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.

[link]

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.

I'm not sure I would have survived that.

Sullivan talking about DADT: In The Bunker

Ana Marie Cox debates Rich Lowry on ending the persecution of gay servicemembers in the military. It's a very pleasant and honest chat. I always learn something from hearing straight people talk about us.

...

Rich says that it's no big deal to live hiding one's sexual orientation. If you're straight, try it for one day.

Try never mentioning your spouse, your family, your home, your girlfriend or boyfriend to anyone you know or work with - just for one day. Take that photo off your desk at work, change the pronoun you use for your spouse to the opposite gender, guard everything you might say or do so that no one could know you're straight, shut the door in your office if you have a personal conversation if it might come up.

Huh. By this standard I've been a closeted homosexual at work for 14 years, as I've never done anything to reveal my sexual orientation. I'm not sure why I do that....

Right now I want a Fujita with a bow and puppies. Yep.

I actually think people at work assume that I am a closeted lesbian because I am not married and don't really date. I do talk about my family, though, but it is my mom.

I think that's a real difference between a day-to-day workplace and a job where you're living with people. Not that everyone I work with doesn't know that I'm straight, but I do try to be professional in the 9 to 5!

On a related note, I was sending an email to some old high school friends about getting together, and since one is married, and I'm pretty sure the other has a girlfriend, but I couldn't remember her name, I said something about their "partners" being invited. Of course the (married, female) one had to double-check that the other (male) one hadn't come out since she had last seen him.

IMO the problem with the conservative viewpoint is that I want to go back to the pre-Reagan years. I think the Reagan administration sent the conservative movement off the rails. Governance gave way to a fantasy narrative built on anecdotes or unfounded assumptions with ideas like cutting taxes to raise revenue, building a military that could solve any problem, eliminate social problems by promoting Christianity, and self-regulating businesses.

This narrative then found it's way into the the media of the right where I think you have hucksters who make their living off being outrageous, your Coulters, Becks, Limbaughs, etc. These voices have smothered the principled and intellectual voices.

The core principles of personal responsibility and opposition to excessive government intrusion are not scary in themselves. Obama himself said he changed his mind on welfare reform, a conservative idea despite being enacted under Clinton. Deregulation has been good in many cases such as the airlines, and telecommunications. Personally, I think deregulation of energy markets would probably be good if handled properly.