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We’ve gone from the Teddy Kennedy health care bill to the Joe Lieberman bill. The Senate proving it’s a failed institution if the Democratic majority can only support legislation that does nothing close to what it’s original intent was meant to be. With senators unwilling to stand up on principle rather than the holy writ of getting any win, no matter what it means. But the anger directed towards Joe Lieberman is off by a branch; where this failure lands is on Pres. Obama’s doorstep, an executive who can’t bring himself to lead. Pres.

Years ago I watched Al Pacino in a film called Dog Day Afternoon in which there were no dogs; just a botched bank robbery and a sad ending. Lately, it seems that there are a lot of sad endings for dogs and cats and any animal that doesn’t have a caring or responsible owner. Pictures and stories of pets being abandoned in apartments, houses, and backyards are all over newspapers, the Internet and television.

Terminator Salvation is a dark fable of the future, a much better war movie than science fiction film. Is the era of the dark comic book movie fable coming to an end? Or is it more a matter of a spate of seemingly underperforming dark would-be blockbusters? Terminator Salvation , the blockbuster reboot of the Terminator franchise , is, as they say in Hollywood, underperforming. That means it’s not making as much money as expected.

Bravo announced this week that it is expanding its Real Housewives franchise to the nation’s capital, with its “influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders.” Have they been here lately? The best-dressed aide on Capitol Hill would horrify the lowest grip at Universal Studios. There are no cultural connoisseurs. Congressional leaders can be dragged to the Kennedy Center once a year for a televised gala, and they leave early.

Think you know the meaning of virginity? You’ll be surprised to find out what Jessica Valenti discovered. In her new book The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women , the founder and executive editor of Feministing.com takes on the virginity movement, and argues that it’s high time we disassociate female morality and sexuality. Recently, I sat down with Valenti to discuss the book, the myths, and what’s going on at those Purity Balls. So, what is the purity myth?

A big reason that the Iraq war never ignited nationwide outrage on the scale of Vietnam protests was the absence of conscription. As long as the volunteer army confined the consequences of George W. Bush’s Oedipal acting-out to one slice of America, taking it to the streets was just not how the country channeled its anger; telling it to the pollster was more like it. But watching today’s economic crisis touch people in every corner of the country, I wonder whether this democratization of catastrophe will turn out to be the match that finally lights the fire of reform.