A Few Choice Words

Kind of Says It All, Doesn’t It?

2009-06-07T16:34:09-04:00

Pelosi’s ratings, says Gallup, are down eight points since November, and in fact “Cheney may be less problematic for his party than Pelosi might be for hers.” Dems should be glad that 2012 is not around the corner.

Sotomayor, La Mejor

2009-05-30T12:59:00-04:00

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” The judge said that in 2001 at a...

A “despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort”

2009-05-18T10:39:15-04:00

Thus spake former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on current Speaker Pelosi’s recent statements. He and the Republican cohort (it’s not a party any more) are steamed about Pelosi’s inconsistent statements of when she learned about waterboarding and her assertions that...

Mr. Gates . . . and All That Money

2009-05-10T12:16:36-04:00

In a rather silly Newsweek piece entitled “Is Robert Gates a Genius?” Fareed Zakaria wrote that Gates’ budget proposal for the Pentagon has gathered all the “right” opponents (Senator Imhofe, R. Ok.—a man of astounding ignorance—the defense contractors, Beltway consultants)....

Dim-Witted Leaf-Eaters

2009-05-02T12:10:07-04:00

Jim Fassett, a credentialed dinosaur hunter, has discovered that some of the creatures may have lived on past their presumed time of extinction. After digging in the San Juan Basin near the Colorado-New Mexico border, Fassett maintained that a sizable...

I Have Seen Arlen Specter Naked

2009-04-29T15:39:36-04:00

Not too many people can make that statement. Back in the ‘90s when I lived and worked in DC, I joined the Capitol Hill Squash Club to work out. In the locker room I’d encounter such notables as Specter, David...

Shake, Rattle and Rale

2009-04-24T12:07:45-04:00

Bron-kidis, Lenny Bruce called it, the “un-hip, poor and Jewish” disease. In French it's la bronchite, much more elegant. Bronchitis makes you feel, well, pathetic—not least because of its sounds called rales, those rattles and assorted noises in your chest...

Easter White

2009-04-11T15:56:06-04:00

While there are millions of darker-skinned people who celebrate this holiday, Easter has always seemed to me the most quintessentially white-bread and ridiculous of religious extravaganzas. I mean, Christianity was, if not in origin, a white religion imposed on conquered...

Posts from CarGurus on the Auto Industry

2009-02-28T17:26:57-05:00

Here are two posts from my other blogsite, www.cargurus.com/blog, that have to do with recent tumult in the car industry and my reactions to it. For current and stimulating car talk, please check this site out, rant, leave comments, or...

Obama's Challenge to Think Big

2009-02-25T17:35:00-05:00

In the aftermath of the president’s speech to Congress, we’re hearing a lot of praise and a lot of skepticism. Maybe both are in order. On the whole, the speech was masterful—in part at least because of its tone, welcoming...

Wake Up, Folks, We’re Going to Have an Auto Industry

2009-02-23T17:41:00-05:00

My compadre tgriffith got all steamed last week about the chintzy buyouts GM and Chrysler have offered their workers. For $20,000, much less than one year’s pay, and $25,000 toward an already-depreciated, devalued car, GM workers sign over their rights...

Stimulus, Ah Um

2009-02-02T09:49:28-05:00

This is for all you Latin fans out there who remember the name of Charles Mingus’s 1959 album, Mingus Ah Um. Easily one of the great records in jazz, Ah Um brought a new exuberance and spontaneity to the music....

Thinking About Blago and Bush Two Days Before the Inaugural

2009-01-18T15:47:57-05:00

There are great stirrings of hope in the land. People are abuzz with talk of historical significance and change. And this is as it should be. We don’t get such a confluence of events and personalities more than once in...

The Biggest Christmas Present in History

2008-12-27T10:28:17-05:00

What I wanted to post today was pretty much the story Margaret Carlson wrote for Bloomberg. So here’s an excerpt. The outrage so far has been limited, but as the recession deepens, you can bet the anger will grow. This...

Christmas Lapsus

2008-12-24T09:33:00-05:00

I’ve been working on car stories at www.cargurus.com/blog and invite you to visit there if you have the car bug. Here’s a recent one on the industry mess, specifically concerning dealers. No Sympathy for the Devil, No Gimmicks Why has...