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The conservative commentariat today is grumpy. And perhaps none is grumpier than Red State’s Erick Erickson, who’s unhappy not only with the Republicans’ eight-vote front-runner, Mitt Romney, but with his newly elevated conservative challenger, Rick Santorum.
Complaining that Santorum is a “big government conservative” in the tradition of George W. Bush, Erickson writes that the former Pennsylvania senator’s reputation as a retail politician is vastly overblown. “His campaign was not successful, it’s just all the others sucked so bad,” he

To maximize their odds of reclaiming their hold on the White House, the Republican establishment believes they need two things:
To nominate Mitt Romney;
To effectively end the Republican nominating process as soon as possible.
Last night’s results from Iowa lower the odds they will get either.
In fact, what we saw in Iowa last night was the Republican base gagging on the Presidential candidate the Republican establishment is trying desperately to cram down their throats.
Romney – and Republican Super Pacs – spent millions of dollars trying to convince Republican caucus-goers that Romney should carry the Republican banner next fall. But in the end 75% said

A favorite talking point for politicians these days is that the deficit is too high. Since raising taxes is unthinkable, downsizing government is the only option, but no one can agree on what to cut.
Here is a suggestion that will reduce the deficit and the size of government, not raise taxes and greatly improve national security: close the State Department.
That may sound radical, since not even Rick Perry has suggested it. (Unless State was another agency that he forgot he wants to eliminate.) It makes sense, however, and not just because it would save over $40 billion — the Department’s annual budget. That big building in Foggy Bottom near all the monuments can be turned into a Motel 6, making it a moneymaker rather than a revenue eater.
The 270-some embassies and consulates around the world would also be

Review of Invisible Men: Men’s Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence. By Michael Addis. Times Books. 282

Program Cover features Leger’s ‘Nude on a Red Background,’ 1927. ARS.
If you haven’t been to the Getty Villa in awhile, now is the time to plan a quick trip there… before January 16th, when the current extraordinary exhibition will be leaving. The Getty Villa, part of the

Every new year starts with a diet, right? Well, here’s mine this year: I try not to eat anything white. Before you scoff or laugh, let me explain. I have lived through every diet phase, trend, and obsession that has swept through America for the last 49 years (since, after all, we publish diet books and sell diets on the covers of all our magazines…well, except Organic Gardening). I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t and how things evolve over

For the past two years, I’ve been lucky enough to be a small part of a show called Portlandia. The series — created by the prolifically talented Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and returning on Friday for a second season — has been described by many a stinging satire of Hipster culture. While it does parody Hipster earnestness, the show pays loving tribute to communities LIKE Portland everywhere — Silver Lake, Austin, Bolder, Williamsburg, Minneapolis, North Hampton, Berkeley, etc, etc, etc — and much has been made about how the show has puts Hipster Culture in the spotlight.
I must say, however, Hipsters are not a new TV

The lead article in the NY Times Magazine on Jan. 1, 2012, no doubt timed to coincide with the annual bumper crop of weight loss resolutions, is a poignant and personal essay by Tara Parker-Pope suggesting that we are, in essence, at war with our bodies over weight control.
Ms. Parker-Pope refers candidly to her own weight loss struggles, and to those of her late

In reviewing the Iowa Caucuses, wherein former Governor Mitt Romney achieved his desired victory with a margin of eight votes over former Senator Rick Santorum, I can only conclude that the votes demonstrate conclusively Shakespeare was right about the masses and their follow-the-pack mentality.
Reference Julius Caesar and the Brutus and Marc Antony speeches after the assassination of the late emperor. Brutus whips the crowd into a frenzy about Caesar’s excesses so that they will excuse his actions and that of his cronies in perpetrating the murder. Then, in an act of bravado and ultimately very stupid display of democracy, he allows Caesar aficionado Marc Antony to say a few words about his friend and mentor, provided that he says nothing inflammatory about their deed.
In the brilliant “Friends, Romans and Countrymen” speech orated by Antony, he starts off deferentially, almost meekly, as he “comes to bury Caesar, not to praise him,” but in so doing cites Caesar’s greatness, slowly building the momentum towards the conclusion that Brutus and his pals have effected an act of betrayal.
While the Iowa caucus is not about unsavory actions of the sort that inhabitat Julius Caesar, it shows how people immediately turn their attentions away from their favorite candidates, reacting almost en masse when, after certain accusations hit their mark, they abandon one to a scrap heap and head on to a new favorite son.
Examine the evidence. In the summer, somehow Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll and was incredibly in the top

We’ve all heard the pronouncements–ancient Mayans predicted the end of world by December 21, 2012. Perhaps you’ve read the books, sat through the documentaries, saw the movie.
Now it’s 2012 and I can categorically state: this is not the end of the world. According to my friend, the Irish American storyteller Michael Meade, the world can’t end. Humans are the makeweight of

