http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/10883871.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/10883821.html

The Philly judge in the rape case is an embarrassment to our city, but give Philly its due - we just lost a trailblazing female judge and advocate for the rights of the downtrodden. See links above on the life of Judge Lisa Richette.

Lower class African American culture - the materialism, the macho/sass attitude, the violence and the single-parenthood - is the problem. Nor the only problem, sure, but one that drags own those who would succeed and even lures the children of middle class blacks down to its level. The culture even trancends race to some extent - it does affect white and latino underclass too, but in those cultures the other models for behavior are more prevelant, visible, and help dilute these negative aspects of the culture.

if the dems get us out of iraq, iraq will spiral into chaos, and the republicans will say "see, told ya so"

if the dems don't get us out of iraq, they lose credibility.

it's a classic catch-22, complicated by the total lack of a viable presidential candidate in either party.

name checking john mayer in the stevie wonder panel. that's just sad for both keith and stevie. sad sad sad.

group ointelligence variations of 10% or whatever it is are probably true, but irrelevent at the individual laevel. besides, in most fields, intelligence takes a backseat to numerous other factors, including emotional IQ, social connections, and ambition.

This book sounds great. Another quirky English novel with no chance of selling here is City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate, http://www.patrickneate.com/page.asp?p=cotl

a hardboiled detective novel about an Indian-Ugandan-Englishman and former muhajadeen who begins investigating a missing hooker and ends up in a web of terrorist intrigue. Just fantastic - funny, insightful, and a window on London's ethnic and lower-class stew.

the media ordination of the frontrunner(s) continues with about 1% of the coutry having voted so far. now we're left with two junior senators, one who rode in on the coattails of her husband the president and another who got to the senate by running unopposed and was declared presidential material after making one really good speach.

is this a great system or what?

This black underclass murder epidemic is national, and it's cultural, and no ammount of economic or law enforcement intervention is going to change it. There's a whole nihilistic subculture that sees violence as the answer to all frustrations, and it's likely that through his volunteer work this father just got in someone's sights.

Before anyone calls me a rascist, we've seen in research lately what anyone could see for themselves - there are two black Americas and they don't see themselves as having a whole lot in common anymore. One has multiple generations of fatherless families, distrust of education, and involvement in the grey market economy. The dwellers of this dark world are in the minoty even among blacks in poverty, but the culture is pervasive, snagiing the children of decent families and infecting whole communities. I fear that via the popular culture and normal social networks, it is slowly making the jump into the mainstream for all races and income levels.

So we send money to China to buy various crap, and they use the money to buy a stake in our financial institutions. Pretty smart on our part - we get real, tangible stuff, and they get a stake in an institution and have in effect bought more of our debt. So now our consumers can join our government in living off loans from China. Meanwhile, we'll get away with continuing to devalue our currency, lower our debts, and then start new banks.

i would love this. hate getting lost looking for crap at the stupidmarket.

i wouldn't need it or want it at the farmer's market. first of all, he doesn't have more than about 15 different items even in the height of summer. i just tell the farmer what i want and he gives it to me. then he totals it all up with a pencil on a paper bag and takes my money. easy as pie (and I do love a good farmer's market pie) and no need for technology. which is good because the farmers our local markets are amish.

the wic program already offers an alternative to food stamps that encourages nutrition, albeit with an outdated approach. of course, if you've ever been stuck behind someone with a wic check at the grocery store, you'll know what a horrible idea that is!

The Repug establishment is comfortable with Romney the way the Dems were with Kerry. And man, Man, the home state state, the windsurfing, the ACTUAL flip-flopping,really make the case. I hope the Rombot wins the nomination. He's the perfect losing candidate.

The problem is, our macro consumer economy is based on selling stuff other countries make. How we get money into our economy is a big question if we're going to stop borrowing it. At the household level, most of us middle classers can't save jack. I'm at the bottom of the top 25% for income, and once I've paid by relatively modest morgage, heat, gas, my $200 car payment, insurance and groceries, there just ain't that much left over. I'm honestly not sure where the hell we go from here.

I am debt free with a good bit of money in the bank but rising food and energy prices are leaving me without much extra each month. So I'm going to either spend it on a pair of recliners or a patio in the back yard, since clearly I won't be going out for a while.