A podcast about books & life — not necessarily in that order
Here’s a 35-minute video of Charlie Rose’s interview with Robert Caro last April, at the end of which Mr. Caro mentions that the final volume of his LBJ biography won’t be published for another three years.
That should give you enough time to read The Power Broker
Seriously: If you want to develop an understanding of how political power works in America, you really need to read Mr. Caro’s work.
What I’m reading: Early issues of my magazine, as I wrapped up the 10th anniversary ish. Boy, was that depressing. I also read the first 20 pages of George, Being George
What I’m listening to: The bad new Zero 7 record
What I’m watching: Charade
What I’m drinking: Plymouth & tonic
What Rufus is up to: Being an Ambassadog at Warwick’s Applefest town fair (with pix by my beloved wife). He got to meet a bunch of greys, but one of the owners kept trying to convince us to adopt Dollar, one of the hounds they were fostering. One of the other owners sympathized with my take on why we’ve held off on grey #2: what if he or she isn’t as awesome as Rufus (as in, can’t handle 9 hours without a bathroom break, or likes to chew on stuff, or gives Ru bad ideas and the two of them spend all day smoking weed and goofing around on Playstation)?
Where I’m going: The 20-year reunion for the high school I left after my junior year. In November, I’ll go to the 20-year reunion for the high school from which I actually graduated. Don’t tell.
What I’m happy about: My pal Ian stopped in for a visit on Friday, giving us an excuse to go to Cafe Matisse for another fantastic meal.
What I’m sad about: 10 years spent on this magazine, 20 years since I graduated high school, and, um, 30 years since I saw The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh. The calendar really does kick you in the nuts.
What I’m worried about: That I’m forgetting something.
What I’m pondering: What I’ve learned in the past decade about the pharma/biopharma industry and the contract services sector.
You don’t wanna know. Now the conference is over, but I’m still pounding out pages for the October issue. On top of that, I’ve either got poison ivy, shingles, or . . . neck-AIDS!
But you just want some fun links to check out, huh? Well, just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: Oct. 2, 2009”
I’d read how the NYPost and other papers in Our Fair City have policies of not crediting blogs for, um, reporting on stories that they can then publish in their papers, but this morning’s rip-off by Page 6 could at least have come up with an alternative to “chicanery.”
From the NYPost on Oct. 1:
Even the Democrats in Minnesota now realize their new US Sen. Al Franken was elected with the help of ACORN chicanery. The disgraced, pimp-friendly community organizing group claims it registered 43,000 new Minnesota voters. If just 1 percent were fraudulent but survived the recount process, that’s 430 votes, almost all cast for Franken, who won by just 312 votes. Asks Katherine Kersten in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “Did ACORN folks pull some fast ones to help get their favorite son Franken elected — a win that handed Democrats the 60-vote, veto-proof majority that they needed to enact their liberal agenda?”
From Mickey Kaus’ kausfiles on Sept. 29:
Did ACORN chicanery elect Al Franken? That’s the import of this tactfully phrased Minneapolis Star Tribune column.** Franken won by 312 votes. ACORN claimed to have registered 48,000 new Minnesota voters. If just 1% were ineligible but cast ballots, or had ballots cast for them illegally, and survived the recount process … that’s 480 votes, almost certainly overwhelmingly cast for Franken. … Maybe in pristine Minnesota even ACORN is clean. If so, the state would apparently be an outlier. …
To the Post’s credit, they did fix Mickey’s typo of 48,000 voter registrations. The original column they cut-and-pasted from says it was 43,000.