Blowing & Drifting

More or less by design, today was a nice relaxed first day back at home. We ran a few errands, did some sledding, played with some of the Christmas toys, belted out “Hark the Herald Angeles Sing” a half-dozen times, reenacted the Nativity in various forms, and generally enjoyed the comforts of home. The girls, [...]

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Saturday was a long, up-and-down day that began with a truly incredible amount of fussing by the eldest but which finished on a sustained high note. After the girls’ naps, we headed across town to a casual holiday party hosted by friends. We drank cocoa, ate cookies, watched the kids decorate and then eat cookies, [...]

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More brilliance from Someecards:

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My day started well: my morning email included a link to an article by Larry Beinhart in the Huffington Post that briefly quotes a refereed essay I wrote a few years ago, “The American Economy during World War II.” Arguing for massive public spending to curb and reverse the current recession, Beinhart uses my essay [...]

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The end of the campaign has meant that I’m blogging a lot less on politics, but this article by Neal Gabler in the L.A. Times is worth passing along, both for its cogent historical analysis of the GOP’s recent history and for its insights into the current civil war within the party between the right-wingers [...]

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I received this message at one of my work accounts on Tuesday: McCain Lawyer Impeach Obama! McCain has reached an agreement with the Obama lawyers that makes Obama resignation effective November 11. Barack Obama can lost President’s Chair. McCain video report 10 November: Proceed to the election results news page 2008 USA Government Official Web [...]

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A coworker sent me a fantastic “back then” article from Carleton’s student newspaper about a little-known but up-and-coming Illinois politician who visited the College to kick off Black History Month in 1999.

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Today marks the 90th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I, a cataclysm which, among other outcomes, destroyed many of Europe’s monarchies and two of the world’s largest empires (the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman), bankrupted Britain, allowed the emergence of international communism as a powerful social movement, created a model for technologically-driven total warfare, [...]

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The New Yorker just published a great set of “visual commentaries” on the Obama victory. All seven illustrations are worth checking out (Obama as Jackie Robinson! as Adam?), but as a die-hard New Dealer, I like this one most: Leaving aside the cigarette holder, since Obama stopped smoking a few years ago, I think it’s [...]

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So good. My favorites: Obama with the Sears above him, everyone watching McCain concede, the new First Family, BHO pointing.

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I can’t say I’m much less elated now – 48 hours after Election Day – than I was then. I am, however, immersed in media related to what is now being called the Obama Administration. I. A lot of Obama headlines. II. Global reaction to Obama’s victory in the Times and on MPR. III. A [...]

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“The Dream Of Our Founders Is Alive”

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6:58 am: The final electoral-vote map shows a near-landslide for Obama: 338-161 or 63%/37%. 6:36 am: It looks like Coleman has won the senate race by 1,118 votes, or 0.046% of the vote. That’s an automatic recount. 12:09 am: Okay, I think that’s enough for tonight. The Franken-Coleman race is still chugging towards something like [...]

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It’s been a warm, overcast, humid day here – more late May than early November. Around two, the clouds thickened and cast a dusk-like pall over the campus. Around then, I clicked on some link somewhere and watched this incredible bit of an Obama speech last night. No lie: as the video culminated with the [...]

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It’s morning in America.

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