Hl Mencken

In Presidential Politics, Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

Michael Sigman | Posted 01.30.2012

Read More: Warren Harding, Woody Allen, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Science, Thomas Jefferson, John Huntsman, 2012 Election, H.L. Mencken, Jon Stewart, Charles Darwin, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, George Wallace, Evolution, Climate Change, Election 2012, Tea Party, Politics News

Romney and his fellow GOP hopefuls can take comfort in new research indicating that on the pressing issues of the day, their coveted conservative cohort seeks nothing more than to know nothing.

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DSK - Faux Spin Doctor

Christopher Strong | Posted 11.26.2011

Read More: Hubris, Kenneth Thompson, HL Mencken, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Imf, Natifssifatou Diallo, Claire Chazal, Cyrus Vance Jr, World News

Life's Like That One of the many interesting positions that life can twist you into is that of being wrong and right on the same subject. Such has b...

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Jane Austen Takes No Prisoners

Lev Raphael | Posted 11.19.2011

Read More: Zombies, Jane Austen, Vampires, Satire, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen Fans, Mash-Ups, Pride and Prejudice, H.L. Mencken, Robert Rodi, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Mark Twain, Books News

Austen excelled at wielding the skewer. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is an obvious example in Pride and Prejudice. But the book holds worse.

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June Ratings: Give Them What They Want and They'll Watch It

Reese Schonfeld | Posted 08.28.2011

Read More: Headline News Ratings, Msnbc, Afghanistan, Nancy Grace, Casey Anthony Trial, Headline News, Democrats, FoxNews Ratings, Libya, H.L. Mencken, Cnn, CNN Ratings, Cable News Ratings, Harry Cohn, Casey Anthony, Cable News, Foxnews, Republicans, Media News

It was Harry Cohn, boss of Columbia Pictures, who said "give the people what they want, and they'll come out for it." Now they can stay in and watch it. And what they watched in June is the Casey Anthony trial.

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Spring Means Soft-Shell Crabs

Cheryl Carlesimo | Posted 07.11.2011

Read More: Grabs, Soft-Shelled-Crab, Rachael Ray, Dandelions, Baseball, H.L. Mencken, Spring, Fried Soft-Shell Crabs, Ee Cummings, Crabs, Seafood, Food News

For me, sautéed saucy soft-shell crabs are nirvana. I have created a recipe that I have to say tastes heavenly. Every year, my friends wait impatiently for me to make them.

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What Is The History Of Modern Atheism?

Christian Science Monitor | Stuart Whatley | Posted 05.26.2011

Read More: Atheist, Atheism, H.L. Mencken, Books, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Book Reviews, The Unbelievers, Atheists, Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Dawkins, Books News

When the priest asks him why, with his days numbered, he still has not turned to God, Meursault, the death row inmate in Albert Camus's "L'Étranger,"...

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Half a Century After Mencken's Death, Opinion Is What is Riding High

Simon Jenkins | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Opinion, Op-Ed, Michel De Montaigne, News, H.L. Mencken, Media News

When the age of Mencken passed, many felt that the column would be followed by nothing but news. But today, given the millions of words of columns, billions of blogs and tweets, opinion is riding high.

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HuffPost Review: Season of the Witch

Marshall Fine | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Movie Reviews, Ron Perlman, Marshall Fine, Season of the Witch Movie Review, Claire Foy, Jerry Bruckheimer, H.L. Mencken, Season of the Witch, P.T. Barnum, Sword-and-Sorcery, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Marshall Fine Movie Reviews, Nicolas Cage, Movies, Nic Cage, Entertainment News

The sole suspense lies in figuring out which of the supporting players will survive the trip. That's because there's barely anything else of interest amidst the standard-issue action setpieces.

