Critical Mass

Vermont Senator appears in “The Dark Knight”

Andrew Mason-Opinions Editor — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:36:07 +0000

Watch very closely at the end of this clip. The man being threatened by the Joker is none other than Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. Apparently, he’s a huge Batman fan. After having a knife to his throat, he’s probably loves the caped crusader even more.

Polar opposites

Andrew Mason-Opinions Editor — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:03:43 +0000

Two in-depth pieces hit cyberspace ahead of the long weekend and they are a study in contrasts.

One, from Vanity Fair, focuses on the infighting in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. A cross between bad Shakespeare and well…more bad Shakespeare, it’s a telling look at the ultimate demise of the junior senator from New York.

The other is a long profile story from the New York Times magazine on legendary AM talker Rush Limbaugh. Interesting reading on two of the most divisive figures in American politics.

Coolest thing I’ve seen all day

Andrew Mason-Opinions Editor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:58:29 +0000

Ever wondered what this “blogosphere” thingy is?

Look at this cloud of hundreds of web sites. It’s roughly organized by slant and shows how interconnected the chatters are.

http://presidentialwatch08.com/index.php/map/

“This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight.”

Andrew Mason-Opinions Editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:47:42 +0000

Sen. Hillary Clinton in her speech in front of a New York audience Tuesday night.

“This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight.”

And her supporters went wild!

This marks the fist time a politician has ever been cheered for being indecisive.

Superhero Box Office

Sujay Kumar — Sun, 18 May 2008 06:13:38 +0000

If only all my action figures were like this.

Morbidlicious

Scott Green — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:48:19 +0000

From the department of “Stuff you don’t want to read but can’t look away from”:

D.C. Madam’s suicide notes (courtesy TSG)

A good column.

Dan Streib — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:03:29 +0000

Although Paul Krugman and I sit on opposite sides of the political aisle, I occasionally find his commentary intriguing. Here’s a great column by him:

Self-Inflicted Confusion

Pro-life or Anti-panda?

Sujay Kumar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:12:16 +0000

You have the right to choose, and so should this panda.

Coincidence? No.

Jonathan Jacobson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:54:54 +0000

Barack Obama, in order to soften the blow of Hillary Clinton’s probable Pennsylvania win, has released some negative ads and coupled them with fightin’ words. The story is interesting, if predictable.

What’s funny is that The Washington Post and the New York Times are essentially running the same headline for this story right now on their respective Web sites.

Post: “In Pa., Obama Sharpens His Tone”

Times: “Trailing in Pennsylvania, Obama Sharpens Tone”

Headlines often do a great job of dumbing down stories and reporters can occasionally feel like their piece’s value is demeaned by a “Hillary Demands More Doughnuts” or “Obama: Highfalutin Speech, Lowfalultin Bowling Score”-style headline.

These two newspapers, though, have literally chosen the same verb and direct object to describe Obama’s nefarious plot to bridge the polling gap. Maybe it’s not sensationalism, but it is a demonstration of how some media pigeonhole stories. If they published these headlines independent of each other, that’s just bizarre proof of verbal tunnel vision. If it’s no coincidence, then shame on some anonymous, late-shift, copycat copy editor.

I suppose the Times deserves some credit for tossing the pronoun. And, of course, you have to applaud the Post for an effective, albeit unpretty, abbreviation.

THE conservative columnist.

Dan Streib — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:32:52 +0000

If there could only be one columnist to represent conservatism, it would have to be George Will.

Here’s two reasons why:

Horrors of a ‘Crisis’
Candidate On A High Horse