The ultimate winner will get the opportunity to write a weekly column that may appear in the print and/or online editions of The Washington Post, paid at a rate of $200 per column, for a total of 13 weeks and $2,600.
Being a great pundit is worth 13 columns and $2,600? That gig sure ain't what it used to be. I don't know how Dana Milbank makes it on $2,600 per year.
What there needs to be more of in covering politics today, as my colleague Jonathan Martin wrote in July, is right-leaning websites doing original reporting like Talking Points Memo or Huffington Post. And that could be where future conservative reporting comes from. And therein lies the central issue: conservatives for the most part have no interest in journalism in the sense of a first draft of history. What they want is quasi-journalistic affirmation of their own feelings [...] hat Clark and Alexander and Howell suggest is that we need more stories about tempests in tea bags because it hurts the wignuts’ fee-fees when they don’t see enough stories about ACORN and Van Jones and the massive size of wingnut rallies in the newspapers. It’s odd that the media believes it needs to attempt an emotional rescue of the very same people who have declared war on empathy.
And therein lies the central issue: conservatives for the most part have no interest in journalism in the sense of a first draft of history. What they want is quasi-journalistic affirmation of their own feelings [...]
hat Clark and Alexander and Howell suggest is that we need more stories about tempests in tea bags because it hurts the wignuts’ fee-fees when they don’t see enough stories about ACORN and Van Jones and the massive size of wingnut rallies in the newspapers. It’s odd that the media believes it needs to attempt an emotional rescue of the very same people who have declared war on empathy.
If the wingnuts were truly interested in tough coverage of the issues they care about, that's exactly what they would do -- help start and fund equivalents to TPM. But conservative media is designed to appeal to right-wing fantasies, from the Washington Times to Fox News to talk radio. They've got their own media to create their own alternate reality because, as someone once famously noted, reality has a well-known liberal bias.
"In five or six or seven years," said Christoph Westphal, Sirtris’s other co-founder, "there will be drugs that prolong [life] longevity."
Phew! It's about time! I don't think leeches were getting the job done.
Historically, legislation that enjoyed say, 57 votes in the Senate, reflected a pretty popular bill. But the political world has not yet come to grips with the unusually small Republican minority, so the expectations are skewed. And that's what makes Nelson's public comments so foolish. By his logic, health care reform legislation isn't "legitimate" unless some opponents of health care reform vote for it. Nelson is deliberately creating an environment in which the biggest progressive policy achievement in a generation won't be impressive enough, because conservative Republicans didn't like it.
Historically, legislation that enjoyed say, 57 votes in the Senate, reflected a pretty popular bill. But the political world has not yet come to grips with the unusually small Republican minority, so the expectations are skewed.
And that's what makes Nelson's public comments so foolish. By his logic, health care reform legislation isn't "legitimate" unless some opponents of health care reform vote for it. Nelson is deliberately creating an environment in which the biggest progressive policy achievement in a generation won't be impressive enough, because conservative Republicans didn't like it.
Like the X-men's Wolverine extending his claws, the Spanish ribbed newt slashes through itself with its sharp rib bones to create defensive spines, according to a new study. Scientists were already aware that the amphibian species responds to threats by thrusting out its rib bones, which then get coated with toxic skin secretions [...] The outer portion of each rib is surrounded by fibers of collagen, a protein used in humans to help heal skin after burns. This suggests its presence on the newt's ribs may accelerate healing, the researchers say. In addition, a powerful immune system apparently prevents the newt's wounds from becoming infected.
Like the X-men's Wolverine extending his claws, the Spanish ribbed newt slashes through itself with its sharp rib bones to create defensive spines, according to a new study.
Scientists were already aware that the amphibian species responds to threats by thrusting out its rib bones, which then get coated with toxic skin secretions [...]
The outer portion of each rib is surrounded by fibers of collagen, a protein used in humans to help heal skin after burns. This suggests its presence on the newt's ribs may accelerate healing, the researchers say.
In addition, a powerful immune system apparently prevents the newt's wounds from becoming infected.