Y'all don't know what it's like, bein' male, middle-class and white. http://www.twoglasses.com Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00 EST This interview feels like it's been ten years in the making. In all the time I've watched (and mostly loved) Jon Stewart's work on The Daily Show, I've had two complaints: 1.) His knee-jerk need to pay lip service to "both sides are the same" bullshit memes and, 2.) His habit of going soft on his right-wing guests... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002546 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:00 EST Stuff. And then, for good measure, more stuff. Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002545 Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:00 EST Oscar night! The Superbowl of the awards show season is here. We will be tuning in to CNN's Showbiz Tonight at 7:00 PM to watch their red carpet coverage. Apparently that's the only game in town this year, unless you want to watch Oscar.com's Facebook webcast which - me being me - I most certainly do not... Entertainment http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002544 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:30 EST Filibuster, healthcare reform, Republican donors... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002543 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:00 EST Poor, sad little wingers. They keep running shit up the flagpole but reality steadfastly refuses to salute. (Of course, Glenn Beck will cite this as evidence that ACORN controls the court system.) Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002542 Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:20 EST Wow. It's been a while since I've gone over a week without posting (aside from vacation breaks, of course). To what do I ascribe this apathy? I dunno. The world of politics feels like it's ground to a halt. The world of mainstream sports has taken a back seat to the Olympics, and while I enjoy The Games immeasurably -- seriously, ask Tracy; I imagine she can't wait for the closing ceremonies tonight; I've promised her days of HGTV when this is over -- I don't have a lot to say about them. Except Night Train rocks and curling is far more interesting than I imagined and Lindsey Vonn is a great skier but she sure seems to crash and get injured a lot. And other than that? Well, Crackbook is hurting my output as well. Hell of a lot easier to one-click-share an article, write a one-sentence blurb, and be done with it. And as long as I'm there doing that, check Mafia Wars, Farmville, and maybe play some Desktop Defender. I think there's a map or two left that I don't have the high score on... Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002541 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:00 EST Miscellaneous linkage and stuff. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002540 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:00 EST "No one likes paying taxes obviously." -- Scott Brown (R - Thanks Massholes), empathizing with the deranged sociopath who flew a small plane into an IRS office yesterday. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002539 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:20 EST Via Andrew Sullivan, a probing analysis of Obama's defense of the stimulus bill from Rush Limbaugh: "I know we're not supposed to talk about Adolf Hitler but this administration is making it really, really tough to ignore some facts out there. ... [T]he "Big Lie" was an expression coined by Hitler. And the "Big Lie" is exactly what all of liberalism is. ... This is how the OSS described Hitler's psychology: "His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or a wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong" -- hello, George W. Bush and the Republicans!" Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002538 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:00 EST Jonathan Chait, responding to Greg Mankiw's list of demands for GOP cooperation with Obama's deficit reduction commission, writes the following: "On a pure policy level, I'd be happy with a straightforward compromise that reduced the deficit with a half and half mixture of tax cuts and spending cuts, and made the tax code neither more nor less progressive." With the usual caveat that I was not an economics major... What the fuck? Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002537 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:30 EST Woot! 2010 Winter Olympics in the hizzy, y'all! Let me hear ya say Brrrrrrr! ("Brrrrrr!") Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002535 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00 EST Benen, in a post titled "Understanding Bipartisanship": "As recently as 2006, when Republican policymakers controlled the levers of power, it was the duty of elected officials to stick to their principles and work on the agenda they presented to voters. In 2010, with Democrats controlling the levers of power, it is the duty of elected officials to compromise on their principles, scale the agenda they presented to voters, and govern in such a way as to make the rejected and discredited minority party happy." Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002533 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:20 EST Friends! Readers! Countrymen! At long last, America's Highest of Holy Days has arrived. Gather ye upon thy over-stuffed furniture. Gaze with wonder upon mountain ranges of snackies and munchies and ill-conceived calorific goodness. Wade without care into mighty rivers of fermented beverages of all flavors and hues and percentages of alcohol by volume. And above all, fire up your flatscreens and prepare for football's furious finale... the Superbowl... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002532 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:30 EST This morning on Morning Edition: A fawning profile of Seattle area Tea Party organizer Keli Carender, aka Liberty Belle. This afternoon on All Things Considered: A fascinating and insightful interview with right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart. Of course, as we all know, NPR is the left-wing equivalent of FOX News. Totally one-sided. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002530 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:30 EST Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and my personal favorite, Kings of Leon. Those are the artists that dominated the nominations for the 2010 Grammy awards. Personally, I call that a down year for music, but your mileage may very well vary. Of course, the Grammys are about the performances and pageantry more than the awards anyhow, right? Right! So please join us on the Couch for a little Sunday night awards party. Let's give this weekend a good send-off. Entertainment http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002529 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:30 EST "Obama is a terrific speaker and a very smart guy. He really showed up the Republicans in the now-famous give-and-take. But we knew that. What's now in question isn't his ability to talk, it's his ability to lead." -- Paul Krugman Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002528 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00 EST Reading this, it occurred to me that I can't even remember what it's like to not follow politics obsessively. It actually strikes me as bizarre that most of my fellow citizens go about their lives with something approaching complete disregard for what's going on in Washington. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002527 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:00 EST We can haz leadurship nows? Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002526 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:30 EST And the Year of the Suck continues. In a stunningly boneheaded move, the Obama administration is planning to call for a three-year freeze on discretionary federal spending. If this sad attempt to mollify the unmollifiable by doing the one thing that government should never do during a recession (yes, we're still in one) strikes you as completely at odds with both sound policy and smart politics then pull up a chair, pardner; I'm buying the next round... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002525 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:00 EST It is Championship Weekend, and Fridge and I are reviving our old tradition of getting together at his place for the games. Tracy and I should be bound for the CT shore no later than 1:00 PM so we can get a little Mariokart in with the Fridgelets before banishing them to the basement come kickoff. (That's the theory, at least.) There will be wings and pizza and beer (oh my!) and, of course, there will be football; football like this Jets fan hasn't seen in over a decade... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002524 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00 EST If you're upset by the lack of influence and access that corporate America has in Washington, here's a little sweet relief for you: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court threw out a 63-year-old law designed to restrain the influence of big business and unions on elections Thursday, ruling that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress. The decision could drastically alter who gives and gets hundreds of millions of dollars in this year's crucial midterm elections..." Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002523 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:30 EST Less than 48 hours after the idea surfaced, liberal House Dems are saying they'll put the kibosh on the "pass the Senate bill" shortcut. Unless Pelosi pulls off some kind of stunning end run around them - and I don't see how it's mathematically possible - that means HCR is pretty much finished. It'll probably be a decade before we get another serious run at it. (I won't say "a generation" because the status quo will blow the rest of the economy out of the water well before that.)... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002522 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:00 EST I don't have the time or energy to write a long, thoughtful post about the MA special election aftermath - Heh, really, when was the last time I wrote a long, thoughtful post about anything besides football? - so I'll just hit the low points... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002521 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:45 EST By special request from the World's Greatest Wife... Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002520 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:10 EST By special request from the World's Greatest Wife... Entertainment http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002519 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:30 EST NFL playoff action kicks off with the first game of the divisional round in just about half an hour, and we are stoked here in the Shire. Chores are done, errands have been run, ample food and drink supplies have been laid in. To top it off, we've both got Monday off, so we can really go all out for two full days of pigskin paradise. Let's take a look at the games... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002518 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:30 EST I realize that using a disaster to score political points is tacky, but when I heard a Haitian structural engineer on NPR this morning attributing much of the destruction to the fact that "people are allowed to build whatever they want" I couldn't help but think that Haiti might have been better off with a meddling socialist/fascist/totalitarian government that does outrageously oppressive things like, you know, enforce building codes. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002517 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:00 EST "PLAYoffs?! You kidding me? Playoffs?" No, coach, I'm not kidding you. It's NFL Playoff time, baby! The most unpredictable and exciting post-season in pro sports kicks off half an hour from now as the first of four wildcard games gets underway in Cincinnati. Grab your favorite beverage and a snack or three and let's get ready for some football right here on the Virtual Couch. Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002516 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:00 EST Random stuff that caught my attention... Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002515 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:00 EST Nick Baumann, filling in for Kevin Drum at MoJo, has a nice post up that gives non-Nutmeggers the low-down on just who this Richard Blumenthal guy is and why Dems are giddy at his chances to slide into Chris Dodd's seat next year: "[Blumenthal]'s visible -- he's always in the news, taking on "bad guys" and suing corporate villains. And he has a job in which it's really easy to be on the side of "the people." I grew up in Connecticut. When people had a problem with a company, they seemed just as likely to go straight to the AG's office as they were to call the Better Business Bureau or their state representative. And when you complain to the AG's office about a problem and they end up doing something about it, you remember it. Blumenthal has two decades worth of individuals who his office helped, and two decades worth of suing companies like Countrywide that were the focus of populist rage. Those companies hate him for it, of course, but ordinary people tend to like him -- a lot." Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002514 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:45 EST "He was charged with no crime, and broke no law. He always argued that he had done nothing wrong. But the job that he adored was gone." -- CT Senator Chris Dodd, describing the plight his father, former CT Senator Thomas J. Dodd, faced at the end of his career. Politics http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002513 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:00 EST Random stuff that caught my attention... Miscellany http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002512 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:16 EST We have reached the final week of the 2009-10 NFL regular season and, in the AFC at least, the wildcard race remains very much up in the air, with a whopping seven teams fighting over two spots in the post-season. Among those teams are my beloved-yet-ever-exasperating Jets, who, as the NFL talking heads like to say, "control their own destiny". A win against the Bengals at home tonight and Gang Green - recipients of a dubious Christmas gift in Indianapolis last Sunday - will see their season continue next week, either with a rematch against Cincinnati (please) or a trip to snowy Foxboro (please, no). A loss tonight would end their season regardless of what transpires in the early games... Sports http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002511 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:30 EST A year and a decade have come to an end. If that ain't meme time, I don't know what is. I'm dusting off the same meme I've used for the past few years, but I'm going to add a twist: I'll answer each question for both 2009 specifically and also for the aughts where appropriate. And I may add, subtract or tweak a question or two. Enjoy... Memes http://www.twoglasses.com/index.html#002510