Rules for Republicans: Pitney Lays Them Out

The Republicans will likely win the House and may yet win the Senate, but what will they do once they win? That, at least, hasn't been determined.

For obvious reasons, they have been mum about what they will do once in power, but Professor Pitney, writing in The Wall Street Journal, suggests there are lessons to be had in analyzing Republican failures since 1994's historic takeover. Power corrupts yes, but let's get power first.

My Review of Pixar's Up

I've been reviewing movies for the conservative movie review website, Big Hollywood.

My latest -- and greatest -- review is Pixar's Up.

Here's my favorite selection:

Alas, gone are the days when Ellie and Carl could play in an abandoned, dilapidated home. Carl breaks his leg crossing a plank to rescue his balloon. In the real world, that’s a lawsuit. Carl’s parents would have told him to avoid that crazy girl, Ellie, and that would have ended that.

Today’s children are raised in hermetically-sealed, antiseptically-clean, A-C-controlled, self-esteem cradles. In these “homes,” the love of things that are constant – the outdoors, a father’s love, a pet – is denied them by rules. They become, as David Brooks has put it, “achievatrons” that see life just as a series of things to check off a list.

Under the rules, children like Russell aren’t allowed to have dogs in their apartments or hobbies that detract from that college list. No wonder so many seek to go to law school – they want to write those rules! – and no wonder so many are so messed up. These clubs, which, after all, help you get into college and then law school, lack the informality of Carl and Ellie’s club for two. Despite their sleek trophies for all, these accolades don’t minister to the human soul. They are too numerous to have any real worth and excellence without a soul isn’t excellence at all, but mechanics.

Washington Monthly Ranks Us Low, Low, Low

Washington Monthly ranks Claremont McKenna as 54. Whatever.

Do people really care about these rankings?

It's pathetic. I chose to go to CMC because it was CMC. If we go up in the rankings, I don't care. If we go down in the rankings, I don't care. A college's worth is measured in more than metrics, but in what it imparts in the souls' of its graduates.

Finally a Lecture I Have to Attend!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 5:30 p.m. - Boone Recital Hall

On Meaning and Transgender Materiality

GAYLE SALAMON

Assistant Professor of English, Princeton University