The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Pill at 50: Unhappy Un-Birthday

The 50th anniversary of The Pill — oral contraceptives were first marketed in May 1960 — has resulted in a good deal of thoughtless journalism. Gail Collins spins a wondrous myth of The Pill as the pharmaceutical sunshine of a sexual-scientific enlightenment.  The Associated Press calls The Pill “America’s favorite birth control method,” which is not true: Female Sterilization is the […]

OMG! Calling Michelle Malkin! Kindergarten Girls Gone Wild?

RicketyClick responded to National Offend a Feminist Week by asking where’s the feminist outrage over this video of little girls in skimpy outfits dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Lady.” Any attempt to describe this creepazoid video fails due to the inadequacy of language. A few of the more printable YouTube comments: “The parents should be hanged by their thumbs.” “Holy s—. What the […]

Your ‘Ferris Bueller’ Theory Sucks

Professor Ann Althouse loves the “meta” suggestion that Ferris is just a fantasy figure of Cameron’s imagination, a theory that doesn’t work unless Ferris is also imagined by his sister, his parents, etc. Ferris is the fortunate extrovert whose exploits take on a larger-than-life significance to luckless introverts who admire and/or envy his lack of social inhibition. The careless ease with […]

Progress On The Long March Through The Institutions

by Smitty Gramsci counseled his side to begin a “long march through the institutions,” by which he meant the capture of the cinema, theater, schools, universities, seminaries, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and courts. Look at what Gramsci’s intellectual offspring have achieved: “a supposed example of the nation fighting the war for commercial purposes.” Follow up […]

Generation Zero: The D.C. Premiere

Generation Zero, the new Citizens United documentary about the economic crisis had its D.C. premiere last night in Georgetown. The film, which was previously screened last month at the Nashville Tea Party convention and at CPAC, chronicles the real-estate bubble and the fiancial meltdown as a product of what Tobin Smith of Fox News calls […]

Do We Wonder What Historical Figures Would Say?

by Smitty Proof Positive quotes Saint Patrick: Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me. -St. Patrick Google, while not mentioning Saint Patrick by name, posts this on Saint Patrick’s Day: As a Christian, I’ll venture as a default position that Saint Patrick would be […]

Marty Peretz Declares Victory in Iraq

It’s a rather idiosyncratic argument that will be of interest mainly to foreign policy junkies, which I’m not. Still, you’ve got to love the money quote: Frankly, I couldn’t quite imagine any venture requiring trust with Arabs turning out especially well. This is, you will say, my prejudice. But some prejudices are built on real […]

Whatever Happened to Crazy?

The endless theorizing about Pentagon shooter Patrick Bedell inspires James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal to observe:  We suppose if Cindy Sheehan ever picked up a gun and started shooting, the media would describe her as a “right-wing extremist” too. It inspired me to write a 1,900-word essay based on Chris Rock’s question: “Whatever happened to […]

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