Know You,Know Me!

How to determine your Political-Empathy quotient: On one axis find your political ideology somewhere between the two poles of Conservative and Liberal. On the other axis we have "Us"(inclusive) vs. "Them"(exclusive). Yes. It's so awesome when the media take a regular old term you use every day like "empathy" and decides it's Important. All of a sudden one innocuous word launches a million articles , blogs , etc. Sort of like when the Obamas said "yay" with their hands closed and knuckles touching, and everyone dropped their jaw in amazement. Fast forward a year: National Fistbump Day ! For those interested, I've got my fingers crossed hoping "canoodle" is next to receive the treatment. Canoodling has important socio-political ethnocultural implications and demands exploring! (Immigrants are canoodling, sources say.) Next week! Anyword, we present the Political Empathy Matrix with a sprinkling of this week's sto...

A participant at the Wave Gothic Festival today in Leipzig, Germany. The music festival...spans four days and dozens of musical acts playing inside and outside venues across Leipzig. [Photo by Katja Buchholz, via Getty ] Related . Published by Original source : http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gawker/full/~3/Dc4hfikO...

[ Get it? That's our president, Barack Obama , at a Five Guys burger shack in Washington DC, pickin' up lunch for everyone like a real regular fellow; image via Getty ] Published by Original source : http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gawker/full/~3/75jpsEs5...

This one-legged cancer survivor lady now squats 365 pounds . Do something awesome this weekend. Published by Original source : http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gawker/full/~3/zZkP88eF...

Pat Buchanan , valiant defender of the White Man and his interests, knows that there is hostility and bigotry toward white men who voted for Pat Buchanan. And it's all because of that woman , Sonia Sotomayor . He is quite right in one narrow sense: things suck for embittered working-class white people! But, as contrary to reason as it may sound, this is not because of Hispanic women. Or even black people! It's basically because of other, richer white people. It is fun to be reminded, sometimes, that Pat Buchanan, a charming and intelligent person who was good friends with Hunter Thompson, is a crazy bigot. Published by Original source : http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gawker/full/~3/PN8Z6xFF...

Mayor Mike! What a lovable guy! One minute he's palling around with adorable muppets , the next he's telling a City Hall reporter "you're a disgrace" because the guy asked him a pertinent question about his bullshit rationale for buying a third term. Published by Original source : http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gawker/full/~3/ZezXoHBl...