Jazz giant Teo Macero died last week, as my brother notes. Macero was born in our little home town (or the town that's the standard first response when answering the question "so, where are you from?" - it's a good first approximation). But, as far as I know, the only mention of this anywhere in the city is a small sign in the lawn in front of the library. Not really a jazz town, I guess.

Other noteworthy people from Glens Falls (or thereabouts): major league pitchers Dave LaPoint and Dave Palmer; pro wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan; Edward C. Prescott, 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics; EVOO enthusiast Rachael Ray; Gerald Solomon, 20-year member of the House of Representatives; Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Charles Evans Hughes.

Also, The Who opened one of their many comeback tours there, one year.

What have I cast on the world? a creature powerful in form, of supernatural and gigantic strength, but with the mind of an infant. Oh, that I could recall my impious labour, or suddenly extinguish the spark which I have so presumptuously bestowed.

Sullivan, again, on the "terror war":

“Have we misread the world - and over-estimated the threat - even more profoundly than we realize? That is the question.”

Of course you have. And many of us on the left have been trying to tell you that for six and a half years. But, and maybe you remember this, we were derided as a “fifth column”, traitors, America-hating terrorist-huggers, and worse, by people who insisted this was (and still is) the mightiest clash of civilizations the world has ever seen. You guys over-estimated the threat, hyped it, worked yourselves into an embarrassing frenzy and then based a disastrous foreign policy around what you imagined.

It's nice that Sullivan himself has started to see the light on this, but there are still millions of people out there who revel in the myth of a Great War to save our civilization from the Muslim hordes; a myth he played a large role in creating. Sadly, it's probably easier to create such a myth than to destroy it.

UK Earthquake Damage

Googirl, Goo girl

(via Fark)

Bob Ain't Smiling Any More

Perry Bible Fellowship Retires

Inspired by a contest put on by the National Geographic Society, her class set about coming up with a mnemonic for the solar system's 11 planets. You know, like "Roy G. Biv" for the colors of the rainbow -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet -- or, for the Great Lakes, "Homes" (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).

Maryn won the contest with her thoroughly excellent phrase:

My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

I would've gone with "pink" instead of "Palace". "Pink elephants" is much easier to remember than "Palace elephants".

And so, I offer my own:

"Make Very Elaborate Mnemonic Constructions," Jesus Said Unto Nazareth's Puzzle Enthusiasts.

Though it's a bitch to say aloud. Try it!

I believe it's from Cleek 2:27.

On Voluntary Childlessness

Andrew Sullivan links to a legal blog complaining about the financial prospects of NYC lawyers if Obama is able to enact his proposed tax changes. They write:

The effect is enormous. Betsy’s marginal tax rate goes up from an already ridiculous 42.5% to 51.4%—not including the new 6.2% marginal tax on your employer. Subject to how she structures her withholding, Betsy’s take home pay drops an average of $515 a paycheck—less in the early months of the year, but much more in the later months of the year. Add in the effects on her bonus, and Betsy loses nearly $20,000/year in take-home pay.

Yes, poor Betsy, whose pre-tax salary is $280,000/yr, would see her monthly take-home pay go from $11,600 to a mere $10,600. This is after she's already maxed-out her 401K ($15.5K/yr) and given $10K/yr to charity.

Sullivan feels Betsy's pain:

Obama's appeal to the upper middle classes is powerful. But it remains a fact that the impact of an Obama presidency would be very tough for anyone earning over $160,000 a year. Removing the cap on the payroll tax, in particular, will clobber the successful

Yes, yes. Such a loss would be very tough. Clobbered, indeed. Poor girl.

In completely unrelated news, in addition to the $300,000,000,000 the US government spends annually on the military, it's also spending somewhere close to five billion dollars each week in Iraq - five years into this stupid war. But that's magic money, which is plucked directly from the sky by an army of enslaved elves, mounted on silver unicorns. Lucky we don't have to use tax money to pay for that! Likewise for things like the $400,000,000,000 per year, the government pays on the interest of the money it owes - it's just magic money. It's so magical we barely know how much we've spent!

Of course if we'd just stop paying for silly handouts like Social Security (but don't stop collecting the tax that pays for it!), we'd have the budget under control in no time, and we could let the elves and unicorns run free again.

Juan Cole gives a masterful discussion of Barack Obama's name, and shows why, if people are afraid of the name "Barack Hussein Obama", they should also be afraid of names like General "Omar Bradley", "Benjamin Franklin" and "John Adams".