Category: Thoughts

The automobile is the American technological sublime. The car you drive – especially if you’re wealthy enough to have a significant choice in the matter – lets you tell the world something about yourself.

Here is my handy field-guide to recognizing what BMW drivers are saying about themselves:

• 318i convertible with Red Sox bumper sticker, stuck in traffic on Storrow: I’m fun and probably available, but mostly interested in myself.
• M3: I love sports cars and money.
• 5 series: I am very successful.
• 745li parked in a no stopping zone in front of a fire house on Cambridge St. during rush hour: I’m an ass.

An angel gets vivisected.

Why do they keep publishing this tripe?

The Wall Street Journal once again takes a brave stance on the possibility of a Democratic-party majority in Congress. They warn that the last time we had such a majority, we got horrible disasters like social security, civil rights, freedom of speech, and other liberal threats to the fabric of America as Rupert Murdoch has come to love it.

What ever shall we do?

Hey Virginians: Virgil Goode is a d-bag. Vote him out.

Harvard Bookstore and the Brattle Theatre are putting on a panel discussion with the NY Review Of Books and the Guardian tonight at seven at the Brattle, followed by a big-screen showing of the debate itself.

If I were to attend, I’m pretty sure I’d end up screaming with rage and fear, and then getting drunk, and missing work on Thursday. So instead I’m staying home and hiding under the bed until November.

Editorial from El País: Los estadounidenses pueden renovar el 4 de noviembre el maltrecho liderazgo simbólico de su país. La opción demócrata es el único camino para recuperar el capital político y moral que han perdido en estos años.

Not like an op-ed in one of them furriner newspapers would sway anyone, but it’s still good to know what the rest of the world thinks of us.

The Economist has republished its coverage of the 1929 crash online: “If we are justified in assuming that the setback in American industry will only be temporary, we may look forward to steady development in 1930, free from the incubus that has of late been hampering world conditions.”

Oops.

You know, I think the 30’s was when my grandfather learned to like eating raw onions. (As in, raw onions and nothing else. As a meal.)

Well, the economy has collapsed. Oops.

I imagine we’ll find a way around it.

But it’s going to make it hard for me to sell my motorcycle this week.

Brad Delong: Why Are Republicans So Awful For The Economy?

Not sure how I missed this, but it is currently setting the interwubs on fire: