Wasn't Ledger known to be a drug afficianado, at least from the tabloids? (Like every other young movie star or college student). In any event, the coroner's report said that his death was unintentional, but **drug abuse**, not "innocent" following of his doctor's prescriptions. The medical responsibility comes in prescribing of downers to people who are obviously just trying to legalize their addiction.

It's that "Bugs Bunny vs Daffy Duck" thing they were talking about on slate back on monday.

Less specifically, it's that Obama is the cool kid and Hillary is the earnest hard working but uncool kid. However; McCain has some of that cool kid working for him; so if you are just doing this like a high school election popularity contest and vote for who's cooler, you see Obama and McCain in the same bracket.

Kind of how Bush got in over Gore. Ironically, Gore's now become cool.

this hits the news (again) at the same time we are all being urged to give up bottled water for the tap.

This is why I am incredulous at those who back Obama because they think he will somehow heal the polarization in the country. (It's OK with me if you back Obama for other reasons, though. You're welcome).

The Rush Limbaughs and Michael Savages and Michelle Malkins get their audience by focusing their inchoate rage and resentment. Are they going to suddenly start compromising? Is Ann Coulter's next book going to be titled "You Know, the Liberals Make Some Good Points"? Is Senator Inhofe going to release a list of 400 scientists who do believe in global warming? Are the fundamentalist preachers suddenly going to start giving sermons saying that according to the Bible homosexuality is a sin, but then again so is eating pork?

It's pretty obvious by now that the whole point of what is currently "the right" or "conservatives" can hardly be considered to be small government, or unwillingness to go way out on a limb over untest ideas, or the concept that the government should intrude as little as possible into the citizens' lives, the ideals once considered axiomatic by political conserivatism. Nor can the public figures of the right be seen as embodying conservative moral values in their private lives, with no diminution of their stature as conservative idols.

What characterizes the right wing of today is adherence to infallible authority figures, black and white morality, simple answers, no self-doubt, if you aren't with us you're against us, if somebody says something you don't want to hear, they're absolutely lying, no compromises. If thinking hard about the complex issues in an ever larger and more complex world makes your head hurt, these folks have got the cure. Shades of gray, compromises, laboriously working out policies point by point after listening to all sides, modifying one's own behavior to be considerate of others, those are all hallmarks of the left, and identified as weakness by the folks who are now expected to adopt them. I don't see it happening.

it's the same reason car magazines are reluctant to pan any car no matter how bad, stereo magazines are enthusiastic about every new gadget, computer mags are excited about every new development, etc. it's not that they might lose advertising revenue, it's the loss of access that's the real threat. if you tell the public that the all-new XYZ is a total dud, you stand a very real risk of getting cut off from the press releases, leaked photos, off the record interviews, test drives, press junkets, etc. etc. and you end up writing your articles 6 months after everybody else, which doesn't sell magazines.

in this country, where our view of politics is just another product to be consumed, the same thing holds. we don't want an in-depth piece on how McCain's health plan and Clinton's and Obama's all compare and how they relate to what's been tried and what experts think that took two weeks to research and write; we want to know what clever quip McCain said at breakfast this morning, and we want to know it now! if you get thrown out of the group privileged with the insider info, you're now part of the fringe media. oddly, Britain and even Canada have managed to largely dodge this perversion, so far.

we could probably have caught bin Laden and destroyed al Qaida.

when you read this after reading the reviews of "The Wire" it really all begins to merge seamlessly.

he could say he just has a "wide stance". He could say the woman was rumored to have information about the whereabouts of Saddam's missing WMD. They said he "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe", after all, so obviously he could have been waterboarding her.

but i'm unpleasantly surprised that he, of all people, would leave a fairly obvious trail. this is the kind of thing that makes people say 'perhaps he wanted to get caught'.

(Inspired by a previous post)

Because it won't sell detergent, will it?

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/3/13/0145/56590

Rightwing academic thinktankers explain to the CEO of the second largest company in the world that he's not sufficiently doctrainaire in his business practices.

"proved controversial down under"

"I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed"

you're about to ram the building, why would you need to fire a missile? in case you miss with the airplane? even if the warhead wouldn't arm unless the missile was fired, it would be easier to bypass that than to engineer something to fire the missile from the plane.

if i'm not hearing about the war, then it must be going better. that's why i don't watch bbcamerica news any more.

slate.com is also covering it. way down the list.