My comments got too long to post at Crooked Timber. They refer to this:

"Each blog is not a democracy. It is operated by the whim of its owner. Most of the time that is all fine and good. It is interesting to get different people’s perspectives on the news of the day, their views on the latest movies, and even what their kids said at breakfast. The personality of the blogger is definitely appealing.
But when bloggers personally attack others, who are not public officials or celebrities just private citizens trying to go about their work, this undemocratic creation is deeply troubling."

I find that last sentence deeply troubling.

It says much about their removal from the struggles of life that educated liberals such as the author at Apt 11d can respond as they do to a minor insult. If one operates on the assumption that one acts without bias, that one's responses to information are neutral and 'objective,' then one can wonder why anyone would ever feel the urge to be rude. Read the entirety of the post. Her coddled fragility is embarrassing.

There is no clear line that can be drawn between rhetoric and reason, so the Nation and the NY Post are equal before the law.

On a more personal note I've had enough of 'nice professional couples' moving into my neighborhood and wondering why the people who've lived here all their lives hate their fucking guts. Gentrification is not nice, but it results from the actions of nice people, most of whom vote democratic.

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It's official: Barbara Ehrenreich is the (American) left's answer to David Brooks.

"Like the notion of social class itself, the idea of a liberal elite originated on the left, among early 20th-century anarchists and..."

Jesus fuck.