David Frum's Blog, page 131

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

If Spielberg's Lincoln whetted your appetite for re-enactment of Civil War politics, let me recommend an audiobook I listened to last month: the performance of the Lincoln-Douglas debates by David Straithairn (as Abraham Lincoln) and Richard Dreyfuss (as Stephen A. Douglas).

Treasury Ownership of AIG Stock Comes to an End

USA Today reports this morning that the federal government will sell its final stake in AIG for $32.50 a share, implying a $22.7 billion gain on the AIG rescue.

Cliff Diving Just to Make a Point

John Makin cautions that our odds of going over the fiscal cliff are increasing:

Yo, Yo, Yo, It's Chanakuh

Eli Lake takes a break from the national security beat to write about rappers and Chanakuh. (Language alert on the video. Profanity-laced is an understatement.)

Your Daily Ruin Porn

Detroit Urbex tells the story of Detroit through photography. Simultaneously fascinating and depressing.

America's Exhausted Army

My National Post column examines the heavy toll post-9/11 wars have taken on the American military.

Brasilia, a Nightmarish Masterpiece

In honor of the passing of Oscar Niemeyer, photos of horrible Brasilia, his nightmare masterwork:

Print Media Just Won't Die

Vanity Fair has a fascinating look at the 114 day printers strike that paralyzed the New York City gossip, advertising, and news scenes back in 1962-63. It tells the story of innovation and stubborn union leadership, but it also buried the lede:

From the Archives of Movement Conservatism

National Review has begun to email followers choice items from the magazine's venerable archives. They do make for interesting reading. Today, for example, the magazine sent an exchange from 1962: a debate between Otto von Habsburg and James Burnham about France's then-new president, Charles de Gaulle. Habsburg hailed the advent of the French Fifth Republic as good news; Burnham dismissed and lamented it. The exchange leaves you thinking: was ever so smart a man wrong about more thi...

It's a 'Could Be Worse' Economy, and We're Living in It

The Sully people catalogue a variety of reactions to today's job numbers.