The Anti-Playbook, 4/22/10

1. Playbook Gained 7,400 New Subscribers Yesterday: Including me, bringing their grand total to about 38,400. An almost 25 percent spike, thanks to the NYT profile of Mike Allen, which I blogged about yesterday. If you’re seeing a lot of “Goldman Sachs says SEC suit is ‘politically motivated’ and will ‘hurt America’ ” coverage, or “Janet Napolitano is back!” stories today, just know: it could be the handiwork of Allen’s acolyte-minions.
2. Earth Day Entered Middle-Age Today: Forty years ago today, a bunch of young activist-idealists launched the first Earth Day to promote environmental awareness. You can read about the past, present and future of Earth Day in today’s Washington Post here. The most depressing bit:
   

   This year, a poll conducted by professors at George Mason, Yale and American universities showed that respondents who were most alarmed about climate change were more than eight times more likely to express their concern through shopping for “green” products than by contacting an elected official multiple times about it.

   If I were Earth Day, I’d be shopping for a flashy “green” Porsche and hooking up with a hot young environmental activist right about now–screw all those “expressing their concern through shopping” Bobos.