The New Ben Stein Watch

Felix Salmon has for a year and a half in his Portfolio blog performed the great public service of keeping track of the spiral of nonsense emanating from the word processor of Ben Stein, the guy who has carved out a niche in life as something between a pundit and a Hollywood extra.

I've followed and learned from Salmon's BSW, and my own readers have, I think received some benefit.

Here's an example of something I wrote on Stein in my other blog, Proxy Partisans, back in November.

The Economics Junkie has also done good work in keeping track of Steinian absurdities.

And here is an example of one of my contributions to this particular genre of literaure within the four corners of Pragmatism Refreshed.

Anyway, the reason for the whole revival is that Salmon has decided to abandon the BSW. Stein's column's are no longer amusingly bad or infuriating to Salmon -- they are "somewhere between boring and incomprehensible."

That's his call to make of course, but the disappearance of BSW strikes me as sad. So I hereby volunteer to "take over the franchise," as Salmon's April 12th entry suggested that some one might. I think of it more as grasping the baton.

For future BSW fixes, come to Pragmatism Refreshed.

This decision leaves us with the question of timing. Stein has his "Everybody's Business" column in he New York Times of course, and Salmon's BSW was conceived mostly as a same-day response to that. He also has an advice column with yahoo, in which he says unhelpful things like this (from his latest): "The economic future has become extremely cloudy, albeit with hints of sun. The government is doing what it can -- this is sometimes helpful, sometimes not. Your primary reliance, however, must be on yourself."

And of course no one can schedule when he'll come out with another pseudo-documentary or eyewash commercial.

My own schedule won't be tied to his in any event. I anticipate this blog's BSW as an every Thursday event. Or most Thursdays (I don't promise fanaticism.) So if that suits you ... we'll meet here next week.