[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]
I am not feeling so hot this morning and a trifle discouraged, so rather than sling some slop that wouldn’t be worth the effort to read I’ll pass along some links I’m positive are worth anyone’s time.
"Link dump" is slang picked up from one of Markos’ sports blogs, Athletics Nation, an interesting corner of the ether I’ve watched bloom from the very beginning. Blogging and its community forms can be applied to anything humans are passionate about, and I’ve enjoyed this "amateur" community of baseball writers very much.
One of the reasons I like Athletics Nation so much is that women were always made—and are—extremely welcome, so it’s not some semi-regressive testosterone snot fest, and I think Christy Hoffman could write professionally anywhere. I’m pleased for Markos to see this little venture do so well, or at least as far as I know Athletics Nation is, the A’s are embarrassingly terrible but the blog thrives on.
Politically Sotomayor easily has the votes to get confirmed, so I ignored the hearings yesterday, very glad not to have to put up listening to bloviating Senators. Reading the outraged blog posts about it today, though, I had much the same reaction as Barbara O’Brien, who was also fortunate to miss them but later had to identify a lot of horribly offensive behavior.
Something is still very wrong here, as men and as a country we should have moved beyond these disgusting juvenile episodes (way to go, Stephen) and stupid peacock privilege strutting a long time ago. I can tell from the voices I read this morning that men crudely and badly crossed a line yesterday and of course are clueless about it, it goes beyond pure politics, a degrading sort-of game to make sure powerful white guys get to thumb their power down on those who don’t have it. I don’t have any answers except to continue to respectfully listen to great women writers and learn from my mistakes.
As usual, don't miss the incomparable Boehlert of Media Matters for a fun Saradise Lost read. Via Hullabaloo.
Oy, another national problem that needs immediate attention: the financial sector and Goldman Sachs has overrun Congress, as Durbin says they now "own the place." As liberals and progressives lets not get sensitive about how we got here or who might be responsible, please, let’s just be honest about the obvious reality of Wall Street ownership and how we might fix it. I’m really tired of the little people getting crumbs while billions flow to the Street with shadowy Fed moves, I really am.
On that cheery note I shall belatedly move on, sorry, I simply don’t feel that well and it discourages me. I’ll perk up soon, prolly, and enjoy a hot summer day, I hope y’all do too.