The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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Escaping Below the World

There is much to be said for vanishing. Short escapes from the frenzied tumult of modern life help to calibrate the soul and maintain perspective.

I've learned that proper escape requires more than disconnecting electronic devices and traveling to faraway lands. Though people may not follow you on your journey, your thoughts are more tenacious. Anxieties, memories, hopes, and fears stow away in your crowded cranium, accompanying you across the globe like irritating travel companions.

But not under the water.

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Why Americans Live Shorter Lives

A new study reveals that US life expectancy is falling even further behind other industrialized countries. As of 2007, the life expectancy of Americans is 75.6 for men and 80.8 for women, which puts us in 37th place internationally. On average, Americans live three years less than citizens in the top ten longest-lived countries, and those countries pull further ahead of us every year.

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Republican Debate Shocker! No One Turned Into a Werewolf


Herman Cain discusses Islam

Political experts across the nation burbled approvingly after Monday's Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. The candidates surpassed expectations by maintaining human form and refraining from howling, salivating excessively, or biting moderator John King on the leg.

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For congressional tweeting, Weiner's got competition

This much we know. Over Memorial Day weekend, someone used U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter account to publish a photo of an underwear-clad male crotch apparently in a sexually excited state.

The New York Democrat denies posting the photo, claiming that his Twitter account was hacked, but he has deflected persistent inquiries into whether he is the owner of the offending (apparent) genitalia.

"But Congressman, you would remember if you were to take a photograph of yourself like that," insisted MSNBC's Luke Russert in one interview. In another, CNN's Wolf Blitzer pressed, "You would know if this is your underpants."

As journalists clamor for Weiner to come clean about his underpants, I was struck by an intriguing, if less titillating, question: What does Weiner usually tweet?

Read the full article at CNN.com.

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Michael Wolraich's picture

Bluffing for Dummies: Republicans Hit Their Heads on the Debt Ceiling

Word to the wise: Don't bluff when your cards are on the table.

(I learned that the hard way.)

Apparently, House Speaker John Boehner has yet to learn the lesson. On Monday, he truculently pledged, "Without significant spending cuts and the way we spend Americans' money, there will be no debt limit increase."

But there will be a debt limit increase. John Boehner knows it. Barack Obama knows it. Everybody knows it.

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Republicans Back Away from Medicare Cuts

Last week, I called the Republicans' budget "a dead plan walking." I was referring in particular to the proposal to "reform" Medicare by replacing direct payments with vouchers for private insurance. Most Americans are not pleased by this proposal, which they correctly regard as a benefits cuts, and many of them have said so angrily at town hall meetings across the country.

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Dead Bin Laden Photos Surface

In the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death, pictures of his corpse have become the most sought after photographs since Britney Spears sans panties.

President Obama's arrogant, pussyfooting refusal to hand over the pictures to the deserving public has spawned a competition among the world's top news publications to obtain the photos.

I'm pleased to announce that dagblog's crack paparazzi ninja-spy, William K. Wolfrum, with his trustee sidekick, his own ego, have succeeded where all others have failed. I hereby present to you the real dead Osama photos:

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Republicans' Medicare Blunder

In town hall meetings being held across the country during Congress' two-week recess, American citizens are filling the ears of Republican legislators with objections to the party's budget plan, particularly proposed changes to Medicare that would replace direct coverage with subsidies for private insurance.

Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pennsylvania, quoted in a New York Times article Tuesday, tried to play down the objections, but his explanation inadvertently exposed the flaw in his party's political strategy.

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And Now for Something Completely Different

A few years ago, a friend of mine suggested that it would be nice to have a reference tool to find stuff related to other stuff. Type a movie title, and get the actors. Type a state, and get the capitol. Type in golf, and get a list of famous golfers.

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Biography

Michael Wolraich is a non-fiction writer in New York City. He co-founded dagblog and has contributed  to the Atlantic, the Daily Beast, New York Magazine, CNN.com, TalkingPointsMemo.com, Reuters, and Pando Daily.

Books:

Wolraich is also the computer genius who maintains dagblog's state-of-the-art software, but he denies responsibility for technical glitches and advises users to "quit sniveling." In his spare time, Wolraich raises peach mold and performs live impressions of the law of gravity.

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