Good news for American poetry: Rhymes are back. Witness this evacuation of heroic couplets in condemnation of human progress by Bluegrass State man of letters Wendell Berry in El Neoyorquino .
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What dire Offense from global Warming springs
No news story about soda tax is complete without the scolding phrase "empty calories," yet soda consumption per capita has remained steady over the past two decades as obesity numbers have continued to rise.
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New at Reason: Katherine Mangu-Ward on Soda Tax Myths
As if to cement my new hypothesis that 2009 is shaping up to be a replay of 1998–sitting Democratic administration robustly defended by its allies against right-wing alt media allegations of wrongoing that in some key cases turn out to be true; media becomes suddenly fascinated by the nefarious backgrounds/motivations/finances of the president’s antagonists, who "have not accepted the results of the election"–along comes Bill Clinton to give a big "you bet" to the notion that there’s a " vast right-wing conspiracy " out to get Obama, too.
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Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, Exhumed!
Mild mannered grocer Mr. Whipple was constantly trying to prevent his customers from copping a surrepititious feel of the Charmin toilet paper
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Mr. Whipple Was a Plush Toilet Paper Pushing Anti-Environmental Fiend
As noted in today’s links , film director Roman Polanski was arrested over the weekend in Zurich and is being held in Switzerland pending an extradition request from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. In 1978, Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor (a 13-year-old girl who he gave drugs and booze to and who testified she had repeatedly said no during the act) and then skipped out of the country before his sentencing. For details and context surrounding the Polansky case, read Bill Wyman’s eviscerating review of the 2008 documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired . Wyman argues convincingly that the film whitewashes the details of the rape and is essentially an apologia for the famous director
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Should Roman Polanski Be Held Accountable to His Own Guilty Plea?
• As police and demonstrators clash at the G20 summit, Gordon Brown declares the organization will become "the world’s main economic governing council." Barack Obama says it will supplant the G8. On today’s agenda: charges against Iran
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Reason Morning Links: News from the G20 Summit, the War on Terror, and the Kentucky Rumor Mill
The Associated Press has an anecdote-based story out about how " Tough political realities quiet youth ‘Obamamania.’ " Sample: "It’s one thing to get excited about a presidential candidate. It’s another thing to become a responsible citizen," says Jennifer Donahue, political director for the New Hampshire Institute Of Politics.
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Obama Losing His Cool?
• Financial crisis on the agenda as G-20 summit kicks off in Pittsburgh today.
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Reason Morning Links: G-20 Kicks Off, Census Worker Hanged, ACORN Sues
Google Trends shows the readership of online news and blog site The Huffington Post doubling to meet up with the halving online readership of the old-style Washington Post . Notice that the moment the various sources synced up was the 2008 election. One possible interpretation: When the country suddenly developed a voracious appetite for news, they gave all three sources an equal chance.
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Look What the Internets Are Doing to the News!
After I appeared on a PBS panel about Tea Party racism last week , some commenters here wondered why I didn’t object to moderator Gwen Ifill’s use of the term "teabaggers" (answer: I didn’t even notice it, such is the general filth-content of my brain).
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Gwen Ifill: I Did Not Know "Teabagging" Meant Sexytime
