Sage Advice

The best $20 you can spend right now: some new socks.

Never a high priority, I know, but trust me, it's an underrated, low-cost quality-of-life upgrade. I'm telling you, don't even be like, "Ok, next time I go to Target I'll remember to pick some up". Be like, "I'm gonna go to Target today to pick up some socks".

This is how I roll. Come summer, I do it like this or this, depending on where the shoe hits my Achilles' heel. And they're black because that's how my brother does it, on the rare occasions when he's not wearing these.

In other sock-related ruminations, when I become a man of means, I will wear a pair of socks no more than twice. When I really become a man of means, I won't be wearing any socks at all.


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Now Read This (Nobel Prize Swagger)

The final member of my anti-bullshit team's starting line-up is a bona fide Nobel Prize winner, economist Paul Krugman--columnist for the the New York Times and professor at Princeton.

You can catch his columns here and his blog here. I think you have to register with the NYT site, and if you haven't--well, you just can't count yourself among the liberal elite, now can you?

The New Yorker just profiled him last week, which you can read here to find out how he went from merely an economist to a mild-mannered flame-thrower who can wield wit and statistical analysis with equal aplomb.

Just look at him. How can you not love him? He's a cross between Sigmund Freud and George Clooney. He's brilliant. He's funny. Too bad he's married!

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Yeah, I Know It's Cheating...

...to rely on posts that point out other people's stuff. But fuck it. Science must be dropped--does it matter who does the dropping?

I submit it does not. Where would we be if Galileo didn't drop the orange?

Permit me to follow up on my post about Queen, specifically with regard to the song "Under Pressure". (I know you didn't listen to the song, let alone look at the lyrics. That's ok, it's what I'm here for.)

So here are the lyrics (minus Freddie Mercury's inimitable freestyle sounds--some things should not be presented in written form, trust me):

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure - that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets

Chippin' around - kick my brains around the floor
These are the days it never rains but it pours

People on streets
People on streets
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher high high
Pressure on people - people on streets

Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
but it's so slashed and torn
Why - why - why ?
Love love love love love
Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

And here is the song:
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Now Read This (Advanced Political Content)

Ok, yesterday I hipped you to Michael Lind, a reasonable center-left writer whose brief articles appear from time to time on Salon.com. I know you haven't read all the links I highlighted yet. That's cool.

Nevertheless, today I want to post about the man, the myth the legend, Glenn Greenwald. He's a featured blogger at Salon.com. (Yes, another Salon shout-out, I know.) Now, just because I used the "b" word doesn't mean Glenn's not a badass motherfucker with serious credentials. He's a constitutional scholar, bitches. Progressive to the core, so much so that he pisses off tons of middle-of-the-road and Establishment Democrats every day before you've brushed your teeth.

He posts almost daily. He doesn't pull punches. He holds feet to the fire and calls out liars and bullshitters. He help keeps the needle on my righteous indignation meter pinned in the red. He looks like Ron Reagan, Jr. (that's not really a plus, but I felt compelled to mention it. Nobody else seems to).

Bottom line, he helps me cut through the bullshit. Maybe he can do the same for you.
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Now Read This

I've decided that rather than do the hard work of synthesizing the cool shit I read about society, politics, economics and the like, I decided that I'd start using my blog to collect the best of what I'm reading so you guys can digest it yourselves.

Allow me to present Michael Lind, editor of the New American Contract, writes frequently for a Salon.com, a center-left website that I read daily, as many of you know. He thinks and writes in a clear, straightforward manner.

I suggest you start with this, his latest column. Some pretty interesting insights, though I don't know what, if any, conclusions we can draw from them.
Here are some other good ones:

FDR's Second Bill of Rights

The Pledge of Allegiance is Un-American

The Tax Breaks That Ate America

Incorporate This!

Enjoy. And yes there will be a quiz. When you least expect it.
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