When Falls the Coliseum is looking for bloggers to post commentaries, essays, rants, satire, and reviews about current events, politics, entertainment, culture, and many other topics from a broad range of personal and political perspectives. We appreciate both serious discussion and merciless mockery. We like humor — the funny kind. If you’re interested in being a regular contributor, visit our submissions page and tour our site (see FAQ, Welcome, and History). We don’t care if you are libertarian, liberal, conservative, other, or don’t pay attention to politics. As long as you can write posts that interest readers and you want to do so regularly, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking to increase our coverage of movies, books, TV, video games, celebrity news, pop culture, politics, current events, social issues, online oddities.

Tags: announcements by Coliseum
No Comments »

In “Ab Aeterno,” Richard Alpert loses his faith after discovering that the plan he’s dedicated so much of his life to, may in fact, not exist. From the very same episode, some Lost fans began feeling the same. For six years, Lost viewers with an insatiable hunger for answers have anxiously waited to find out what the mysterious island actually is. At the writer’s strike a couple years ago, Carlton Cuse held up a picket sign that read: “Do You Want To Know What The Island Is??” Thousands of fans have dreamed up imaginative theories, all in an attempt to solve the show’s complex riddle. And now at last we have our answer! According to Jacob himself, the island is…A CORK!!! (crickets) [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
6 Comments »

Face it folks, you’re going to get sick and tired of me writing about the new health care law.  I don’t think it’s Constitutional, no matter what precedents you can dig up out of some dusty old tome of law.  Common sense will tell you that this is a gross encroachment of liberty by government, all in the name of power.  The issue has divided this country more thoroughly than anything since the Civil War.  I don’t know what it’s like in the cities, but this country boy can feel the anger and fear in small town America.

This doesn’t end well, no matter what happens.  If it isn’t repealed, rural America is going to go crazy, and if it is repealed, the cities will be overwhelmed by rioting.  But let me present the only side of the story I’m familiar with, the side of the story that I live…

[Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Mike McGowan
44 Comments »

What do Congress and the NFL have in common? They’ve both just passed significant new rule changes to correct what they view as systemic problems that result in unjust or unfavorable outcomes. Also: they both have not considered how tinkering with incentives can drastically change behavior, and in doing so, create new unforeseen problems. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, sports by John Capone
No Comments »

Former presidential candidate and great American hero John Edwards based at least one of his campaigns on the unfairness of the “two Americas” — that there was “one America” for rich people like him, who could basically do whatever they wanted and get away with it, because they were rich; and another “America” for poor people who had to take it when rich people like John Edwards screwed them over. Mr. Edwards had a vision to combine these “two Americas” into one America, where everyone would be screwed over equally by John Edwards.

So far and unfortunately, Mr. Edwards’s vision has gone unfulfilled. And one need look no further for evidence than the Tiger Woods incident(s). [Read more →]

Tags: on the law, sports by Ricky Sprague
2 Comments »

February 6, 2010
I dream it is Saturday morning and the cleaning man and his people are here, but not much cleaning is being done. The cleaning man tells me he thinks of himself as a designer, not a cleaning man. I tell him, no, he’s a cleaning man and I gave him money and he is to clean the house. He explains that this is not “the thing,” and that I must at least help him with the “swats.” I say, “What is this word, ‘swats’?” He says, “Rags.” I say, “As far as I know, I am not obligated to help you with the ‘swats.’ I am paying you a hundred dollars. You are supposed to clean the house.” During this conversation I notice that the sofa cushions are on the dining room table.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
No Comments »

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is in its fourth edition (but fifth incarnation) since 1974. I’ve played three incarnations: 2nd, 3.5, and 4th. I’ve got to say that the fourth edition does one thing very well.

For anyone unfamiliar, a table top role-playing game (RPG), like D&D, uses a pen, character sheet(s), a series of books, and a set of dice. The set of dice consists of: 1 four-sided, 1 six-sided, 2 ten-sided, 1 twelve-sided, and 1 twenty-sided die. Dice are also abbreviated “D” as in D20 for a twenty-sided die. You might laugh at this now, but one day you’ll be in a comic shop on the wrong side of the tracks and knowing what a D20 is might help you make a saving throw against a band of asthmatic angry nerds. [Read more →]

Tags: games, just fantastic by Steve Mazzeo
1 Comment »

Roman Polanski’s moody political thriller features a great cast and plenty of pointed political allusions. Although the pace is more leisurely than some action films, the writing is smart and the twists keep you guessing. It is not in the same class as some of Polanski’s other films (The Pianist , Chinatown , Rosemary’s Baby), but it is not a bad way to spend 128 minutes. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
No Comments »

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write. I finally got a new job and being busy is a welcomed burden. When thinking about what I wanted to share with my friends who read WFTC, the unfolding of spring flowers and budding trees quickly lured me. I penned some flowery — all pun intended — prose about time change and season change and blah, blah, blah. I almost sounded bright-eyed and dreamy.

