with continued paper-thin descriptions of world events (in this case, Bhutto), and shrill, nonsensical denunciations of any contrary views.  (See comments — the evidentiary bar for “Bhutto” and “corrupt” is not exactly a high one, but denouncing someone as a KKK type simply for possessing a historical memory going back to the 1990s?)  One expects this on blowhard La Russophobe… but this is not what Publius Pundit was supposed to be about.

PubliusPundit used to be a blog that dared to describe the complicated, which meant going way past MSM-echo chamber writing, and which dared to go against the CW by asking the hard questions… including questioning democracy itself when the implementation thereof is incapable of defending peoples’ freedom.  A reader will learn more from a single one of Robert Mayers’ old posts than they will from three months of the shallow, ad-hominem-laced schlock that is on the menu today.  It’s almost tragic:  it was an actual honor to be able to put in a guest column or two on the old Publius Pundit… today, I’d be embarrassed to get a link from it.

This is pathetic.  Mayer either needs to get her the hell off his blog, while there’s something left to salvage, or at the very least insist on an editorial standard that rises above junior-high-school histrionics and ad-hominem.

Oh. My. God. We have become a nation of Eloi.

“Hello, is this 1-900-Morlock?  Hi.  Do you guys have incentive plans?”

(Psycho Happy Dance)

Plus, a bonus cartoon certain to be appreciated by the Visiting Artilleryman.

Or, something like that.  As lots of Orthodox know, fasting is good for you.

Not that they fast for that reason.. but still, groovy.  There are days when I really DO feel like I shouldn’t be eating anything…

I was actually going to say cockfight, but given the nature of the post, thought that might have been inappropriate.

Mein bruder was musing over folks in the Castro and their desire not to be labelled ‘genetically gay‘ for various reasons (and it’s a topic that picks up some steam, not to mention consternation in Congress, as John Tierney, not exactly a die-hard liberal, discusses in the NYT.)

But I realized something reading the link of my brother’s site: if homosexuals can point to a genetic cause for their “condition,” (yes, I know, ducking for cover here) then they WILL, not may, win a fight in the courts for gay and lesbian marriage under the Equal Protection clause… because Equal Protection will wind up trumping “marriage = man+woman” in the courts once one gets into the essentially legal nature of civic unions (rather than religious sacraments, which is a very different critter that just happens to share the same name). That’s just the way it is… the entire structure of 20th-century civil rights progress in America is predicated on EP being the “trump card” in our politics. (more below) (more…)

It’s not that I agree with him.  Far from.

But it has an awful lot to do with him being willing to play ball with the Republican Party’s spending and accountability gadfly from over the river, Mr. Coburn.

Unlike most Republicans, who are like 900-phone-sex lines every election year (psst: ‘hey, Boehner, there’s an election on, pretend you care about fiscal restraint!’), Coburn is the real deal.  Pity I’m stuck with either Pete Sessions, or even worse, Martin Frost, both of whom have apparently never met any pork they didn’t like.

But anyway, transparency and accountability are the first step in making sure that these folks know that we’re their bosses even in theory, so when Obama and Coburn come out to track pork directly… I can live with a campaign like that.  And compared to “I think creationism should be taught in public schools” Huckabee, “I don’t have an authentic bone in my body” Romney, “I beat crime in NY by changing the reporting rules the cops were using” Giuliani, let alone “politicians have First Amendment rights but nobody else does” McCain (who, like Clinton, I will vote against if I have to crawl naked over broken glass to do so)… I’m kinda okay with Obama as a guy who disagrees on me with what we should spend, but with whom I agree on pork.

hat-tip to the Puppy Blender, but apparently the cold that’s going around messing with folks may not be your garden-variety cold. Not that personally I’d know the difference, being a teacher with a friend who does day-care — we work inside of diseased zombie pits(tm) — but this sucker can potentially get really dangerous.

Hrm… new virus. I wonder if that’s why all the cats have been sneezing and snarfing for days on end… anybody else have sick kittehs?

“I am sorry, Mister Professor, but I cannot take the final exam because my husband and I will be in the Bahamas.”

FYI:    I have NO access to my yahoo mail account.  Either it’s imploded or my account’s been hacked.  This also means that I’m shy a lot of family/friend/etc email addresses, so bear with me as I slowly rebuild.