Couldn't agree more

Pelosi, Bush, . . . whoever was involved, no matter what party.  I don't necessarily want criminal prosecution, but we need to investigate. I wouldn't rule it out. 

Buckley

I enjoyed this article by Christopher Buckley -- I may pick up the book.

In a way I miss the arguments from the right from someone like Buckley.  While I did not often agree with him, at least the arguments were interesting.  And he certainly was a character.  I can't say that anybody has filled that void.

I enjoy Brooks and Andrew Sullivan, but the problem is that they both (at least I know Sullivan did) voted for Obama in the last election. 

I am posting this using Scribefire, seeing how it works.  So far so good.

Friendfeed

I added some Friendfeed Widgets on the right side of the page -- feel free to comment or even join my rooms.

I enjoy and get Friendfeed more then I do twitter, though I understand how twitter is more useful in some circumstances. What I like most about Friendfeed is that I have a little button in my browser that allows me to feed any of the ten or so "rooms" I am a member of. It is easy to then embed those "rooms" in other blogs, or nings or whatever. It is also easy to have information automatically post to these friendfeed. In my "Joe's Blogs" widget I have Eschaton, and Andrew Sullivan, as well as others to come, publish there.

Populist Anger

I do think that people can go too far in their anger toward those who earn money and have done well. It is important to remember that elements of capitalism require that people attempt to obtain wealth.

Earn is the operative phrase here. Anger is justified towards those who whine about what they should get, no matter the circumstance. This Matt Taibbi piece about the AIG executive who published his resignation in New York Times captures this perfectly.

I really enjoy Gram Parsons songs . . .

, in fact I often enjoy covers of his songs more than the original. Raul Malo's version of Hot Burrito #1 is one of the my favorite songs. Tribute albums very often disappoint, Return of the Grievous Angel does not. It is an Emmylou Harris project, and she really matches the songs to people who get the most out of those songs.

Norah Jones is not on the album, but this rendition of She is really quite good.

I don't know what he is doing with the guitar . . .

but I love it. It's a Daniel Lanois song (it may be him playing the guitar), producer of Emmylou, U2, Peter Gabriel, and you can actually hear common elements between all of them, even though the music itself is very different. And by the way, this album Teatro is amazing.

Featuring Derek Trucks . . . named for

the album from which this song came

c-span video

This is why we watch Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

If you can get through this . . .

you have a stronger stomach than I -- Parts I and II below

Fiction vs. Non-fiction

Watching Revolutionary Road today I am reminded of how little fiction I currently read. As I said in a previous post, the movie reminded me of the novel Something Happened by Joseph Heller. It has been at least ten years since I read it, but many scenes remain vivid to me, more vivid than the many history books that I have since read.

I know that in some ways I began to feel that reading fiction was not as informative -- it did not cover real events, and in some way felt frivolous. I don't feel that I have time to escape into a world that was created in the imagination of an author. And yet, those works of fiction are often able to get at greater truths than non-fiction accounts. Depictions of real events too often get sidetracked by the facts.

Revolutionary Road

There is a scene early in Revolutionary Road that works only in retrospect. Frank (Dicaprio) and April (Winslet) have an emotional argument by the side of the highway. It was difficult to assess the merits of the argument since we do not know the couple yet. I was uncomfortable watching them, for the acting seemed mannered and the outrage manufactured. I was worried that I was in for a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" tug of war. I need not have worried.

I enjoyed this film. Not because it breaks any new ground, but because it is so well presented, especially the acting. Kate Winslet is riveting. Her quiet intensity throughout the movie provides the prism to understand her disillusionment.

I kept thinking of Joseph Heller's novel -- Something Happened. The themes are similar to Revolutionary Road. It is this familiarity that requires that the movie be well executed to be successful, and it is.

Gladwell and Krulwich -- 92nd Street Y

Krulwich is the perfect person to interview Gladwell. He has been a science and economics reporter for various television and radio networks and is currently a contributor to Radio Lab, a very good NPR show available as a podcast for free.

The show below is over an hour and a half, so it might not be for everyone. It takes about 4 minutes to get going.

Thinking of posts about . . .

the inauguration and other heady topics. But not ready yet, so we get a little Jimmy Webb -- love the little high piano notes.

Almost perfect in lyrics and as a song

I showed these lyrics (and didn't play the song) to a friend who did not enjoy older, what we might call AOR (Album Oriented Rock), and he thought they were brilliant. He was right.