Dana Milbank Doesn't Think Bill O'Reilly Is Funny

And I completely agree. After all, if there's an expert on what's not funny, Milbank would have to be it.

Atheism: As Annoying as Religion, But Without All The God

It's annoying that atheists don't realize that one of the benefits of life free from religion should be life free from evangelization,but that's clearly not the case. The even funnier part of the New York Times story about the atheist advertising holiday campaigns is the revelation that the atheists are now splitting up into congregations:

"That is one reason for the multiple campaigns: the groups are competing with one another to gain market share, said Mark Silk, founding director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, which is also at Trinity College.

“There’s a competitive environment for ‘no religion,’ and they’re grabbing for all the constituents they can get,” Mr. Silk said."

South Park got there first.

Andrew Sullivan on the Republicans and Obama

Uh-huh:

"If a black Republican president had come in, helped turn around the banking and auto industries (at a small profit!), insured millions through the private sector while cutting Medicare, overseen a sharp decline in illegal immigration, ramped up the war in Afghanistan, reinstituted pay-as-you go in the Congress, set up a debt commission to offer hard choices for future debt reduction, and seen private sector job growth outstrip the public sector's in a slow but dogged recovery, somehow I don't think that Republican would be regarded as a socialist."

Given the Clinton nostalgia we've seen from some quarters of the right in recent years, I predict that Obama's presidency will be seen as "the good old days" by Republicans in about 15 years.

* My Andrew Sullivan boycott remains in effect. Stuff still bubbles up to me, though, and I'm not going to pretend I don't see it.

Harold Meyerson: Hire Pelosi

Co-sign:

"Yet she remains the Democrat most capable of forging a unified opposition to Republican attempts to undercut key programs such as Social Security and Medicaid, and her record demonstrates that she is the Democrats' most effective fighter for the interests of ordinary Americans. That's not the perception, alas, but it's the reality - which Democrats ignore at their peril."

It is intriguing to me that the loudest voices against Pelosi returning as minority leader have been Republicans like Eric Cantor. He's free to express his opinion, but he might not be offering Democrats the most unbiased advice. Pelosi continues to strike me as a singularly effective leader for Democrats within Congress. I think she should keep the job.

Bolton, Yoo: Did Voters Go To the Polls With Nuclear Policy in Mind?

Clearly, the election results mean conservative Republicans should get their way on everything. But serious question: Did voters go to the polls with America's nuclear policy in mind? Because that's what John Yoo* and John Bolton want you to believe:

"THE sweeping Democratic midterm losses last week raise serious questions for President Obama and a lame-duck Congress. Voters want government brought closer to the vision the framers outlined in the Constitution, and the first test could be the fate of the flawed New Start arms control treaty, which was signed by President Obama and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia last spring but awaits ratification. The Senate should heed the will of the voters and either reject the treaty or amend it so that it doesn’t weaken our national defense."

Of course, one could argue that by leaving the Senate in Democratic hands -- even with a diminished majority -- that the Senate would be pursuing the will of the voters by pursuing Democratic priorities that are within the Senate's purview. Treaty approval, of course, falls under that purview.

More to the point, though, I'd love to see any evidence that the "will of the voters" was being expressed on nuclear policy. If you look at the GOP-leaning Rasmussen Reports poll taken just before the election, national security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rank among the bottom three of the 10 "most important" issues to voters. I'm not saying that voters don't or shouldn't care about nuclear policy; I'm just saying we have little reason to believe that was part of the message they were trying to send. Casually invoking "the will of the voters" without any foundation is cynical to the point of false.

* You know my beliefs about John Yoo. I hate that the Times is giving him space as a respected commentator on the issues.

My New iPad: First Impressions

I bought a new iPad yesterday -- the 3G, 16 GB variety -- and after 24 hours, it's safe to say I'm in love. Three first impressions:

* FLIPBOARD IS THE FUTURE: Have you seen this app? It take links your Facebook and Twitter friends post, and turn them into a magazine. The video explains better than I can:



This is such a marvel of design and functionality that, frankly, going back to run-of-the-mill Facebook and Twitter apps seems a little disappointing. This app alone makes the cost of the iPad seem worth it.

* IT'S AN EXCELLENT E-READER: My long angst over whether to buy an e-reader is over. I read three chapters in a new book yesterday, using the Kindle application on the iPad. I suspect that this will be the primary way I read non-fiction, information-consuming books from now on. (The Luddite lover in me would like to say I'll stick with paper for novels and similar leisure reading, but I suspect I'm fooling myself on that score.)

* BUT IT'S BEST FOR CONSUMING: I haven't fully tested the New York Times and Washington Post applications on the iPad yet. Why? Because when I read the news, I want to be prepared to blog it immediately. (The Blogger extension for the Chrome browser on my regular computer has actually been a pretty marvelous tool in that regard.) The iPad isn't quite as handy when it comes to me reprocessing information and spitting it back out into the world. Which is why my morning headlines scan will probably continue to take place on the computer.

* BONUS THOUGHT: The iPhone, a cherished device in my pocket for two years now, seems a bit diminished. Instead of seeming a vital piece of technology, it now seems to augment a technology ecology in which my iPad is closer to center stage. If I want to read Instapaper or the headlines, I'll probably use the big iPad instead of the phone. The joke I -- and everybody else -- made when the iPad came out is that it's a big iPhone. That's not true. The iPhone is a small iPad.

Actually, We Undercounted Philadelphia Police Corruption

Correction of the day!:

"_ Tuesday's Daily News erroneously reported that police Inspector Daniel Castro was the 14th city police officer charged with crimes since 2009. In fact, Castro is the 15th officer to face criminal charges since October 2009."