Trade or Tax?

In The New York Times, Paul Krugman and James Hansen argue over whether the United States should implement a cap-and-trade program or a carbon tax to combat climate change.

"Complex and Even Contradictory"

"NARAL’s Nancy Keenan likes to say that abortion’s biggest defenders right now are a 'menopausal militia'--a rueful, inspired little joke. These baby-boomers, whose young adulthoods were defined by the fight over the right to choose, will soon be numerically overtaken by a generation of twentysomethings who is more pro-life than any but our senior citizens. As GOP strategists Christopher Blunt and Fred Steeper have pointed out, this group came of age during the partial-birth debate and was the first to grow up with pictures of sonograms on their refrigerators. The major development in reproductive technology during their lifetimes wasn’t something that prevented pregnancies but something that created them: IVF. These kids have no idea--none--what it was like to live in a world without abortion rights. ('This generation’s knowledge of Roe is like, "Roe vs. what?"' says Keenan.) And they feel much more strongly about personal responsibility than the generations preceding them: Didn’t use birth control? The burden’s on you."

Jennifer Senior in New York attempts to wade through Americans' views on abortion.

The Group of Life

"Thus the Americans got just about everything they could have wanted Friday, and all within the rules of the game."

Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News considers the American team's chances as it will initially face Algeria, England, and Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup.

"Biased toward Complexity"

"All presidents have to adjust to these realities when they move to the White House. The only surprise with President Obama is how enthusiastically he has made the transition. He’s political, like any president, but he seems to vastly prefer the grays of governing to the simplicities of the campaign."

In The New York Times, David Brooks praises President Obama's governing style.

"Get Over It"

"As Biskupic explains, Scalia maintained there and elsewhere that equal protection may be overcome when it is rational to do so--although equal protection acquired much more significance for Scalia when it was not gays but Republicans who were claiming its privileges. Lawyers for George W. Bush argued that equal protection is so profoundly important that it justified the court abandoning its deference to state judges in overseeing elections--Scalia usually is a firm advocate of states' rights--and blocking the further counting of ballots in Florida. Suddenly, for Scalia, the claim had great and meaningful significance. Originalist principles of federalism and disdain for expansive application of equal protection went merrily out the window. Adding insult to constitutional injury in Bush vs. Gore, Scalia and the majority then ruled that no future court should be bound by their use of equal protection in the 2000 election: 'Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances.'"

Jim Newton in the Los Angeles Times reviews Joan Biskupic's American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

"New Device Desirable, Old Device Undesirable"

"'The new device is an improvement over the old device, making it more attractive for purchase by all Americans,' said Thomas Wakefield, a spokesperson for the large conglomerate that manufactures the new device. 'The old device is no longer sufficient. Consumers should no longer have any use or longing for the old device.'
"Added Wakefield, 'The new device will retail for $395.'"

From The Onion.

The Oracle of Del-Fi

"'I saw him at a little concert in a movie theater,' Keane recalled in a 2001 Times interview. 'There he was, a Latino kid doing just a few riffs and a couple of songs. But I was very impressed by his stage demeanor. The girls were going crazy, screaming.'
"Keane invited Valens, born Richard Valenzuela, to record demos at his home studio."

Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times writes an obit for record man Bob Keane.

"I Do Not Make This Decision Lightly"

"This review is now complete. And as Commander-in-Chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan."

The New York Times prints President Obama's speech about the war in Afghanistan.

"Did You Have to Make the Chair so Large?"

"Ten presidents have signed the guest book, including Theodore Roosevelt, whose bodyguards were still nervous after the assassination of his predecessor, William McKinley. During Roosevelt's visit, the lights in the hotel suddenly went out, and when Miller came running to see what was wrong, he found Roosevelt lying on the ground for his own protection, ringed by guards, docent Mel Gutierrez said."

In the Los Angeles Times, Steve Harvey visits Riverside's Mission Inn, which dates back to 1876.

November 2009 Acquisitions

Books:
Jennifer P. Mathews, Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, From the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley, 2009.
Frank Miller, Sin City, Volume 4: That Yellow Bastard, 2005.
Frank Miller, Sin City, Volume 5: Family Values, 2005.
Frank Miller, Sin City, Volume 6: Booze, Broads, and Bullets, 2005.
Frank Miller, Sin City, Volume 7: Hell and Back, 2005.
James Oakes et al., Of the People: A History of the United States, 2009.
Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Christmas, 2002.
Walt Disney's The Jungle Book, 2003.

DVDs:
The Exiles, 1961.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982.
The Killers, 1946/1964.
There's Something about Mary, 1998.
Yo Gabba Gabba: Meet My Family, 2009.

"Any Senator Can Stick Up the Senate"

"The only problem is that, because the filibuster had rendered the chamber so laughable, with renegade members pulling all-nighters and blocking all the Senate's business, the 'reformers' came up with a new procedural filibuster--the polite filibuster, the Bob Dole filibuster--to replace the cruder old-fashioned filibuster of Senate pirates like Strom Thurmond ('filibuster' comes from the Dutch word for freebooter, or pirate). The liberals of 1975 thought they could banish the dark Furies of American history, but they wound up spawning more demons than we'd ever seen before."

In The Nation, Thomas Geoghegan and the magazine's editors oppose the filibuster.

Slippin' into the Future

"Americans have always been a work-focused people. And despite the fact that this stresses us out immensely (Americans report feeling more stressed than citizens of other nations, and we also suffer from more heart disease and other stress-related health problems than others), we report feeling happiest when at work. In fact, if we had more free time, surveys suggest that the majority of us would fill it with more work. We have a very difficult time unplugging, and many of our technological advances have ensured that we don't have to. Cell phones, e-mail, laptops, jet travel, and hotels wired with wi-fi all allow the capability to be at work all the time, even on vacation. Part of it might be what Hoffman refers to as our quest for 'big promotions, big money, big homes' and that fear that came with knowing that 'if you didn't succeed in "making it," as the colloquial phrase had it, you had only yourself to blame.'"

Jessa Crispin in The Smart Set reviews Eva Hoffman's Time.

"Advertising Is Based on One Thing: Happiness"

Gawker.TV presents "The Tao of Don: A Complete Collection of Don Draper's Words of Wisdom."