Ad

Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury has completed her ad about the connection between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers: I’m not so sure about the music, but I think she gets the point across. Personally, at the moment I’m more fixated on Obama’s economic shortcomings, but they are both important issues. Via Right Girl. […]

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Media-Vetting DataBase Being Created.

A new site is being put together by a colleague of Ace of Spades to keep track of reporters who do not fact-check their stories adequately, who display undue bias, or who go after less-newsworthy targets (e.g., Jodi Kantor serving up warmed-over gossip about Cindy McCain as “news”). The project is very likely too late […]

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The “Joe the Plumber” Movement: A Pre-Emptive Tax Revolt

The reason the mainstream media have jumped on “Joe the Plumber” is that his question exposes the essential socialism of Obama’s tax policies. I’m Joe the Plumber, too, as is Jimmie from JThe Sundries Shack. There are a lot of us out there, of all creeds and colors, and representing both sexes. There’s more good […]

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Goodbye to the “Honeymoon” Concept Regarding the Presidency.

From Glenn Reynolds’ mail bag; a missive he finds “depressing”— I consider myself a libertarian/conservative. Like many people of that bent, I was uncomfortable with Bush when he was nominated. But Al Gore’s increasingly-erratic behavior during the 2000 election made me hope Bush [would win]. Once Bush won, and it became clear that the Florida […]

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An American Carol and The Big Easy

I just got off the radio with Greta of Kiss My Gumbo, the New Orleans radio show/blog that discusses politics and culture in Louisiana (or, as I call it, “the other L.A.”). Greta’s show on 790 WIST in New Orleans goes live on-air on Saturday mornings, and as a consummate egomaniac I assume she scheduled […]

 

McCain/Palin: The Twelve-Year Plan

I was startled to read this analysis by AllahP over at Hot Air, which discusses the possibility of a break between McCain and Palin in 2012, based on the idea proposed in this Politico piece on whether Palin might take McCain on directly in four years. Startling, indeed: I had thought that the heffalump in […]

 

Why Beach Towns Shouldn’t Fear Oil Wells

I’ve addressed that issue over at my blog, with a focus on California and (predictably enough) the Pacific Ocean. Certainly, one of the benefits of increasing drilling in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and (eventually) ANWR is that we won’t have the same periodic disruptions in domestic supply that we currently endure, with so many of […]

 

It’s the Economy–and ENERGY

Over at Hot Air, the new McCain ads for Michigan and Ohio focus in on the dual-headed monster of the energy crisis and underemployment: Michigan specifically mentions drilling (along with “clean vehicles,” and a glimpse of a hybrid-car symbol): Ohio’s ad is similar, but more of a frontal assault on job-creation through small businesses and […]

 


Oh, Yes. Palin’s “Troopergate.”

Over at Flopping Aces, MataHarley meticulously goes over the history of Palin’s connections to both Trooper Wooten and Commissioner Monegan. She examines many sources, including some that are clearly antagonistic toward Palin, and yet still appear to support the notion that there was no attempt by Palin or her husband to use their influence to […]

 


Housing and the Madness of Crowds

I was intrigued by this article in The Atlantic that discussed the housing bubble, and in a sort of Malcolm Gladwell-esque way, suggested that economic “bubbles” might be treated like viruses, and prevented in analogous ways to how we work to contain the spread of diseases. I was of two minds about the premise: on […]

 

More Oleaginous News

Keepin’ those Alaskan pipelines full, while protecting the environment. That’s a win-win. Aside from the prospect of expanding domestic oil supplies, the new production would help alleviate worries about the viability of the Alaska pipeline system. The pipeline is transporting 700,000 barrels of oil daily, down from 2.1 million when the Prudhoe Bay fields were […]

 

The Drill Bit

Mitch McConnell suggests in the WSJ that—notwithstanding it being an election year, and all that—Congress might consider doing its job with respect to the energy crisis: The Gas Price Reduction Act is composed of just a few ideas. But taken together, the proposals will address the problem head on. They include deep-sea exploration more than […]

 


I Am, Indeed, from Whittier, California.

But it was really James Thurber who turned me on to this poem, which has been going through my head all day for obvious reasons: Barbara Frietchie By John Greenleaf Whittier On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain wall; Over the mountains winding down, Horse and foot, into […]