amike | dagblog

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

By amike on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 6:05pm |

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...

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

By amike on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 2:41pm |

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...

Quiz: Guess who wrote this?

By amike on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 11:29pm |

I'm too old for quickies...but this is just too good to resist. Some folks have enjoyed my ventures into literature and history. I've got something more substantial I'm working on-a multi-part look at popular media and the "common man," but...

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1166 reads

Spring Ahead-But "Looking Backward"

By amike on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 11:16pm |

Does anyone read Edward Bellamy anymore? I hope so, and not just as a quaint Victorian utopian novelist. The right generally hates him, which means he must be right about a lot. Else why try to paint him as a...

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1386 reads

Fool me once, shame on you. No, I'm Not Quoting Dubya

By amike on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 4:08pm |

Among other things, one of the courses I teach is designed to introduce my kids to some seminal ideas about democracy, and especially the relationship between democracy and reason. It's not a rigorous intellectual history course. I'm not an especially...

Some Questions for the Economists in the House.

By amike on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 4:53pm |

I tell my history students to ask questions. I beg them and implore them to ask questions if something is confusing them. Some do, some don't. It just struck me I'm not practicing what I preach, and that I should...

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1250 reads

What would you rather do than Follow Obama to the Speaker's Podium?

By amike on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 1:24pm |

Anything!Well, nearly anything. aMike, a.k.a anti-climax personified....

The Law of Justice and the Law of Mercy

By amike on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 7:28pm |

I really have to stop reading TheraP's blog. It gives me far too much to think about and whether or not my brain is up to the workout I don't know. But I'm addicted, and perhaps the workout will keep...

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2236 reads

Confessions of a "Coward"

By amike on Sat, 02/21/2009 - 5:44pm |

I've been following the "controversy" over Attorney General Eric Holder's Black History Month speech haphazardly in the mainstream media for the past few days and yesterday I caught a piece on NPR where All Things Considered featured a "debate" between...

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1981 reads

Economics: A Lesson from the Puritans.

By amike on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 7:28pm |

A while back, I made a remark in response to someone's post something to the effect that President Obama's Economic Council suffers from a plethora of economists, and that other branches of the Academy could make valuable contributions, geographers, philosophers,...

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1983 reads

NPR: Another Hackle Management Crisis

By amike on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 2:00pm |

I hadn't planned to start the week with another rant about NPR...I really hadn't. But now I'm sitting trying to think of another reason aside from inertia to renew my membership. Divorcing myself from Public Radio will be painful to...

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2029 reads

What does Wall Street do?

By amike on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 11:54am |

Mainly, it lies there. a pile of asphalt showing its age. It runs from Broadway to South Street--a skinny little thing, hardly worth calling a thoroughfare. It has a church at one end, sort of--but it can't really claim it,...

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2061 reads

A Valentine's Day Card--no sloppy poetry, guaranteed

By amike on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 5:37pm |

At 9:00 sharp this morning my blood pressure returned to normal and my mood improved considerably. My local NPR station's Valentine's Day Fund Drive was over. It would be a year until I would be urged to send a significant...

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2009 reads

Poor, Poor, Rich Folks (Really)

By amike on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 6:03pm |

Reading TheraP's most interesting post, "how much is too much" the other day reminded me about something I've felt nearly all my life. Rags to riches stories have never inspired me. Sorry Horatio Alger, not a single one of your...

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Election Peripheral? So Moved.

By amike on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 8:19pm |

I'm having withdrawal pangs from Election Central, and for me, DC is no substitute. I know that DC is where the action is. After all, the village elders all over the media tell me so. And I know it...

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4 comments
2012 reads

Who is the brightest, most charismatic Progressive in Ohio 8?

By amike on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 10:11am |

One of the frustrating things about our federal system is when one's own state has a fine set of Senators and Congressmen one feels helpless in the face of bull-headed intransigence elected elsewhere. I watched Minority Leader John Boehner, sourer...

Reconstruct Education by De-constructing Schools

By amike on Wed, 01/21/2009 - 10:30pm |

Things move quickly at TPM Cafe. A day or so I was reading a blog entry by cmaukonen entitled Some "Stringy" Money for Education. As often happens, the post entered my subconscious and percolated there a bit, until it bubbled...

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2049 reads

The Glory of the Cheap Seats.

By amike on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 12:39pm |

I'm sitting in my office at the university, listening to C-span and waiting for the powers that be here to rev up the Projection Screen down the hall. In the meantime, I've been watching the scenes from the mall, and...

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2140 reads

Something to tickle your ear.

By amike on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 10:37pm |

This morning I snarked public radio. I'd like to offer a very late listening tip from my local station, WGBH in Boston. Eric Jackson always provides a musical tribute to Martin Luther King on his January 19th version of Eric...

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2214 reads

Three Cheers for Stodgy old C-Span

By amike on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 12:33pm |

It's been a long while since I ventured a post at TPM Cafe. I suspect it was having to admit I didn't understand the new format for posting. I've swallowed my pride and hope to have something moderatly useful to...

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2378 reads