America is a scooter-bound glutton who, when its continuously increasing mass finally overwhelms the doughtiest scooter’s capacities, shakes its fat fists like a mad baby and demands deliverance from the laws of physics. America needs an extreme makeover, a heavy dose of tough love. America needs togrow upand get real. But our politicians always only tell us how beautiful and brave we are here in the best country in the history of the world.
"I know you’re scared and angry. Many of you have lost your jobs, your homes, your hope. This was a disaster, but it was not a natural disaster. It was made by Wall Street gamblers who speculated with your lives and futures. It was made by conservative extremists who told us that if we just eliminated regulations and rewarded greed and recklessness, it would all work out. But it didn’t work out. And it didn’t work out 80 years ago, when the same people sold our grandparents the same bill of goods, with the same results. But we learned something from our grandparents about how to fix it, and we will draw on their wisdom. We will restore business confidence the old-fashioned way: by putting money back in the pockets of working Americans by putting them back to work, and by restoring integrity to our financial markets and demanding it of those who want to run them. I can’t promise that we won’t make mistakes along the way. But I can promise you that they will be honest mistakes, and that your government has your back again."
The inauguration speech Barack Obama needed to give on January 20, 2009, as imagined by Drew Westen. Read his entire opinion piece here — it’s excellent.
"I’d like to dedicate that song of homoerotic love between soldiers to that party flotilla of yachts over there. Hope you dudes are having a good time and you’re keeping the rosé chilled, because Lord knows mine isn’t."
The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy at the Newport Folk Festival after the band played “The Soldiering Life.” Listen to the show here.
"How can I let the introvert in my life know that I support him and respect his choice?
First, recognize that it’s not a choice. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s an orientation.
Second, when you see an introvert lost in thought, don’t say “What’s the matter?” or “Are you all right?”
Third, don’t say anything else, either."
