photo credit: World Economic Forum [Ezra] Vogel ends his new account of the Paramount Leader [Deng Xiaoping] by asking: ‘Did any other leader in the 20th century do more to improve the lives of so many? Did any other 20th-century leader have such a large and lasting influence on world history?’ Deng Xiaoping and the … Read more
From Urban Dictionary Congressional Review January 21, 2012 Urban Word of the Day To loosely read or breeze through a document, likely missing a fair amount of the information contained within. How tough will the upgrade be? I’m not too sure, I only gave the guide a Congressional Review. See also: Nancy Pelosi on Health … Read more
photo credit: Christine Ann Dunne Use a straw to remove the center from strawberries. See Hull Strawberries Using a Straw, from New Nostalgia, Amy Bowman . . . . . . . . . More clever ideas and clever tools Cool Tools Festival of Frugality Home Ec 101 New Nostalgia Squawkfox The Dollar Stretcher ToolMonger
Too much money in politics or too much politics in money? “Hush money–or money for the sewer,” by Frank Beard, Judge V. 5, March 1, 1884, pages 8-9.From Library of CongressFrank Beard (1842-1905). | Interview (1895) First, let me point out that congressional salaries already put members of Congress in the top 5%. So it’s … Read more
Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the … Read more
Free Speech: Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U.S. 1 (1949) What’s the Biggest Threat to Free Speech? Accordingly, a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, … Read more
Attack Ads, Circa 1800 In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns Presidential Debates: Fifty Years of High-Risk TV All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business The Election of 1800 Explained … Read more
As gauged by an aggregate of housing indexes dating to 1890, real home prices rose 85 percent to their highest level in August 2006. They have since declined 33 percent, falling short of most predictions for a cumulative correction of at least 40 percent.[1] In fact, home prices still must fall 23 percent if they … Read more
No, the fact is that Washington is and always has been irretrievably bogged down in process. And process doesn’t generally make for electrifying prose–unless you’re a fan of the novels of C. P. Snow, which describe the intestinal workings of inner-sanctum power struggles conducted by micro-megalomaniacs. photo credit: Sjors Provoost The days of the Georgetown … Read more
The Playmobil Security Check Point is no longer available, but don’t despair, Playmobil Safe Crackers (Thieves) is! I’ve been following the recent controversy over the TSA’s body imaging X-ray machines, otherwise known as the “backscatter” or “exhibit-yourself-in-the-nude” devices. It made me reminisce about an old post I wrote about the Playmobil airline screening playset. I … Read more