Author Archives: olneyce

Kevin Drum has an argument that I agree with in part, but strongly disagree with in another part.  He argues that if there needs to be a limiting test on Congressional power, this is obviously something that the Court can … Continue reading →

Consensus seems to be that the oral arguments on the constitutionality of the health care law did not go well today.  Couple things: 1. Beware groupthink.  I only skimmed some of the transcript and comments.  But it didn’t sound THAT … Continue reading →

Loose Ends – Bruce Springsteen (from Tracks) Keeping Me Alive – Tom Petty (from Playback – the Petty box set) (Tracks chosen to represent Petty doing his best Springsteen and Springsteen doing his best Petty. And to give you something … Continue reading →

Youngstown (live) – from the wonderful Live in New York City I’ve got a an actual review of the new Springsteen record coming up (short version: it’s quite good!), but I wanted to make a separate comment today about the … Continue reading →

Emmylou – First-Aid Kit King of the World – First-Aid Kit A pretty large chunk of my 2012 musical consumption has come from the far north Atlantic. The best song I’ve heard so far this year was from Iceland, and … Continue reading →

I’m hesitant to even waste my time mentioning this, but I do have a slightly larger point to make. So here it goes. The new big ‘scandal’ is that Barack Obama while a law student at Harvard said some nice … Continue reading →

Sunshine in Chicago – Sun Kil Moon This has got to be the best song out of Mark Kozelek in a decade.  He’s always most enjoyable doing pretty, world-weary songs but often has a tendency to let them run away … Continue reading →

New Hope – Blink-182 Fake Empire – The National There’s a good debate going on between some political bloggers about Star Wars. I say ‘good debate’ with reservations, though, because it implies that there are legitimately contestable opinions here. Which … Continue reading →

A new study says the Oprah Book Club doesn’t cause more book sales. To which I respond: who cares? Why are book sales a relevant measurement of our literary culture? In general, I would rather people read one Anna Karenina … Continue reading →

Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men If there’s one thing I need right now, it’s a dark, weird, Icelandic musical romp with big horns and an energetic chorus.  Fortunately, here is Of Monsters and Men, ready to provide just … Continue reading →