The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has just gotten quite a bit of company: As many as 6,600 graves at the country’s hallowed Arlington National Cemetery for fallen U.S. service members may be mislabeled, one lawmaker said on Thursday.Political movements are becoming ever more like a match tossed into a room full of dynamite: No matter which stick you are aiming for, chances are a lot of others will fire off, too.A drama about a woman diagnosed with terminal cancer doesn’t exactly sound like the most entertaining new series on the fall prime-time slate. But there is more buzz surrounding Showtime’s “The Big C” than perhaps any other series premiering this season, and the incomparable Laura Linney is a major reason why the series is high on critics’ must-see lists.Although facts on the famed Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding, which is rumored to happen this weekend, are tighter than Hillary Clinton’s smile, some details have leaked out. Sources report that groom Marc Mezvinsky has “hurt” his father’s family by not inviting them to the wedding (Ed Mezvinsky pleaded guilty in 2002 to swindling investors out of $10 million.For Paul Rudd, the decision to star in Jay Roach’s new comedy, “Dinner for Schmucks,” was an easy one. “I thought the script was really funny,” he says. “That was it. It was kind of a no-brainer.” Of course Rudd, who’s built an impressive resume of smart comedies, was just as enamored of the man behind the camera. Subletting in NYC typically involves some kind of covert transaction. Try to find a budget traveler who hasn’t enjoyed the risk of Craigslist’s lease-free rentals. But thanks to a bill Gov. David Paterson signed into law last Friday, renting an apartment for less than 30 days isn’t kosher. Fortunately, there’s a saving grace for those in search of short-term living: Jersey City.New claims for unemployment benefits slipped last week, but stayed at a stubbornly high level that underscored the labor market recovery was having trouble gaining traction.Could nail mats like the Acushakti be the next Snuggies?Unless the locals covered you in meatballs and sang “Nessun Dorma” upon arrival, this vacation could hardly be more Italian. For this is a “Vespa vacation” — a two-wheeled tour of the nooks and crannies, the winding back roads and the off-the-beaten-track hidden gems of breathtaking Umbria, a beautiful region located in Central Italy.For many job-hopping careerists, smuggling a resignation letter in their bag like a guilty secret, there are few workplace rituals so hard as saying so long.
While Republican types freak out about the idea that government reform of health care will somehow involve government — economist Arthur Laffer’s “Just wait till you see Medicaid and Medicare run by the government!” was a classic of the genre — most people I know seem to be heading in the opposite direction. Why, they ask, is Congress spending so much time and money patching a system that is fundamentally broken? “Insurance companies waste so much money hiring people to deny you coverage,” said one. “We need to just get rid of them. And,” she added, “there should be a cap on doctors’ salaries.” (She happens to be a doctor.)
Now, this could just be a matter of who I hang out with. But maybe America is more like Brooklyn than you might think: Last week, a Time magazine poll found Americans backing a “Medicare for all” plan (aka “single-payer,” aka “what our Canadian neighbors laugh at us because we don’t have”) 49 percent to 46 percent.
That’s a crazy high number, considering public insurance has been under a near-total media blackout. A recent study by the group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting found that single-payer is almost never discussed on TV, except when conservatives are attacking it. And once a topic is declared off-limits, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Times columnist Paul Krugman recently admitted he thinks Medicare-for-all would be the best solution, but doesn’t write about it because it’s “not going to happen any time soon.”
Of course, lots of things were “not going to happen any time soon” until they happened —electing a black man to the White House, anyone? First, though, people need to talk about them. And that’s hard when news coverage sticks to “balancing” the status quo with mild reform — the kind of coverage that led columnist Alexander Cockburn to memorably spoof how TV news would have reported on the Donner Party: “Tonight, should cannibalism be regulated?”
With watchdogs like these, no wonder the Canadians are laughing.
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In the July MMMpod, Young Veins talk about breaking away from Panic! at the Disco, Keith Lockhart talks about Buckwheat Zydeco throwing the Boston Pops for a loop, Zooey Deschanel talks about how Roy Orbison inspired a She & Him song, Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells talks about how awesome Funkadelic is, and we talk about how awesome Jimmy Cliff is, who in turn talks about Sam Cooke and divine intervention. An explosive show for July! Oh yeah, and we also test your knowledge of America songs in the MMMPod medley.
