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Politics

More on book-banning

Remember Gerald Allen? The state rep from Alabama whose proposed ban on all gay-themed library books I blogged about last week? Teresa Nielsen Hayden has a post about the latest development. According to the Guardian, George Bush has just invited Mr. Allen to the White House. Because he’s interested in what Representative Allen has to […]

Open letters to elected officials

Dear Mr. President, May I make a suggestion? If you’re genuinely interested in being a uniter, not a divider; if you want to appear to be more "compassionate"; and, in general, if you don’t want people to jeer at you — then maybe, just maybe, it might not be a good idea for part of […]

On citizenship

… I can’t be the only 32-year-old in this country waking up, rubbing her eyes, and realizing she doesn’t know how to break out of apathy, doesn’t know how to pitch in, doesn’t know the most elementary things about political action. Little Dutch child staring at the dam with no idea where to stick a […]

No doubt I’m preaching to the choir, but…

If you haven’t yet done so, just go out and vote already! I’ll be posting an election day diary tonight or tomorrow. I’m twitching with nerves today. But even if (heavens forfend) we have a repeat of the vote count fiasco of 2000, this election will be remembered as the one that got lots and […]

Pre-election resolution

I’ve come to a decision. No more political blogging for me until at least November 3rd. There’s plenty to get worked up about, but the trouble with me getting worked up is that once I’m up-worked enough to post about it, writing the post just perpetuates the state of mind (brooding, anxious, enraged). Michelle sometimes […]

Just saying it’s morning doesn’t make it so

This morning I woke up, dragged myself out of bed in the still-dark, switched on the radio, stumbled to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee brewing, took a shower — thinking, all the while, "Gee, I’m tired. I must not have slept very well" — and then put on my bathrobe, my glasses, […]

Earwormed with “Dixie” now

JibJab.com has reduced me to helpless laughter. See especially "Good to be in D.C." I especially liked the parody of the vice-presidential debate. (Linked to by a variety of people, but I somehow managed not to go there and watch the movies until now. Bwah!)

Very abridged debate commentary

Am not going to post at length on the first presidential debate. It’s past my bedtime already. Must catch up on sleep. However, I have to say that my good mood from watching Kerry mop the floor with Bush was perfectly capped off by watching the commentators on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart fling […]

Now I’m scared.

Jesus H. Christ on a raft. "The Bush vision is quite radical. He essentially is dreaming of a world where there is no employer-provided insurance," said Uwe Reinhardt, a health economist at Princeton University. "You buy your own insurance, but you pay the first $2,000 to $4,000 per year out of your own pocket." (Via […]

Late night thoughts prompted by the arrival of a certain anniversary

Periodically I wrestle with the question of whether my interest in all things aesthetic really means I’m just withdrawing from the world. It’s a serious question, because when I was younger, books and writing were my primary means of escape: when life got too difficult I’d pull a protective cloak of words over myself. So […]