It seems a lot of us have forgotten that we built this nation as immigrants. Immigrants constantly pushing out the folks who were here already, but, yes, the United States is a nation of immigrants lording over the conquered.

This is instructive when you consider what it takes for modern day immigrants to actually get here in the first place. Read/listen to this as an introduction.

And hell, once they survive that, you’ve got armed redneck, hateful “Christians” and just the general law enforcement establishment to deal with. Are they breaking the law? Sure, so do you when speeding or cheating on your taxes. Taxes, I’ll remind you, that anyone with a fake SSN is paying and will never collect to help pad your retirement.

Mine too. Just saying.

Thank you, Mr. Smiley.

In the end, too much may be made of this, but, yes, losing a manned space program is going to put a dent in our nation’s general inspiration to do great things.

We already have a political party that won’t fix school, roads, bridges, power grids, etc. They also hate and fear science in general, from teaching biology in schools to denying federal funds for stem cell research, alternative energy, better trains, and so on and so on.

So, yeah, this is one more nail in a coffin being fashioned by folks who fear change. This also makes them fear innovation, creativity, and, more importantly, progress.

Half of this nation routinely votes for this mentality to rule our daily lives. I live in a state currently shut down because this notion has taken over the state legislature. Your state is probably next if not there already.

Want to reinspire America? Don’t fret about lost shuttle missions. Pick people who want our nation to learn, innovate, gamble on the future, and achieve greatness again. The other guys just want to pollute the environment enough to force the Rapture to happen.

Which side do YOU want to be on?

This continues to make me laugh, days after I first read it.

Basic premise? If McCain isn’t a racist, he still sure as hell is an idiot. As if we needed more proof.

I’m not a huge graffiti fan, but this is cool.

Considering the history of bad blood between Soviet armies and their unwilling satellite states, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often. I know the Baltic states has have diplomatic issues with Russia on moving these kinds of monuments away from central squares. I’m not sure how something informal and snarky is gonna go over but I’m sure Moscow is pissed.

Sure, be proud of your military. Just don’t expect the folks who were forced to endure their rule to appreciate them too.

Christopher Kimball is not only a food genius, he’s also keen on remembering the important things we insist on removing from modern life. Here he is lamenting that most of us know nothing of the sights, smells, and tastes of food on the vine and in the field.

Granted, I may not have as much nostalgia as he does for the smell of pig poop, but, yes, it is important to know how hard – and how beautiful – it is to get your food from the source. It might make folks appreciate and re-evaluate the difference between good food and the usual crap that is often served to us indifferently.

Apparently, humans only walk upright because it made us better fighters. Seems counter-intuitive given the knuckle-dragging bullies out there today.

Then again, given our proclivity to violence, it makes perfect sense. I mean, we wouldn’t have gotten to the moon without trying really, really hard to kill ourselves in new ways during World War II.

Granted, given the location of naval bases, this is more of a symbolic gesture it is nice to see the military leading the way towards that more perfect union.

I mean, the Air Force is a Talibangelical stronghold and the Marines aren’t much better. You’d hope for more from the Army and maybe it will yet happen. The Coasties are just a busy as the grunts too I imagine.

Either way, even baby steps count.

Frankly I am used to most progressive websites attacking the President more than the average Tea Baggers but this article not only has good advice but is fairly level-headed in delivering it.

I’ve stopped following/reading a lot of sites and talking heads. Might this be a sign they realize that you are either part of the solution or lumped in with the rest of the troublemakers?