Davison online

HUGE thanks to the Lillys and the Petersons for all their assistance and hospitality during our recent trip to the Bay Area. The kids (and their parents) had a great time! Grandpa Bernard's kid-sitting also enabled me to make a three day side trip down to Los Angeles, which was great for seeing sites (Hollywood Blvd., Deadman's Curve on Mulholland, the...

ABC/Washington Post poll (+/-4.5 percent) Obama 27 Edwards 26 Clinton 26 Richardson 11

Here's the text of his speech (The War We Need to Win) on US foreign policy as it relates to our "war on terror." This sort of clear, lucid, out-in-front thinking is why I'm endorsing him for the Democratic nomination for president. Of course nothing sounds so sweet as a political candidate telling you what you already believe, and I've been saying a lot...

Obama is now tied with Clinton in New Hampshire at 31 percent, Edwards trails at 14 percent. Undecideds at 13 percent, nobody else cracks single digits. See the poll here. I've long said that Clinton's advantage in most polls up to this point has been name recognition only. She remains (to my mind inexplicably) popular with a vast number of Democrats, but...

From There and back again in The New Yorker: I was shocked to find how robust a predictor of social isolation commuting is,” Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, told me. (Putnam wrote the best-seller “Bowling Alone,” about the disintegration of American civic life.) “There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes...

From McSweeney's, it's Genesis, the Rollout: God said, "I will make man someone to shop with," and made a woman. God brought the woman to the man, who said, "She is bone of my bone. She will be called 'wo-man,' for she is a tie-in." God said, "Man and woman shall be as one flesh, a Buy One Get One Free. Be fruitful, multiply, and enjoy the Everyday Low...

Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish: Q: Why do you never want to date a neocon? A: Because they always say they're going to pull out and they never do. Q: How many neocons does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. The socket welcomes the light bulb with candy and flowers. Q: How many neocons does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: That's an...

This, from the Getting Going column of the June 27, 2007 Wall Street Journal: Take households headed by someone 55 to 64 years old, which is America's wealthiest age group. Even for these folks, who are on the cusp of retirement, the median household net worth—including home equity—is under $250,000 according to the Federal Reserve's 2004...

Microsoft bans Hitler's XBox Live account and he reacts about how you'd expect. Good (albeit R-rated) comedy.

I'm not saying that I expect that the Democrats will suddenly grow cojones and actually do the deed, but I couldn't agree more with this commentator who says that they should subpoena Cheney. Of course if the Vice President gets impeached, who'll run the country? But I don't think the Democrats even have the guts to go after the Veep. It's amazing, since...