Rise If You Must

Dim but true.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:04:15 -0500

Dim but true.

Clusterstock: You Ask, We Answer

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:23:18 -0500

Clusterstock: You Ask, We Answer:

The video is up.

Bad Signs For Conservative Books

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:03:20 -0500

“The poet and sometime senator Gene McCarthy once described bad signs one could come across in his home state of Minnesota. “We Serve All Faiths” was perhaps the worst—the slogan of a mortician. When New York publishers got into the conservative book business, they might have hung out a similar shingle. For while a few rich people have gotten richer by leaping into the publishing mainstream, the movement has lost its conservative mind.”

—From Party Favors, my survey of the state of conservative book publishing in the latest issue of The American Conservative.

Here's Why The New 'V' Might Be Awesome

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:45:46 -0500

Here's Why The New 'V' Might Be Awesome:

“The original “V” drew obvious connections between the Visitors and the Nazis, and much has been made over the possible anti-Obama sentiment of this “V.” The instant adoration, the attractiveness and rhetorical skills of Anna, the idea that the Visitors will woo us with universal healthcare and then destroy us all seem a right-wingish take on the president’s ascendancy. Perhaps that is the creators’ intent, but most successful science fiction contains an element of, if not outright humor, then the absurd. That the human race will be enslaved not through brainwashing or firepower but adequate healthcare is pretty hilarious in a dark and almost possible way.”

Clusterstock: You Ask, We Answer TOMORROW

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:46:00 -0500

Clusterstock: You Ask, We Answer TOMORROW:

A couple of times a week, we address reader questions and feedback on video.

Tomorrow, it’s my turn to provide the answers in a video segment, which we’ll post at about 11AM ET.

So if there’s anything you want to ask or complain about, fire away. You can do this until 9:00 AM ET, in three ways:

Leave a question in the comments below
Tweet your question and include the word “#tbilive” (TBI Live)
Send an email to kangelova@businessinsider.com

We won’t have time to get to all questions, but we’ll pick a few we think everyone else might be interested in. Feel free to ask anything, even if it’s not really related to the stuff we write about.

Lucy Carney is the luckiest girl in the world. She already has a...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:04:00 -0500

Lucy Carney is the luckiest girl in the world. She already has a copy of my brother Tim’s new book, Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses.

The rest of you can’t get a copy until the end of the month

6h057: The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:45:12 -0500

6h057:

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

— Elie Wiesel

The opposite of not-voting is not voting, it is indifference.

funsize: @carney, look! more black and grey stripes!

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:43:18 -0500

funsize:

@carney, look! more black and grey stripes!

Anti-Voting Is Not Advocacy of Indifference Or Apathy

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:38:34 -0500

Here’s a letter that I wrote to the Harvard Crimson in 1995:

Poor Daniel Altman. He was born too late. His heart yearns for the “activistic” [sic] ’60s. Those were high days; ours are low and apathetic, he writes (“The Passive Nation,” column, May 1, 1995). But are they?

Altman thinks most Americans are uniformed about important political issues. This is the fault of the media, who keep us in the dark by plying us with trashy entertainment disguised as news. What we need is five minutes a day of reporting on Congress, something that could be required of every network, Altman proclaims.

Nonsense. Altman may spend his time watching “The Gordon Eliot Show” or Connie Chung’s latest deceptions, but the rest of us get more news than we can stand. Every hour on the hour nearly every radio station gives us all the latest from Washington, D.C. and Beacon Hill. And then we have the nightly news, reporting on the latest political events every evening. I swear if I have to hear any more about the Contract With America I am going to bust. Or maybe change the channel. The last thing we need is a mandatory five minutes of Newt and Dick’s Majority Adventures.

If Americans are uninformed about politics despite the endless blather, it may be because they have better things about which to worry. Many of us believe that life is not lived best by paying close attention to the events in Washington, but by paying close attention to our families, friends and neighbors. We live on a human scale and refuse to let the television fool us into thinking that this scale has become global. We cannot know or care about very many more people than our grandfathers knew or cared about. We act locally and think locally, because we live locally.

Altman thinks this means that we “are content to let others make decisions for [us].” The facts are just the opposite. Americans want to take power back from Washington so that we can make our own decisions. We are tired of the national government deciding what prayers our children may say in school, what sorts of people deserve our compassion and what means we can use to defend ourselves from criminals. Learning that there are more important things than the national government is the first step in taking back control of our lives. Altman may think this view myopic; the “passive” nation he writes about wishes people like Altman would quit trying so hard to look over our fences, into our schools, churches and homes.

Altman’s other program to make Americans into hypermetropic policy wonks is compulsory voting. “A democracy shouldn’t have a ‘right not to vote,” he argues. Furthermore, “passive” Americans who do not vote do not have the right to dispute the decisions of elected officials. This is what most Americans learn in basic high-school civic education, but it is exactly wrong. When we vote we tacitly agree to abide by the outcome of the election; when we don’t vote, we make no such agreement. Personally, I do not think any Americans should lost their right to argue with elected officials; but if Altman is right, and voting takes away some group’s rights, it’s the voters, not the “passive” Americans.

When the political contest is between Yale College’s George Bush and Yale Law School’s Bill Clinton, why should we be burdened with voting? Altman’s argument assumes that elections offer us meaningful choices. Sometimes our system does, sometimes not. Voluntary voting allows us to decide whether we have been offered a meaningful choice. Compulsory voting would force Americans to choose between the lesser of two evils. This is what Boogie Down Productions’ front-man calls a choice “between the mumps and the measles.” Decent people do not vote for evil, and when offered a choice between a greater evil and a lesser evil, they walk away. Low voting rates may be the best indicators we have that our elections are the sort that decent people want no part of. Altman’s plan would conceal this problem while doing nothing to solve it.

