Permanent jump-start

Last updated on: March 7, 2005 at 2:41 pm By Fred Clark

The Washington Post's Jim Vandehei reports today that "Tax Cuts Lose Spot on GOP Agenda": Bush's call for Congress to make permanent all the tax cuts enacted in his first term faces increasingly strong resistance among some Republicans concerned about rising deficits. The chairmen of the Senate Budget and Finance committees said in interviews last week that Republicans might wait until next year, or later, to consider the Bush plan … Nicolle Devenish, a top Bush adviser, said the tax... Read more

Movie:

Last updated on: March 7, 2005 at 12:57 pm By Fred Clark

6 Comments

If you already know about this, forgive my late-to-the-party enthusiasm, but Google's movie search is fantastic. Want to know what's playing? Go to Google and type in "movie: " and your ZIP code. Here, for example, is what's playing today near everybody's hometown. You can sort this list by theater, or by movie. You can search for a particular movie with, for example, "movie: Hotel Rwanda 19063." And you can scope out the reviews for a movie by typing, say,... Read more

Moral bankruptcy (cont’d.)

Last updated on: March 5, 2005 at 7:40 pm By Fred Clark

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Kevin Drum offers a rundown of the proposed Democratic amendments to the Senate version of the bankruptcy bill — all of which got shot down by the Republican majority. They're things like improved disclosure of credit card fees, efforts to prevent seniors from losing their homes or to protect veterans from the most punitive measures of the bill. None of these amendments would have lessened the bill's purported effect of preventing bankruptcy "abuse," so Kevin asks a pertinent question: "If... Read more

Notepad

Last updated on: March 3, 2005 at 11:07 am By Fred Clark

40 Comments

Housekeeping Peatey, you've sold me on the pitfalls of Verdana. And, since I had to fiddle with the blogroll to add some of the many folks brought to my attention through this year's Koufax Awards (Bravo, again, Dwight & Beth), I've tweaked the fontage here as well. Cleaner? Clearer? Uglier? Let me know. What I don't know about design is a lot. * * * * * The Bert Blyleven Factor As a perennial Koufax also-ran (Note to self: If... Read more

She was very mature for 14

Last updated on: March 2, 2005 at 6:55 am By Fred Clark

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If a man Antonin Scalia's age were caught in bed with a teenage minor he would find himself in court facing statutory rape charges. He could try to argue that the girl in question was very mature for her age — that she was in some way an exception to the general rules, mores and laws distinguishing between minors and adults. He could even try to argue that the girl in question was, essentially, acting like an adult, and because... Read more

Morally bankrupt

Last updated on: March 1, 2005 at 7:26 pm By Fred Clark

9 Comments

Think Progress points us to E.J. Dionne on the bankruptcy bill now being considered in the Senate. Dionne quotes Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law: Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in early February, Warren argued that the proposal "assumes that everyone is in bankruptcy for the same reason — too much unnecessary spending." What does that mean in practice? "A family driven to bankruptcy by the increased costs of caring for an elderly parent with Alzheimer's disease is treated the... Read more

Name that tune

Last updated on: March 1, 2005 at 5:34 pm By Fred Clark

8 Comments

Glorious things of thee are spoken … I rather like most John Newton hymns and this one, to a tune by Haydn, is quite lovely. The tune is called "Austria," and was apparently adapted by the composer from folk melodies. In the centuries since Newton adapted Psalm 83 to fit this tune, however, the melody has acquired other connotations and associations. And those associations lend a rather sinister air to Newton's verses about "blest inhabitants." When I hear the organ... Read more

Ray, Duke

Last updated on: February 28, 2005 at 8:46 am By Fred Clark

3 Comments

Congratulations to Jamie Foxx for the Oscar. Allow me to take this as a chance for a slacktivist flashback to one of my earliest posts, regarding the sad spectacle of Ray Charles singing jingles for the Pennsylvania Lottery: Please, someone, intervene to preserve what’s left of Mr. Charles' dignity. Right now, a CD collection called "Ultimate Manilow" is raking in boffo bucks for the king of schmaltz – wouldn’t an "Ultimate Ray Charles" set do at least as well? Or... Read more

Head for the hills

Last updated on: February 28, 2005 at 8:10 am By Fred Clark

41 Comments

John Waggoner is a personal finance and investment columnist for USA Today. He's a likeable, reasonable fellow, full of unflashy, prudent advice. And, unlike many personal finance columnists, he occasionally remembers that the vast majority of Americans do not have six-figure incomes and piles of money to invest at their leisure. In this recent column, however, Waggoner demonstrates the limits of his stolid, moderate demeanor. "For those who don't think Social Security will survive," he writes, "the question is how... Read more

Memento mori

Last updated on: February 27, 2005 at 9:19 am By Fred Clark

14 Comments

We're all gonna die someday lord We're all gonna die someday Mama's on pills daddy's over the hill But we're all gonna die someday — kasey chambers In 100 years, the evangelists like to remind us, we will all be dead. They have a point. The mortality rate for the human race remains a steady 100 percent.* We're all going to die. Even the joggers, the nonsmokers and the vegetarians. And, yes, even the baby boomers. Sorry to state this... Read more