Me and My Big Mouth

Thoughts on things I can speak of with some lack of expertise

Norwonk

Norwonk
Location
Norway
Bio
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” (Dr. Samuel Johnson) --------------------------------------- I'm a Norwegian blockhead and policy wonk with a troubling degree of interest in American politics. Currently blogging in two languages, due to severe overflow of useless opinions. Stephen Fry recently captured my feelings when he wrote: "I sometimes think that when I die there should be two graves dug: the first would be the usual kind of size, say 2 feet by 7, but the other would be much, much larger. The gravestone should read: ME AND MY BIG MOUTH."

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Norwonk's Links

Salon.com
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 20, 2009 1:07PM

Worlds Apart

Paul Krugman and David Brooks offer their thoughts on Timothy Geithner and his handling of the bailout in today's New York Times:

NYT

Krugman thinks Geithner badly mishandled the negotiations with the bankers before the AIG bailout, creating a deep public distrust which will hamper the governmen… Read full post »

3 Comments
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 19, 2009 3:45PM

The KSM Challenge

David Feige is worried about the fallout of the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:

Good criminal defense attorneys are seldom deterred by futility, so it's reasonable to expect that KSM's lawyers will make all the arguments there are to make: They'll allege a violation of KSM's right to a speedy/
… Read full post »
31 Comments
NOVEMBER 13, 2009 10:18AM

Proof of the Efficiency of Socialized Medicine

So you think that government-run healthcare doesn't work? This clip from the BBC Radio series I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (with John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch, Jo Kendall, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden) should demonstrate once and for all that the British National Health Service provi/… Read full post »
3 Comments
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 8, 2009 2:00PM

Secular Sunday School: In Defense of Slavery

The Old Testament is a goldmine for atheists. Whenever you hear Christians hold forth on how we would be bereft of morals if we didn't have the Bible, you can pull out one of the goodies from the 2,500 year old tome and watch the believer tie himself into knots trying… Read full post »

29 Comments
NOVEMBER 5, 2009 3:20AM

I Just Realised...

... I've been blogging here for a year!

How does one celebrate ones anniversary on OS? I do it by remembering what November 5, 2008 felt like.

 
You can't say things haven't improved.
Read full post »
12 Comments
NOVEMBER 4, 2009 4:16AM

End of the Football Season

The Norwegian season, anyway. All good things etc. Fortunately, my local team Start defied the pre-season predictions of the experts and secured another year in the top league. But now we're facing five dark, football-less winter months.

We'll just have to live on our memories.
 
Post the first comment
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 3, 2009 6:00AM

Andy Rooney and Other American Foreign Policy Gurus

Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post is disappointed by Iran's opposition. You see, they're so damn Iranian:

Iran has been controlled since June by a hard-line clique of extremist clerics and leaders of the Revolutionary Guard who believe they are destined to make their country a nuclear power that/
… Read full post »
9 Comments
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 2, 2009 12:14AM

When Vampires Attack

As I mentioned in my last post, Halloween is a newcomer in my country. But it seems it has arrived with a bang. On Saturday, a 23 year old Norwegian was celebrating his birthday at a bar when a man dressed in a vampire costume showed up and bit half his/… Read full post »

24 Comments
NOVEMBER 1, 2009 1:14AM

Secular Sunday School: Helloween

Did you have fun on Halloween? If so, you are going to Hell! Halloween is anti-Christian. And I have that from an infallable source:

[I]n an article entitled The Dangerous Messages of Halloween, the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano quoted liturgical expert Joan Maria Canals as saying/
… Read full post »
9 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 29, 2009 7:39PM

The Horrifying Movie Career of Veronica Cartwright

You often see newspapers and magazines hand out titles like "sexiest actor", "best-dressed actress" or "actor you would want to join on a desert island". But if anyone asked me to vote for the actor/actress who has had the most tragically horrifying career (on the screen, not in an artistic sense),… Read full post »
20 Comments
OCTOBER 29, 2009 2:34AM

Is Fox a Real News Network? A Guide for Pundits

Is Fox News really a news organisation? It's got "News" in the title. How do you tell the difference between a legitimate news network and a propaganda machine?

American reporters and pundits are understandably baffled by these questions, so here is a quick guide to identifying serious journalism.

