The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    oleeb's picture

    Has it really come to this?

    Whatever you may think of the individual decisions he made, President Truman stood his ground with the Soviet Union in Greece, in Berlin, and he acted decisively in Korea.  It was clear that he was in command.  President Kennedy stood...
    Richard Day's picture

    Arthur of the Roundish Table: The Secret of the Moat

    Back at Camelot the King had just announced that there was "Peace in our Time" per the fine work of the Marquis de Sot and had awarded the greatest warrior in the battle against the Angles, Sir Dobbs a Medal...
    CVille Dem's picture

    The AIG Contracts - Let's Take a Look!

    OK.  I want to see the clause that promises a bonus.  I want to see if it looks ironclad to me.  If everyone is guaranteed a bonus, why not just increase their salaries? I don't ask to see anyone's name,...
    Richard Day's picture

    SUPERACCOUNTANT: The Monstrous Math

    This is the age of the comic book super hero. Superman, Batman, Aquaman, The Xmen, ...

    oleeb's picture

    Surprise! Surprise! Health Insurance Parasites Going for the Kill on Capitol Hill and the Democrats are Willing Victims

    I just saw this AP article on the predictable metamorphasis of the insurance industry and how they are now suddenly and miraculously making themselves into something they are not: organizations interested in providing the best health care possible to the...
    Richard Day's picture

    The Netwebblogosphere: THE PEASANTS ARE REVOLTING

    I thought we might take some time to discuss exactly what a blog is. If we do not have an adequate understanding of what a main post is, we cannot discuss what a comment is. And if we cannot discuss...
    Barth's picture

    Right and Wrong

    This never happened: A President, a Democrat, whose daughter has been kidnapped, possibly by Arab terrorists, decided to step aside temporarily so that government policy was not directed by a distraught father. Since there was no Vice President at the...
    oleeb's picture

    Meet the new boss?

    As Josh points out on the front page,(http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/03/if_you_remember_not_lo...) the Chinese, in the usual subtle manner of tyrants and despots throughout history, are reminding us that they have us by the financial balls and are not shy about reminding us of...
    Richard Day's picture

    Universal Canon of Ethical Blogging: THE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

    Craig Crawford revisited our little group again yesterday and gave us more positive reinforcement for continuing our look at the universal rules of the newtwebblogosphere. And ever since I got those depends I was prepared for such a visit. Now...
    amike's picture

    The Common Man: Where's his Fanfare? Musicals III.

    Spring break is upon us and the students are leaving in droves.  I have a couple of hours before I leave campus with my colleague (not to Fort Lauderdale I hasten to add), and this may just be long enough...
    oleeb's picture

    Stewart's Triumph: What it says About "Journalism" and Government

    LIke, I think, everyone else, I was delighted to see John Stewart put the screws to Jim Cramer as he did last night.  He was reasonable, prepared, made his points clearly and without the use of any ad hominem attacks. ...
    Richard Day's picture

    Universal Canon of Ethical Blogging Five: THE TIME/SPACE CONTINUUM

    As we travel through the universe called the netwebblogoshphere, we come upon many strange and wondrous new worlds filled with both familiar and alien peoples. In just a short period of time I have learned that there is life on...
    acanuck's picture

    Jon Stewart is my hero -- and he should be yours, too

    After watching Jon Stewart last night expose and eviscerate Jim Cramer for his stock-bubble pimping, the question we all should be asking is: Why is a comedian, an admitted "fake news show" anchor, the only journalist in America to have...
    Richard Day's picture

    Arthur of the Roundish Table: Lancelot Meets Marlowe

    Camelot had a lot going on inside those walls....Almost everyone was in the Room of the Roundish Table. There was a special presentation to be made. And a special announcement.We are finally at peace in our southeastern quarters. We sent...
    SleepinJeezus's picture

    REMEMBER WHEN? Accountability in Financial Markets

    In honor of Bernie Madoff and Jim Cramer, I thought I would reprise the following which was previously published in this blog on TPM: In a photo taken during the pre-Reagan era when banking activities were closely monitored and regulated,...

    Understanding your opponent

    http://www.taoteching.org/

    "My words are easy to understand
    And my actions are easy to perform
    Yet no other can understand or perform them.
    My words have meaning; my actions have reason;
    Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known."

    "Understanding" is a pretty complicated process. Hofstadter had a pretty good definition: Understanding is a homomorphy between two symbolic systems.

    You can write a few 100s pages just on this topic.

    Richard Day's picture

    Craig Crawford: How to Properly Prepare a Comment-Tres

      As we move through this saga on morality and modality and modesty and mediocrity and mood and monstrousness...  I think I ran out of m's, we will move on to n's later. At any rate, our third canon in...
    amike's picture

    The Common Man: Where's his Fanfare? II. Musicals, Cont. Fish is my Favorite Perfume.

    Welcome back.  One of the commentators to the last in this series reminded us of the realist school of literature, which had its own special sympathy for the working class.  I may get there eventually: If I do, I'll probably...
    mageduley's picture

    Newt defies Rush - Rush Responds - (I foresee a man crush)

    Ron Reagan at Air America has some brilliant (and hilarious) commentary on the newest developments in the dysfunctional relationship that is GOP vs Rush. Check out the clip below....
    Richard Day's picture

    Craig Crawford and How to Properly Post a Comment-Deiux

    I promised to continue this blog hours ago. But a funny thing happened on the way to chapter two of this saga.  We have a nice small group here. I have mentioned it many times. We talk about war criminals...
    amike's picture

    The Common Man: Where's his Fanfare? I. Music and Musical Theatre

    This essay, which may turn out to be a series (the optimistic I. in the title), was stimulated by a several recent posts here at the Café.   One of them questioned why the news media never seem to picture "real...

    Obama is an evil man

    For evil to succeed, good men should do nothing.

    Thanks, but no thanks. We won't give him a chance to ruin capitalism and democracy.

    Obama is an evil man. Or at least his agenda is evil. Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

    Richard Day's picture

    The Superaccountant: The Monstrous Math

    This is the age of the comic book super hero. Superman, Batman, Aquaman, The Xmen, ...Billions of dollars made off of these figments of someone else's imagination. I propose something more apropos for our time, our economic mess, our depression....
    jollyroger's picture

    I bear orders from the captain, make you ready, quick and soon...

    Let the Blue Dogs bay. Let the ethnic lobbies lob choriza blintzes. Their flicker of efficacy is dying. To quote one 28 year old lass, as heard on NPR just after the election: "I'm ready to do whatever my president...
    Barth's picture

    Defender of the Faith, Redux

    On the occasion of our new president determining that his religious beliefs permit stem cell research---I hesitate to thank God for that---it seems appropriate to republish, with slight editing to take out references which may not have much meaning today,...

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