When Lou Pinella announced that he was walking away from the Cubs before the end of the season, I saw Buster Olney assert on ESPNnews that Pinella was a Hall of Fame manager, which seems to be a pretty common sentiment. I may have too much of a stake in this, since my very first online writing gig was a guest column for Neyer in 1997 comparing the Mariners with the early 80s Expos, but I really don’t get it. Posnanski, as usual, I think gets it right:
- Heckuva job from Bobo, who manages to compare Germany and the United States — asserting that the latter has had less growth because of greater stimulus — without even mentioning Germany’s much more substantial safety net, which 1)stabilizes consumer spending during a recession, and 2)provides automatic stimulus where American states are forced to engage in pro-cyclical tax hikes and spending cuts. [See also.]
- More on Ken Cuccinelli’s appalling crusade against the women of Virginia.
- Whatever progress has been made, we shouldn’t be too confident about our ability to measure defense.
- Pity poor David Koch, who wants to distribute immense amounts of inherited money as wingnut welfare without any scrutiny whatsoever.
- Ref admits Seahawks were screwed in 2006 Super Bowl. Now perhaps Mike Holmgren will admit that the refs didn’t force his quarterback to follow-up terrible calls with interceptions or cause his Andy Reid-caliber clock management.
- Judicial confirmation rates continue to decline.
- Glen Kenny on the pass critics, including himself, give to Clint Eastwood (interesting, but cannot endorse claims that Absolute Power — perhaps the worst movie by a major director with a serious cast I’ve ever paid to see — is “underrated”) and Todd Solondz (definitely agree that claims that he hates his characters are silly, and also with his analysis of Happiness: Gazzara salt-shaking perfect, Baker’s confession too on-the-nose even granting that too on-the-nose dialogue is one of Solondz’s central aesthetic strategies.)
Our last commander in Afghanistan was an avowed fan of Bud Light Lime. His replacement?
The market was higher right after the open, after Q2 GDP was revised down to 1.6%, which was still higher than the 1.4% many were expecting. Additionally, personal consumption for Q2 was actually revised higher to 2.0% from 1.6%.
If I understand Krauthammer correctly, I think I have to conduct a public opinion survey before I can decide whether or not this is racist. Ommitted from the former: an explanation of what non-bigoted motives might lead to intense opposition to the Burlington Coat Factory Islmaic community center.
Below is a graph from my colleague Helene Meisler at TheStreet.com which shows this week’s Investor’s Intelligence poll.
As a blogger looking for soft targets, it’s reassuring in a way that one always has Mickey Kaus’s reflexive union-bashing:
I am back from my visit of taking my kids to see their grandparents in Cleveland. It sure does seem that the market always falls out of bed when I am away from my desk. Of course, these days you can access your systems from anywhere, but it’s just not the same thing.
