We have him to thank for Pets.com, Tatu, Episode I and "Celebrity Holywood Squares."
Of course if the megatonnes had hit the fan, New Zealand Prime Minister Rob Muldoon of the time would have been Emperor of the non-glowing world by now.
Krugman was brought on board by the Times to document the great dot-com bubble of the late ninties.
Then something even scarier marched out of Texas.
The interview is a good read ... but hardly reassuring.
Apparently the former governor of the microstate of Vermont is both a ancien regime blueblood and a shrill, partisan socialist.
On CBS last Sunday I think the word was "hyperliberal".
Now the Vermonster's campaign has been developing speed wobbles as the press starts taking thoughtful sentences out of their respective paragraphs and analyses them for conflicts with Democratic Holy Writ. Dean apparently still has to internalize the fundamental rule of politics in the soundbite age - never allow your brain to interfere with your mouth while with the press - rely on Pavlovian reflex instead. But I would hesitate to call the gun-toting, frugel s.o.b. "liberal" in the distorted American sense.
The real issue for Brooks is an inablity to understand the anger Dean represents. For many conservatives, anger is reserved for those who transgress social norms without permission; violations of etiquette and class. It wasn't the thing with the intern that enraged conservatives about Bill Clinton - it was the perception he was "astroturf" white trash in an undeserved elite position. Otherwise "anger" is deployed as a cynical tool for maintaining power and manipulating public discourse. Anger gives one a perfect excuse to shout down other voices. Tom Delay as a case in point.
Dean's rage is something else - that something great is being allowed -encouraged- to wither, through neglect, incompetence, and above all, cynicism. I believe that something might be the idea of an America that is a boon for all its citizens.
Methinks Brooks doth protest too much. Reverse psychology is not his strong point - he might want to stick to being too clever by half.
From the New Yorker via Crooked Timber
"I wanted to be an astronaut," Clark said. "That was back when we had a real space program. We all wanted to invade the red planet, right out of Ray Bradbury's 'Martian Chronicles.'"
The Oxonian looked puzzled, and Clark asked, "Are you familiar with Ray Bradbury?" He was not. "Not a science-fiction fan? What about 'Lord of the Rings'? "
Indeed, I always thought there was a passing resemblence between Possible Presidental Pretender Wesley Clark and last man on the moon, Apollo 17 commander
Gene Cernan
Charles Bronson
Warren Zevon
Celebrity Carnage!
Sturgeon's Law especially applies to digital photography.
Anyway, I was just noticing the vast array of the famous and infamous popping of the mortal coil recently.
The inventor of modern advertising Leni Riefenstah.
The inventor of the end of the world Edward Teller
The inventor of the Man in Black Johnny Cash
The inventor of ripping-of-British-sitcoms-about-domestic-humiliation-for-American-comsumption iteration 1978 John Ritter [okay trying too hard there]
The one that was really shocking was the sudden murder of Sweden's foreign minister, Anna Lindh