We all know that President Obama loves to see himself on TV. He seems to jump at any chance to put himself in front of the cameras. The record number of televised speeches, the talk-show and news show appearances where he waxes eloquently (while saying nothing of substance) are proof of that.

Now he is shilling for a new late-night talk show starring the ultra-left comedian George Lopez and I just have to ask, what was he thinking?

Is the publicity garnered by this kind of tasteless stunt worth pushing even more of the rapidly dwindling Independent bloc towards the right?

I can’t wait to hear him singing, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer weiner…..“

Tags: politics & government by David "Preacher" Slocum
1 Comment »

Breaking news: an EU fact finding mission composed of 30 European ‘military, legal and history experts’ has just confirmed what anybody with eyes and a brain that has not been befogged by years of Cold War propaganda could figure out for themselves — that Georgia started last year’s war in South Ossetia. Other astonishing evidence the crack team of investigators has uncovered is that Russia then took advantage of the situation to wreak merry havoc inside Georgia, and that many individuals were displaced from their homes in South Ossetia, although apparently they’re not sure exactly who did that. Next week the EU will reveal that cheese does not necessarily have holes in it and that Michael Jackson is dead.

[Read more →]

Tags: terror & war, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
1 Comment »

This is no way intended to address Roman Polanski’s guilt or innocence or whether his recent arrest for having sex with a 13-year-old over three decades ago was fair or unjust. I merely want to point out that he may have had the most extraordinary life of anyone born in the 20th century; indeed, he lived more by the age of 40 than many families do over generations. Consider: [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, on the law by Sean Cunningham
4 Comments »

September 27, 2009
I dream I am visiting Paris with Gail and we wind up in the famous strip joint/variety venue, The Crazy Horse. I am hoping there is a magician performing there, and Gail speaks just enough French to determine that the current show has an 80 second magic act. There is not enough magic to justify the admission price, so we go to the race track instead. We purchase tickets, but we are turned away because our tickets are exploitative. The price is too high and there are various discounts that we don’t know about. While we try to sort this out, some poor fellow is shown committing adultery on the Jumbotron.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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When Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried) says her best friend Jennifer (Megan Fox) is evil, boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) agrees.  Needy corrects him saying, “No, I mean, she’s actually evil. Not high school evil.” If, like me, lines like this have you rubbing your hands together in delight, you should savor this smart, funny and creepy horror film.  [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
4 Comments »

Last week I had the misfortune to read a true journalistic atrocity. Here are but two paragraphs, awful enough to make a baby die were you to read this tripe within earshot of the aforementioned innocent: [Read more →]

Tags: music, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
13 Comments »

This time of year I look for Wild Alaskan Coho Salmon. It’s really sweet and mild, perfect for people who think salmon is too “fishy”. High levels of cholesterol-reducing Omega 3s make it a healthy choice, and It’s a certified sustainable fish so it’s great for the environment. At about $10 per pound, it will help you eat right through the recession. Pick some up on the way home from work and try my quick and easy Red Wine Salmon tonight.

[Read more →]

Tags: easy weeknight dinners, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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Sometimes, when a book is really good, you start counting the days until the sequel comes out as soon as you finish the last page. Back in April, I reviewed Patrick Carman’s Skeleton Creek and I immediately started clamoring for a sequel. The book ends with a real cliffhanger — it involves ghosts, a broken leg, a dead battery and a secret room — and I wanted to know what happened next!  In his follow-up novel, Ghost in the Machine, Carman continues the story of Ryan and Sarah and the Crossbones Society.

(Check out the trailer for Ghost in Machine here.)

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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Albert Jay Nock was fond of quoting something said by Joseph Butler, an 18th-century Anglican bishop: “Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived?”

The first part of this is just a more elegant form of the proposition about something looking like a duck being a duck. It’s the second part that is interesting. Do we in fact desire to be deceived? [Read more →]

Tags: that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
7 Comments »

Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” premiered yesterday on PBS, delivering with his typically deliberate pacing, a moving portrait of how and why some of the most beautiful places in America, and on the planet, came under the protection of the U.S. government. [Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, television by Mark Guerin
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Have you ever attended a sporting event and been thoroughly disgusted with the performance of your team? Sure you have. It’s happened to me many times. It’s a bad feeling, made worse by the fact that you likely spent a significant amount of money to attend. After tickets, parking, overpriced food and drinks, and possibly travel expenses, you are in the hole by a pretty good amount. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. All your professors also work in the cafeteria.

