The Tyranny of the Majority Party, By Fred Barnes, includes some interesting history.

Sure hope William Daley is right.

Article of the Day

Serfdom vs. liberty in 2010, by Colin McNickle, is a very fun dream, but I'm pretty sure that's all it is. Americans are a long way from the zeal required of revolutionaries.

Kindergarden Christmas Work

This morning I took the pleasure of religious expression during my kindergarten English class. Each week I try to add something new, though it's mostly repetition. By the eighth week we have Hello, Good morning, My name is _____, Have a nice day, and Good bye under our belts, as well as counting to ten, naming some colors, and answering the questions How are you (the answer is I'm fine), how old are you, and which color do you like under our belts. By under our belts I mean some of the kids remember these phrases sometimes, but regularly when I ask some her age she tells me her age, for instance.

I also have the problem of asking any question, what's your name in particular, and getting responses like Šukšlė, Susiukas, or Kakū. (Garbage, pee-pee, poop) Misbehavior abounds too, but whatever.

This morning we had a decent class, though. And we had a fun new phrase, Merry Christmas. I brought my kid's stuffed Christmas begarbed reindeer to kindergarten and each kid got a chance to tell it Merry Christmas (although some kids said their age bųy accident instead). As I was prepping for the class, I thought, this lesson is probably forbidden in America. Stupid PC culture.

Article of the Day

Yes, there is Santa, He’s no liberal myth, by Michael Graham, is a quite a nice piece on BS. The objective research evidence on liberals believing BS (...About 50 percent more Democrats than Republicans say they have spoken to the dead...) is amusing indeed. The rest is agreeable and fun to read as well.

Is There a Doctor in the House? By Howard Fineman

Ron Paul was my favorite 2008 candidate for president.

Article of the Day

In Steven Greenhut: We're increasingly ruled by rules, Greenhut gives several examples of things in America banned by the government. This reminded me of an argument I had with Gedas, because Lithuania has the same problem: "It's a lot easier...for authorities to target law-abiding citizens...than it is to target the real bad guys."

The result? I have to have people bring me ammonia from America in the form of After Bite. This stuff costs like two bucks, it's just plain ammonia, but I can't get it. Housewives in Lithuania can't use it as a cleaning agent. Why? Because somebody drank it once and died. So fuck it, this multi-use, convenient product will not be available for anybody.

How about Krupnikas, the Lithuanian spiced honey liqueur? Nope, can't have that in Lithuania. Well, you can have the shitty factory version from Maxima which is disgusting and gross. But can you make your own, delicious Krupnikas? No, brewing this traditional Lithuanian liqueur is restricted to emigres. This form of patriotism is restricted to Lithuanians abroad. Why? Because some bums drank too much grain alcohol and died once. Good luck finding it for sale now; as in Greenhut's examples, getting it now is part of the underworld economy.