http://www.wholesomereading.com Musings on culture and politics by baseball writer Steven Goldman Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:08:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One thing I tend to think about a lot is the drone weapons that we are using to apparently negligible effect in Pakistan and Afghanistan. By "negligible" I mean that the drones seem to succeed in killing people marked for assassination, as well as some others who weren't marked for ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/07/06/drones/ In 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, observing a transaction that was, shall we say, popularly approved of, concluded that "The common sense of the common people is a common fallacy." Seems to me, this sentiment has an application beyond sports. At the very least, it makes a nice rejoinder ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/07/03/idle-musings-and-they-meant-it-about-baseball/ As I've told you before, I don't get to the movies very often, and less so than ever lately (I did get to take the kids to "Toy Story 3," or as I like to think of it, "Schindler's Toy Story"). As such, I only got around to seeing "Avatar," ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/07/03/avatar-the-american-apology/ My father is once again back from the hospital, hopefully from a good long time. He still requires some extra company--I'm sitting with him right now--but now that I'm not traveling back and forth to/from a hospital an hour away, I am going to get back to the daily politiblogging. ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/30/back-on-the-horsethe-americans/ Hey, campers, if any of you are still out there. As you may recall, my father became very ill recently. He seemed to be recovered, but he has unfortunately relapsed and is back in the hospital in critical condition. I am hopeful that he will again bounce back. Until then, ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/20/experiencing-family-difficulties-please-stand-by/ Commenter C'n'R: Steven [is one of] of the most intellectualy dishonest political ideologues I have ever seen. No posts about Sestak. No posts about Romanoff. No posts about Blago. If these three had ties to an administration with an “R” after the names of the major players, you both would be frothing at the mouth. Last ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/04/from-the-comments-corrupt-dinners/ This reminds me of the climax of "A Few Good Men." "Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," the former president told a business audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "I'd do it again to save lives." It occurs to me that you could substitute "killed' for "waterboarded" and the rationale would be ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/03/stop-me-before/ Bob Herbert is one of my favorite columnists. He never fails to fill me with indignation and despair. That might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it means he's an effective and intelligent writer and life ain't a musical anyway. My one fault with his latest is that just ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/01/the-manhattan-project-again/ Can't find a link, but the local paper reports that a nearby multiplex is planning to put a bar in the lobby and have restaurant-quality food and drinks--beer, wine, cocktails--available for delivery to the seats. I realize the theaters are desperate to get anyone in the seats during this era ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/06/01/security-to-bambi-in-theater-12/ Like I said, sometimes it just takes a little while to wrangle the bureaucracy if you're the president. You're a long way from the dark warrens of the Interior Department when you're in the Oval Office: The news conference came hours after the head of the Minerals Management Service, the agency ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/27/like-i-said/ The CBO issued its latest estimate of the effects of last year's $893 Billion stimulus package: The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, as the stimulus package is formally known, lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage point and 1.5 percentage points in the first quarter of 2010, CBO estimated. ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/26/lets-get-together-and-do-it-again/ In 1969, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire, not for the first time. Randy Newman wrote a song about it, "Burn On," which some of you might remember from the beginning of the film "Major League." Randy wrote: Now the Lord can make you tumble And the Lord can make you turn And the ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/26/burn-on-big-government/ Maybe I'm misreading this... Here's how repeal would happen under the plan: The House and Senate would vote this week to include repeal as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. But repeal would not go into effect until (1) a Pentagon study on the impact of repeal is finished ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/25/delegating-on-dodt/ It would be so easy to use the fact that despite the President's moratorium on new offshore drilling, new drilling projects are being greenlit as another example of the Obama administration standing for so very, very little--and let me be clear and consistent about this: inasmuch as I disagreed with ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/24/bureacracy-is-the-pimp/ From the current New York Review of Books, William Pfaff discusses Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, which I recommend: Before leaving the White House in 1961, Dwight Eisenhower had warned Kennedy of the crisis posed by the insurrection occurring in Laos, the key ... http://www.wholesomereading.com/2010/05/22/things-we-read-today-another-summer-repeat-edition/