Justin - I enjoy reading your posts precisely because they're thoughtful and do take some time to read through and really digest, so I hope you will keep the majority of your posts in that format. I'm looking forward to being able to read your A Song of Ice and Fire post from a year ago without the risk of spoilers once I finish A Dance with Dragons in a few months (haven't forgotten).

The occasional grab bag post might be a welcome change as long as it doesn't become a lazy exercise in news compilation and cheap commentary every week. I think we're both aware of a "progressive" example of what not to do in that regard: "So, it seems like Mitt Romney thinks X. What a jerk! And check out what this charter school did in RI. As if there was any doubt about the corporatist agenda! [insert news headline][insert throwaway partisan talking point] etc., etc., etc."

Thanks, Dan.

My plan is to make anything that wants to be longish (say, more than 500 words) a post of its own, but some topics just want to be short. That's what I'm targeting, here.

Brazil has the eighth most billionaires in the world, and massive poverty.

Just one more fact that proves Reagan's loony "trickle down economics" is voodoo economics as George Bush Sr taught us

Sammy,

Brazil also has a larger army than we do. Should we kick up the size of our military?