DOWNED CITY, RISE: So Mayor Anthony Williams was in New Haven yesterday, giving a speech for a bunch of Yale students. Somebody asked him about statehood. The phrase “taxation without representation” (coolest license plate slogan in America, by the way, even if it does pander to the District’s culture of resentment) was used. To quote the Yale Daily News: “Williams said statehood is not the most likely scenario. “‘I don’t spend so much time thinking about statehood, but we should... Read more

“You can’t just go around killing people whenever the notion strikes you. It’s not feasible.” –Elisha Cook Jr. to Lawrence Tierney, “Born to Kill” Read more

CITY PAP: Following up on their groundbreaking yuppie bread investigation, City Paper (ordinarily a good read!) runs a cover story on CVS and why people don’t like it. Ooohhh, bad service. Arrrggghhhh, class warfare. Bleah. Story from this week’s CP that would have made a better cover story than the CVS rant: “Parks and Wrecks,” a great piece by Garance Franke-Ruta on how abandoned parks become crime magnets. Story from the Washington Post that completely scooped what should have been... Read more

COMPARE AND CONTRAST. This is a little too easy, but I noticed something today: “My father is a Jew, my mother is a Jew, and I am a Jew.” –Daniel Pearl, last words “1, 2, 3, 4, we don’t want your racist war!” –protesters against U.S. retaliation Here’s another quote: “If you want peace, work for justice.” Pope Paul VI. Read more

DEFENDING DASCHLE (shudder): Charles Murtaugh and Matt Yglesias have been getting on Andrew Sullivan’s case for sounding like a blog parody–no wait, that’s me. Actually, they’ve been slagging Sullivan for going berserk when various Democrats raised questions about the direction of the war (how do we know we’ve won/we can’t declare victory until we get Bin Laden, basically). CM and MY have a point, but they muddy it by comparing current Dem statements to Republicans’ similar comments questioning Clinton’s actions... Read more

I remember Doing the Blog Watch… Drinking… those moments when The blackness would hit me And the void would be calling, “Let’s do the Blog Watch again!” Unqualified Offerings: Behind the UN child-sex scandal; Afghanistan II: Bride of Afghanistan; Georgia’s not so peachy. And much more. Great stuff. More Than Zero on blogfests, Jews, daiquiris, Jews, and an evolving, nuanced understanding of an ex-boyfriend. John Cleese, on a non-blog site, spikes the punch with this tribute to a comic genius.... Read more

CABALWATCH!: I spent the weekend at the Federalist Society conference in New Haven. I have a good friend in the upper reaches of Yale’s FedSoc, but I’m not just saying the conference rocked because I know him. It was great. Theme: “Law and Truth.” I missed the first night, which was apparently a philosophical ramble through pre-modern, postmodern, and just plain old modern theories of truth. Highlights of the conference: 1) It helped me organize my thoughts on a topic... Read more

“He’s as shifty as smoke, but I love him.” –Thelma Ritter, “Pickup on South Street” Read more

PUT THE BLAME ON HER: Reissued albums from the woman who sang while Gilda smoldered. [Edited to add that I got this from the same City Paper issue that included the dumb bread story. Credit where it’s due.] Read more

NONCONFORMIST: Lileks’ Bleat today (2/28/02–check the archives) is better than the uberblogged Screed. Read it. Read more