Thank God for cousins, co-workers, ice skates, and babies. I want to talk about parenting. [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, family & parenting by Nicole Ball
3 Comments »

A few years ago I attended a panel discussion on health care reform at Princeton University. While a number of options were offered and often violently debated, there was one point on which every panelist concurred: our insurance companies waste shocking amounts of money (we’re talking Eastern European Communist levels here). In particular, they like paperwork. They really like paperwork, so much so the panelists agreed they choose to spend roughly 30% of every dollar on it (I’ve since read up on this and found that estimates vary as expected, but the lowest paperwork figure I located was 7.6% or well over $100 billion a year, which is horrible enough, thank you). Throw in the cash spent on TV ads and executive salaries and the like and they squander a huge amount of loot before they deliver any actual health care. Not to mention they’re determined to earn massive profits. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

There’s a heatwave in Oslo.  Anyone who can’t get out of the city is sweltering in the heat.  There are lines at the open-air pool, the city streets are deserted…and there is a killer on the loose.

Police investigations are apparently much the same the world over, as I didn’t find a lot of procedural confusion in Jo Nesbo’s The Devil’s Star. It’s good, gritty detective fiction — just the way I like it.  Harry Hole is a police inspector who is on his way down and out.  His drinking problem has started to take its toll: he’s lost his girlfriend and he’s about to lose his job, but he may be the only person who can solve this string of killings. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
No Comments »

So there it is, folks! There will be last ditch efforts from republicans and state attorney generals to nullify the law, but the healthcare overhaul in America is now in motion. My main criticism of the bill was that we might be throwing money at the problem. No one read the bill. No one understood it. And there didn’t seem to be any distinguishable solutions.

But now that it is law, there seems to be more details. And I like what I hear. There are a lot of essential provisions without too much government control. However, there are still a few loose ends. First, more people will be covered, but will more people treated? There is a difference. Second, we cannot afford this. Doesn’t that mean anything anymore? It makes you think… [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Robert O'Hara
10 Comments »

Even wise and learned people are capable of saying stupid things. I was reminded of this recently when I came upon something once said by Jacques Barzun — who is certainly wise and learned enough: “A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.”

It is actually hard to know quite what to think of this. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
10 Comments »

The health care reform bill that passed the House of Representatives last night is flawed and adulterated; but for millions of Americans who aren’t stockholders of insurance companies, failure to pass it would have been disastrous. That failure would have led to the continued spiraling out of control of health-care costs (and perhaps, ten or 15 years from now, a better solution, a single-payer system). But the bill is a start on the right road, not the wrong road. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Jeff Scheuer
7 Comments »

Stalin is reported to have said something along the lines of, “If you know the rape is coming, you might as well enjoy it.” To those members of Congress and the current administration, who now gloat over their pyrrhic victory, let me advise another text, this one from the Book of Proverbs, 16:18. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
1 Comment »

In response to my last post, commenter Mike had a few objections to the basic idea of working for the money:

Money is a place holder, it represents something else, namely your life.

There’s more to that, as I’ll explain below.

[Read more →]

Tags: money by Mark Draughn
3 Comments »

The Ivy League is known for many things. Most of them have to do with very smart people being very smart. Rarely are the member schools known for their athletic prowess. They don’t even give athletic scholarships. Despite that, the Cornell basketball team spent the weekend proving that sports really do exist in the Ivy League. They have made it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
5 Comments »

On Saturday, Republican leader John Boehner predicted that the passage of the health care bill would bring about “Armageddon.” Boehner is Roman Catholic (alma mater: Xavier University) so I don’t think that he meant my favorite WWE event or my third-favorite Bruce Willis movie. Nope, this is the Armageddon — the big one. And yesterday the bill passed. Yikes!

As a public service, I looked up how things go from here on in, according to the King James Bible. Here’s what to expect.

[Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, religion & philosophy by Neil Verma
2 Comments »

Michelle Hottentot, 26, of Sherman Heights, has been sentenced to six months in jail for violating the state’s Health Care Freedom and Insurance Act. Ms. Hottentot was convicted of having unprotected sex with an unidentified man with whom she was not in a committed monogamous relationship.

Prosecutors had argued that Ms. Hottentot’s promiscuous behavior was in violation of the state’s health care laws, which require that all citizens not “knowingly engage in any behavior that might be considered ‘risky’ to any reasonable person or entity.” Cities around the state have been prosecuting people for any number of activities, including riding skateboards and inhaling helium to make their voices squeaky.

[Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
No Comments »

10. Your “exclusive beachside accommodations” have a half moon on the door

9. The only alcohol in your hotel is in the mouthwash

8. The “meal plan” is all you can catch with your bare hands

7. The only ‘girls’ you’ve seen all week have unusually large hands and Adam’s apples

6. You’ve spent most of it sitting on the runway waiting for your pilots to sober up

5. The closest thing you’ve gotten to a tan came from some poison ivy you sat in

4. When the travel agent told you you’d get some action, he never once mentioned the word ‘Afghanistan’

3. The guy running the Bungee jump doesn’t know how to subtract

2. The “ocean view” requires you to tune in to Channel 4

1. What you thought was a mint left on your pillow just crawled away
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, drugs & alcohol, travel & foreign lands by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »