At the beginning, this song sounds like a typical Usher song: he talks about meeting a girl in a club & making love (& the listener is led to assume that Usher means later on in the evening). Then Young Jeezy comes in with a rap that, beyond any shadow of a doubt, sets the listener straight with respect to the immediacy of Usher’s intentions. Jeezy conveys his point through the use of analogy, such as his reference to a grocery store situation. Finally, Usher comes back on, reiterating the immediacy of the situation, leaving not a single doubt in the listener’s mind with respect to the urgency of his desires.
–Wikipedia summery of Usher’s “Love in this club”. via
Proving once again that being demonstrably and disastrously wrong on the most important national security questions of the day is no barrier to influence in American politics — provided, of course, that one is always careful to err on the side of war — the Washington Post gives Richard Perle yet another opportunity to be wrong again, this time on Iran.
–Matt Duss on the Washington Post allowing Richard Perle to say dumb things about Iran on their op-ed page.
The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating …and you finish off as an orgasm.
–George Carlin (sounds very similar to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He’s the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he’s too intelligent. He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside.
–David Brooks on Senator Obama
I wonder whether the media grievers gave a moment of thought to how this Russert torrent they produced played with viewers and readers. Did the grievers really think Russert was so important, so vital to the nation’s course, and such an elevated human being that he deserved hour upon hour of tribute? I wonder whether any of the responsible journalists paused to think, Hey, this is really weird. We’re using our unchecked editorial power to soak the nation with our tears about our friend, and that’s unseemly!
On days like this, I, too, hate the press.
–Jack Shafer, on the media’s coverage of Tim Russert’s death
In reality there is only one candidate. Barack Obama. In November he will win or he will lose. John McCain is relevant only in so far as he is not Barack Obama. The Senator from Arizona is incapable of energizing his party, brings no new people to the polls, and has a personality that is best kept under wraps.
–Bay Buchanan, of all people. via
Four words you don’t want to hear in space: “The toilet is broken.”
– NY Times article on the International Space Station’s toilet problems. via