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Jim Bakker and the Counterfeit Hell Robbers

Daniel Krotz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: H.L. Mencken, Jim Bakker, Mainline Protestants, Daniel Krotz, Mainline Churches, Benny Hinn, Prosperity Gospel, Christian Megachurch, Televangelists, Premillennial Church, Christianity, Marcus Lamb, Joel Osteen, Religion News

The point is not that Televangelists are scoundrels, or that many Christian pastors are hypocrites, but that these grand ministry failures represent examples of what many mainstream churches have, in desperation, come to believe is relevant.

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Refudiate is the New Normalcy

Asher Smith | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Sarah Palin Twitter, Glenn Beck, Refudiate, Normalcy, H.L. Mencken, Warren Harding, Sarah Palin, Alvin Greene, Politics News

Sarah Palin's right that "English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too." And that's something to be afraid of -- because she's contributing far more to the trough of public consciousness than just a few verbal miscues.

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Senator Who Compared Obama To 9/11 Hijackers Accuses Polis Of 'Dangerous Hyperbole'

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jared Polis, Dave Schultheis, Jared Polis Immigration Comment, Arizona, H.L. Mencken, Arizona Immigration, Colorado, Denver News

Tempers are flaring in Colorado over reactions to Arizona's controversial immigration bill. On Monday, Colorado Representative Jared Polis said the l...

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Sheepish In Carlyfornia

Michael Sigman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hewlitt Packard, Barbara Boxer, John McCain, Einstein, Socrates, Carly Fiorina, Buddha, Sarah Palin, H.L. Mencken, Glenn Gould, Bach, Bill Zimmerman, William James, Augustine, Politics News

You may think that Carly Fiorina's "Demon Sheep" ad will hurt Fiorina's chances, but the video has given the senatorial candidate free publicity.

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When 'Mad Men' Types -- and Hollywood-- First Played a Key Role in Politics

Greg Mitchell | Posted 05.25.2011

When pundits labeled last year's presidential campaign "divisive" and "dirty," I had to laugh. The champion of all dirty races in this century, in fact, was the 1934 contest between Upton Sinclair and Frank Merriam.

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Apparently, You CAN Fool All of the People All of the Time

Brian Ross | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Polls, Ignorance, American Intelligence, Gop, Stupidity, Fear, Obama Birther, Ann Coulter, President Obama, Ignorance-and-Voting, Franklin Roosevelt, Media, Obama Socialism, America, Barack Obama, Fdr, Politics, Obama Birth Certificate, Polling, H.L. Mencken, Surveys, P.T. Barnum, Fox News, Republicans, Health Care, Obama Socialist, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Fcc, Birthers, Mark Lloyd, Birther Movement, Health-Action, Politics News

We are a fear-driven culture. There is a large segment of the population that, no matter how well you document it, will not let a good fact get in the way of their fears about health care reform.

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Do Progressives Have What It Takes To Win?

Tom Sullivan | Posted 05.25.2011

Conservatives believe -- with justification -- that if they get angry enough and loud enough, liberals will back down from fights like this one.

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The Trumpeter Tipples

Ivan Katz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bill Kerr, Musicians, H.L. Mencken, Brass Players, Drunkenness, Association of British Orchestras, Entertainment News

The notion that a musician will drink to "calm the nerves" or deal with performance anxiety is as antiquated as the idea that a steel worker needs gin as an "eye opener" before his shift at the mill.

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Palin, Mencken and Us

Michelle Goldberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, John McCain, H.L. Mencken, Election, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Media Coverage, Sarah Palin Reaction, Politics News

It's worth noticing that this is not the first time Palin has hidden from scrutiny on a campaign trail in order to cover up her lack of knowledge.

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Washington's "Newseum": The Media Gives Itself a Big, Wet, Sloppy Kiss

Nathan Robinson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Arrogance, Mainstream Media, New York Times Self-Perception, Grey Lady, Fourth Estate, H.L. Mencken, Museums, Newseum, New York Times, Washington DC, Media News

The Newseum is a mammoth structure, and it does a fairly good job of illustrating just why mainstream media is such a letdown, even if it does so unintentionally.

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