Once upon a time, you believed that you were very special. That you’d grow up to make a difference in the world, be paid handsomely for doing so, find true love, have some equally special children, and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, life hasn’t worked out quite as good as the fairytale. So, were we all lied to? In Lost’s “Happily Ever After” Desmond discovers that there is a reality where all his dreams can come true. So where is this reality and do we need to be as special as Desmond to get there? [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
No Comments »

When you are in sixth grade (or these days, maybe second grade), you and the other girls in your class are asked to report to the library one afternoon for the infamous “becoming a woman” discussion. In the darkened library, and speaking in hushed tones, you are given the talk about the ways that women are different from men. You may remember it as being funny, or embarrassing. You certainly don’t see it as a particularly critical event in your maturation. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers by Nancy DeGregorio
2 Comments »

With a twist on Mr. Stein’s wonderful/horrific posts about people who should be killed this week, I offer up a story of someone who deserves all kinds of praise and recognition:

Marine Cpl. Matthew Bradford.

[Read more →]

Tags: all work by Mike McGowan
1 Comment »

Over the last ten years at least 36 USA Team swimming coaches have been banned for life from the USA swimming organization. Not, to the best of my knowledge, convicted in the court of law — and not doing hard time for their crimes — just simply banned for life from coaching the USA Swim Team. Their crime? Allegedly molesting and secretly taping teen girls in locker rooms while the girls changed and showered. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, sports by Amy Boshnack
1 Comment »

I have a few very close friends that are pregnant right now. They are all actually due very soon; one in a few weeks, one in a month and another at the end of the Summer. I’m totally envious of them — not like jealous envious — just excited and overwhelmed for them and what they’re about to experience. I loved being pregnant. I know it’s hard for some people to believe, but despite the fact that I’m a foul mouthed, relatively too-cool-to-be-emotional kind of girl, I was completely in awe of the fact that a baby was growing inside of my body. I was a full blown Gaylord when it came to my pregnancy. I even made myself sick. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
6 Comments »

Thanks to Netflix being available on Wii now, I have been checking out shows and movies I have passed over or never given the chance. One such show is Weeds. It’s about this attractive widow who sells pot to make ends meet — she would have been the woman of dreams to my roomate in my freshman year of college. I watched one episode the other night, then two, then seven episodes and a bag of Fritos later, I was passed out asleep on the couch. To me, this is the way to get into a show. I can’t stand watching it week by week — I am doing that now with How To Make It In America, and in true HBO fashion, it’s only a half hour long and the first season is something like 6 episodes. My two-year-old will be driving by the time that and Eastbound and Down have a second season. Back to Weeds — I am loving the fact there there are 4 more seasons left for me to watch. Better buy more Fritos! [Read more →]

Tags: Marty digs, television by Marty O'Connor
1 Comment »

In the last year, my closest friends — guys and girls — have been getting themselves in and out of the most perplexing relationships and romantic situations. The guys ask me what women are thinking. They hope I will know, but I usually do not. The girls ask me what guys are thinking. They trust my candor, and it is all too easy to express. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers by Robert O'Hara
No Comments »

DEFENDANT’S VERSION OF EVENTS:

First of all, I want to say that I very much regret what I did. My behavior that night was inexcusable. Naturally, anyone would have been frustrated under the circumstances, but I should not have urinated in the middle of Sunset Blvd like that. That was wrong and I’m sorry that I did it. Still, after you’ve been standing around waiting for the smug bouncer to let you into a hot Hollywood nightspot, and you’re still outside waiting for almost two hours and meanwhile the bouncer is letting in a bunch of pouting and “brooding” kids from shows on the CW or something, you tend to get a little angry.

[Read more →]

Tags: on the law, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
1 Comment »

Charles Krauthammer voices his views on Obama’s new nuclear weapons policy on FOX News. Is the policy insane or ridiculous? You decide.

Tags: politics & government by Paul Davis
No Comments »

March 9, 2010
I dream I have purchased a large rubbery lizard that is said to have a rudimentary artificial intelligence. At first, I am unimpressed by the lizard and wish to throw it out, but gradually the lizard gets smarter and larger. My plan it to ditch the lizard at a synagogue function. I leave it in a small pond in back of the event, but it has turned charming and has acquired the ability to change colors. It has grown large now, so I fold it up and bring it home.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
No Comments »

Last November 17th, someone shot and killed a 52-year-old man named David A. Masters. He was sitting behind the wheel of his car on Virginia’s Route 1, just outside the Capital Beltway. The Fairfax County police know what happened, but they’re covering up the details of the investigation and not even revealing the perpetrator’s name.

