Beltmann

I've never even seen him in a car. I mean, look at his movies. No cars. Deliverance - canoe. Midnight Cowboy - boots. Runaway Train...runaway train.

Agreed. I wish the discussion centered on such subtle distinctions rather than the cartoonish and counterproductive demagoguery that is currently driving the debate.

When Sarah Palin declares in a speech that our current private insurance system is "downright evil," and concedes that the current push for reform is designed partly to address how private denial of coverage is killing people, then we can talk about whether she has any intellectual honesty.

Well, "a lot" is relative and I don't know what you mean by it. Regardless, I think we can agree that the vast majority of Obama-is-Hitler protesters are aligned with right-wing groups rather than LaRouche. The more relevant point deals with how each side of the spectrum generally treats their lunatic fringe: While mainstream Democrats have a long record of shunning and marginalizing LaRouche types (like Frank dismissing that woman), mainstream Republicans are now actively courting and riling up their crazies (like DeLay validating the birthers last night).

That's true. As a Packers fan, I'm irritated. As a football fan, I'll be watching every game.

Not quite the same thing. Barry Sanders earned plenty of goodwill from his teammates because he had a long record of playing well on their behalf. Brett Favre, on the other hand, hasn't done anything to earn special treatment from the Vikings. Favre may have earned the right to skip Packers camp, but not Vikings camp. I suspect some Vikings may think Favre is acting like a rookie who hasn't played a single down but still thinks he's the team's superstar.

Jack's Mannequin

True. I said pretty much the same thing at a get-together tonight.

Factual. I am a huge Packers fan and even lived in Green Bay when they won the Super Bowl (and worked as an intern at the local TV station where "The Mike Holmgren Show" was taped). Watching Favre play for the Jets hurt, but it was forgivable and forgettable. This, though, is a different beast. This pisses off Packer fans. This tarnishes the legacy. For the most part, time will restore the luster. But not entirely.

That inane article seems to think that "libruls" ought to feel exactly the same way about Iraq as they did four years ago--as if the facts on the ground in Iraq are exactly the same now as four years ago. What made sense four (or three or two) years ago is pretty much irrelevant to what makes sense today. (The article might as well accuse the left of not being serious about civil rights, since they lost interest in protesting segregation.) The left's changing relationship to the Iraq War is more complex than simply looking the other way because now it's Obama's war. Those who read it that

Exactly. If I was polled today, I'd probably say that I disapprove of the president's handling of the issue--but not nearly as much as I disapprove of the way Republicans are handling it. I can't remember where, but earlier today I read that national polls suggest roughly 70 percent favor a Medicare-style public plan as part of health care reform.

My wife likes Wilco, but more "California Stars" than "Poor Places." I'm still a little stunned that she really likes "Bull Black Nova."

Done. Listening to the first track right now. This better be good, dude. EDIT (four minutes later): It already is.

I actually received that DVD as a gift last Christmas. It's a pretty straight-forward, conventional documentary, but it tells his story well--the section devoted to Les and Mary is riveting--and contains some really great contemporary interviews. Definitely recommended.

I agree with the sentiment, but I don't think our relationship with the arts is a childish thing. In fact, I think a sophisticated and passionate relationship with art is one of the hallmarks of maturity.

I teach high school literature. Most days, I play music in my classroom. Trust me, young people have no idea who Bob Dylan is. I'm lucky if 3 or 4 kids out of 130 recognize the name. They all know about Jack's Mannequin, though.

And the same media that twirled their moustaches over the Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers stories and actually treated these as serious questions worthy of debate: Does Michelle Obama hate America? Is Barack Obama a socialist? Is Obama a secret Muslim? Does Obama hate the American flag? Is Obama not a citizen? McCain got plenty of negative coverage, but it really never went any deeper than he's old. With Obama, the negative coverage was (and is) dominated by far more nefarious themes, like his otherness and perhaps un-American-ness. When I complain that modern conservatism is, in general

Sometimes less is more. Modern technology makes it easy and cheap to have a steady stream of new music, but rushing from album to album is the best way to make sure nothing ever truly soaks in.

Why? Isn't it possible for people of equal patriotism to arrive at different conclusions than you? Isn't it possible that people who disagree with your political assumptions are working, in their own way, towards the best interests of this country? While I believed Bush was misguided on nearly every major policy position, I was at least willing to concede that he was doing what he thought was best for the country. I didn't feel the need to demonize Bush as a fascist who probably isn't even a citizen and is most likely in cahoots with Muslims. Heck, I even think Sarah Palin has this count

Same here. Policy shouldn't be based upon theoretical options, but upon realistic options.

Be serious, bleedorange. You are better than that. Of course there are fair criticisms of the health care proposals, and of course many of those criticisms are well within the political mainstream. Some of them are even pretty smart. But that's irrelevant to my larger point, which is that smart and serious conservatives are not driving the conversation right now, whether the topic is health care, war, the economy, torture, etc. Such voices are being drowned out as the modern conservative movement in general abandons its serious traditions in favor of a paranoid, reactionary, and dangerou

Makes sense to me.

Is our country disappearing more now than before? Perhaps, but it has less to do with Obama's policies--which are well within the political mainstream--and more to do with how the opposition has succumbed to unserious fear-mongering and, at times, utter derangement. I think the greatest threat to the idea of America isn't health care reform but the way mainstream conservatism is now defined by a kind of cartoonish demagoguery. Once conservatism was defined by serious Goldwater or Buckley types, but now it's dominated by embarrassing Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity types, whose entire political