My friends, it is time we all accept a universal truth – the U.S. economy is dead. It is now being kept alive only by the exceedingly rich throwing money at things. This too shall end. And capitalism will be no more.

My profession has a lot of annual rituals, some obvious and some not, and one of them happened the week before last: the annual job list went live (and, in another annual ritual, came precariously close to crashing for the first afternoon).

Hi folks! I'm glad to see so many new Dagbloggers. I'm in the middle of an epic holiday but I'm planning on spending a good deal of time in October, catching up on my Dag reading. 

So, Saturday night the news was that Christine O'Donnell "dabbled into witchcraft" before becoming a hard-line evangelical Christian. And you know what? I wasn't surprised at all. Surely I wasn't surprised that a candidate like O'Donnell was attracted to the supernatural, since all of her politics are about magical thinking. I shrugged it off, and Sunday morning I went to church.

Some are born eyes wide open. They are the few that have an innate understanding of life from the get go. They understand love, and responsibility and the importance of others. I was not one of those people.

I see that Dagblog is getting a diverse group of new voices via Readers Blogs. As a regular  contributor, I'd like to say hi and tell you a little about myself:

1) My name is William K. Wolfrum

2) DagBlog is my bitch.

Lebaran is this weekend which means I have successfully completed my first Ramadan in a Muslim country. I wasn't affected much. My area of the city has almost as many Christians as Muslims, so the restaurants were still crowded at lunch time. I was more careful about eating, and drinking alcohol, outside during daylight hours and I didn't eat in front of my Muslim co-workers prior to sundown, but other than that, life went on normally.

Hi, all. We have some new readers and new reader bloggers today, for a sad reason. Some people are coming here out of fear that Talking Points Memo may shut down its reader blogs.

Everybody here at Dagblog would like to see the TPMCafe stay open. Most of us met each other, as bloggers, at that page, and we would like to see it thrive.

But whatever the fate for TPMCafe, we would like you to know that you are all welcome here, and that we will always be glad to see you.

I am kind, giving and strong. I am fair and law-abiding. I am smart and resourceful. I respect others and I do no harm. I follow the words of Jesus Christ. I am an American Boy.

Summer has turned quickly into fall,
The air much colder,
The sea air so sweet,
Leaves falling from the trees,
Like ten  thousand passions.
...Where you and I will always meet.

From time to time I’ve been known to escape the confines of this blog, and this week is one of those times, as I have some stories up at The National, an English newspaper in the United Arab Emirates.

The stories – given to me by former colleague Paul Oberjuerge – were on sporting venues in South America. The three stories:

When I came to Indonesia in the middle of January 2010, I came with a few preconceived notions:

1. It was going to be hot;

2. The food was going to be great; and

3. The country had the largest Muslim population in the world.

How do I know, he asked me if I was investing in gold or selling gold. OMG, this guy, even though he is a landscaper, or some such thing, has three kids, gets his health care from the state because he doesn't make much money, recevies food stamps, and aid to go to school. But he always rants about ObamaCare, socialism, fascism, etc! What? Yes you are thinking the same thing I am. However, Beck is ripping off poor folk, who don't know any better, and I feel bad for them.

In response to the relentless demands of millions of adoring readers, I've decided that it's time to break my media silence about the status of the book.

After an eight-month effort that has been simultaneously grueling and exhilarating, the book is nearly finished. I completed the manuscript at the end of June and have been racing through the revisions since then. In a few weeks, it will be all over but the rhapsodic reviews. The book is still on schedule to come out in mid-October.

Last week The Delta Cost Project, a non-profit that studies the cost of higher education, released a detailed report on revenue and expenses at American colleges and universities over ten years: "Trends in College Spending, 1998-2008." The report broke down the various sources of revenue, the different activities on which money was spent, and most interestingly the rate of increase

Happy Bastille Day, mes amis. And Lafayette, thanks for the solid.

In honor of the quatorze juillet, here's Serge Gainsbourg:


And for those who prefer La Marseillaise old-school, Casablanca still does it best.

Friday morning I was in Cleveland, where all the news was about LeBron James. That afternoon, I got on a plane and flew to Not Cleveland in order to attend a wedding. Now I'm back.

The wedding was delightful, except for one thing. Several people I spoke with were firmly convinced that the city of Cleveland was basically on fire. They were grateful that I had gotten out of town "before they burn it down." I blame ESPN for this.