9. Its Latin motto is actually written in Pig Latin.

8. All of the library books have already been colored in.

7. It boasts “a graduation rate higher than most District of Columbia high schools.”

6. The student center has an onsite bail bondsman.

5. All the dissecting in biology class is done on roadkill.

4. Its most notable alumnus is Howie Mandell.

3. In the Jeopardy College Championship, it lost to Hamburger U.

2. The dean giggles every time he hears the work ‘matriculate’.

1. Instead of the S.A.T., you just have to pass a urine test.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, education by Bob Sullivan
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It’s a concept that was initiated by Hillary Clinton during her husband’s embattled Presidency. It was once again utilized by Bill Clinton this week to describe some of the vociferous opposition to a few of President Obama’s initiatives. More bizarrely, former President Jimmy Carter has alluded to the idea that those who oppose President Obama’s current agenda are probably racially motivated.

This is shameful and unacceptable in light of the obvious transformation in racial tolerance and social acceptance that our nation has displayed in the last several decades. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Larry DeRose
1 Comment »

FIRE is an organization that defends free speech rights on college campuses. Here, Dave Barry talks about free speech, or the lack thereof, at universities.

Via Virginia Postrel

Tags: education by Scott Stein
1 Comment »

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia came back on the air last week, and thank goodness. My world goes out of focus without a collection of insane people running around Philly doing insane things. Not only was the premiere amazing, but I also saw the stage performance of The Night Man Cometh (a rock opera based directly on an episode from last year). The humor of this show is incredibly dark. They are all horrible human beings doing terrible things. They find babies in a dumpster, mentally and emotionally abuse each other, and take advantage of people. Watch it! Love it! SUNNY! 

Thursday nights on FX. It’s usually On Demand too. 

Tags: fan boy says, television by Steve Mazzeo
1 Comment »

Dear Ruby,
My 12 year old daughter is back in school and this girl (let’s call her Becky) who she’s been hanging around with all summer is now completely blowing her off! I feel so bad for my daughter and I’m really angry at Becky, who I’ve been driving to parties and feeding meals to all summer, basically treating her like a member of the family.

Would it be out of line to say something to her when I see her at school? I volunteer once a week or so and I feel very awkward and like I want to call her out on her snotty behavior. She’s always polite to me.

Mom on Warpath

[Read more →]

Tags: advice, family & parenting by Ruby Mac
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I watch a lot of talk shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah covers a lot of ground on her show: health with Dr. Oz, finances with Suze Orman, fitness with Bob Greene, interior decorating with Nate Berkus. She’s even covered those unusual topics like “compulsive hoarding”. I thought the hoarding shows were kind of unsettling. Yesterday, however, the Oprah show reached a new level of disturbing. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, television by Nancy DeGregorio
2 Comments »

I am sure I was not alone in feeling a crushing wave of boredom come over me when I heard that Michael Moore was about to release another of his activist documentaries. The boredom however became a faint sense of nausea when I heard that it was to be a caustic attack on ‘capitalism’. Wow. Moore had finally caught up with the radical thinking of mid to late 19^th century Europe. What next, I wondered — a devastating assault on critics of Copernicus? A bold expose of the slave trade? Or perhaps an assault on the tyranny of King George III? [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, politics & government by Daniel Kalder
19 Comments »

I’ve been taking photos of my daughter non-stop since the moment she was born. I have always loved photography and I happen to have a pretty cute kid that loves the camera.  Her first bath is on video, as well as captured by still photographs. Who knew that what I was doing could have led to her being taken away from me? [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
18 Comments »

I’m not an authority on heaven. I don’t know precisely what is required to get in. I have an idea, though, about what is likely to keep someone out. CNN.com reports:

A Florida man admitted to reporters that he killed his wife and five “innocent” children, adding that he wants to be executed “right away” so he can be buried with them on Saturday.

