Glenn Beck Had Better Kill Us

Glenn Beck is comparatively uneducated, but somehow he’s making millions from his show on Fox News, his radio show, and book deals.  He grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington, a place that is 75.44% White.  He went to Sehome High School in  Bellingham, Washington, a town that is 87.88% White.   He never graduated from college [...]

The Neuroscience of Fraud

New York Magazine discusses the conflict between Ayn Rand’s childhood in Bolshevik Russia and her unforgiving views about the eminence of indiscriminate capitalism.  Newsweek points to new research from UC Davis identifying the area of the brain (the anterior cingulate cortex) responsible for justifying our conflicting beliefs.  And a Goldman executive defends income inequality as [...]

OMG! It’s the “Fall of the Republic!”

I suppose Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Roger B. Taney, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bernie Madoff, and the Dallas Cowboys had absolultely nothing to do with it.

Educational Equality and the President’s Cabinet

Why is it that the Obama administration has spent so much energy trying to prevent lobbyists from overrunning government, but spends little time on the fact that most (more than 50%) of the Cabinet is made up of ivy leaguers?
The President is someone who genuinely cares about equal opportunity.  He is aware of class-based problems [...]

Why the NY Post’s Advertisers are Today’s Racist Lynch Mob

A few weeks ago, I discussed five reasons why the media reform effort is the civil rights movement of our time.  In one example that I gave, I pointed out the similarities between the way Flavor Flav is depicted and the blackface tradition of vaudeville.  Apparently, it’s not the only negative depiction of black people [...]

Right-Wing Radio’s Broken Record

 
 
The New York Times reported this morning that conservative radio is gearing up for a new era of being on the offensive.  After years of playing defense, the article explains, right-wing radio hosts are really excited about being able to criticize policies again, rather than simply defending them.  But the truth is that, no matter how much they try [...]

Congress Gives Self $4,700 Per Member Annual Raise

Where are the priorities?  

We just spent $700 billion on a stimulus package that isn’t working. 
Total job losses for the year are approaching 2 million.
Wages are stagnant.
We have an actual deficit of $53 trillion.

And Congress has just given each member a $4,700 per year raise?  A RAISE??? And why aren’t we doing anything about it? [...]

The GOP Attempts a Beatrix Kiddo-Type Escape

Is the GOP as skilled at escaping conundrums as Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill?  They’re going to have to be.  They’re going to have to be so skilled, so artful, at escaping from being buried alive that they will almost have to hire a stunt double (not Sarah Palin).  They’ll need much more than the “Five Point Palm [...]

Gore to Take Over Presidency for Remaining 38 Days

I wouldn’t put it past ‘em.  More here.

The Worst and the Dullest (Pedigrees Notwithstanding)

I missed this piece from Frank Rich last week, but it fits in nicely with the series I’ve been doing on the love affair the establishment thinks it has with educational elites, even though it’s really just been a co-dependent romance, having nothing to do with merit (grade inflation gives merit an effective mark of [...]

keep looking »