Mother Jones links to the Sunlight Foundation’s Transparency in Government Act 2008, explicitly linking it to Larry Lessig’s Change Congress campaign, but noting that the proposed legislation “goes beyond” Lessig’s platform.  This is actually one of my reasons for skepticism about the project.  CC asks candidates to pledge to, among other things, “support reform to […]

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When I covered the Republican National Convention in 2004, I kept tabs on the protest actions surrounding the convention via a handy-dandy Twitter-like text blasting service called TXTmob. Now those text messages are being subpoenaed by lawyers for New York City.  The messages themselves were relatively public—I was on the list, after all—and I’d be […]

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In light of DNI Mike  Mukasey’s recent weepy plea for more surveillance power, invoking phantom difficulties acquiring Iraqi communications, I find myself wondering about his real audience.  Many of us have made the assumption, perhaps uncharitable, that Mukasey and company are overstating the obstacles they face in hopes of getting still broader statutory authority.  But […]

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This weekend, I wandered into a local bookstore to browse a bit and ended up grabbing a copy of John Rawls’ posthumously-published Lectures in the History of Political Philosophy. (I note with some satisfaction that this volume boasts a nicely-designed cover, a feature normally reserved for trendy texts consumed by Comp Lit majors and ignored […]

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Jessica Valenti is pissed that a relaunch of the Sweet Valley High series has retconned the twin protagonists from a “perfect size 6” to a “perfect size 4.”  I’m sympathetic to the idea that kids literature probably shouldn’t be compounding young girls’ body image issues by stipulating a “perfect” size, whatever it might be.  But […]

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Well, sorta.

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Muxtape.

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Over at The American Spectator, I wonder when conservatives learned to stop worrying and love executive wiretaps.

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I used to joke that it was cosmically unjust that my old Manhattan neighbor Paul Pope not only won wide, persistent acclaim for his excellent comics artwork, but looks like a runway model to boot.  Well, now I see he’s actually dressing runway models.  If Paul ever starts writing about FISA, I’m becoming an accountant.

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I’ve just asked for a review copy, but in the meantime I’ll have to content myself with reviews by Laura Miller and Jeet Heer.

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