Virtually no one was baking brownies when the wall came down, and now they're everywhere.

Never has one generation spent so much of its children's wealth in such a short period of time with so little to show for it.

Sometimes more is less.

I have wondered about this for years, and still do not quite have an answer.

What is it, exactly, that drives us to seek these things again and again?

Mr. Bruckermann's cut was more than $150 million. He left the company to grow oranges on his Spanish estate.

"You may as well enjoy the anticipation," she said, "Because it may be all that you'll get."

"There is a new reality in the marketplace."

Fence companies, meanwhile, appeared to be certain winners.

Part of it is the "collapse of the economy of the Western world," he said.

"It's a legacy thing we're addicted to."

On a radio station Friday, evangelical pastors prayed for God to help voters "avoid wickedness."

I know y'all are stupid. But do you have to be that stupid?

In a Harris poll last year of 2,000 adults, 41 percent said that they believed in ghosts.

I mean, that is the overarching issue in this campaign.

Pirates, pirates, pirates. This whole city is pirates.

Who, given current circumstances, could disagree?

I said to my wife, 'Just take a look at what money can do.'

But that's gravy. We got what we came for.

Soon it will all be over but the celebrating and the sobbing.

The hope is that two years from now everything is smoking.

"I thought I might try a strategy called the Reverse Maverick."

"It will be zesty," he added.

Parents get that.

Children can also be taught the technique.

Your kids will thank you.

And does it work in reverse?

He doesn't know. But he can't bear not finding out.

Maybe there is still time for that question.

A revolution comes when what was taboo becomes mainstream.

In other settings, the court has protected vulgarity.

In other words, there has to be a line people will not cross, even for a suitcase full of cash.

Nir Rosen, in Rolling Stone:

"You Westerners have your watches," the leader observed. "But we Taliban have time."

Freeman Dyson:

That's the kind of thinking that comes naturally in such a place, where 100 years is nothing.

It's very important that we adapt to the world on the long-time scale as well as the short-time scale. Ethics are the art of doing that. You must have principles that you're willing to die for.

Also:

To be sure, time marches on.

Yet for many Californians, the looming demise of the "time lady," as she's come to be known, marks the end of a more genteel era, when we all had time to share.

Tom Friedman, in 2005:

Lance Armstrong and his team's abilities to meld strength and strategy -- to thoughtfully plan ahead and to sacrifice today for a big gain tomorrow --- seem to be such fading virtues in American life.

Maybe we have the leaders we deserve.

How We Lost the War We Won

This is an excellent analysis of the situation that Petraeus confronts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The original article at Japan Focus includes hyperlinks to all of the quoted material, as well as photographs and annotated maps of the region. The author, China Hand, runs the China Matters blog.

All parties agreed that the only solution to Afghanistan's conflict is through dialogue, not fighting.

It appears that the key job before General Petraeus will be to co-opt the regional impetus toward a negotiated settlement, prevent Saudi Arabia from mid-wifing a power-sharing arrangement favorable to the Taliban, assert American control and direction over the process to assure America's continued presence at the center of Afghan's security equation, and spike the loose cannons that threaten his plan.

First, from 1973:

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting

Now, some selections from the archive.

Steve Coll, from 2004:

If at first you don't succeed, at least learn from your mistakes.

Google's Eric Schmidt:

Failure is an essential part of the process.

NYT's Eric Schmitt, from May 2006:

"I'm more concerned in the long term about the results of the drug war in Afghanistan than I am about resurgent Taliban," said the NATO military commander. The government and its NATO allies have not lost the people yet, officials say. But it is getting close to that.

Carlotta Gall, reporting after the late 2006 peace deal:

Javed Iqbal, the newly appointed Pakistani secretary of the tribal areas, defended the North Waziristan accord:

"We have tried the coercive tactic, we did not achieve much. So what do you do? Engage."

Steve Coll, reporting shortly after Bhutto's death (also, audio):

I asked if the local Taliban played favorites at election time. “The Taliban have no part in politics,” Paracha answered emphatically. “They are totally against democracy and the ballot. They will decide everything under the Holy Koran or with the bullet.”

General Rashid Qureshi, Musharraf’s spokesman, said the notion that Pakistan might support the Taliban was “a ridiculous argument, really. We have lost over a tho... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

'We're not going to win this war'

Everyone is so excited about the PopTech talk, but no one paid any attention to his op-ed when I recommended it earlier this month.

Earlier, I wrote:

The larger question is, does this crisis demand anything more than our money? Is it just about getting Unstuck and going back to business as usual? After we give everything (again), then what?

Juan Enriquez and Jorge Dominguez wrote in the Boston Globe:

Within the billions of sentences about the financial bailout there is one word notably absent, austerity. All talk is of payments, supports, subsidies, incurring more debt, stimulus packages. The thesis seems to be: If only we spend more the party can go on. True, only if the financial meltdown is a temporary mismatch and dislocation in housing and credit markets. But suppose there is something fundamentally wrong with the US economy. Then spending more will not fix it. Getting the diagnosis right means getting the treatment right. It may save us a trillion or two.

A solution requires the country to begin to spend what it earns, reduce its mountainous debt, and address massive liabilities, restructure Social Security, pension deficits, military, and Medicare. No wonder politicians would rather spend more of your money now rather than address these problems. Because we have been spending 5 to 7 percent more each year than we earn, a forced restructuring, triggered by a currency collapse, would have the same effect on wages and purchasing power that the housing collapse had on housing prices. So let's learn from our Latin and Asian friends and act before it is too late.

What about austerity?

"A little fear can often be a healthy thing."

Some friends say the expression is a metaphor for an essential tension that runs through Mr. McCain's life.

If you keep flicking it on and off it will eventually blow.

"There was no downside -- until the bottom fell out."

She thought she could do it.

"Enough about clothes and hairdos and high heels," Ms. Palin said. "I want to talk about the important things."

But something essential is missing.

"The emptiness got to me very quickly," he said.

And there's certainly something to that.

The problem is now that none of that's left.

"It basically comes down to sucking it up," she said.

How much, no one knows.