Month: July 2012

Shakespeare’s Hokey Pokey

Here’s the original text of Shakespeare style Hokey Pokey, by Jeff Brechlin:

O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke — banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, ‘tis what it’s all about.
— by “William Shakespeare” 

Brechlin wrote this for the Washington Post Style Invitational contest.

Thanks Gabi for introducing this to me. 

by Jonathan Frei

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RHAdBAzEk

In The City Of Love

I’ve had this song stuck in my head off and on over the past few weeks. Your life might be better if it was in your head too. 

Isabella:

Oh, how can he not feel the same way
When we’re strolling down the Champs-Élysées
In the City of Love?

And here’s Isabella’s reaction to Phineas’ obtuseness.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
by Jonathan Frei

Death by Degrees

The editors at N+1:

[O]ne man’s burden is another man’s opportunity. Student debt in the United States now exceeds $1 trillion. Like cigarette duties or state lotteries, debt-financed accreditation functions as a tax on the poor. But whereas sin taxes at least subsidize social spending, the “graduation tax” is doubly regressive, transferring funds from the young and poor to the old and affluent. The accreditors do well, and the creditors do even better. Student-loan asset-backed securities are far safer than their more famous cousins in the mortgage market: the government guarantees most of the liability, and, crucially, student loans cannot be erased by declaring bankruptcy.

For all the calls from the left to tax the rich, there sure are a lot of liberals profiting from very regressive taxes.

by Jonathan Frei