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

Congress Shows Backbone on AIG Bonuses

Congratulations to the august members of the House of Representatives. You just saved America $148.5M. Of course, after countless hours of wrangling with the Senate, that will surely be reduced by half. And then, there will be the lawsuits challenging the bill-of-attainder tax on a particular company--a really, really, really bad company which deserves to be disemboweled and which we would definitely do if that pesky economic depression weren't in the way.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

China: Tiger on a Leash

As the U.S. sinks deeper into recession and China gorges itself on ever greater quantities of American debt, you will start to hear about the "Chinese model" and the end of American hegemony. Yet China remains tethered by a stiff leash which will ultimately choke the charging tiger once it runs out slack: its government.

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

Loose

There are moments in life, in some lives, in my life, when one becomes unmoored. Something or someone cuts the bond between anchor and ship, and the sailor is cast adrift. Perhaps a violent squall snaps the tether; perhaps a villain slashes it in the night; perhaps you sever it yourself in a drunken flourish of enthusiasm or at a tranquil moment of lucidity; perhaps you simply wake up one morning and find that you've drifted out to sea.

Topics: 
Personal
Michael Wolraich's picture

Help Wanted: De Facto Leader of the Republican Party

Seeking qualified candidates for leadership role with a top American political party who will:

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Stumble Stumble

StumbleUpon is a search engine of sorts that works on the "let what you're looking for find you" principle. It takes Google's "I feel lucky" concept to new heights. Instead of typing in what you're searching for, you just click the big "Stumble" button, and the site serves up pages that it thinks you want to see.

Topics: 
Technology
Michael Wolraich's picture

The House That George Built - The Movie

Last week, I wrote a piece called This is the House That George Built. TheraP at TPM suggested that I make a video. This is the video.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

This is the house that George built!

This is the house that George built!
These are men who lie in the house that George built.
This is the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

This is the fraud that started the war
That killed the men that lie in the house that George built.
This is the Dick that contrived the fraud
That started the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Get Yer Hot D-Bills Here!

Loyal readers have been anxiously following dagblog.com's financial troubles in this difficult economy. On Tuesday, after dagblog's appeals for federal assistance were rebuffed, I sadly announced that all the other members of the dagblog team would have to be let go.

Topics: 
Business
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

The Essence of Dag

Brought to you by wordle.net. I like the big Bush falling off the bottom...

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Potpourri
Michael Wolraich's picture

George Bush Not the Worst President Ever

Defying expectations and confounding the critics one last time, George W. Bush is not the worst president ever according to C-Span's Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership. Bush beat out Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, Franklin D. Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan to place a respectable 36th out of 42.

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Roland Burris, the gift that keeps on giving...

Senator Roland Burris (D) speaks...

Jan 5, sworn affidavit:

There was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the United States Senate.

Contact counter: 0

Jan 8, sworn testimony:

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Economic Stimulus and the Parent Principle

The $789 billion stimulus bill passed today. As expected, the Republican leadership carped about the cost. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained, "We've heard a lot from our friends about the danger of deficits over the past few years...Americans are wondering how we’re going to pay for all this." In case this message was too abstract for average Americans, McConnell supported his point with a common sense analogy, "Any parent knows you don't buy a new car and plan the summer vacation before you set the family budget for the year."

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

BREAKING: Obama is not Jesus

Monday 2/9. The MS Wall Fox Times, a joint news venture created by various prominent media organizations, has revealed that President Barack Obama is not Jesus. A probing collaboration by numerous reporters, pundits, and editorial assistants has determined that Barack Obama bears little physical resemblance to the celebrated hero of Christian faiths worldwide and cannot walk on water.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Rich CEO Demands to be Taxed

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, publicly asked the government to raise his taxes in a NYT op-ed today. His position was not that of Warren Buffett, who has argued that taxes are unfairly low for the super rich. Rather, Hastings argued that higher taxes offer a more effective way to limit CEO incomes than pay caps. And he's right. To see why, we need to first understand why CEO salaries have gotten as high as they have.

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

The Valentine Generator ™

Ready or not, here comes Valentines Day! You've only just finished breaking your last New Year's resolution, and now you have to find a sincere way to express profound sentiments of passion to your significant other.

Topics: 
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Superbowl Ads - Live blogging

I sit here before Deadman's brother's giganamous extreme-density power projection screen, eagerly awaiting the biggest television event of the year--Superbowl Ads XLIII. Yes, I belong to that silent majority of superbowl watchers who don't give a flying football about Cardinals vs. Steelers. We're here to see Ford vs. Toyota, Coke vs. Sprite, Bud vs. Miller, Mac vs. PC. I'm here to live blog answers to all your burning ad questions:

Topics: 
Potpourri
Michael Wolraich's picture

The Offensive Tradition

I published this piece long, long ago at the height of the political correctness "movement." Though the PC frenzy of the 90's has subsided, a recent complaint on this site by Jorn Barger, one of the first bloggers and coiner of the term, weblog, demonstrates that this piece is still relevant.

Topics: 
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

InBloguration: Seeking the Silver Section

I left my friend Jake's apartment on Capitol Hill at 8:45am, clutching my hard-won "silver section" inauguration ticket. Hat, gloves, long underwear, wool socks, sunglasses--perfectly equipped for five hours of 32 degrees, mostly sunny. We wound our way around the Capitol, exchanging anti-Bush witticisms with the passerby. At first, there were big, friendly signs: "Silver section -->." The signs happily directed us where we already knew we were supposed to go.

Topics: 
Politics
Personal
Michael Wolraich's picture

Why the Giants Lost: The Oys Have It

To understand why the New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's upset, we must first understand how they became the top-seeded NFC team in the first place. In the fall of 2007, the Giants were 0-2 and had gone 1-3 in the preseason. But in their third game of the season, they upset the Redskins and then kept on winning, ultimately defeating the Patriots to win the Superbowl. In 2008, they had another strong season, which earned them the top NFC seed.

Topics: 
Sports
Humor & Satire
Religion

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