I don't know about "unrelated" degrees (everything is related). However, students should always be ready for "Plan B." Many of my most successful students are doing something they never thought of.

The dollar amount is irrelevant if the dollar amount is essentially zero. Maybe the whole argument is irrelevant, but you brought it up.

Obama did not create a strategy to hold back and the birthers didn't need to be "baited." Personally, I think he made a political mistake by releasing the long form. The longer the birthers continued to embarrass the Republicans the better for the Democrats.

There are several reasons why people might cling to irrational beliefs about Obama. Maybe some of them are not racial. Some are hyper-partisans. Some have head injuries. However, none of these explanations reflect well on the radical birthers.
At the same time, you can not dismiss the fact that the attempt to cast the President as "the other" (as Darrin puts it) is usually strongest in the areas that resisted desegregation and other parts of the civil rights movement.

I live among enough bigots to know that there is often a connection between racism and these kinds of attacks on Obama. To be fair, some of these birthers are simply hyper-partisans. They are blinded by a party-based hatred rather than racially-based hatred.

Either way, these are people who are so desperate to avoid reality that they'll cling to anything that tells them that they're the "real" Americans and that they didn't actually lose the last election.

Ironically, "Ads by Google" is putting ads related to Abercrombie and Fitch at the top of my page. Nothing on Wonder bras for tots (yet).

The claim that this strip is "racial" is either (a) some failed attempt at humor, (b) the result of someone not knowing what "Jim Crow" refers to, or (c) the result of someone not knowing who Mike Huckabee is.

Some animals are easily offended. Did you get any angry letters from woodpeckers?

Good posting, Darrin. It reminds us of a lot of things. I often struggle to remember that the quality of your life is often defined in small moments.

Our church went through the generational battle (a generation ago). In our case that involved old donors not wanting to invite African-American families to join. That's when I quit going. Institutions have to have integrity that go beyond what the congregation/audience wants to hear at the moment.

Happy Birthday Darrin!

I've ordered a book on your birthday to give to a friend on his birthday. It's a two-fer!