Techno-geek or Luddite?

I love fountain pens (and most other kinds of pens and pencils, too), but I also like technology. I used a Palm for a long time and I liked having everything in a small package, but then I started having problems syncing it with Outlook. It became such a pain that I decided to go back to paper. Not as convenient or compact, but holding a pen or pencil and writing with it feels so much better than using a stylus on a hard screen. Like a book vs. a Kindle -- the experience of reading would be so much less enjoyable if I wasn't holding a book in my hands, feeling the paper, turning the pages. People have been talking about the demise of books for years. I think there are lots of people like me who will kick and scream before we let them take that last book from us.

Can't anyone make Republicans shut up?

Really, what is wrong with Republicans? Calling health care reform socialism and communism is so incredibly ridiculous. They seem to need to scare people to get Americans to oppose anything brought forward by Democrats. Isn't that what Dubya did with 9/11 and WMDs in Iraq? And why didn't a single Republican come forward and speak ouy against the despicable behavior of the protester shouting the N-word at John Lewis? They can say that that protester doesn't represent all Republicans, but surely they set the stage for it. The Tea Party? Just Republicans by another name. The Republicans spent 8 years destroying America's reputation throughout the world and diminishing all Americans' rights. Now, they should just shut up.