Tuesday evening roundup

Everyone's talking about Afghanistan: Richard Cohen; Anne Applebaum; and Ahmed Rashid.

How unf*ingbelievably evil some insurance companies have been.

Thank you, Grist, for taking on localwashing. I was amazed, this weekend, at how stupid Whole Foods thinks its customers are: locally grown in New Jersey? Are you serious? Yes, I suppose it's less of a trek than California, but really? I've also seen them use slippery language, with intent to deceive, on whether products are artificially sweetened.

Grist thinks Van Jones' resignation is a victory in the long run. So does Arianna Huffington.

Easyjet's treatment of a pregnant passenger was so wrong, but the third or so comment on the page is so misogynistic--a man has the lack of brains to blame feminism:

Well, lots of career women feel threatened by expectant mothers. They value their careers before sex and pregnancy. Judging by the gender-neutral language, it was women employees who were rude to her. Only a feminist could come out with a line like: 'Pregnancy is not a woman's problem'!

Now, he actually misquotes the writer, and another commenter calls him on it, but WTF? How deluded do you have to be to suggest such a thing? I should know better than to throw logic at him, but has it occurred to him that the pregnant woman in question--a correspondent for the Economist--is a "career woman"?

Speaking of f*ed up comments, check out some of the ones here. They're so bad that the flat-out degrading and rude ones scare me less than the misguided ones begrudging the Obamas' having been able to afford a personal trainer. Strikes me as racist, actually--would anyone ever have given a second thought to Laura Bush's having had a personal trainer? Yet, for Michelle Obama, some have the nerve to imply that it's uppity. Yes, I know, they're just looking for reasons to hate--but like I said, it's not the equal opportunity haters on the page that most boggle my mind.

Speaking of the absurd, I'm glad people are calling bull$hit on the idea of telling kids to stay in school as socialist indoctrination.

On a lighter note, here's a classic example of inviting exactly the kind of juvenile innuendo one meant to avoid. Sigh-- I kind of miss Wales (not because of that).