Bogus Gold

I'm late I know. My excuse is that Tuesday is the new Monday among the trendy hepcat set. The other alternative - pretending I consider Presidents' Day a serious holiday - is too vile to consider.

Anyway, to catch us up a bit, I'll do one of those lazy roundup posts. I'd do it in haikus, but someone is a wee bit sensitive about having his bits swiped (don't know why... I'll bet having ones bits swiped costs you good money in Nevada).

Fareed "Fred" Zakaria (I made up the "Fred" part, but it's better, no?) wrote a column yesterday about the The End of Conservatism, which asks more questions than it provides answers, but it's pretty freakin' insightful. The gist of it for the lazy non-link clickers:

Conservatism grew powerful in the 1970s and 1980s because it proposed solutions appropriate to the problems of the age—a time when socialism was still a serious economic idea, when marginal tax rates reached 70 percent, and when the government regulated the price of oil and natural gas, interest rates on checking accounts and the number of television channels. The culture seemed under attack by a radical fringe. It was an age of stagflation and crime at home, as well as defeat and retreat abroad. ...

Political ideologies do not exist in a vacuum. They need to meet the problems of the world as it exists. Ordinary conservatives understand this, which may be why—despite the urgings of their ideological gurus—they have voted for McCain.

Then there was this big discussion about how and why the "religious right" screwed up so badly that John McCain became the Republican nominee. We bounced from USA Today, to Captains Quarters, to Hot Air on that one. Of course no one seemed to answer what I consider the far more obvious question... Why did non-evangelical Republican Party voters repeatedly flip the bird to formerly respected evangelical leaders like James Dobson? Answer: because so many of them behaved like total asses loudly and in public so often. Lesson: You don't increase your influence within any party by threatening to leave it. To the contrary, you marginalize your influence.

Oh, in case anyone still thought he was running things, Fidel Castro "retired" as President of Cuba today. Why anyone thinks the official pronouncements of that regime are any kind of newsworthy at this point baffles me. But since all the cool, properly layered, filtered, and paid new sources are reporting on it in such breathless above-the-fold fashion we'll play along. I hope his "retirement" is about as peaceful as Osama bin Laden's current "sabbatical" from Afghanistan.

In Old Media's defense, some of them are actually giving us the news we can use.

To New Media's credit, some at least know to ask for help when a topic seems a bit weighty to tackle all alone.

Now we go into the lightning round. Category: Name things people told us which were pretty freaking obvious.

Ryan tells us he's not often very serious on his blog.

Don't smoke, drink, get diabetes; Do exercise, avoid high blood pressure... and you may live longer than otherwise.

Andy is apparently alive.

American Idol apparently looks for new ways to make money.

Derek likes playing with his blog's design.

That is all. Deeper thoughts coming. When I get around to it.