Courage comes in many shapes and sizes.

Rebecca Musser, an attractive, poised blond in her early 30s who left the sect, testified Jeffs pressured her to marry again soon after the death of her spiritual husband, who was a church leader and Jeffs’ father.

“Within one month of his father’s death, he started marrying his father’s young wives,” Musser said during a hearing out of earshot of the jury.

Then in her mid-20s, she butted heads with Jeffs because she didn’t want to remarry, she testified in the trial of Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Most of the time I would confine DC posts to my personal blog; but I think that what is happening to public schools in DC has national significance. It is true disaster capitalism, union busting, playing out in the nation's capitol.

Remember that kid in class who continually acted out and made it impossible for anyone else to learn? Well imagine that kid took over your school system and you understand Michelle Rhee. Ever since she took over she has closed schools and fired experienced teachers and replaced them with Teach for American zombies.

McClatchy:

Sex trade is thriving in Costa Rica

Translation:

Economic crisis forces women to sell their bodies in Costa Rica

The happy double entendre talk--"a stimulus effect on Costa Rica's famous sex-tourism industry", "popular prostitution hot spots", "Costa Rica's position as an international hub for prostitution" eventually gives way (perhaps the reporter got his rocks off and decided to do his job) to some harsh realities:

And, they say that it's "just" a recession. Chaos decided to roost in Detroit, today, as the truly despressed and distressed came out in droves seeking housing and utility payment assistance from the City of Detroit:

The economic tsunami washing over metro Detroit swept its casualties to the doors of Cobo Center on Wednesday in the form of 35,000 people so desperate for help with mortgage and utility bills that threats were made, fights broke out and people were nearly trampled.

Some were treated by emergency medical workers on site.

Disgusting:

Claire Middleton, 70, said she worked a full-time day job for four years taking in returns at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pinellas Park near St. Petersburg. The store changed her schedule in July, telling her she would have to be available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week if she wanted to keep getting shifts.

Here's a touching little vignette from Philly's own City Paper about our own Senator Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum:

Here at the Carlisle courthouse, the College Republican rally draws to a close. The Santorum campaign is filming the event for a campaign commercial to be aired sometime next spring as the election heats up.

Of course, Karl Rove wasn't in charge of "rebuilding" Iraq. So maybe that was the problem.

The Los Angeles Times actually does some reporting, and it's deja vu all over again. All the signs of Yet Another Republican Clusterfuck are there. They just can't help themselves, can they?

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I have in front of me a book about dogs that I want to share a few words from--share them with whoever you are: the book is titled LEADER OF THE PACK (published by Quill, A Harper Resource Book) and it was written by Nancy Baer and Steve Duno. My wife rescues dogs and was told about this book: she read it, loved it, made me read it and then bought a bunch of copies to give to people with whom we place dogs, or just people with dogs independent of us who, to my wife's eye, look like they could use some guidance. If dogs could read she would give copies to dogs, but let's not go there.