Phil Mickelson, the affable “aw shucks” fan-favorite on the PGA Tour and one of the game’s greatest golfers, really stepped in it this week. He ticked off liberals by hitting it Dead Solid Perfect in a few off-hand comments about his dissatisfaction with current income tax policy. Poor Phil. He was too naïve to know that such talk is to be left only to the real pros — the tax-hiking, redistributive masters of our modern economy. He didn’t realize that his job in today’s American Culture is…
"It cannot be overemphasized that Muslim terrorism is a symptom of Islam that may increase or decrease in intensity while Islam proper remains permanently hostile."
"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death." — Omar N. Bradley
OK, that's a tongue-in-cheek suggestion. For one thing, he’s not a U.S. citizen. But attorney and legal and constitutional analyst Maureen Martin is convinced we need a presidential candidate with the “X Factor” Simon Cowell promotes and embodies.
The requirement for marriage licenses in the U.S. has been justified on the basis that the state has an overriding right, on behalf of all citizens and in the interests of the larger social welfare, to protect them from disease or improper/illegal marriages; to keep accurate state records; or even to ensure that marriage partners have had adequate time to think carefully before marrying.
Reglazing the broken windows of our popular culture — the argument from character. by Warren Moore I was discussing argumentation with my frosh this morning, and while most of the class was devoted to Stephen Toulmin’s elements of argument, we spent a little time talking about the Aristotelian idea that ethos — the appeal based on the character of the speaker — is typically formed during the rhetorical act itself. In simpler terms, this is why one should avoid spelling/grammar errors on one’s resume, for…
It would be a mistake to blame the technology. As usual, it’s how people use — and abuse — it: Now that the Earbud People have invaded, they’ve taken over subways, academia, buses, and sidewalks from coast to coast and around the globe. They’re passively receiving sounds that they alone can hear. Other than mob violence or criminal behavior, theirs is the most antisocial public behavior one can imagine. Its only rivals are the Bluetooth-enabled cell phone conversations that turn all who engage in them…
If you are not familiar with the show Parks & Recreation on NBC, I highly recommend it. One of the heroes of the sitcom is a character named Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman. Ron Swanson is a staunch libertarian, and his “meta joke” for the show is that he’s the head of the Parks Department in the town of Pawnee, Indiana—and his goal in life is to shut down that department (and most others) because they are useless wastes of time and the hard-earned money…
If it does, you can blame … J. R. R. Tolkien? . . . one of the things that I talk about is what I like to call “West Coast White nationalism” because West Coast White nationalism, a lot of the people that I know on the West Coast who think in terms of a racially defined new order of society, you take one look at them and you think that they’re hippies or you think that they’re liberals. Their lifestyles and their attitudes embrace…
And so it has come to pass that Amy Winehouse has joined the 27 Club. Other members include Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain – all bright, groundbreaking talents who self-destructed before they reached their 28th birthdays to the detriment of pop music in general and their fans in particular. Mind you, I’m no scold when it comes to indulging in recreational pharmaceuticals, but I find it tragic when such activity becomes a lifestyle of addiction, despair, and death. I can’t –…
by Warren Moore My fourteen-year-old was reading about the horror in Norway this afternoon, and asked me what the news meant by “right-wing extremist.” I told her that was a term for Nazi sympathizers and the like. Then she said, “There are left-wing extremists too, right? Like the PETA folks who burn government labs and stuff?” “Or like the Greenpeacers who vandalize genetically modified crops,” I said. “Why’d they do that?” “Because the crops aren’t ‘natural.’” “Well, they aren’t plastic, are they? That’s just dumb.…
By Jim Lakely Worry not, scared Americans. The government bureaucracies that brought you the eternal “Orange Alert” in airports are now stepping up their efforts to protect you from a terrorist attack by plugging into your cell phone: Emergency officials will soon be able to blast critical alerts to anyone with a cell phone in a certain section of the city. If Times Square needs to be evacuated because of a bomb threat or if a hurricane is bearing down on Queens, warnings will be bounced from cell…
By Sean Gabb On Wednesday the 13th April 2011, two men, James Bull and Jonathan Williams, kissed each other in the John Snow public house in Soho. Apparently, they were then asked to leave by a member of staff who called their act “obscene.” This alleged incident led to the usual sort of outrage. On the Friday following, several hundred homosexuals gathered in the street outside the pub to kiss each other. The pub closed early. Though its landlord has not so far made any…
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