Culture
I’ll see Peter Robinson’s Gene Krupa “Sing, Sing, Sing” and raise him one Duke Ellington “Cotton Tail,” although I prefer the faster-tempo version of the latter that Ellington recorded with Louis Armstrong. Speaking of Armstrong, Robinson posted an email from a reader who cited a duet of his with Danny Kaye (“When the Saints Go…
W. Edward Massey reminds us that conservative free-marketism doesn’t really dictate was can or cannot be put into a contract by one of the parties creating it — salary caps are a perfectly legitimate item for negotiation — as long as the agreement is mutually agreeable and considered binding. The possibility of changing the rules…
Now events in France are beginning to look a bit more like a logical social correction: French workers burned tires, marched on the presidential palace and held a manager of U.S. manufacturer 3M hostage Wednesday as anger mounted over job cuts and executive bonuses. Rising public outrage at employers on both sides of the Atlantic…
Hooking young Americans on a particular view of sex has always been bound up with an entire slate of socio-political biases and cultural preferences. Ultimately, it’s always about indoctrination: When Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, D-Woonsocket, asked [Rep. Donna Walsh, D-Charlestown,] what she would consider age appropriate material for a kindergartner, Walsh deferred the question to Dr.…
People wonder why race remains an issue, why the United States seems to move forward so slowly. Well, does this memorial of guilt strike anybody else as bizarre? More than 240 years ago, John and Moses Brown financed a slave ship bound for Africa. They also poured money into Brown University in Providence. Slaves worked…
Even though he pauses to make a snarky jab at local bloggers, I generally concur with Bob Kerr’s aversion (in principle, at least) to snark: Snark is so easy, like falling into a big, cushy pile of old blankets and tattered pillows. There is the comfort of knowing that you can wrap yourself in whatever…
In tone, more than words, James Lileks puts his finger on a strange sense in the air, particularly among some on the right: I mention this for one reason: Tony West is the President’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s Civil Division. If you want to know how far we are past 9/11, there’s your…
As the older brother of two sisters, the husband of a fine lady who is one of four daughters and the father of two girls…my ears perked up when I heard this. President Barack Obama invoked the travails of women in his family as he signed an executive order on Wednesday establishing a new interagency…
I’m just guessing, here, but I’d bet that a survey of people who lament “suburban sprawl” would find that most either prefer city life or have the money to carve out their own, untouchable little pieces of the country. Probably a mixture of both sentiments went into this Providence Journal editorial: America’s ridiculously wasteful lifestyle…
Others among the Anchor Rising contributors have more Facebook experience than I do, but I find aspects of the phenomenon unsettling. Mark Patinkin touches on one in his column today: I think the problem was that I hadn’t entered any personal details on the site, thinking that would be weird for a man my age,…