Two excellent pieces on the Duke Rape case from two of my favorite penis-free bloggers:  first, the always-interesting neoneocon, who reflects on the changes in rape law and the attitudes of society towards rape and personal responsibility over time; and second, the marvelous Gail Hapke, who breaks out the literary allusions to deconstruct those who use pet sociological theories as a quasi-religion. Granted, these two women are suffering from the

Forgive me if I sound ungrateful, but I was expecting, you know, a lesson about the meaning of life—not to be scolded for failing to bring you “a bagel with a schmear.”

From the Kansas City Star’s Jason Whitlock, “Imus isn’t the real bad guy”: Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem. You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality. You’ve given Vivian

From Bloomberg News: Russian police arrested opposition leader and former world chess champion Gary Kasparov today along with more than 100 supporters and several journalists at an unsanctioned protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Thousands of riot police swarmed streets around central Moscow’s Pushkin Square, the historical focus of democracy protests, after the city’s authorities pledged the same display of police force that greeted the last protest in the

From Jemele Hill, ESPN’s Page 2: I never wrote it, but I felt it—which is just as bad. I said it in private discussions with friends, some of whom tried to get me to see the whole picture, not just the picture I wanted to see. My being a black woman, my knowing too many athletes who treat women like items to be purchased in a vending machine, and my

”…but you can never take…OUR MUSICAL TRANNIES!” Somewhere over the Percocet rainbow, the ghost of Judy Garland is smiling and having herself a nice double martini. (h/t Tom Pechinski)

HERE LIES THE WEST: WELL, IF NOTHING ELSE, IT SURE DID SOME GREAT SHIT WITH KETCHUP, DIDN’T IT?*

Which, isn’t that, you know, racist…? (h/t Dan Collins)

A:  When it’s taking a courageous stand on behalf of sinister conspiracies and the greater truthiness.  From feministing, “You will not shame me”: I have gotten email upon threatening email to rescind what I said last year about the Duke Women’s Lacrosse Team and their uninformed support for the accused rapists in the Duke rape case. The case that was mishandled, manipulated and finally dropped on Wednesday. I usually ignore