Closing Time Open Thread

Via Instapundit, Hall & Oates' Rich Girl wasn't about a girl.

No no no, I don't mean that. Hall's girlfriend Sara Allen told him about a rich guy she'd dated, some kind of waffle house heir, and he wrote a song about the guy. But he realized "Rich Girl" sounded better than "Rich Guy." (Also, he couldn't get in the "Rich bitch" line in the fade-out ad-lib. By the way, he'd never get away with that today.)

Via @allahpundit, McDonald's is finally considering extending breakfast hours past 10:30 am. Everyone loves them some McDonald's breakfast.

This is a good piece on the Ukrainian uprising, about which I know so little.

Did you know this about Russia's future plans? Because I didn't.

The future of this protest movement will be decided by Ukrainians. And yet it began with the hope that Ukraine could one day join the European Union, an aspiration that for many Ukrainians means something like the rule of law, the absence of fear, the end of corruption, the social welfare state, and free markets without intimidation from syndicates controlled by the president.

The course of the protest has very much been influenced by the presence of a rival project, based in Moscow, called the Eurasian Union. This is an international commercial and political union that does not yet exist but that is to come into being in January 2015. The Eurasian Union, unlike the European Union, is not based on the principles of the equality and democracy of member states, the rule of law, or human rights.

On the contrary, it is a hierarchical organization, which by its nature seems unlikely to admit any members that are democracies with the rule of law and human rights. Any democracy within the Eurasian Union would pose a threat to Putin’s rule in Russia. Putin wants Ukraine in his Eurasian Union, which means that Ukraine must be authoritarian, which means that the Maidan [protest movement] must be crushed.

Oh and by the way: A puppy emailed me. He says he's gonna kick your ass.

No seriously he's bringing a friend:

The dog pics via @CuteEmergency, as usual.

Now I'm going to link "Closing Time." You will say, "My Lord, that song is old, and overplayed, and overrated."

And I'll say to you: These things may all be true, but I thought that at the time it was actually current. It's only now, years later, I've heard the lyrics and thought they were pretty damn sharp. Particularly this one: "Now is the time to go out to all the places where you will be from."

Over-clever? Too precious? Too cute by half? Eh, I'd be proud of it if I'd written it!

So I agreed with you then, and thought "Oh here's that stupid song again," but ten years later, now I think this is a good song.

posted by Ace at 06:53 PM

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