Photograph courtesy of Julie Hanna
After recently visiting Art Basel, the art convention that occurs in Miami each year, I was struck by the wealth of artistic talent in our community. Sure there were talents from all over the world but I felt predominantly compelled towards the vibrant colors and familiar images of my culture. It also made me wonder about the artists.
My sister and I, first generation Americans and the first in our family to attend college, were raised with a very strong work ethic. When it came time to choose majors in college and career paths post-study the choices were made with responsibility at the forefront of our

It’s usually pretty quiet in the old colonial town of Higey in the Dominican Republic. Not so when January 21 rolls around each year. On that day — the national holiday of Nuestra Seora de la Altagracia (Our Lady of the Highest Grace, the Virgin Mary) — it looks like every last soul in this central Caribbean country has shown up there to pray, sing and dance in the streets.
The holiday spotlight falls on Higey because the Basilica de Nuestra Seora de la Altagracia is there, its iconic, 200-foot-high arch towering over the town.
Why the basilica was built in Higey is the stuff of legends. One of the most popular stories goes back to the days when Christopher Columbus was making the island of Hispaniola — now shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti — his home base in “the New World.” In 1494, the little Taino Indian village of Higey, meaning “the place where the sun’s rays first shine each day,” found itself in the sights of the Spanish invaders’ arquebus muskets.
As the story goes, the Tainos were less than excited about giving up their sunny city to the foreigners, and were about to send them packing — the hard way — into

At Uptake, my colleagues and I have crawled Facebook’s friend graph, analyzing the travel buzz in over 200 million comments, status updates, photo descriptions and check-ins from hundreds of thousands of people. We’ve whittled all this analysis down to create one ultimate list of top travel destinations you shouldn’t miss in 2012. We hope that the list and pictures inspire your next great travel experience!
An interesting side note: The town of Farmville, Virginia was removed from our Top 10 List when we realized that the reason it ranked so high in our results was that everyone on Facebook was talking about Farmville the game, not the city. Sorry Farmville, Virginia, better luck next year!
Luang Prabang, Laos
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Most people limit their exploration of Southeast Asia to its better known neighbors of Thailand and

Rick Perry has always been just smart enough to know what he can do and what is a waste of his time. When he was asked to sponsor bills during his days in the legislature, he told proponents not to bother leaving him analysis or draft copies because he would never read them.
“Just tell me what it does,” he said.
When he won his first statewide office as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, he did it by changing parties and having Karl Rove run his campaign. Perry, in fact, later acknowledged, “Karl did everything.” Unfortunately, more than a decade after he left that office, Texas is still dealing with bad debts from an agriculture loan program backed by

Or why you shouldn’t stop contributing to your 401k plan
The ancient Mayan people, whose empire extended across much of Central America from late-antiquity to the 1500s, maintained a complex system of calendars — which, oddly enough, ended with this year, 2012. This anomaly in Mayan timekeeping has caused many today to wonder whether the great calendar-makers foresaw an apocalypse in our era. The truth is more complex. Here are today’s top 10 myths about 2012.

I recently had some experiences in mediation that I would like to share with you. I believe that mediation is the best way to resolve a divorce or any other dispute because it has the parties going through a process where they are actively involved. They make decisions that impact upon their lives with the aid of the mediator and their attorneys. It is a way to stay out of the

Monogamy is failing men.
Not only is it failing them, but it’s a “socially compelled sexual incarceration” that can lead to a life of anger and contempt, or so says Eric Anderson, an American sociologist at England’s University of Winchester and author of the provocative new book, The Monogamy Gap: Men, Love, and the Reality of Cheating (Oxford University Press, $49.99).
Cheating, however, serves men pretty well. An undiscovered affair allows them to keep their relationship and emotional intimacy, and even if they’re busted it’s a lot easier than admitting that they wanted to screw someone else in the first place, he writes.
In his study of 120 undergraduate men, 78 percent of those who had a partner cheated, “even though they said that they loved and intended to stay with their partner.” Contrary to what we may think, most men aren’t cheating because they don’t love their partner, he says; they cheat because they just want to have sex with others. And society shouldn’t pooh-pooh that.
Monogamy’s stronghold on our beliefs — what he calls monogamism — brings ostracism and judgment to anyone who questions or strays from its

Source:Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant scored 37 points, Andrew Bynum had 21 points and 22 rebounds in the first 20-20 game of his career, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 108-99 Tuesday night for their fourth victory in five games.Pau Gasol scored 14 points for the Lakers against the franchise that tried to acquire him in a three-team trade in the offseason, and the Lakers survived a tight fourth quarter with Bryant’s brilliance and tough defense, holding the Rockets without a field goal for just under 6 minutes.Kobe eventually took over, scoring seven consecutive points down the stretch of the Lakers’ third straight win over the Rockets at home.Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and Luis Scola added 20 for the Rockets.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The

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You may have heard that “Work It” (Tues., 8:30 p.m. EST on ABC) is one of the worst sitcoms of all time. You heard correctly. In fact, if the Metacritic rating for this new show isn’t the lowest score ever for a television comedy, I confess, I’ll be a little disappointed in my fellow TV

