Every holiday season, I toy with the idea of incorporating either an elaborate gift bow or a giant bejeweled silk poinsettia as headgear in my Christmas-morning ensemble. Frederica is my kinda representative.

That is the most breath-taking broach I've ever seen on a legislator.

Thanks for your reply! I also study social movements—but my research is on the right, so I wasn't applying any academic rigor to my thoughts on this project. What you say totally makes sense, especially with the way social movements require emotional connection and collective identity.

Also, older, more educated people and older people are more likely to vote. Women win on both counts: we have higher college graduation rates and we live longer.

The author of the Slate article reference here seems to have conjured the fictitious term "swingle" out of thin air. She says it's what "pollsters" are calling single women voters, who are this year's soccer moms? Kinda like the old Nascar dads? But, you know, there's something crazy about these ladies! Get this: they…

This is a cute idea, and I don't mean to sound rude, but: so what?

Jesus H. Christ. I am soooo glad I endured puberty during the free-wheeling 90s. I lived in Texas and went to Catholic school—but we had a full unit on human reproduction. The school also took on the burden of administering scientifically accurate "sex talk" in 7th grade. They invited medical professionals as guest…

Yep. It's also a problem for people of color, since they don't have access to the usual networks that allow people to enter certain trades, which are traditionally majority white. This isn't really about individual racism. It's just that something like 80% of new hires are done through social networks, and most people…

A lot of people have noted that this commercial is offensive because it's seems to suggest that sex between a man and a woman which results in serious injury to the woman is (a) not rape, (b) every girl's dream, and (c) totally not the man's fault. I'd like to add that the shot of the woman's tiny butt is pretty…

I definitely agree—restaurant kitchens are total boys' clubs. I just wanted to add something about culinary school, which is a HUGE rip-off. My brother is a chef and I waited tables for years in a variety of restaurants, from IHOP to chef-owned casual gourmet. What we've both noticed is that in most cases, even really…

I don't think the author of this post is trying to say that religious charity is the problem here. It's well known that churches do a lot for some communities. I think the critique of this guy's argument is that it blames very real and troubling social problems on assumptions about the individual moral failings of the…

I think you're right. I thought that sounded familiar. Can we get confirmation on the Newt story? Perhaps we can settle the art-immitating-life vs. life-immitating-art debate once and for all.

"We at CafeMom realize that politics for you is about a lot more than what the candidates are saying—it's about your reactions to them." — It's like cultural theory has unselfconsciously penetrated the mainstream.

Seriously, I do not see what is *not* stone-cold about refusing to at least rhetorically address the medical concerns of a wheel-chair bound 80-pound constituent suffering from muscular dystrophy. I also don't see what is "demonizing" about calling this a "diss." It's not as if anyone is comparing Romney to Adolph…

I think the "diss" part of this isn't really about the failure to answer the question—it's about the lack of empathy in both his answer and a his tone, as well as his refusal to engage the issue or to offer any justification for his position. (Incidentally, that's the "diss" part of most of the Right's stances on most…

Apologies for being redundant, but many thanks for sharing your story. And as others have said, you are brave and your story needs to be told.

I found a working link here: [www.nydailynews.com]

Agreed. It just encourages more scrutiny and re-enforces the social norm that the primary value of women's bodies is aesthetic.

I completely agree that I want an exceptional person in the White House. However, I don't think there's a strict equivalence between economic achievement and competence in governing. That's not to say that people who start with nothing and end up billionaires aren't highly driven and very smart—in most cases they are.…

Meh, le smug.