Communitas

Last night Kita and I watched Like Crazy, a movie telling the story of two long-distance lovers. While recognizing that I’m generally a sucker for any love story, I really liked this and recommend that you see it. It does a great job depicting the ins and outs of long-distance love, something that Kita and I experienced on a Quito, Ecuador - San Francisco basis (we handled it much better than the movie’s characters, however). Tip of the hat to our recommender, Mike “the human IMDB” Lewis. 

Also at the gym this week I read “Making it in America,” a long article in The Atlantic looking into manufacturing in our country. It is an issue that’s getting a lot of attention as the factory jobs that were such a staple of our middle class are disappearing. The article does a great job looking deeply into the situation and draws the sad but I think correct conclusion: manufacturing jobs will continue to dwindle in the US, and there’s not much that can done about it (political rhetoric notwithstanding). 

“What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute… If we’re going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

—Rush Limbaugh on Sandra Fluke’s advocacy of health care coverage of contraception. 

This radicalism is not only bad for the GOP, but for the country. I hope that the lunacy of this campaign cycle inspires more moderate Republicans to take back their party, which would be good for all of us. As Joe Nocera writes on how a Santorum nomination would be good thing: 

“An alcoholic doesn’t stop drinking until he hits bottom. The Republican Party won’t change until it hits bottom. Only Santorum offers that possibility.”