Americans are not passive. If we do not vote it is because we actively reject the measuring of our worth by our participation or support for centralized government. Real activism is always local. It begins at home and within onself. Sure, people do not necessarily know what is best for them, but this only reminds us that people are much less likely to know what is good for others. What has Altman so mixed up is that we are taking charge of our lives without seeking to be in charge of other people’s lives. To a centralist who does not realize that compulsion is the antonym of freedom, this is baffling.

Altman the activistic atavist is too in love with the idea of forcing people to be free. He envisions a ‘brave government’ shaping a “passive people.” Get real. Americans are a brave people who want a passive, limited government. The era of American support for centralized activism, whether a war on poverty or drugs or whatever, is long past. As Brutus warned us long ago, standing armies are inimical to liberty. Americans are rejecting war as a domestic policy, and with it the centralization of life’s most important decisions. All the compulsory programs in the world will not turn back the clock.

John Carney

Don't Vote, It Only Encourages Them

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:30:08 -0500

ninety9:

Can someone find the tumblr post where Carney argues against voting, so I can reblog it with “Should have pitched Slate”

Here you go.

Was Obama A One Hit Wonder?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0500

Was Obama A One Hit Wonder?:

It looks like the kids took my advice and didn’t vote yesterday.

This Is Not The Most Important Election Of Your Life

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:27:15 -0500

This is not the most important election of your life.
Though I too would hope for an end of sorrows,
We’re stuck forever between love and strife.

Raise your voice and glass, bang drum, play fife.
Tell your friends that you believe in new tomorrows.
This is not the most important election of your life.

Pretend, if you must, to prefer the spoon to the knife,
But both are for eating, that’s just how it goes.
We’re stuck forever between love and strife.

With the delusion of difference, politics is rife.
From this poison seed, faith in democracy grows.
This is not the most important election of your life.

Politics makes for the strangest midwife,
Birthing only twins. Perhaps only a broken heart knows,
We’re stuck forever between love and strife.

Life will go on, as will friends and foes,
Curses, blessings, smiles and sorrows.
This is not the most important election of your life.
We’re stuck forever between love and strife.

(November 3, 2008.)

I was looking for the address of this West Village Italian place...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:03:43 -0500

I was looking for the address of this West Village Italian place where Charlie Gasparino is having his book party tomorrow night when I found the Yelp page. I thought I’d skim it to see what to expect.

Weirdly enough, I know two of the reviewers. I’ve never seen anyone I know on Yelp so this was totally shocking.

fixoid: via justhurd.net

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:34:17 -0500

fixoid:

via justhurd.net

Whiskey, The Girl, Tattoos & The Secret Of Life

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:28:00 -0500

Whiskey Soaked Lad: Do we have any more?
Girl With Tattoos: I think you've had enough.
WSL: Let's have some more and then I'll tell you the secret of life.
GWT: I know the secret already.
WSL: Oh really? So then you tell me.
GWT: Well here it is: there are actually three secrets.
WSL: I was told there wouldn't be any math on this exam.
GWT: Sssh. You are not as cute as you think you are when you try to be clever.
WSL: Yes I am.
GWT: The first secret is that you have to forgive people, every day. All the time. Forgiving them is the only way of respecting them as fellow members of the human race and the only way of being human yourself. People, especially your people...
WSL: My people?
GWT: Your internet people. You know who I mean. They aren't good at forgiving. It makes them unhappy. They need to forgive more. They should ask themselves every night, "Who did I forgive today?"
WSL: I forgive you.
GWT: The second secret is endurance and predation. Humans are endurance predators. Animals are only happy when they are doing what they were built by evolution to do. For us it is predate and endure.
WSL: "We'll be a legend and we won't grow old." You're thinking of vampires.
GWT: What did I say about trying to be clever?
WSL: What did you say or what did your eyes say?
GWT: Do you want to know the third secret?
WSL: Of course I do.
GWT: Would you like another glass of whiskey or the third secret?
WSL: That's not fair. You know which I'll chose.
GWT: Yes. Yes I do.

I remember that day well. People were talking about the amazing...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:57:00 -0500

I remember that day well. People were talking about the amazing sunset that we’d missed because we were in the office and the clocks had just been set back so it was dark really early. You know how it goes.

Then, suddenly, someone put a picture of it on Tumblr. We were all like, “Whoa! That really is a nice sunset.”

It made us feel worse about being in the office but better about having the internet to show us beautiful things.

suicideblonde: Courtney Love

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:45:12 -0500

suicideblonde:

Courtney Love

evangotlib: icodeforlove: This is absolutely hilarious!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:38:53 -0500

evangotlib:

icodeforlove:

This is absolutely hilarious!

Gravestone From 1799 Is Found in Washington Square Park - City...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:01:03 -0500

Gravestone From 1799 Is Found in Washington Square Park - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Uh oh. Haven’t any of these people ever seen Poltergeist?

strle writes: “Gruh! It was AWESOME. And you were totally...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:21:00 -0500

strle writes: “Gruh! It was AWESOME. And you were totally invited- consider it a standing invitation :D”

———————————

Ha. Thanks.

I guess I’m too forgetful for standing invitations. I’ll put it in my calendar now so hopefully I’ll remember next year.