The Bob Edwards Show

Vice Magazine's interview with David Simon

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:02:21 -0500

Vice Magazine's interview with David Simon:

This is the longest interview we’ve ever run by a long shot, but come on. It’s the guy who made The Wire. You’re lucky the entire issue isn’t about him.

Documentary looking for support

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:26:50 -0500

Documentary looking for support

Complete prepared remarks of President Obama at West Point

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:48:47 -0500

Complete prepared remarks of President Obama at West Point:

(via soupsoup)

"Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:43:51 -0500

“Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.”

- Mark Twain (via azspot)

"Think on this: A congressional race can easily cost $1,000,000 but the congressman is in office for..."

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:18:08 -0500

“Think on this: A congressional race can easily cost $1,000,000 but the congressman is in office for only 730 days. That means he must raise $1,370 for each and every day he is in office, weekends, Christmas, Easter, and Flag Day included. And now consider that this office represents but 1/435th of ½ of 1/3rd of the Federal power. When you do math, enormous sums of money are involved, and there are limited sources for that kind of money. The money appears as a “donation,” but it is in fact a purchase, an investment, and the investors expect a decent return on their money. Or rather, an indecent return.”

- Is America Ungovernable? (via azspot)

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect."

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:21:46 -0500

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”

- Mark Twain (via soupsoup)

"The argument by some that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be treated as a warrior and not as a common..."

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:04:17 -0500

“The argument by some that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be treated as a warrior and not as a common criminal misses the point. He wants us to treat him as a warrior. But he should, and will, be treated as the common terrorist criminal that he is.”

- Senator Carl Levin (via soupsoup)

The second-best gift would have been a honeymoon to a place with health care

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:07:54 -0500

Really?

Taegan Goddard:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) “skipped his son’s Saturday afternoon wedding in Iowa in favor of the contentious debate over the public insurance option and abortion funding,” Roll Call reports…

King added that voting against the bill was “the best gift I could give my son.”

soupsoup: 10 year old shreds the Eddie Van Halen solo in...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:38:07 -0500

soupsoup:

10 year old shreds the Eddie Van Halen solo in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” (@chrisdimare)

30 reasons why Fox News is not legit

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:48:03 -0400

30 reasons why Fox News is not legit:

(via azspot)

mrshl: oberholtzer: Left vs Right | Information Is...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:33:00 -0400

mrshl:

oberholtzer:

Left vs Right | Information Is Beautiful

azspot: xkcd

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:11:03 -0400

azspot:

xkcd

The problem with cable news thinking

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:02:47 -0400

The problem with cable news thinking:

azspot:

Cable news thinking has nothing to do with fires or with politics. Instead, it amplifies the worst elements of emotional reaction:

Focus on the urgent instead of the important.

Vivid emotions and the visuals that go with them as a selector for what’s important.

Emphasis on noise over thoughtful analysis.

Unwillingness to reverse course and change one’s mind.

Xenophobic and jingoistic reactions (fear of outsiders).

Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform.

Things become important merely because others have decided they are important.

Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel).

Ill-informed about history and this particular issue.

Confusing opinion with the truth.

Revising facts to fit a point of view.

Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time.

Bob on television this morning in Louisville talking about our...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:35:56 -0400

Bob on television this morning in Louisville talking about our weekly series “This I Believe.

The Decline of the English Department

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:29:17 -0400

The Decline of the English Department:

givemesomethingtoread:

During the last four decades, a well-publicized shift in what undergraduate students prefer to study has taken place in American higher education. The number of young men and women majoring in English has dropped dramatically; the same is true of philosophy, foreign languages, art history, and kindred fields, including history.

The Cost of Empire

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:30:52 -0400

The Cost of Empire:

azspot:

Now look at it this way. The United States’ military budget is $636,292,979,000. Now, think about the “grave threats to our security” that neoconservatives are always rambling about–and realize that they spend a tiny percentage of this amount on their militaries:

Russia - $39,600,000,000
China - $70,308,600,000
North Korea - $5,500,000,000
Iran - $2,500,000,000
Venezuela - $4,000,000,000

In other words, we could cut military spending in half and we’d still be spending about three times as much as our “major threats” combined.

"America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are..."

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:57:28 -0400

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves…. It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters.”

- Kurt Vonnegut (via azspot)

"You want to know why the left has ideas and the right has discipline? Because people who like ideas..."

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:10:32 -0400

“You want to know why the left has ideas and the right has discipline? Because people who like ideas and dislike authority tend to identify with the Democratic left, while people who feel threatened by new ideas and more comfortable in a disciplined and ordered world tend to identify with the Republican right. Democrats and progressives let a thousand flowers bloom. Republicans and the right issue directives. This has been the yin and yang of American politics and culture. But it means that the Democratic left’s new ideas often fall victim to its own notorious lack of organization and to the right’s highly-organized fear mongering.”

- Robert Reich (via azspot)

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by..."

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:15:46 -0400

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

- Plato (via azspot)

What Really Killed Mozart? Maybe Strep

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:54:27 -0400

What Really Killed Mozart? Maybe Strep