“On Being Sane in Insane Places”: Sarah Palin and the Rosenhan Study

In 1973, David Rosenhan, a sociologist, conducted a study (Warning, PDF file, scroll down) of the difficulty people have in overcoming being labeled as having a mental illness. Rosenhan and seven colleages got themselves admitted under false names to different mental hospitals around the country by claiming they were hearing voices, a common symptom of [...]

Chuck Schumer Might Need to Watch His Back

Wow! In an interview with Huffington Post over the long weekend, Chuck Schumer said that with Franken seated, there is no more need for compromise on health care legislation. Schumer offered a detailed and frank assessment of the political landscape of the current health care debate. Predicting that the final bill will include a public [...]

Monday morning news break

Health Care for Anyone? A few days old but, this is a point that can’t be mentioned often enough, Suddenly, a Trillion Dollars Is Too Expensive? Krugman: “And those who prefer not to buy insurance from the private sector would be able to choose a public plan instead.” — ahh, and who would make THIS [...]

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya’s Plane Not Permitted to Land in Honduras

A short time ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tried to fly to this Central American nation on Sunday. The provisional government said it would turn the aircraft away, even as it signaled a new willingness to negotiate a solution to the region’s biggest political crisis in years. Honduras’ [...]

YouTube Synesthesia

When you let your mind wander on YouTube, you never know what you’ll find. Take this perfume channel, for example.  Katie Puckrick interprets the olfactory dreamscapes conjured by her featured perfumes.  Katie delivers the smell to your nose so vividly that pretty soon it’s easy to tell an auod from a patchouli.  But it’s Katie’s [...]

Sunday brunch and your morning news at The Confluence: July 5, 2009

The sound and fury of the fireworks has faded, and your tummy may be recovering from backyard barbeque syndrome, but the news goes on. Pull up a chair and sooth your soul with one of Rico’s delicious Mimosas. So what if it’s still early…we won’t tell; and the scrumptious brunch buffet awaits a visit whenever you’re feeling up [...]

The Haunted Vagina

I think Sarah Palin’s vagina is haunted.  It is possessed by insanity-inducing evil spirits that cause mass hysteria at the mere mention of her name.  These vaginal demons can turn feminists into lying misogynists and make a gay man obsess about nasty lady parts.  They can induce the pimping of speculative rumors by a criminal [...]

Black, white and Sarah

I found myself in a very weird comment thread last night on another blog.  I have a lot of respect for the blogger but something went horribly wrong in that thread and it occured to me that it is very easy to get the wrong idea about where a person stands with regard to Sarah [...]

PDS: How Bad Can It Get? Really Bad.

Really bad, tasteless, disgusting. A stunningly repulsive headline was posted a short time ago at Huffington Post by Erik Sean Nelson, a self-described “fiction author and comedy writer.” The post was pulled quickly by someone at Huffpo, but here’s the screenshot (h/t Sweetness and Light) Note that “Trig” is included in the tags. I guess [...]

Sarah Palin’s Resignation: What Does it Mean?

Chris Cillizza claims she is running for President: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office later this month, according to several sources familiar with her decision, freeing her to build a national political team and travel the country in support of an expected 2012 presidential bid. The first term governor is stepping down “so [...]