In the Free Market, everything is for sale. Money = speech. Those who have money get the loudest voice and the attendant perks.

What a shoddy, third rate nation we're on our way to becoming.

Attendance fee for high school graduation: $20

That's not how it bloody well works. Her singing clearly was not overshadowed by the way she looks - she was cast in the role. And saying the voice is all that matters over and over does not make it true. Opera is theatre. You can never make opera all about the voice no matter how hard you try, unless you only ever…

No, the above photo is of a singer named Elina Garanca, who sings the part of Octavian all over the world. Her look (tall, slim, androgynous) is the usual way this part is presented. (She was scheduled to sing the part at the Met last season but pulled out of the production because she was pregnant.)

Now, here's a…

I am an opera critic for the New York Observer. The critics who complained about Ms. Erraught's appearance were in some cases tactless, but their point, I think, is valid.

DM me for my PayPal info.

Hey now, as someone who went to grad school to become and arts critic with many other talented, kind aspiring critics — don't lump us altogether with such lazy stereotyping. My professors, many of whom have won Pulitzer Prizes for their criticism, would be horrified if any of us turned in a piece that went for the…

You are exactly right, and the article above demonstrates your point really well.

Given how conclusively it's been show that rape is underreported, yet how frequently folks like the cops above point to false rape accusations, I have a suspicion there's a LOT of confirmation bias (and general sexism) at play. One woman caught lying one time = all women lie about rape. The numbers do not substantiate…

I'm not picking your words apart, it's your entire premise that is bunk. Your contention is that there is a "girl who cried wolf" problem in rape — which is fundamentally untrue. The boy who cried wolf claimed to see a wolf many times and it was a wolf once, which was why no one took him seriously. "Girls" aren't…

No, there is not a "Girl Who Cried Wolf" problem here; every single study says that rape is underreported, not over-. And there are no more false reports of rapes than any other crime, yet somehow cops still take home invasions seriously. And this: if 100 people make false accusations who is to say that person #101…

That bothered me so much when I read that. I think its really messed up to assign the older girls as babysitters - sure, they should help out at times - but their siblings are not their children. They need to build their own lives.

Are you this kid's parent? I've seen you say this twice here. Yes, it is good that the police are taking this seriously. It's good that the kids he threatened see the police taking this seriously. It's good that a teenager learns you shouldn't tweet tape threats to the police or anyone else.

They're lucky they have the privilege of having as many kids as they want. Not everyone can just "leave it up to God" when it comes to their reproductive decisions.

This must be some kind of fetish.

Shoot him over a tweet?

It seems to me like a fine would be more likely to affect his parents than the kid himself. Jail time and/or an extensive amount of community service seems like a punishment more likely to affect the perpetrator of the crime.

I like Paris Hilton for some reason. She seems very self-aware that people think she's a spoiled rich person, and to be fair she has done so bad stuff.

There's no way you can be in a bad mood with this song. In my case, it's the Bad Girls video that's my favorite. That scene where she's filing her nails sitting on the car is boss.

Me too. I even changed my email adress, because even though I disabled the "import gmail contacts" function on twitter, I keep seeing people pop up in my "suggestions" sidebar that shouldn't be there.
Like that guy who sold me a camera on ebay 2 years ago. I wrote that guy one email, 2 years ago, and then deleted that…