Here are my takeaways from this year’s Iowa Caucus:
1. Not a Three-Way Finish
The Iowa results seem to suggest a close three-way race – 25-25-21. Yet among self-identified Republicans, the totals were actually 28-27-14, showing that Santorum and Romney lead the base, while independents and new voters propelled Paul. That makes Paul more likely to fade, because other states do not have same-day registration like

Source:Associated Press
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NEW ORLEANS — Brendan Gibbons drilled a 37-yard field goal down the middle in overtime to lift No. 13 Michigan to a 23-20 victory over Virginia Tech (No. 11 BCS, No. 17 AP) in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Tuesday night.The victory capped an impressive debut season for head coach Brady Hoke, who has led the Wolverines (11-2) back to prominence with a BCS bowl victory. Denard Robinson highlighted an otherwise unspectacular night with touchdown passes of 45 and 18 yards to Junior Hemingway.
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Virginia Tech (11-3) had more than double Michigan’s total yards, 377-184, and had 22 first downs to Michigan’s 12 but settled for four field goals in regulation by third-string kicker Justin Myer.However, Myer was unable to connect on his fifth try from 37 yards away in the opening possession of overtime.Robinson finished 9 for 21 for 117 yards passing and threw an interception. He rushed 13 times for a season-low 13 yards.Virginia Tech first-year starter Logan Thomas was 19 of 28 of 214 yards with one interception.Thomas scored Tech’s only touchdown on a 1-yard keeper that tied the game at 17 — after a 2-point conversion — early in the fourth quarter.Virginia Tech senior receiver Danny Coale, who ranks second all-time for the Hokies in catches and yards receiving, had eight catches for 117 yards, and nearly made a spectacular diving catch for a touchdown in overtime. Coale held on to the ball for what was initially ruled a score, but the play was overturned on video review, which showed the receiver narrowly landed on the sideline.The result of that third-down play forced Tech to try for Myer’s failed field goal.Michigan then ran three conservative runs to set up Gibbons in the middle of the field. As his kick sailed through, Gibbons sprinted toward the Michigan sidelined and was mobbed by teammates while the Michigan band belted out the school’s famous fight song, “The Victors,” while Michigan fans, in rhythm, thrust a sea of maize pom-poms in the air.
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Ron Paul’s strong showing in Iowa’s GOP caucuses creates a dilemma for the Republican Party, which has always treated him like a crazy uncle it would prefer to hide in the attic. Now Paul and his dedicated band of Libertarian followers can’t be ignored without jeopardizing the GOP’s chances in November. By finishing among the top tier of candidates in Iowa’s secret ballot, non-binding, presidential preference vote, Paul has made himself a force to be reckoned with, not just in future primaries but at the GOP’s national convention. Moreover, it positions him to influence the actions of the party’s eventual presidential nominee or even to bolt the GOP and run on his own in the

Based on a spate of recent posts (see here and links therein), a commenter (HT: Greg) asks a good, tough question of yours truly: on the one hand, I’ve argued long and hard that while we definitely need more progressive tax policies, the fact that the growth of inequality is largely a pretax phenomenon implies that tax changes alone won’t reverse the trend.
Yet, in this post reviewing the recent CRS inequality report, I point out that a) the increase in capital gains plays a large role in driving inequality trends, and b) if we taxed such gains as regular income (instead of at much reduced rates), that would help to reduce inequality.
So how can I argue on the one hand that tax policy is inherently limited as a tool against rising inequality, and on the other, that we should employ tax policy to push back on inequality?
I could invoke Walt Whitman: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes” — and leave it at that.
But better yet, let me explain. First, the evidence as shown in the chart here shows that increased inequality is a pretax story. Whether it’s the increase in earnings or wealth inequality, the latter including outsized gains from assets, that’s all occurred in the so-called primary distribution of income, before taxes and transfers get into the mix.
Now, that doesn’t mean that more progressive taxes and transfers can’t help offset higher inequality. They can, they should, and they

From a weather perspective, 2011 will be remembered as a year of extremes. This includes a record-breaking 12 billion-dollar-plus weather disasters and quite possibly 14.
Some of the images associated with the intense weather–not just of the billion-dollar disasters–were pulled together in a blog on weather.com: Meteorological Images of 2011.
There is, of course, some innate beauty in the captured images, but the images also generate a sense of awe at the power of the atmosphere and serve as and vivid reminders of the tragedies that will not be forgotten for many, many generations.
That’s especially true of the tornado outbreaks that were so devastating–and occurred with frequency–during the spring and summer months of 2011.
The ingredients for the Joplin tornado, the deadliest single tornado in more than 50 years, were captured on this NOAA image:
The most impressive snowstorm of the year was the so-called Groundhog Day Blizzard that hit the Midwest, including Chicago, particularly hard.
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