The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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My Celebrity Crush: Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly

By Orlando on Wed, 05/13/2009 - 4:22pm | Potpourri

Is it bad form to mention a blogger on another blog? I don't know much about blog etiquette. Until about a year ago, I thought blogs were like MySpace pages: self-indulgent and of very little interest to anyone except the author and the author's close friends. 

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Potpourri
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Meet Your New Roommate or Obama’s Plan to House the Guantanamo Prisoners

By Orlando on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 3:18pm | Politics

Sometimes, I get confused when people use slang or terms of art. I’m more of a straightforward, un-fancy communicator. I’m ashamed to admit it might be something I have in common with our former president—although I tend not to make up my own words.

Something I am less ashamed to admit is that I don’t always follow some of the terms bandied about on the blogs. One of those terms is “strawman.” I’m from the Midwest. Out here, strawmen live in fields and they don’t generally talk, which makes it difficult for them to participate in arguments.

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Politics
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Courage, Republican-Leaning Districts, and the Matthew Shepard Act

By Orlando on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 4:34pm | Social Justice

I live in Indiana, in the 2nd Congressional district. It includes St. Joseph County, which routinely votes Democratic. It also includes a small town, where the grand poobah of the KKK lives. Or something like that. I can never quite get their leadership terminology down. 

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Social Justice
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A Very Personal Book Review: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

By Orlando on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 12:26am | Arts & Entertainment

Three nights ago, I started reading a novel that I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish. It caught my eye a while back, when I was browsing the local bookstore. That day, I put it down, but it stayed with me. So, a couple of months ago, I saw it again and bought it. But until last weekend, it remained in my car. I'm not sure what made me finally bring it into my house or what made me finally decide to read it.

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Arts & Entertainment
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Arlen Specter: Welcome to the Party

By Orlando on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 4:03pm | Politics

I've always been a "the more, the merrier" type of person. So, I think Arlen Specter's decision to switch his party affiliation is a great. Sure, he's made the switch out of pure political survival: he can't win a Republican primary in Pennsylvania next year. But so what? We've got conservative Democrats already. They're a pain in the ass, but they're our pain in the ass.

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Politics
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I am a Monster

By Orlando on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 9:00am | Social Justice

I don’t support torture. I think that the fact that the United States rationalized and engaged in torture is sad and disgusting. I wouldn’t mind seeing the so-called architects of these policies brought to justice.

However…

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Social Justice
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Welcome to the Roland Burris Fundraising Jugger-NOT

By Orlando on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 2:20pm | Politics

When we last left our hero, Roland Burris had submitted amended testimony to indicate that he maybe did have those conversations about fundraising for Rod Blagojevich that he had previously adamantly denied. He got confirmed anyway and the people of Illinois moved on to bigger issues, like which shade of green to dye the Chicago River for Saint Patrick’s Day.

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Politics
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Dear Dag Boys: Please Don't Make Me Tweet

By Orlando on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 9:50pm | Humor & Satire

Dear Dag Boys:

I am writing to express my concern with a new development that has very recently come to my attention. I am referring, of course, to the invitation for readers to follow Dagblog on Twitter. 

Being, as I am, ever so slightly behind the curve when it comes to internet advancements, I write to suggest--nay, implore--that you not require your bloggers to in any way engage in this new endeavor.

I believe that, should you make the tweeting an imperative, I would be able to master the techology. However, I simply do not want to.

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Humor & Satire
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Civil War Redux? Glenn Beck Talks Secession

By Orlando on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 3:58pm | Politics

Steve Benen over at the Washington Monthly has an interesting piece today about some remarks that Glenn Beck has been making. Beck is apparently of a mind that the founding fathers would support state secession if the federal government were committing suicide, whatever that means.

Now, I happen to agree that we should not follow our leaders like lemmings. But I also happen to be fond, perhaps to a fault, of sound reasoning.

Exhibit A:

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Politics

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Biography
Orlando is a teacher and aspiring novelist, living a mysterious and reclusive life somewhere in Asia. She used to live a reclusive and mysterious life somewhere in Indiana until Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence became national figures, making it far too humiliating to continue residing there. In her spare time, she travels the world--or her small part of it--snapping pictures and writing down random thoughts to share with the dagblog crowd.

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