Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sunday morning roundup

Nicholas Kristof reminds us that Haiti is not the only tragedy in the world. And the Red Cross is certainly not the only organization doing something about it.

Never a dull moment in the Caucasus.

Frank Rich embraces the SOTU and calls for more in the same vein. That column goes nicely with the New Yorker's 'Tea Party' article, which basically argues that the tea partiers are not a bunch of lobbyist-led rednecks. Fair enough, but that doesn't mean that ignorance doesn't pervade their agenda. On an unrelated note, Jackson Diehl makes a good point about what wasn't said in the SOTU.

Secretary Paulson dishes on the players in the rescue of the financial system and tells Sarah Palin not to call him 'Hank.' Andrew Young dishes on the John Edwards debacle, and even though, as I've said before, I don't care, the stuff that went down is just wrong. Paul Strathern dishes on Borgia, Machiavelli and Da Vinci in what sounds like a great read.

A new book compellingly tells of a social wrong on the part of the medical establishment.

Another book celebrates chutzpah, but Zachary Goldfarb, the reviewer, is skeptical.

Michelle Singletary advises us to stop pretending that we're rich. Did you know that 86 percent of luxury vehicles are driven by non-millionaires? Whereas millionaires do go for $16 haircuts and $10 bottles of wine.

The Times articulates my thought on the choose-life Super Bowl ad: "choose life" is still pro-choice. Let it go. Writers for the Post make the same point less concisely. Here's what's not okay about CBS's ad choices.


Mmmmmm, green curry ramen.

1 comment:

Ernessa T. Carter said...

I love Michelle Singletary. She's very practical and I think she should be given an even larger platform b/c she gives conservative advice and keeps it real. Growing up in the black community, I often saw the same thing: People who didn't own houses but drove luxury vehicles.

However, I will say that the rules are different in LA. I loved my Echo and it was totally reasonable. But showing up to a big wine and dine in an Echo does not send the right message to people you want to work with. It's a little like an actress showing up in sweats for a meeting with a director. On one hand, if she's good, the director shouldn't mind -- but it sends the wrong message.

Right now I drive a Ford Escape Hybrid, b/c that really represents me and my values w/o being totally flash or economy. However, if I'm meeting with someone really big, I drive my husband's luxury vehicle. And I admit that I would think it weird if anyone I was doing business with showed up, driving anything but a luxury vehicle or a hybrid. It wouldn't cause me not to do business with them. I would just be surprised.