Category Archives: Current Events

It's been ten years since film critic Gene Siskel died. Roger Ebert remembers his friend and foe.

Barack Obama has dispatched 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Fred Kaplan tells us what this bodes for the future.

George Skelton explains the budget crisis in California. It pretty much comes down to the Republicans in the legislature believing that their base will punish them for voting to raise taxes…but not for the many disasters that will befall the state if taxes aren't raised.

By the way: To clarify something I said earlier, I didn't think Gray Davis was a very competent or honest governor…but the main reason he was removed from office was that the public was convinced he was mismanaging our finances. Arnold S. especially hammered him for doing things like raising vehicle license fees, which was somehow a sign of gubernatorial incompetence and/or tyranny. Well now, we have pretty much the same mess that was threatened if we didn't oust Davis, and Arnold is even proposing a doubling of vehicle license fees.

I don't think Davis should be brought back or anything. I just think we oughta acknowledge that at least in terms of the state's economy, we're getting exactly what recalling him was supposed to avoid.

We don't torture in this country. But apparently we do leave people in little isolation cells for five or more years without ever charging them with anything. Jane Mayer reports.

Andrew Sullivan on the Republicans' attempt to obstruct Obama's objectives.

Fred Kaplan discusses Ronald Reagan's attitude towards the Soviet Union as "an evil empire" and reminds all that Reagan retreated from that position. Frankly, I think Ronald Reagan has long since become a mythical being and that no one on either side of the political spectrum is as interested in accuracy about him as Fred is.

[P.S. Added 15 minutes later: And I should also have linked you to the book excerpt by James Mann that Kaplan mentions in his piece.]

George Packer, in this blog post, discusses what the debate about the current stimulus package is really about.

A lot of folks, some of whom have major political differences with me, have written to thank me for turning them on to Fred Kaplan's articles in Slate. Many more will thank me for today's link to this piece which explains what the hell is going on with Afghanistan.

My former writing partner Dennis Palumbo is now a psychotherapist who specializes in the needs of actors, writers, producers and other practitioners of the business called "Show." In this article, he talks about a problem which, if not unique to folks in creative fields, is certainly worse in that world.

Beau Weaver is one of those folks whose voice you hear constantly on TV and the radio without knowing who it is. He's among the ten-or-so workingest announcers and voiceover artists in the field. Over at his new blog, he wrote a piece about Rush Limbaugh that pretty much coincides with my view of the guy. It's an act and a very successful one…but it's not a substitute for reality.

Fred Kaplan on the lousy (intentionally so?) job that our government is doing to preserve records of what it's done.

Terry Jones isn't doing much Monty Python work these days. So he's decided to get into another business.

As Fred Kaplan notes, one of Barack Obama's first orders was to resuscitate the Freedom of Information Act. That's the way our goverment should always operate…no exceptions when your guy is in power.

Paul Krugman on what Obama must do once he takes office. I'd like to see the guy start by banning the importation and manufacture of cole slaw but some of the other things Krugman mentions might be nice, too.

I don't think much of Thomas Friedman as a columnist or pundit…but I'm not sure anyone deserves the savaging that Matt Taibbi gives to Friedman's latest book. I wasn't going to read the book anyway and certainly won't now. On the other hand, I think I'd like to read one by Matt Taibbi.