George Mason University economics professor Russ Roberts gets a lot of airtime; he appears sporadically as an expert on a variety of NPR shows – Marketplace on the air as well as the excellent Planet Money podcast. He also hosts his own podcast, Econtalk, which is more of a commitment with its usual hour+ running times.

Now you can add rap producer to the list of media achievements. Howard who? Roberts is on his way to being the new king of all media, it seems.

WBUR and All Things Considered have a story on how the rap came about, but it’s nowhere near as much fun as the rap itself. Pretty well done, though I’d be interested to hear from any of you who aren’t already familiar with the two economic schools of thought about whether it really taught you anything.

‘National Gallery of Art – East Building’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The latest installment of “security guards in federal buildings need to lay off trying to interpret the Constitution” comes in the form of a couple of security guards at the National Gallery of Art stopping a citizen from entering the Gallery until she removed the pin on her lapel that had a pro-life message on it. Because it’s a “religious” or “political” symbol, the guards seemed to be unclear on which.

To be absolutely fair, Meghan Duke, the Gallery visitor in question, was there the day after the March for Life, when no doubt every guard in every federally-owned building in town has been instructed to ask people to leave signs and other protest-oriented paraphrenalia outside so as to prevent disruptions inside the building.

According to Duke’s account of the incident, however, the guards didn’t ask her to remove the pin in accordance with rules about protest materials (which would have been just as ridiculous as asking her to remove any other small political button), but on the basis that wearing a religious symbol into a federal building is a violation of the First Amendment. Except that when she asked if she could wear a cross necklace, the guards responded that that would be “completely different.” I am speechless.

Here’s an idea for a policy for security guards to follow: Leave the Constitutional interpretation to the courts.

Better to find security guard services who are competent rather than just ones who do this kind of stuff (find here some examples of reputable security guard services).

‘Artomatic 2009 DC Obama’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

By Ebony Kankam, special to We Love DC

This evening, President Barack Obama will enter our homes to deliver his first State of the Union address. In this speech the President will address some of the major problems our nation currently faces, as well as lay out a national plan to solve such problems.

The night will be filled with critiques of the President’s plan for a road to recovery as well as excitement to hear the President’s first State of the Union to a Joint Session of Congress. No matter what your political stance, make this year’s State of the Union a memorable one by watching it alongside of a group of friends or perfect strangers. From bingo games to open mics, there’s something for everyone. Continue reading →

The Penny Arcade guys tipped me to this poll going on over at the WaPo’s Comic Riffs blog – they’re asking what your favorite webcomic is. If you don’t read any then that makes for a pretty easy vote, but for those of us who *cough* spend perhaps a little too much time *cough*cough* reading web comics every day it can be a harder selection.

I’m a little disappointed that Schlock Mercenary isn’t in there, and somewhat surprised too, given our military population. However it’s just about made up for by the fact that Scott Kurtz’s PvP is currently sitting at 0%. Spend a little less time sniping at the print comics on web board and more time drawing and maybe you’ll pick up some readers, Scott.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have never heard of some of the other candidates so I need to go do some ummmm research.

‘Kevin Smith’
courtesy of ‘jareed’

I have a strange devotion to Kevin Smith. Maybe it stems from my dear friend in high school who kind of looked like him and was indeed a guy named Bob who didn’t say much. But my point is, it’s terribly exciting to me that he’s coming to Sixth & I Synagogue to do Q&A on April 22nd. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster to the general public on Friday the 29th, but there’s a presale on the 28th if you know the password. Which, by the way, is not that much of a password. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you.