Cross-posted at The Smoking Room How did I miss the bourgeois backlash against the prom? I didn't go to mine - fitting the stereotype of a nerd with low self-esteem and parents barely cracking middle-class - but I had no idea there was a confluence of Catholic moralists and ex-hippie parents spouting anti-materialist shtick to keep their kids out of limos and fully dressed:In … [Read more...] about Prom-hating makes a comeback among secular parents and socialist priests

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the conservative who said that Public Broadcasting shows had a liberal bias and seemed ready to clean house has quit the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to the Washington Post, the resignation came one day after the agency's inspector general delivered a report apparently critical of his leadership. If you follow this … [Read more...] about Public Broadcasting’s Aspiring Conservative Housecleaner Quits

According to one commentator, the answer may very well be "yes." … [Read more...] about Has Sony inadvertently killed its own offspring, the CD?

Some of the email messages sent by former FEMA director Michael Brown have been released. They do not make Brown, who is currently acting as a "consultant" and still receiving money from FEMA equivalent to his salary as chief of the agency, look as if he had a sense of the scope or urgency of the disaster in the wake of hurricane Katrina, nor does Brown come across as the … [Read more...] about Is the price of political patronage now too high?

Even when reporters are chasing a story as important as Judge Samuel Alito there are limits and that's not a lot of crap. … [Read more...] about Reporters Pursuing A Story

Yes, the issues can be interrelated — as Dean Esmay outlines here in a post that is certain to spark a lot of debate. … [Read more...] about Free Speech, Academic Pressure And Abortion

Earlier today, the Senate voted by a 51 to 48 margin to open up the Artic National Wildlife Reserve for oil drilling. But as The Hill's eNews (a free email service) reports, Republicans in the House are not quite ready to embrace the measure. While conference moderates are wary about a number of the possible cuts to federal programs, including food stamps, student loans … [Read more...] about House GOP Not Quite Ready to Drill in ANWR

If so, here's a possible future book you might want to read.... … [Read more...] about Do You Like Prison Dramas?

We're almost at the point where we maybe we should just run one-line links on polls, unless there's some dramatic change in direction...because we have more of the same: yet another poll saying President George Bush is in very serious political trouble. Yesterday it was CBS News. Today it's ABC News:An increasingly unpopular war, an ethics cloud, and broad economic discontent … [Read more...] about Yet ANOTHER Poll Is Not Good For President Bush (UPDATED)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi caused a bit of a ruckus today with this Privileged Resolution on Iraq. Text and commentary by the incomparable Karen Zipdrive of Pulp Friction … [Read more...] about What Nancy Pelosi Did Today

Is it underrated? Is it hopelessly sabotaged by fears of "acting white?" How does family structure play in? I respond to some prominent conservative myths about the subject. … [Read more...] about What’s The Deal With Education in the Black Community?

"Hey! I know how: let's cut school kids' lunch programs! By the way, Tom, let's go for some of that great Senate Bean Soup in the Senate dining room today." "Yeah! Let's do lunch there before we sit down in committee and write up the bill to make that cut in that program that's an unneeded, excessive burden on taxpayers. By the way, the dining room's banana split makes a great … [Read more...] about “How Can We Pay For ANOTHER Tax Cut?””

With respect to the Alito nomination, but also with respect to all the issues that divide us both in the blogosphere and beyond, I have a few more thoughts at The Reaction on why we need a more civilized debate instead of the usual name-calling and vindictiveness that often characterizes our efforts. In my view, this great medium deserves no less. Nor do our readers. … [Read more...] about Towards a more civilized blogosphere

If there's too much baggage on an airplane and it's starting to go down, what do you do with the baggage? You have to toss one out. Even if it's a durable designer model called Karl Rove: Top White House aides are privately discussing the future of Karl Rove, with some expressing doubt that President Bush can move beyond the damaging CIA leak case as long as his closest … [Read more...] about Signs White House Chopping Block Being Readied For Karl Rove?

And we don't mean Bridgeport, Connecticut.... Check out Michael Totten's great photojournalism post from Cyprus. FOOTNOTE: TMV did a long news feature in 1975 from Cyprus for the now-defunct and legendary Chicago Daily News (he was en route to set up his new base in Madrid, Spain). … [Read more...] about Visiting A Dead City

Yesterday, I introduced my new Scalitovision 2005 series at The Reaction. Part 1 is here. And here — for your continued pleasure — is Part 2. Please feel free to add your comments. I'm always impressed with the readership here at TMV and I'd like to know what you all think. Highlights: Conservatives are happy again, reuniting behind the nomination; Some … [Read more...] about SCALITOVISION 2005 — Part 2

Is George Lucas a postmodern genius? … [Read more...] about A Star Wars moment

News came down yesterday that a major face was being shown the door as a national hub of power cleans house and works feverishly to show a new face to the public. No, we're not talking about White House political guru Karl Rove and his job working for President George W. Bush (yet). We're talking about CNN's Aaron Brown, one of television's more low-key and cerebral anchors, … [Read more...] about CNN’s Once-Rising Star Aaron Brown Dumped For New Rising Star Anderson Cooper

When a near-apoplectic Majority Leader Bill Frist denounced Minority Leader Harry Reid for not giving him notice that he intended to demand the Senate go into closed session, it turns out there was a bit of interesting history there — history that it took a newspaper to uncover. To hear Frist tell it, Reid's move was shocking and had violated a gentlemen's agreement. In … [Read more...] about Democratic Senate Shutdown Has Previous Frist/Daschle Roots

See the video here -- and as usual we're SURE that Carter's comments will elicit strong (differing) reactions from people on the right and on the left... … [Read more...] about Former President Jimmy Carter At Full Throttle