Archive for November, 2005

Take out the fire & brimstone social conservative b.s. (which, admittedly, a goodly number of so-cons espouse but in our McCainiastic ideal future ceases to exist [silly also because I don't think McCain is even who we think he is]) and conservatives begin to look a lot like you and me, as the Philadelphia Inquirer’s [...]

As satisfying as it sounds, I find it difficult to believe that Mathieu Kassovitz was the first one to figure out that s**t was f**ked up in the Parisian suburbs, as the New York Times’ Alan Riding seems to be saying:
So life often imitates art. Yet with the recent uprisings in some French immigrant neighborhoods, [...]

Happy Thanksgiving


Posted by Bruno on November 24th, 2005

I’m spending thanksgiving at the lady friend’s lovely family ranch in Northern California. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Everyone knows that income disparity in the U.S. is widening as the rich just get richer, which makes folks nervous about long-term societal stability.
But how exactly does this play out in the world of entertainment? Actually, it’s worse than you think:
Ja Rule stopped by a party at Shaquille O’Neal’s mansion in Miami Beach the [...]

iTunes Triumphalism


Posted by Bruno on November 22nd, 2005

I knew they were getting big, but did you know that iTunes is the seventh largest music retailer in the U.S.? They’re bigger than Sam Goody, Borders and Tower Records. That’s wild.
What’s also interesting is that the top 6 companies are internet retailers (Amazon.com), big-box stores (Wal-Mart, Target), and electronics stores (F.Y.E., Circut [...]

A Bunch of Thugs


Posted by Bruno on November 22nd, 2005

Former Tom DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges yesterday. You’re shocked, we know.
This is just the first step in what will be rather far-reaching criminal case involving Scanlon, partner Jack Abramoff, and several members of Congress. By the time this prosecutor’s done, you’ll all be saying, “Valerie who?”
Will Scanlon [...]

Spitzer Comes Out Against Artful Cartography


Posted by Contrarian on November 22nd, 2005

As a lifelong independent/unaffiliated voter and someone who distrusts political parties, I like it:
[New York] Attorney General [and sometime media-whorish gadfly] Eliot Spitzer said Monday that if elected governor he will end a practice that many say is at the root of Albany’s dysfunctional government: the power of state lawmakers to draw legislative districts so [...]

College


Posted by Bruno on November 21st, 2005

Just saw one of the new Army ad campaigns, the ones that feature the kid telling his mom, “Mom, I just figured out how to pay for college…”
Is it overly cynical of me to assume there’s a link between this campaign and the GOP’s vote this week to cut $14.3 billion in student aid over [...]

Misleading


Posted by Bruno on November 21st, 2005

Vice President Cheney’s still out there today arguing that it’s “dishonest and reprehensible” to say that the administration misled the country in the run-up to the Iraq war:
“What is not legitimate, and what I will again say is dishonest and reprehensible, is the suggestion by some U.S. senators that the president of the United States [...]

The Scrabble Litmus Test


Posted by Contrarian on November 21st, 2005

At the risk of sounding stodgy, there’s something perverse about playing and winning Scrabble without understanding what the words mean:
In the end, the zobo and the ogive could not quite triumph over the qanat and the euripi on Sunday, and thus the contender was birsled - Scottish dialect for scorched or toasted.
It was with such [...]


Now Playing: Episode 361

 
 Standard Podcast [32:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Presidential campaign gets nasty while the banking crisis goes international.

Links Mentioned: The coveted Buckley endorsement … and the Brooks non-endorsement … the European banking bailout vs. the U.S. bailout redux … Frank Rich … GM and Chrysler get cozy.

You are currently browsing the Bruno and the Professor weblog archives for October, 2008.

Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.