So the latest "smartest state to dumbest state" rankings are out, and once again, Massachusetts tops the list.  (As Eugene Volokh accurately points out, though, these rankings really don't measure how "smart" a … [Read more...]

The latest from Pope Benedict XVI:"The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom … [Read more...]

Hat tip to Poorman for this Reuters report:Amnesty International appeared to base some of its allegations on detainees, "people who hate America, people that have been trained in some instances to disassemble, that means not tell the … [Read more...]

The NYT reports:The Food and Drug Administration said today that it had asked Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, to amend its warnings on Viagra in response to scattered reports of vision loss by people taking the drug.Some … [Read more...]

I know Tom Friedman takes a beating in liberal circles, but I really thought he brought up an important point yesterday about the violence in Afghanistan, supposedly/maybe not linked to the Newsweek story: Muslims get blown up every day in … [Read more...]

It is admittedly a bit far from local politics in Massachusetts, but since one of your trusty correspondents finds himself in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan today, a country recently in world news, we thought BMG readers might enjoy a post from a bit … [Read more...]

This is really too good:Because of a transcription error, an article last Sunday in Summer Movies, Part 2 of this section, about the director Don Roos rendered a word incorrectly in his comment about the use of onscreen titles in his film … [Read more...]

So I cross-posted my "Baker for Governor??" post over at Daily Kos.  And the comment thread it generated, though not huge, is pretty amazing (at least to me).  In particular, one Kos commenter and diarist called … [Read more...]

This appreciation by the always-interesting Murray Waas of the late Baron Edward von Kloberg III just makes you realize that it really does take all kinds. … [Read more...]

Well, here's our answer: Charisma boot camp, is, in fact, the comedy club stage:A good stand-up can walk into a room, a bar with no stage and a shitmic, in the deep goddam South or Montana or Portland or Austin orBoston, and not only tell … [Read more...]