The culture of corruption continues. I just knew this election was rigged, but I didn't want to say anything about it, because I didn't want to sound like a whiny Democrat. But now the proof is here:
Fans of "Dancing with the Stars" who tried to call in and vote for Mario Lopez on Tuesday night may have talked with a Missouri woman instead.
Hundreds of people called Carmen Allen's cell phone by accident.
Milton Friedman, a giant among giants, died today. He wasn't just a brilliant economist who pushed the benefits of the marketplace and understood the the connection between economic freedom and political freedom:
About O.J. Simpson's book "If I Did It" and his Fox TV appearances to promote it, there seem to be two reactions: "What a complete fool" or "God, that scumbag!" Actually, I think it's a brilliant maneuver. After years of heroically and exhaustively searching for the real killer on the nation's golf courses, O.J. has finally hit on a way to smoke out the culprit -- lull him into a false sense of security that will make him slip up somehow.
As a belated happy birthday to the Marines and a hello to my gun-totin' brother in Texas, here are the Marine Corps Rules for Gun Fighting. I especially like these three, which can apply to a lot of life situations, including editorial writing:
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
Silly Wal-Mart is bringing back Christmas:
Wal-Mart has told its employees that it's OK to once again greet shoppers by saying "Merry Christmas" this holiday season instead of the generic "Happy Holidays."
CNN confirmed that Wal-Mart will announce Thursday that it plans to use the phrase "Merry Christmas" in products and around its stores this holiday season.
When local school boards and state departments of education drop the ball, it's nice to know that the federal government can still step in and make sure our children get the critical education they need:
VESTAL, N.Y. — The federal government is telling several New York school districts that girls' sporting events should have cheerleaders, too.
Once upon a time, only American social climbers and posers like John Kerry could aspire to have soulmates in Europe. Now, even those in trailer parks can claim spiritual cousins across the ocean:
In the West, gradual de-industrialization has created a new underclass of the unproductive and intellectually depraved. The spiritual cousin of the American phenomenon of "white trash," these strangers in their own land have become a serious threat to democracy.
Meagan McArdle, who writes under the name Jane Galt at the Asymmetrical Information (that's an economics term) blog, has become one of my favorite bloggers because she honestly speaks her mind without snarkiness or worrying about what either her detractors or philosophical fellow travelers will think about it. A case in point is her unflinching look at young people and addiction and why DARE has a dishonest message:
You want to see what the future looks like?
According to figures released by the Internet Advertising Bureau earlier this month, online now accounts for more than 10 per cent of overall advertising spending, up from 7.2 per cent a year ago, and is expected to match spending on television campaigns by the end of the decade.
The practice of tipping waiters and waitresses -- such a routine part of our lives that it is far more than a custom -- remains a strange way to do business. It enables restaurants to pay their servers minimal salaries, which probably helps them stay open. But that requires the decency and common sense of customers to give those people what might approximate a living wage. Some of us, of course, are better tippers than others, so there are periodic efforts to require a uniform tip:
