The Myth of the Coach—Paterno and the Problem with College Sports
An Interview with a Republican Porn Star
This year’s Republican Party platform included some unusually harsh anti-porn language. While previous platforms had only gone so far as to condemn child pornography, this year the RNC held that “current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced.” Though many in the adult film industry attacked the GOP for its stance, at least one Republican porn star—32-year old Mary Carey, who ran for governor of California in 2002—isn’t yet ready to give up on her party.
No Taxes, No Female Presidents, and No Physical Attraction: The Ten Strangest Things About Objectivism
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How to Lose a Girl in One Page
Sitting on my desk is the new book by Time reporter Michael Grunwald called “The New New Deal” all about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, better known as the "stimulus.” I’m as interested in the Obama administration’s economic programs as the next guy, but I’ve not yet gotten to the first page. Why?
Conservatives' Last Legal Option to Invalidate Obamacare
If Republicans take the White House and both chambers of Congress in November, there’s a good chance they will repeal most, if not all, of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But after yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, the law is safe from legal challenges, right? Not so fast. We may see one more last-ditch conservative effort to gut a major portion of the law. Right now, there are small challenges to Obamacare that are making their ways through the courts.
Free Lance Armstrong! Not All Dopers Are Created Equal
The investigations were fixed. How else to explain this week’s news that the demonic Roger Clemens was acquitted of lying to Congress about taking steroids, while cancer survivor and national hero Lance Armstrong is now being investigated by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency? Depending on what USADA finds, Armstrong could be stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles. In fact, neither of these outcomes is altogether surprising.
We’ve all gotten used to emails from Michelle, Barack, and Sarah Jessica, but starting soon, it will be our cell phones that we’re checking for those dinner invites. On Monday, the FEC allowed political campaigns, PACs, and super PACs to receive cash donations via text message for the first time. There’s good reason to believe such impulsive texts could be a windfall for political campaigns; a January PEW study on text-message donations to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake found that three-quarters of the gifts were spur-of-the-moment and conducted without much deliberation.
On May 31, standing in front of Solyndra’s vacant headquarters, Mitt Romney lambasted President Obama for granting the company a $528 million loan guarantee.
Really, Really Important Canadian Initiative
As you know by now, The Plank is back from a two-year hiatus. To mark the occasion, I’d like to set the record straight about some ancient New Republic history. The infamous “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative,” a headline TNR brought to prominence, is not getting its fair shake. First, some background. Every so often, a savvy journalist introduces an item about Canada with the headline ‘Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.” The joke dates back to 1986, when then-TNR editor Mike Kinsley spotted the headline in the New York Times and defied readers to find one that was more boring.
