The Republicans continue to ride the line between making me laugh and making me cry.

From The Politico:

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a certified public accountant, had pushed for months for an internal audit of the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to GOP members, but the committee’s treasurer at the time was reluctant ( Read more... )

I just read that Putin has suspended Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty. Most of you have probably never even heard of that one, but I spent the summer after my junior year monitoring the negotiations. I know a lot more about what makes something a tank than your average suburban housewife ( Read more... )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6921702.stm

At midnight tonight, the British Army's "emergency operation" in Northern Ireland comes to an end after thirty-eight years.

This story about the incident during Friday's performance of Mike Daisey's monologue Invincible Summer really struck me when I read about it in dpolicar's journal. In brief, a Christian choral group from Norco High School in Norco, CA attended the performance, after being told that it included profanity and adult themes. The staff were so offended by the ( Read more... )

Salon has an article about soldiers with significant physical problems having their medical profiles re-written on the fly so as to make them deployable and keep up their brigade's numbers in order to satisfy the demands of the "surge". In the article, commanding officers deny these allegations.

J. and I are frequently bemused by people choosing to stick on their cars bumper stickers that become obsolete within a few months. We have a running list of bumper stickers that would never become obsolete, which includes "People for the Separation of Us and Them" and "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention," because there is always ( Read more... )

This article makes me pretty sad and angry. The City Manager of Largo, Florida is in the process of being removed from his position following an announcement that he plans to pursue a sex-change operation. This is apparently legal under the terms of his contract. The mayor and one commissioner voted against dismissing him, but that was not ( Read more... )

Here's the LA Times article that caught my eye this morning that suggests we may have done too good a job encouraging self-esteem in our children, to the point that narcissism is possibly a problem among college-aged youth.

Thoughts?

Here's the NY Times article that caught my attention this morning. The DePauw University chapter of Delta Zeta is being re-organized by their national, in such a way that all the non-white, non-skinny women have been asked to leave. I'm not a huge supporter of the Greek system, but I do know how important a person's house can be to them and some ( Read more... )

Last week there was an article in the Globe about the book Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both, which examines "hookup culture" among college-aged women ( Read more... )