Long Time Coming Blogaround

It's winter in springtime, or something like that, and I've "finished the internet" (i.e., all caught up on blogs), so it's well past time to clear some bookmarks!

Let's start with Melissa at Shakesville, just 'cause. I'm so glad she's writing for Blue Nation Review now, probably the only website that seems to give Hillary Clinton a fair shake. (In 2008 I kind of flipped a coin and wound up voting for Obama in the primary, mostly on the basis of his writing skills as I felt each was a pretty decent right-leaning centrist. I do feel Clinton's rhetoric and, more importantly, her actions have moved a bit more towards the liberal end in the last eight years, and will be proud to vote for her in this year's primary even though I wouldn't mind that New England Jew Who Sounds Like Half My Relatives winning either.) Here she dissects the constant barrage of never-ending sexism that Clinton has faced for decades now. How this woman is still standing strong and getting stuff done is amazing to me. Also from Melissa: this is a great essay on values, another word that's become politicized to mean "what conservatives think has meaning" rather than, you know, what people value. And I'm really glad that so many people have picked up her roosting chickens metaphor; this mess has been 35 years in the making, beginning with Reagan's "October surprise" election scheme, and I've watched in dismay as cable news has morphed from a public service into a profit center (giving rise to constant hysteria and ratings-driven crap rather than actual news) and polite discourse has turned into a defense of bullying and an educated electorate has become a significant segment of citizens who think smart people are suspect.

Yeah, speaking of Trump, one of the things that first bothered me about him back in the '70s and '80s was how garish and gaudy and shallow all his edifices seemed to be. Stephen Fry takes a look at the Trump aesthetic and how that depresses people's spirits rather than lifting them up. And Amanda Marcotte examines how ambiguity panic affects how people vote.

Speaking of British funnymen, I hope you've all been following Eric Idle's Needy Bastard diary as he and John Cleese tour Down Under. Lots of fun!

Sean Carroll applauds the American Dialect Society's most recent Word of the Year, and so do I. I'd much rather language be gender-inclusive than agree in subject. Particularly given the still-enormous problems with sexism and harassment in academia, which Sean also examines.

And of course it's not just academia. Here are a couple recent posts from The Mary Sue about the videogame industry equivalent of booth babes at professional gatherings, and a review of a study that shows pay decreases in whatever industry women have joined en masse. Heidi wonders if this is going to happen to cartooning. Happy Women's History Month?

Back to politics for a minute, because Lance Mannion's analysis of the "both sides do it" and "Clinton rules" is worth reading, as are his meanderings on the much-missed separation of church and state.

Mark Evanier hits the nail on the head about what's so frustrating to me about cooking shows and demos. I'd like to add, they always show broilers on the top of ovens, and I've never lived in an apartment that didn't have the broiler on the bottom.

Just because I missed Blogroll Amnesty Day again (are there that many blogs that, like mine, still feature blogrolls?) doesn't mean I can't plug skippy and his BAD post.

My favorite homeless San Franciscan, Ace Backwards, presents a history of People's Park from 1969 to the present.

Kevin Drum doesn't believe voters are any angrier this year than in past years, but people tend to forget history, leaving things wide open for cable news networks to fabricate new history.

Lastly, if you have the time, David Niewert has a fascinating essay (it's more like a book chapter) on the human history of dominance and subjugation of both peoples and animals, and why it may finally be changing. I'd like to believe so!

Wow, how about that! A real blogaround! I knew I had it in me...