(no subject)

Apparently, there was something about the power relationship involved -- uppity, jet-setting black professor vs. regular-guy, working-class white cop -- that Crowley couldn't abide. Judging by the overheated commentary that followed, that same something, whatever it might be, also makes conservatives forget that they believe in individual rights and oppose intrusive state power

--Eugene Robinson

Thanx to lsanderson

(no subject)

Ari, a guest blogger on Justine Larbalestier's blog, asks the rhetorical question,

You may be wondering: why should I read books about people who aren’t like me? They’re not the same gender as me, the same sexual orientation, race, or religion.

An answer: Because if you stick to reading about no one but people like you, you become more of an idiot, a word that comes from the Greek word for "private" and means people who have so little awareness of consensus reality that they can never get out of their own heads and no one else can get in.

(no subject)

Interesting discussion of Language and Asperger's from andrewducker. I probably don't have Asperger's, but I am annoyed at having to translate to and from Literal in order to communicate. (They don't give a shit whether I want to; they just want to know if I will.)

(no subject)

The thinking, if that is the word I am looking for, of those who favor private health insurance

Thanx to libertango

(no subject)

National Review, of all people, talks sense about President Obama's birth certificate. This year, when I applied for a passport, I got an official copy of my birth certificate from New York State that looks like President Obama's. I'm pretty sure I was not born in Kenya.

Thanx to enegim