Tinkerty Tonk

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2

Apocalyptic megalomanics who want change
2008-01-08 17:52:00
I've been thinking about the election and the supposed referendum for change. As one of you pointed out, '"I'm the candidate of change" [is] one of those obligatory statements that all candidates make.' That's true--when the incumbent isn't running. I suppose what annoys me is the country's-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket tone.The day after Iowa all the talk was about change. And fear. I heard NPR's two Davids opine about middle class malaise. How everyone's afraid they're going to lose their house. Or their job. Or their health insurance. Or all three in one fell swoop. At first I wanted to slap all the whiny middle class crybabies. Then I got to thinking: They only repeat what they hear on the campaign trail. And what they hear is gloom and doom.OK, you can't run an effective campaign whose theme is "It's not that bad." Bush I tried it to counter the Clintonian double whammy of "It's the economy, stupid" and what I like to call Health Insurance Scare I. But the truth is...
More About: Change

It's not Hillary's tears that get me
2008-01-08 13:26:00
It's the early Christian martyr complex: It’s not easy. It’s not easy. And I couldn’t do it if I just didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do. I have so many opportunities for this country. I just don’t want to see us fall back.The faux apocalyptic concern:And so, when we look at the array of problems we have, and the potential for getting, it spinning out of control, this is one of the most important elections America has ever faced.And the megalomania:This is very personal for me. It’s not just political, it’s not just — I see what’s happening. We have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game. It’s like, who’s up or who’s down. It’s about our country. It’s about our kids’ futures. And it’s really about all of us, together.And some of us who do this put ourselves out there and do this under some pretty difficult odds. And we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country.

What's with this clamor for change?
2008-01-04 17:20:00
For one thing, neither Bush nor his VP are running. So change is inevitable, anyway.For another, with the exception of the very recent housing bubble, the economy has been chugging along at a not-bad pace for the past seven years. And the war? The surge is working. When I want a change, I cut my hair or rearrange the furniture.
More About: Change , Clam

Happy New Year!
2008-01-01 04:09:00
May your 2008 be as full of zest and joy as this video.
More About: New Year , Happy , Happy New Year , Year

Miscellany
2007-12-31 16:49:00
Snitch: Barack Obama.Root causes.Who was she? The real Benazir Bhutto."The holy, catholic, and apostolic church of food": Michael Pollan.Mother knows best: McCain's 95-year-old Mo.
More About: Miscellany

Miracle musical
2007-12-28 16:40:00
"Showboat" opened 80 years ago.On opening night in 1927, the curtain went up on a dockside scene with black stevedores loading cotton bales onto a steamboat. They sang, “Niggers all work on de Mississippi,/ Niggers all work while de white folks play.”The words were shocking, even in 1927, but they honestly portrayed the racial situation of 1880s Mississippi. Indeed, dealing with race at all in a Broadway production was shocking. It was, in fact, unprecedented to have black actors playing real characters, not racial stereotypes, in a musical, and performing side by side with white actors. But as the civil rights movement gathered force in the ensuing years, directors and producers felt obliged to tone down the original. “Niggers all work,” became “Darkies all work,” then “Colored folks work,” and then “Here we all work.”In recent years Show Boat has even been accused of being racist itself, instead of the giant leap forward in racial understanding and honesty that...
More About: Musical , Miracle

Miscellany
2007-12-27 17:35:00
His favorite things and other facts about Walt Disney.Ghosts of Christmas past: Guiyu in China.The sex-less generation: Gen X.How's your drink? Cocktails.Porn: It's screwing up sex.
More About: Miscellany

Man who remade obituary page receives his own
2007-12-27 17:24:00
Hugh Massingberd dies at age 60.Telegraph readers found themselves regaled by such characters as Canon Edward Young, the first chaplain of a striptease club; the last Wali of Swat, who had a fondness for brown Windsor soup; and Judge Melford Stevenson, who considered that "a lot of my colleagues are just constipated Methodists".The column also made a speciality of tales of derring-do from the Second World War. The foibles of aristocrats proved another fertile source.The 6th Earl of Carnarvon appeared as a "relentless raconteur and most uncompromisingly direct ladies' man".The 9th Earl of St Germans listed his recreations as "huntin' the slipper, shootin' a line, fishin' for compliments".The 12th Marquess of Huntly married a nurse 40 years his junior: "I still have my own teeth. Why should I marry some dried up old bag?"Part of the fun lay in the style which Massingberd evolved to pin down the specimens on display. Liberace, readers were gravely informed, "never married". Hopeles...
More About: Page , Obituary

'Horrible inevitability'
2007-12-27 16:45:00
Mark Steyn on Benazir Bhutto's assassination:Since her last spell in power, Pakistan has changed, profoundly. Its sovereignty is meaningless in increasingly significant chunks of its territory, and, within the portions Musharraf is just about holding together, to an ever more radicalized generation of young Muslim men Miss Bhutto was entirely unacceptable as the leader of their nation. "Everyone’s an expert on Pakistan, a faraway country of which we know everything," I wrote last month. "It seems to me a certain humility is appropriate." The State Department geniuses thought they had it all figured out. They'd arranged a shotgun marriage between the Bhutto and Sharif factions as a "united" "democratic" "movement" and were pushing Musharraf to reach a deal with them. That's what diplomats do: They find guys in suits and get 'em round a table. But none of those representatives represents the rapidly evolving reality of Pakistan. Miss Bhutto could never have been a viable leader ...

