TWO FROM ALTERNET

Bunch of homework tonight. Here's a lazy twofer from AlterNet, instead of my usual sparkling commentary.

Impeachment Talk Reaches the Mainstream

The groundswell for President Bush's impeachment is growing, and last week the establishment media finally took notice.

The Wall Street Journal ran a story analyzing how a planned impeachment of President Bush will play out as an "election issue," including a helpful pie chart showing 51 percent of Americans support Congress in considering Bush's impeachment if he "didn't tell the truth about the reasons for the Iraq war."

The Washington Post published a commentary acknowledging that support for impeachment is now "reaching beyond the usual suspects," and the Associated Press covered the spike in pro-impeachment resolutions from local officials across the country. Resolutions recently passed in Vermont and California, and this weekend Democratic Party officials in Michigan voted to urge local officials to pass another. Meanwhile, 14 Democratic candidates for Congress have announced their support for impeachment.

These local efforts are beginning to advance impeachment at the national level.

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We Are What We Buy

Rather, it's hard, she comes to realize because -- like it or not -- what we buy defines us. It gives us status, it creates a space for us, and it allows us to commune with others. To stop buying, Levine discovered, leaves one in a sometimes shadowy -- and occasionally even boring -- netherworld.

There was the time Levine's niece graduated and she and Paul had to come up with a gift for her. (The origami animals they tried to fold were just too pathetic.) Then there was day Levine had to ask for wax from a fellow skier (she had forgotten hers) and realized how uncomfortable she felt as a supplicant.

There were the many times, both Levine and Paul discovered, when others wanted to meet them for dinner, movies, or coffee and saying "no" seemed to put a crimp in both friendships and professional relationships. (Here I thought Levine was pretty brave. I'm not sure I'd be ready to test my personal appeal by limiting time spent with others to talks and walks.)

And even Levine, who describes herself as a "desultory and uncommitted consumer at best," cheated twice and bought new clothes.

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