One of them—and by the way, don’t you love the original meanings of this term?— called C-Span to report that he had prayed for the death of West Virginia senator (and Democrat) Roberty Byrd.
But when Okalahoma senator James Inhofe (he’s the one who once called global warming a hoax and compared the environmental movement to the Third Reich) didn’t show up for the Senate vote on the health care bill, this poor teabagger thought that maybe his prayers had backfired…and a Republican had died.
Harvard money man Jeffrey Epstein is in the news again.
The 56-year-old money manager has quietly settled with Jane Doe 102, an unnamed woman who alleged in federal court in Florida that Epstein had induced her to “serve his every sexual whim” from the time she was 15 until she was 19. The woman also claimed Epstein had flown her around the world, paying her “to be sexually exploited by [his friends] … including royalty, politicians, academicians [and] businessmen.”
“Such profoundly unethical conduct, if proven to be true, strikes at the heart of the prosecutor’s role as a guardian of system integrity.”
—California appeals court judge Laurie Zelon, writing on possible conspiring between the judge and the district attorney in Roman Polanski’s original trial.
Zelon and two other judges turned down Polanski’s request to have the case against him dropped, but suggested an avenue for Polanski’s defense.
Economics writer (and blogger) David Warsh explains (in his usual thoughtful, eloquent way) why Paul Samuelson mattered/s. Careful readers will notice modern-day references.
Paul Samuelson truly was the smartest guy in the room – with the exception of the occasional meetings with John von Neumann. From the beginning he enjoyed a reputation as an enfant terrible. The joke was that when he defended his dissertation, one professor on Samuelson’s committee asked him, “Did we pass?” He was no easier on the investors and financiers whose practices he studied.
That’s what Michael Moore says the rest of America should do to demonstrate its near-universal dislike and lack of respect for Joe Lieberman.
The Connecticut Post responds:
Really? Little old Connecticut? How would anyone get from New York to Boston?
…In truth, of course, many people in Connecticut are just as mad at our senator, and are doing all sorts of pressuring to get him to change his mind. And punishing the 49-plus-percent of voters who supported someone else the last election seems a bit extreme.
…There’s also the fact that, though you never hear much about it, Lieberman himself can’t do anything. Were all 40 Senate Republicans not dead set against any reform whatsoever, Joe’s stance would be meaningless. How about punishing the states that put them in office?
There has to be a way to show frustration for and disgust with Lieberman without hurting Connecticut.
Harvard does some wonderful things, including employing Greg Mankiw, Ed Glaeser, and Ruth Wisse—but after reading this [Bloomberg] article even a loyal alumnus would have to think really hard before giving the school another dime.
Kara Miller, a lecturer in rhetoric and history at Babson College, writes in the Globe that, in general, her American students lack the work ethic and the positive attitude towards education that her foreign students manifest.
My “C,’’ “D,’’ and “F’’ students this semester are almost exclusively American, while my students from India, China, and Latin America have - despite language barriers - generally written solid papers, excelled on exams, and become valuable class participants.
…Too many 18-year-old Americans, meanwhile, text one another under their desks (certain they are sly enough to go unnoticed), check e-mail, decline to take notes, and appear tired and disengaged…
Miller describes how a number of her American students come to her office hours to ask how they can do better in her course, only to fail to follow up on her suggestions.
Which, to me, sounds like ass-kissing on the students’ part—hoping that their visit alone will be enough to make a professor bump up their grade.
When Republican senator John Thune from South Dakota tries to lie about the health care bill, Franken calls him out, saying “We are entitled to our own opinions. We are not entitled to our own facts.”
Gripping stuff for the Senate floor. And Franken is turning out to be a pretty interesting senator.