I don't get it
2007-12-27 16:24:00
Fred Thompson and Bill Richardson leading the Pajamas Media Presidential Straw Poll. Why?Via Instapundit.

What do you want to bet
2007-12-27 13:38:00
That someone will propose outlawing tigers in zoos in the wake of the San Francisco tiger incident?I'm listening to the "Today Show" right now and Ann Curry is grilling this zoo expert as if the "zoo community" were pulling one over on the rest of us and knowingly exposing our children, or rather "The Children," to danger for the sake of ... What? Filthy lucre? Are the zookeepers of America in league with Big Pharma? I paraphrase:Zoo guy: This is a once-in-a-century event.Curry: Sir, can you guarantee that this sort of thing will not occur again?Zoo guy: This is as if there were never a car accident in the history of automobiles. It's unprecedented.Curry: You, sir, are not responding to the question. Is it possible that this will occur again?Zoo guy: Anything's possible when you're dealing with a wild animal, but this ....Curry: Can you, sir, in good conscience recommend taking children to the zoo in light of this horrific event?Rest assured that the San Francisco City Council i...

Tax on wine and liquor unchanged for years
2007-12-26 15:15:00
And David Leonhardt has a problem with that.But taxes serve a purpose beyond merely raising general government revenue. Taxes on a given activity are also supposed to pay the costs that activity imposes on society. And for all that is wonderful about wine, beer and liquor, they clearly bring some heavy costs.Because what is government for, if not to force us to behave in the way people like David Leonhardt want us to behave?
More About: Wine , Years , Liquor

Miscellany
2007-12-21 01:36:00
A blue New Year: Prediction.Now that's a throne.Faggot: BBC overreach.Lady Chatterly's Christmas.US annexes Amazon forest: Forgery.
More About: Miscellany

Help me choose
2007-12-19 04:29:00
How shall I spend my $100 gift certificate? The Report Signature shoe is nearly double the price of the gift certificate, so it's likely out of the question. But I'm drawn to it.Opinion Polls & Market Research
More About: Choose

Adventures in customer service
2007-12-19 01:47:00
When approached by a customer who's had a problem with her order, help resolve the issue. Do not go into lengthy detail about IT issues; employees who are lazy, arrogant, or stupid; or problems with the supply chain. Save it for the company newsletter.Special message to busy baristas: When a customer complains that she hasn't gotten her order, avoid calling the customer a liar. It makes her grouchy.
More About: Customer Service , Service , Customer , Adventures , Ventures

Miscellany
2007-12-18 14:00:00
What not to wear: The party shirt.Most annoying: Software developments.Poor old internet: Hand-wringing.The Bushnell administration: Television for women.Five pounds and growing: Handbag weight.
More About: Miscellany

I win! I win!
2007-12-18 03:01:00
For building the best outfit in the Manolo's Build the Outfit #8. Here's the winning entry:For the Manolo it was the very colorful short dress that made this outfit. Tall, dark, and handsome boots like these require a the short dress, so that the tiniest bit of thigh might be shown. The splash of color here enlivens the boots and makes what could be somber, more festive.The honor would have been enough, but the $100 gift certificate at heels.com makes this victory even sweeter. Mommy really does need a new pair of shoes.

NJ outlaws executions
2007-12-14 14:44:00
Makes sense, especially since the state hasn't actually executed anyone since 1963. I'm pretty wobbly on the topic of the death penalty, but if you're not going to execute anyone, why have a death penalty?What the death penalty cost the state since being reinstated in 1982.Former death row inmate, John Marshall, featured in the book, Blind Faith, gives his two cents.I interviewed this guy, who escaped execution after the death penalty was repealed the first time. Creepy guy. The issue of Thomas Trantino's parole was a frequent newspaper topic as the convicted killer was eligible for parole every other year or so. It became a semi-annual ritual in New Jersey that went roughly like this:Trantino would become eligible for paroleHis victim's families would mobilize against the proposalDemonstrations would be staged by both sidesLawmakers in Trenton would hold a hearingParole would be deniedExcept for 1988. That year two members of the state parole board, meeting in secret, granted ...
More About: Outlaws , Executions