I bitch about TV all the time, but it's not really the case that I hate it so much. Rather, I'm just pissed that I can't be a lazy slob and enjoy a passive moment of slacktivism, and at the same time be stimulated intellectually in the tiniest way. Thank Shiva for Netflix, which allows me to experience some truly severe envy of the British, or at least of those in the 90s (I have no idea if they still are making TV this good).

I won't spoil it for those who've not yet seen it, but I just finished the first half of part two last night, and I am so impressed, jealous, bitter, etc. Why can't we have political TV like this? I've seen a couple of episodes of "West Wing," and it just doesn't come close. Again, watching this reminds me of just how childish and stupid Americans must sound to the British. No one uses the Mother Tongue like they do. If you want to be entertained, and still feel like you're "doing something political," rent these today. Read more…

Hmmm. We're having public meetings now on the subject of 9/11, um, "alternative scenarios" shall we say? And in North Carolina no less?

Hmmm. Possibly more interesting is what sounds like an entirely valid (statistically speaking) survey I had not heard of before:

A nationwide poll this summer by the Ohio University Scripps Survey Research Center found more than a third of the 1,010 adults surveyed said it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that the U.S. government either participated in the attacks of allowed them to happen. Read more…