[Read more →]

Tags: on the law by Mark Draughn
10 Comments »

“I’m trying to do nothing for a while,” Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) tells his ex-girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh) at an L.A. party. Greenberg does not have to try very hard. But Noah Baumbach’s character–driven film about an inactive and neurotic guy is both compelling and funny. Its strengths are the pair of strong lead performances and Baumbach’s subtle and witty script. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
No Comments »

As Bill Roggio writes in the Weekly Standard, the video released today by Wikileaks along with a claim that the video shows that the U.S. Military “murdered” a Reuters cameraman and other Iraqi “civilians” in Baghdad on July 12, 2007, was anything but collateral murder.

Read Mr. Roggio’s comments and then watch the video carefully.     

Tags: terror & war by Paul Davis
No Comments »

I really, really hate the phrase “ripped from the headlines.”  It ought to be on one of those lists of cliches than can never ever be used again in print.  But open a newspaper or click on a news website and you are likely to see a story similar to Megan Gunther’s situation in 212 by Alafair Burke.  Megan finds herself the subject of some particularly nasty posts on a college gossip site.  The anonymous poster is familiar with Megan’s schedule — he (or she) knows when Megan is at home, when she goes to spin class, when she has her chemistry lab.  She’s a little freaked out; who wouldn’t be?  The police are no help — there are no threats, so their hands are tied.  But when Megan turns up dead, her roommate critically wounded, someone finally decides to take things seriously. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
No Comments »

Recently, I was looking at a list of quotations having to do with skepticism. Most were unexceptional platitudes either for or against. One, however, was extraordinary: “In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism and skepticism and humbug and we shall want to live more musically.”

The first thing that is odd about this is the grouping of cynicism, skepticism, and humbug. Then there is the contrast between those and living musically. And of course there is the question as to what “to live more musically” means. [Read more →]

Tags: that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
10 Comments »

That clown prince of the Senate, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain — is up to his old tricks again. Not content to simply rubberstamp unfunded spending like the rest of his esteemed colleagues, Senator Coburn has blocked the extension of federal unemployment benefits. And because of this Easter Scrooge, 200,000 people this week will be without their dole. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Colin Cohen
No Comments »

Hey, College Football, it’s me, Alan. I was wondering if you were paying attention to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. If so, I imagine you have noticed that the Butler Bulldogs are in the final. They got there by playing and beating some really good teams. There was no voting to decide who should play in the final. If there had been, there is no way Butler, who ended the season ranked 11th, would be lined up to play Duke for all the marbles. Seems like maybe the basketball people are on to something here. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
2 Comments »

10. “Ever since Sarah Palin started wearing leather motorcycle jackets and leather skirts, we’re really into S&M.”

9. “We didn’t think we’d get caught.”

8. “Rush Limbaugh told us a guy there could score us some Oxycontin.”

7. “We thought we’d create our own ‘Self-Stimulus Package’.”

6. “We’re just a bunch of rich arrogant jerks, big deal!”

5. “We were only trying to prevent unnecessary layoffs in the Stripper Industry.”

4. “We took a real spanking in 2008, and got to like it.”

3. “Why should Democrats have all the fun?”

2. “We thought the club’s lesbian role play might help us with any ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ legislation.”

1. “Ever since Republican Senator Larry Craig got busted for lewd conduct in an airport’s men’s room, the GOP has been desperately trying to re-establish its ‘hetero cred’.”
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, politics & government by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »

Like millions of my fellow denizens of this deeply troubled planet, I’m looking forward to purchasing an iPad. And then, three or four years from now, I’m going to throw it into the garbage or, as we euphemistically like to refer to it, the “recycling bin.”   [Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, technology by Michael Antman
2 Comments »

As we draw near the end of Holy Week, a week where the two biggest Christ-related news stories involved sex abuse in Europe and Christian militia in America, with breaks devoted to ads for Easter candy and holiday sales events, it’s good to remember the biggest news story of all …
He is risen …
Christ is risen, indeed …
[Read more →]

Tags: music, religion & philosophy by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »