Let’s hope so, anyway. In any case, a whole lot of people who could really use them are getting some happy holidays, as last US troops prepare to leave Iraq. Welcome home, folks.

Only a week late on this piece from the WaPo, but I only just found it this morning: These Games may seem barbaric to some, but they’re a modern tradition. They get the Shoppers in from all districts of the nation, train and groom them, and then release them on the fateful morning towards the […]

As you may be aware, dear reader, I’m a big fan of the kind of pop culture meta piece like this one from (surprise) Amanda Marcotte about what she perceives as the ascendance of mass-market mediocrity in modern American popular culture as being inherently more “worthy” than properties with more limited, niche appeal. I include […]

Today, November 8, is election day in the United States. So go and vote. Yes, it’s an off-year election, which, if your ballot looked like mine when I absenteed it a couple of days ago (business travel this week), means lots of local races for school board and county board of supervisors and stuff. Just […]

Whenever I see someone talking along the lines of the individual that slacktivist is talking about here, the whole business about how the founding fathers intended the United States to be a Christian nation, and the squinting at and bending of the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to try and justify […]

I saw this piece, “Performing Motherhood”, over at slacktiverse, and well, it resonated. For many reasons. Go forth, and read it*. _____________________ *-Also, check out the comments, where someone talks about this anecdote, and eloquently describes what’s so creepy and wrong about the adulation heaped upon this (probably totally fabricated) piece of glurge.

I don’t have a particular thesis for today. My mind is swimming with all kinds of random stuff, and none of it is coalescing into one coherent point. But, it still needs to get out, so I’m going to take the shotgun approach and try getting out some thoughts on a handful of things; and […]

I kind of wanted to just leave yesterday be, but in the end, I figured that it was probably best to counter all of the blindly patriotic tackiness and/or resurgences of anger from so many other people with my little piece of ten years after. Where I was when things went down doesn’t really matter. […]

I’ve seen several varieties of this sort of thing get passed around via email, but mercuryblue‘s recent essay at slacktiverse does a really good job of covering how political considerations are inextricably woven into every personal decision we make. Every choice we make (or don’t make) has an effect on the larger world, no matter […]

From a historical perspective, it’s hard to discount the premise presented in This article regarding the demographics and positions of the “”modern”” Tea Party movement. Back in US History class in high school, we called this the “”Solid South.”” …But while there may be Tea Party sympathizers throughout the country, in the House of Representatives […]