[Soapbox] 
It's been over a week since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was broken, and the rhetoric surrounding the fighting has been a dizzying array of bizarre algebra, with one Israeli death justifying over 225 Palestinians on the first day of retribution, the United Nations equating all civilian men with terrorists and US officials yet again taking Israel's side (blocking the UN's call for a ceasefire) in what will no doubt be yet another war that's costly in every sense.
[Soapbox] 
The economy is like other people's dreams: No one wants to hear about it unless it directly affects them, and while it's entirely inscrutable, vague and bereft of any substance, lots of "experts" claim to be able to read the proverbial tea leaves and tell you what they mean.
Also, like all of our dreams, the economy is totally homoerotic, am I right? Well, OK, that could just be my own thing I'm working through.
[Soapbox] 
"Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," is the message seen on Northwest Washington DC buses this holiday season.
[Soapbox] 
A few weeks ago, I was laid off. The organization I worked for lost a few million dollars (don't you just hate it when that happens?) and had to cut 30 jobs.
[Soapbox] 
"I don't know" is hardly an uncommon (or harmful) thing to say, but recently this phrase has started hanging out with an ugly new friend: "I'm too lazy too look it up."
[Soapbox] 
Ah, Thanksgiving: a big dead bird, celebrities lip-syncing on floats and, of course, a tanking economy. Sounds great, really, but someone's going to have to clean up after all of that, and it ain't gonna be me.
[Soapbox] 
You know when your cell rings with an unknown number and you internally debate whether or not you should pick up? From now on, I'm going to go with "no."
[Soapbox] 
I blame John Mayer for a lot of things: asshat undergrads sitting under trees and singing his songs on the first day of spring; increased media coverage of Jessica Simpson; that idiotic song about daughters, you know, existing.
[Soapbox] 
Any internet stalker worth their weight in kilobytes intimately knows the multitude of work-arounds available to establish a phony online identity. Our government appears to be behind the times when it comes to understanding these rudimentary aspects of the internet. A recently passed piece of legislation highlights this misunderstanding.
[Soapbox] 
If eight years of George Bush's government-by-guts and the resilience of Sarah "Joe Six-Pack" Palin as a viable candidate for national office have taught us anything about ourselves, it's that Americans are deeply, unabashedly and unapologetically stupid. Oh, and that we're a group of infantile narcissists who need to vote for someone who reminds us of ourselves—our overly self-assured, intellectually incurious, magic-man-in-the-clouds-fearing selves.