T/… Read full post »
6 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 27, 2009 5:16PM

The Eternal Urgency of War Hawks

"I have lost this battle because my force was too small... The Government has not sustained this army... If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army."
… Read full post »
16 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 25, 2009 8:16AM

Secular Sunday School: Blasphemy Laws

I'm afraid the Obama administration embarrassed itself recently. How? By siding with Egypt in an attempt to limit criticism of religion. At the UN, the US actually joined with a ragged band of Muslim dictatorships to pass a resolution which condemns "attacks on religion". And it's not violent attacks/… Read full post »

7 Comments
OCTOBER 20, 2009 6:27PM

War Will End When Panties Fly

Or something. I have no idea what the Japanese text means. But that does seem to be flying underwear, bringing peace to all the world.

 
Or is this more sinister than I think? Are those bloomers coming to bomb us?
 
Hmmm...
 
(H/t to the… Read full post »
13 Comments
OCTOBER 19, 2009 10:34AM

Frank Must Think I'm Pretty Stupid...

Why else would he send me this personal message?

Hello

Do please accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal ethic. By introduction, I am Mr.frank florent a Fund Manager with SOCIETE GENERALE BANK IN-RCI (SGBCI) and I handle all our Investor's Capital Project Funds Which/

… Read full post »
12 Comments
OCTOBER 18, 2009 8:25AM

Secular Sunday School: The Bible According to Spike Milligan

In keeping with my Spike Milligan-themed weekend, I leave today's Sunday School in the capable hands of Spike Milligan. His version of the Bible includes The Creation According to the Trade Unions (Conservapedia take note!), and is a vast improvement on the original.
 
 
1 Comments
OCTOBER 17, 2009 3:57PM

Saturday Light Relief: A Show Called Fred

"We are being observed by the naughty BBC!"

Good thing, too. That's why we can study this early use of coconut shells instead of horses, years before Monty Python stole that gag.

 
This weirdness comes from the 1956 BBC series A Show Called Fred with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan,/… Read full post »
2 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 14, 2009 6:00AM

Winter Is Coming...

...and the wheels are getting fat.

Kram snow

At least, that's the case in Central Norway, where I have the good fortune not to live. This kind of snowball-friendly snow is called "kram" snow in Norwegian. Is there an English word for snow that is sticky and easy to/… Read full post »
11 Comments
OCTOBER 11, 2009 5:47AM

Secular Sunday School: Conservative Edition

After a week where we learned that American conservatives are busy editing the Bible to bring it in line with conservative teaching, it seems fitting and proper to bring forth an old favourite: Al Franken's Supply Side Jesus. Who knew that eager conservatives would be inspired to turn his little skit/… Read full post »

6 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 9, 2009 6:27AM

The Nobel Peace Prize? Really?

Unless this is April Fool's Day and I'm just confused, the Norwegian Nobel Committee just handed Barack Obama this year's Peace Prize. And all I can say is: WTF?

Don't get me wrong; Obama may turn out to be a worthy winner. But he isn't one yet. He has finished nine… Read full post »

65 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 8, 2009 3:45AM

Tom Friedman, the Uncrowned Prime Minister of Mixed Metaphor

(This is a translated and expanded version of an old post from my sadly dormant Norwegian blog. The style in some ways reflects that I was introducing Norwegian readers to the Moustachioed One. American readers who have never followed Friedman closely may find it useful. Others may find it annoying/… Read full post »
26 Comments
OCTOBER 6, 2009 4:49PM

A Norwegian-American War of Words

Peter W. Galbraith, the US diplomat who recently got fired from his post as UN's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, has become embroiled in a quarrel with his former boss, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide. It was Eide, the UN Special Representative to Afghanistan and head of the United Nations/… Read full post »
10 Comments
OCTOBER 4, 2009 10:29AM

Secular Sunday School: Why Don't Scientists Fear Hell?

I've been neglecting the Sunday School lately. I'll try to change my ways...

This video by YouTube philosopher philhellenes so horrified religious watchers that they flagged it as "hate speech", causing YouTube to remove it for a while. But it's back now, and the very fact that the believers tried to/… Read full post »
9 Comments
Editor’s Pick
OCTOBER 1, 2009 11:30AM

When The Artist Shames His Art

Hamsun

This year, Norway celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Nobel Prize winning author Knut Hamsun (1859-1952). He was, in the eyes of me and many others, Norway's greatest novelist (the competition for that title is tougher than you might think), and a hugely influential/… Read full post »
42 Comments
Editor’s Pick
SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 1:29PM

Dreaming of a Military Coup

This is shameful copy-and-paste. But it seems Newsmax yanked the column by John Perry from its website (gee, I wonder why?), so the only way to preserve it for history is to make sure it is still available on the net.

Enjoy!

 ***

 Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention… Read full post »

28 Comments
1 2 3 4 5 Next → Last ⇒