I haven’t been kind to Ross Douthat in the past, referring to him with perhaps an excess of sarcasm as Ross Dumbfuck. Well, I won’t descend to that level today, but I will say that his debut column in the New York Times, “Cheney for President,” is not a winner. “Watching Dick Cheney defend the…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Anne Applebaum, totally, totally not bashing the World Health Organization
“For, of course, WHO is not a stand-alone organization but, rather, a part of the United Nations. As such, it is afflicted by many of the same illnesses, so to speak, as other U.N. agencies. Like them, WHO is by definition not accountable to voters, and it is rarely scrutinized by the press. Its leaders…
Face of the Bass Times Two: Christian McBride & Niels Pederson—“Bye-bye Blackbird”
Over at the New Yorker, past is prologue
In its obituary for J. G. Ballard, the New Yorker uncorks the following line: “Ballard had already made a name for himself as a writer of science fiction that was short on technology—no robots, no spaceships—and so eerily prescient in its portrayal of global warming (floods, famines) that it can hardly be called fiction.” Yes,…
Blue Monk X 3
SuperBass (John Clayton, Ray Brown et Christian McBride) et le WDR Big Band Ray Brown Trio Thelonious Monk
Well, maybe they were JEWISH beastmen
As a rule, I don’t read the Sunday comics at all, so I stumbled on the April 12 installment of Prince Valiant* without the slightest clue as to what was going down, but, apparently, three babes from King Author’s Court have been kidnapped by a gang of “beastmen.” Intervening on behalf of the chicks is…
What’s It All About, Merriam?—A continuing review of Merriam-Webster’s “new words, 1961-1993
For more than forty years now, Americans have been engaged in a furious culture war, disputing the significance and worth of that fast-receding decade, the “Sixties.” What were the Sixties about and what did they mean? Fortunately, the good folks at Merriam-Webster have been keeping track. Back in 1961, Merriam-Webster created a mini-culture war of…
Howard Fineman, scared shitless
Liberal blogs have given Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman a well-deserved slapping around for his recent column announcing that the “Establishment” has decided that President Obama is, well, a loser. Mind you, Howard isn’t saying this, he’s just repeating the “mumbling” that he’s heard. Now, some of it may be contradictory, inaccurate, etc., etc., etc., and…
N. Gregory Mankiw and the coercive power of the state
In the Sunday Washington Post, a variety of economic types are given the opportunity to sound off on President Obama’s tax proposals. Dr. Mankiw, who’s often appeared in these posts, is, unsurprisingly, unenthused, though he notes politely that the tax rates Obama is proposing aren’t really that bad. He concludes his thoughts with the following…
Switzerland: It’s not just about the chocolate these days!
No indeedy! That’s Sophie Kummer with the rouge mop, wigging on Thelonious Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t,” with the help of Alex Alflatt, bass, Raoul Baumann, keyboards, Sylvain Grimm, drums, and Nicolas Heiniger, flute. With the IRS making more and more of a fuss about secret Swiss bank accounts (and, excuse me, was there ever a…