Howdy. It's been a while.
A pet peeve of mine is Republican/conservative types who shout that liberals are RUINING THIS COUNTRY and are coming to TAKE YOUR FAMILY AWAY AND EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR OMG WTF. I keep looking for specifics ("Which part of the Constitution, specifically, do you believe is being 'trampled on?'"), because as far as I can tell Obama and Congress haven't really accomplished much. (I realize this is pretty much a tactic meant to rally the base and scare stupid people, rather than something most of them truly believe, but bear with me here.) I can't get over this item where Andrew Sullivan runs down what a true Obama-liberal utopia would look like at this point. Ain't a one of them things happened yet.
Speaking of right-wing rhetoric: Deficits matter! Unless it's a Republican administration. And don't cut defense spending or Medicare, and never ever ever raise taxes. But deficits matter!
Speaking of raising taxes--I likes me some online poker. So should the US Government, because they could tax the hell out of it.
Closer to home: Local food blogger spends a week in a DC school kitchen. Not surprisingly, it ain't pretty. I don't say this to attack DC schools, as it must be a completely thankless job (not just here but anywhere, and making food that's affordable, healthy, and palatable to kids is well nigh impossible. But it's an intriguing read, and clearly an area where we need better answers.
How do you feel about Lasik surgery? I always figured I wanted at least ten years of post-op side effects on the books before I'd even consider it. Looks like I was right to wait.
Great post by ?uestlove of the legendary Roots crew, now Jimmy Fallon's house band, on how the music industry handles royalties for talk-show walk-on music. Also, after reading his Rolling Stone article on their best moments so far, I Googled for the Elmo clip, except I put in Jimmy Kimmel rather than Fallon, and got this, which is just as good if not better.
Lastly, Mark Morford on our astonishing ability to be disappointed in everything.
It's been a couple weeks, and this has been in the LFF folder since after Christmas: Kung Fu Monkey's "Wait, Aren't You Scared?" I am too lazy to google this right now, but I think I linked to it the first time, too. I find it curious that the seem people who want to take zero chances when it comes to terrorism are willing to throw caution to the wind when it comes to global warming.
On the other hand, the TSA does pretty well suck.
Roger Ebert is one of our best living writers, not just on movie reviews but on anything. Here's an interesting and touching piece on the inability to eat or drink caused by his cancer.
Lastly, enjoy this video of a Little League game taken to the next level.