{ Monthly Archives }
December 2008
- Warren - Over on Slate, Christopher Hitchens has written yet another piece protesting the choice of Rick Warren for Obama’s inaugural invocation. This one breaks from Hitchens’ standard operating procedure inasmuch as it’s more venomously humorous than it is pompous. If you’re looking for something to read tonight while nursing your first drink and waiting for the party to start, you may have found it.
- Unemployment - According to reports, initial filings for state unemployment fell from 612,000 to 492,000 between the weeks ending Dec. 20 and Dec. 27. Don’t get too excited; unsubstantiated data from my brain indicate that the 20% decline may reflect a lack of jobless claims on Christmas Day. Still, it’s nice to be down from the 26-year high, even if the decline is an idiosyncratic artifact of the American calendar.
- Senate - Embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has officially appointed a successor to President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. Unfortunately for Mr. Roland Burris, the Senate had already announced its refusal to seat anyone appointed by Blagojevich, citing the inclusion of an attempt to sell this seat among his current sources of scandal as their rationale. Since Burris’ would-be appointment, Obama has reiterated his support of the Senators’ decision, even though seating Burris would raise membership of the Senate’s Black Caucus back to its all-time high of 1.
- Suggestions - Considering the calendar year has entered its last few hours, this seems as good a time as any to request commentary from the peanut gallery. On more workdays than not, I attempt to provide some blend of criticism, commentary, and humor. This an an endeavor I undertake at my own behest, but I’m interested to know what improvements you, the end-users, would like to see made. Feel encouraged to post your criticism and suggestions as comments here or email them to blog [at] levikafka [dot] com.
- Procrastination - In theory, I would now hold forth on Tropic Thunder, but, what with the holiday-related need for scheduling coordination with daywalkers, the time has come for a nap. Tomorrow will be another day, much like those that have passed and those one can inferentially expect to come, but you’ll need a new calendar to mark it’s passing; Happy New Year!
- Clarification - The more compelling part of this story about snowmobilers trapped by an avalanche is its introduction of the phrase “self-rescue,” by way of quotation (paragraph 7). What, pray tell, distinguishes a “self-rescue” from an “escape”? Any answer citing the latter term’s lexicographic acceptance will be considered redundant.
- Garbage - Not that it matters, but Bristol Palin gave birth over the weekend. Had the pregnancy lasted just another week, Bristol’s mom could’ve marked the due date on her calendar. [Shakes head in disbelief]
- Ibid - In my succinct evisceration of Twilight, I may have forgotten to compare it unfavorably to Blood and Chocolate. Please note the implication of this comparison; whereas the latter movie is unworthy of comment, the former flick vaults over that threshold by being too putrid not to refute.
- MInnesota - It would appear that Al Franken continues to benefit as Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race remains unresolved. According to this story, Franken now leads by 134 votes, and those yet to be counted (possibly) suggest, by virtue of their origination points, that they favor him. One wonders whether, should he be accepted as a U.S. Senator, Franken’s constituents would be more disappointed by bad legislation or bad jokes.
- Secession - The Wall Street Journal is reporting today on a Russian expert’s long-held belief that these united states will cease to be unified within the next 2 years. Less troubling than the preposterous prediction is the fact that WSJ chose not only to follow up on a story from the reactionary Drudge Report but to wait nearly a month to do so. Way to manifest the fears of those of us skeptical of Rupert’s ownership influence, WSJ staffers.
- Sexualized - Talented, insightful writers need not fear the threat of MSN eating into their market share. It’s a meta-place where pieces such as this, a normative description of young girls’ self-sexualization, complete with prescriptions for properly sheltering one’s children, are featured prominently. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all in favor of saving childhood for children. My only point is that this particular article’s perspective is unabashedly conservative, and it betrays a level of prescience expected of someone who spent much of her childhood receiving corrective smacks to the back of the cranium.
- Discrimination - Earlier this month, Slate’s William Saletan retracted previous criticism of performing costly medical procedures on people already well past their life expectancy from his Human Nature column. Yes, “discrimination” is a word with well-earned desultory overtones, but, as many economists have noted, it is a necessary task in a world of expanding human needs and limited resources. The question, then, is whether society benefits more from expending energy on the preservation of nonagenarians than it might from the expenditure of a similar amount of energy on, say, treating child-onset diabetes. No offense to the elderly, but I doubt I’m alone in positing the latter option as the more beneficial of the two.