Mesac Damas, 32, said he wanted to take his own life, but did not have the courage to go through with it, “because if you kill yourself, you’re not going to heaven.”

[Read more →]

Tags: on the law by Scott Stein
3 Comments »

This week saw the finale of King of the Hill, the tale of a humble Texas propane salesman, his self-righteous substitute teacher wife, and their dumpy yet wildly flamboyant son. The prime time cartoon narrowly dodged cancellation about a million times earlier in its run (roughly three years ago I interviewed its co-creator Mike Judge–you know him better from Office Space and Beavis and Butt-Head–before a previous scheduled termination), but the axe was bound to connect eventually. And, like so many of the show’s fans, I missed its finale’s scheduled airing. So it was with King of the Hill: inevitably overshadowed and never must-see TV…yet every time I stumble upon a rerun I remember what an extraordinary accomplishment it is. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment by Sean Cunningham
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August 24, 2009
I dream I am becoming aroused at an affair at a synagogue. I excuse myself to go to the bathroom and when I look at my genitals I see that they are not mine. When I return to the party everyone is gone and there is no clue to where everyone went. I drive to Roosevelt Mall to look for the party, but I have no luck. [Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic. I love this comic.

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, just fantastic by Steve Mazzeo
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I think I am supposed to like Bright Star.  I am interested in John Keats, I loved Campion’s The Piano and I have a high tolerance for slow period pieces about love. But this film left me cold. Even the credits annoyed me. Keats deserves better. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
4 Comments »

There is still a month or so left to make a weekend trek to Maine and have Wild Lobster at its peak. If you don’t have time to make the trip, The Lobster Place (in NYC’s Chelsea Market or by mail order) sells Wild Maine Lobster year round. My recipe for spicy Lobster Fra Diavolo with Spaghetti is an easy way to enjoy the end of the lobster season in your own home.

[Read more →]

Tags: easy weeknight dinners, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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This is not a post about global warming, nor is it about energy conservation. Although what follows is a quote from Energy Secretary Steven Chu and is about environmental policy, I am not posting it here to start a debate over whether or not he is right or justified in his comments. [Read more →]

Tags: damned lies, politics & government by Scott Stein
17 Comments »

I love a good adventure novel!  Exploring the Arctic, searching for the source of the Nile, exploring the Amazon basin, all from the comfort of your local library. Most of us will never in our lives go anywhere that is truly unexplored, but I have great respect for the men (and occasionally women) who were unafraid of the unknown.  In The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, author David Grann presents not only a great tale of adventure but also a great mystery: what happened to Colonel Percy Fawcett? [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
1 Comment »

I keep running into George Santayana. Last week, for example, I was rummaging in the basement and came upon a galley of Irving Singer’s book George Santayana: Literary Philosopher. I’ve only had time to read about half of it, but it’s a wonderful book. If Singer, a professor of philosophy at MIT, is as good in class as he is on paper, he must be one hell of a teacher.

I find Santayana — an atheist with a passionate attachment to Catholicism — a fascinating figure, principally because I share two of his fundamental notions. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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As readers may recall, a month or so back I named Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili as the craziest world leader of them all. Well because you certainly won’t have heard this if you watch the evening news, and probably not even if you read the newspapers, I just thought I’d deliver an update on the continuing deterioration of his already fragile mental state. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, travel & foreign lands by Daniel Kalder
4 Comments »

Chelsea Lately (Weeknights, 11PM, E!) — I don’t know how she did it, but my “I’d-disregard-all-of-my-other-friends-forever-to-actually-be-her-friend” friend Jennifer Aniston appeared on my other ”I’d-disregard-my-friend-Jackie-forever-to-actually-be-her-friend” friend Chelsea Handler’s late night show, Chelsea Lately. This meeting of female greatness was the best thing to happen to me since the remote control was invented… and was quite a feat for Chelsea. [Read more →]

Tags: Lauren Likes TV, television by Lauren LaBumbard
3 Comments »