Used to be MY hometown Browns. So lets hope the Steelers beat them en route to losing to whoever comes out of the NFC.

Peter A., the idea that it is a 'fallacy' to extrapolate from past performances seems fallacious in and of itself. The odds are seldom, if ever, 50-50 in an athletic contest. If that were the case, Las Vegas would shutter it sportsbook operations. Past performances are not a perfect indicator, true, but sporting events are primarily determined by the abilities of the participants; random chance has something to do with it, but they do not share the dynamics a coin flip.

The late, great Robert Anton Wilson had a pithy line about this very subject. He explained that his political philosophy was libertarian, but that he wasn't a "Libertarian" because he didn't "hate poor people."

Here's the thing: there are serious questions that should be asked about the stimulus package. It shouldn't just be rammed through. We are in a crisis period, yes, but that doesn't mean that our money should just be given away to the usual collection of corporate interests that both parties traditionally serve. Just because the opposition here is unprincipled and unhinged, and just because we generally want Obama to succeed, it doesn't mean that these are flawless measures that couldn't be improved or fairly opposed by principled opposition.

I hope 99.9% of the internet is is ephemeral as it feels.

Kurt Warner is no more of a Hall of Famer than Curt Warner. A good system quarterback, that's all. Phil Simms isn't in, and he was a true leader. Warner is a more successful Burt Jones.

The ironic thing about all of the Zombie bank pieces is the creators think they are running with some new metaphor. The term zombie bank was coined a quarter century ago by an economist named Edward Kane, then with Ohio State, who explicitly drew on the Living Dead films to illustrate his point. His humor is actually funnier than this, though a lot drier. That said, I give Ruben some points for using the EC font.

Not having read a lot of Alan Moore--nothing since his early DC stuff that I thought was good but not great--I can't really speak to how great his scope of history and culture may or may not be. But based on his comments about Mad and Harvey Kurtzman, he seems to have missed out on an important part of the history of his own medium. True, Mad inspired a lot of cheap knockoffs (some of which at least employed EC veterans like the Severins), but it also spawned R. Crumb and the entire underground comix movement.

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

Maybe some Crumb, but I'm seeing more Basil Wolverton at play.

That's all there is to it. No principle, it's just a move for personal political gain.

Connect the microdots would work, though.

...Cary?

Who is to say they would have arrived at the same perspective without those experiences? I'd guess they wouldn't have.

Gambling is based on evaluating data too. Not all of it, perhaps. But card games and any kind of handicapping is based on evaluating data. The difference is that if I go to the racetrack or a blackjack table the losses and profits are on me. Whereas if I am running a bank the profits are mine and the losses are guaranteed by the government. So, here's the problem. If you go to the track with your own money, you are going to evaluate the horses looking at who can win. Sure, you'll put a couple bucks on a longshot that has some upside here and there because why wouldn't you, but for the most part you are going to try and cover favorites that look like they are going to come in with while taking a crack at a couple of prices. If, on the other hand, you know you can bet all longshots and you will not only get your money back, but you won't even have to share the profit when those horses come in, well then why would you even bother with conservative bets at all? Betting is a solid metaphor. They are gambling with our money and they are not sharing the winnings when they get them.

No consequences for Mr. Falwell? I'm not sure. If you go by his logic, maybe there is causation between those bogus statements and his subsequent passing.

...any description that would include Brown/Cosmo's vision is drawn, ahem, too broadly.

that this column is an utter waste of space.

You nailed it. Wingnuts like Wingnut probably don't do nuance or bother to look at evidence that conflicts with the conclusion they've already drawn, but you can always lead a horse to water and see what happens.

The sad truth is that Geithner and the economic team are outside the partisan loop. Obama, Geithner and the rest are continuing TARP, which began under Bush. On things like torture, healthcare, etc., there is some diffrence between the parties. But on this aspect of the economy, you can vote 'conservative' or 'liberal' and you are going to find the same people pulling the strings. That's why the GOP members of congress didn't give him too bad of a time in his confirmation hearings.

But I basically agree with Mr. Reich here and think it is a worthwhile article. TARP did not begin on Obama's watch, but it is fair to assign him the blame for allowing it to continue. The banks need to be nationalized, at least the ones that are in serious trouble. The ones that are really messed up need to die. Do Not Feed the Zombies.

"Those teenage high-seas renegades are not about to team up with terrorists, so why is the U.S. military devoting so much attention to them?"

Um, because they are hijacking and killing our citizens, maybe?