Well, I got to take the family and our German exchange student to Friendly’s.  Aidan, who loves that place, was remarkably solicitous of my health leading up to that excursion, but I was still unwell enough that I collapsed on my return home. Anyway, my present was being able to see They Might Be Giants last night at Higher Ground hereabouts in Burlington (excellent show).  So imagine my delight at finding

The Corn Curriculum: Hard Pore Corn  h/t Enoch_Root 

Don’t drop the soap, baby. Drop the so-o-o-oap!

In a well-written piece combining sheer advocacy and objective journalism, Kelefa Sanneh attempts to get at the root causes of Jeremiah Wright’s apparently race-baiting gospel.  Some of the influences and topics treated by Karl in his various posts will be familiar to those who’ve read them (the influence of Cone, for example).  One of the more striking features of the piece is the way in which it dispatches with Wright’s

Via Hot Air, Hitch explains why lying about the Tuzla landing is just the tip of the iceberg for Shrillary.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been feeling pretty good about the election lately.  I can’t see how either of these clowns the Dems might put up can win.  The scary part is that there are so many people who will still vote for them.  I

Nothing really matters, Anyone can see; Nothing really matters– Nothing really matters to me.

The more recently discovered servitor of ex-Gov Eliot Spitzer’s not-so-little black book contains numerous references to blacklisted clients: The Murray Hill madam’s little black book didn’t contain just names and telephone numbers – it also logged its johns’ likes and dislikes and their bad behavior. “This guy’s blacklisted! Violent & scary. Don’t ever send a girl to him.” – Christopher goes from the black book to the blacklist after a

Home to roost. Just wait till your Savior gets home! Zombie covers the Pro-Troops Rally in Berkeley. 

I agree with Ezra Klein that there’s nothing funny about prison rape. Other things about which there’s nothing funny include foetal alcohol syndrome, cholera epidemics, mobile phone-induced brain cancer and Carrot Top.  Feel free to add your own.

I believe this qualifies as an example of what’s called in the ad business the vampire effect, which is where the content of the ad is so effective you forget what the product was.  Commenter steelyjack links to a bit by Bill Hicks on the subject of sex in ads.   I think you’re now legally required to refer to him as “the late, great” Bill Hicks.  It’s funny, I was