I think Meredith Brooks accomplished something like this ten years ago with her song "Bitch." Now that I listen to it again, I'm reminded of how good it is. I love the clever lyrics. The video's good too. I want a room that can do that.

I was hoping someone would link to that. As usual, it's hilarious because it's true. Whites and Blacks in America both give their kids awful names, but for very different reasons. Or are they that different?

This coalition may well come apart, since the ANC has betrayed all of its principles and embraced neoliberalism. If it does, I'd love to see South Africa join the left-populist tendency coming out of Latin America.

Does anybody have any details on this?

I don't think you meant to be insulting, Grungie, but I was always really offended when my mom would say things like "At your age, you think that you are invincible." Never once did I behave like that, but she said it anyway.

What we see with smoking, for example, is partially due to reverse psychology. If a population is constantly being told not to do something, then that activity automatically becomes rebellious, and some members of the population will want to do it for that reason.

Also, girls in particular often smoke to control their weight.

Perhaps the comments would be more respectful if she had a tour of duty in her recent past.

He may not have actually molested anyone. That suggests to me that the worst part of all this is the fallout. I've seen several discussions on Broadsheet and elsewhere that suggest that parents are so paranoid about pedophiles and such today that children no longer spend any time roaming, exploring, developing, or even doing anything at all unsupervised until they're almost ready to drive, or something like that.

There was that widely-disseminated column from the LA Times earlier this year in which one woman was quoted saying that there were more child molesters these days "due to the internet." Really.

Does anybody else often feel like they're the last rational, logical person in a world full of fools?

Does anybody have any further information about the child who hid from his rescuers?

I found it earlier. The parents described their son as "immature and a little slow." They also credited their Mormon faith for helping them pull through. Really. I wonder if they credit their magic Mormon underpants.

That doesn't look like a complete sentence. Well done.

Also, who knew that cable TV could have a contraceptive function? It's not all bad.

... but I'm an atheist so I couldn't hang out with the goody-goody religious types, and there weren't any straight-edge punk rockers around, as far as I could tell. That's another reason why those were such miserable years for me.

I'll gladly seek combat for a cause in which I believe. Is it wrong to expect others to have the courage of their convictions?

Do people only have sex at night?

... I hate the backlash even more. Yeah, I see sleazy prostitweens around, but I also see lots of kids who look great, different, and cool. I particularly like the "rocker" look. Those "sleazy" girls are stereotyping themselves; the cool chicks tend to make a point of not wearing this crap.

Speaking of which, I've always disliked school uniforms. People say that it's too hard to get dressed in the morning... why is it so hard to grab the top thing in the drawer? Also, it seems to me that finding people with similar clothing makes it easier to find friends. "You like Bad Religion? Awesome! I saw them at Warped Tour!" etc.

I suppose it may just be my frame of reference. Dallas has a famous private-school culture, and those kids look like dweebs. I remember when there was some massive field trip to the Meyerson Symphony Center, and a bunch of us were all laughing at the dressed up pretty-boys and princesses from the private schools. In contrast, those kids in the film Rocket Science look classy, as do the stereotypical British uniformed schoolkids.

I guess it may be a necessary evil in some places. It just seems so Orwellian to me, or like something out of Pink Floyd's The Wall. I'm also reminded of that disingenuous angel/whore dichotomy. You see it in those "pure clothing" companies, and religious types defending their bedsheets-as-clothing arrangements. They really think all other women are sluts.

... of the music discussions I love to have, in which I explain how post-hardcore arose, and slowly rose to prominence, and so on.

I'm not sure what this has to do with it (though I have an idea,) but when I read Broadsheet I often remember this quote from a very intelligent, articulate female student after we left our Women's Studies class: "Have you ever met an attractive feminist?"

Israelis can do all sorts of heinous things, but when one chastises them for it, they and their supporters cry "anti-semitism." It's so convenient.

Those seem to be song lyrics, worded differently. I think the first line is from Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance. Most of it seems familiar.

Do you have an example of selective denigration of Christianity? I for one make it a point to mock all religions.