Will Uncle Ted Stevens, Alaska Senator, go to prison? And if so, what will he do there? Click on the cartoon to enlarge it!
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_Paul writes_: It’s not like it’s a colony on Mars, or a hair-restoring drug. Or a tree that produces croissants, or trolleys that run on sarcasm. The technology for the electric car is already here, and has been here for quite some time. The fact that it’s been quashed by the auto industry borders on the criminal. If someone killed the electric car, can it be resuscitated? For the world’s sake, I hope so.
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_Paul writes_: He’s called the “First Dude.” He’s been CC’d on e-mails from the office of his wife, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, although he has no official title or role in the state government. He has also involved himself in other matters of governance, both financial and personnel-related. For all Sarah Palin’s talk about being a modern independent woman, she can’t take two steps without the suffocating presence of this one-time secessionist snowmachiner. God forbid that he become a sort of co–Vice President of the country in the same way that he served as a sort of “shadow governor” of Alaska.
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_Paul writes:_ You’ve seen the billboards for the new Bond film, and maybe, like me, you’ve wondered what the meaning of “Quantum of Solace” is. This was the name of a short story by Sir Ian Fleming, but the plot of the film has no similarity to that of the short story. The name sounds mysterious enough to intrigue moviegoers, I suppose. _Beverly Hills Chihuahua,_ by the way, delivers exactly what you’d expect.
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Martin “has been covering”:http://emdashes.com/2008/10/american-writers-to-emulate-no.php Horace Engdahl’s snobbish, narrow-minded, and rather insensitive remark that Americans are “too insular and ignorant” to really be in the running for a Nobel Prize for Literature. If I ever write a novel, it’ll be called _Engdahl’s Nightmare_. Let’s hope it wins the Nobel.
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_Paul writes_: I suppose we should be grateful that McCain “cleared things up” after a woman “remarked”:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14479.html that Obama was an “Arab” instead of proclaiming: “He sure is! Straight from Arabland, somewhere east of prissy, socialist Europe!” Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive, as this country is home to more than a million Arab Americans. McCain should have mentioned that too, but the Republicans, those nabobs of negativity, are more than happy to encourage people to think that Obama is somehow not wholly American. The ignorance that led this woman to call Obama an “Arab” is understandable, but these hate rallies also have people yelling “traitor.” Where does that come from? What is the justification for that charge?
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_Paul writes_: “From Despotism to Destination” was the name of an interesting article by Ben Carmichael for the February 2008 issue of Print. Carmichael explored how countries came up with branding campaigns to make themselves attractive to tourists. Myanmar, and its “corrupt and repressive regime”:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/25/080825fa_fact_packer, has not done the same; the cartoon is my own leap into the unknown. Incidentally, Emily has pointed out that The New Yorker has been running Spanish tourism ads with the tagline “Smile! You are in Andalucia.” We weren’t sure why it’s “You are” instead of “You’re.” Any theories on that would be appreciated.
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_Paul writes:_ Will McCain plant another “common man” amongst the crowd to grill Obama? Click on the cartoon to enlarge it!