True, if we had a civics-literacy test the elections would be decided primarily by immigrants.

if we had a civics-literacy test the elections would be decided primarily by immigrants.

Well, on 100 specific questions.

God, I could use a massage. And I say that having never had a professional one. I ache.

I know this is shocking, but I have a masseuse who is awesome. If you want a hookup I'll pass along her number.

I was doing fine until I sat down to work. Now my shoulders are killin' me! I think I could technically get out and go to work but am not highly motivated to. I have plenty of work to do that I can do here.

eta msbelle, I'm sorry mac is acting up. ugh.

Speaking of politics- I have been reading Howard Zinn's A People's History.... and it really resonates with me. But we me, it is sort of preaching to the converted-- the liberal viewpoint seems so simple to me, about helping people, equality, and championing the underdog (although maybe this is not how it is practiced). I was "raised liberal" like people were raised religious, and my grandfather sounding like Archie Bunker made me more, rather than less liberal.

Anyway, I was thinking that I am guilty of what I accuse conservatives of, which is not looking reasonably into the other side. I know we have only a handful of conservatives on the board, and perhaps no social conservatives, but is there a book similar to Zinn's that I could read and understand the other side-- or is it more than Zinn is the antidote to everything else that we read. I am wanting to understand what is so appealing to people I like and get along with, about the conservative movement.

ETA- I am watching the Shiba Inus, and they are sooooooo big!!! and cute!! I want to eat them up.

mac slept until 11:30 and I am managing to stay on top of email work while also watching some daytime tv. Maybe I'll get some work done on my taxes.

Sophia, I read Andrew Sullivan's blog, which is (IMO) a good source of intelligent Conservatism. OTOH, so much of what Republicans now stand for isn't conservative. Like their support of torture.

eta: [link]

ION, Hello Kitty pancake shop

I think Zinn's book was more of an antidote to the feeling that presidents and generals are important, but washerwomen are not. YMMV, of course.

I think Zinn's book was more of an antidote to the feeling that presidents and generals are important, but washerwomen are not. YMMV, of course.

Yes, I agree with this. But one of the things that I think might be "shocking" to (conservative) people is that it seems as if this whole nation was built on keeping all the disenfranchised groups from coming together, realizing that there were more of them than of the upper class, and really doing something about it-- and that wasn't really a chocking revelation to me-- that seems pretty much to be reality. So I was wondering if there might be something that would be that shock for me, but in the opposite way, maybe?

Most Adorable Performance By A Baby: Who's wearing ear protection? Who's got the cutest little protected ears? Who does? YOU DO NOM NOM NOM. Drew Brees' son Baylen got some face time at the end of the game, wearing his giant protective gear, and he put all other football babies on notice that it's going to take some serious cuteness to compete with him. With the put-upon New Orleans fans and the pretty quarterback and the team that had been wretched for years finally redeeming itself, all that was missing from the celebration was for Brees to bring out a golden retriever that had recently recovered from arthroscopic surgery and had one of those cones on its head.

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all that was missing from the celebration was for Brees to bring out a golden retriever that had recently recovered from arthroscopic surgery and had one of those cones on its head

Heh.