Open Thread and Diary Rescue

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are ItsJessMe, HansScholl, vcmvo2, jlms qkw, sunspark says and grog.

• marykk shares a link-rich sermon she wrote replying to a racist email sent by one of her students, in Racism and a Teachable Moment - Part II. (ItsJessMe)
• Adam Buchen explains the reasons why Japan Falls Back into Recession. (vcmvo2)
• greenmama's Fossil Fuel Addiction Recovery Program walks us through a five-step program to wean us off our collective addiction. (grog)
• Bill Prendergast describes the cost of a congressional loss in Michele Bachmann, as described by the evangelical right. (jlms qkw)
• Recommending that we all watch PBS' documentary Boogie Man by Stefan Forbes, prouddemocrat discusses the Faustian transactions that lead many Republicans on a one-way trip up the river into the heart of darkness, in Boogie Men Atwater and Rove Got No Souls. (ItsJessMe)
• skmd writes about A Conversation Across the Pond and how each country views the other's main political parties. (vcmvo2)
• Johnny Venom is at his wonktastic best in Manufacturing Monday: Week of 11.17.08. This regular installment is a must read for anybody interested in the state of domestic manufacturing. (grog)
• abrauer scathingly dissects an incendiary piece of "reporting" that describes negative consequences experienced by supporters of California’s Proposition 8, in Arson! Time Magazine and Alison Stateman Pour Gasoline on a Fire. (ItsJessMe)
• From Great Britain and the Netherlands, first-time diarist Don Alhambra and his roommate conclude that the political center is in the eye of the beholder in Left vs. Right: a whole world of labels. (HansScholl)
• timiti provides an impressive historical context to the home of our 44th President in Peace. (sunspark says)
• RUKind writes a detailed, link-rich account of Senator Chambliss's involvement in the Imperial Sugar Case: Saxby "Sugar" Shameless. (vcmvo2)
• First-time diarist ksgreer relates a fascinating 1989 conversation with one of the physicists at the Pentagon who were designing a system using technology that didn't exist, which in turn was based on technology...that didn't exist, in The Emperor's New Pebbles: Designing SDI. (ItsJessMe)
• I am a Liberal because... should be our mantra as margotb822 summarizes in this fantastic "why" diary. (grog)
• Brett Ashley McKenzie reminds us that some of the needy already live here in "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor... Well, Maybe Not the Poor". (jlms qkw)

jotter gives us the day's High Impact Diaries - November 16, 2008, while Eddie C has Top Comments 11-17-2008 Smart Energy City Edition.

Shamelessly self promote your diary or pimp for a friend in this Open Thread!