The Art of Invective: One of the downsides of flame wars is that they are predictably boring and lacking in imaginative rhetoric. Over at The Valve, Sean McCann gives us an offering by Eugene V. Debs on Theodore Roosevelt in January 1918:

This political pet of the plutocrats, this bogus reformer, this shrieking charlatan, this raving mountebank, this crazy-horse of Oyster Bay ranch, this blood and thunder prophet, this opera bouffe ghostdancer, this blatant quack hero, this freak of froth and foam and buncombe, this nauseating moralizer, this dysenteric scold, this chattering midwife and meddler and all-around nuisance has buncoed the people long enough and they at last know him for what he is, at least those of them who have mentality above a shell-fish, and who can tell a jibbering fraud after he has exhibited himself to them daily for a score of years.

So, the next time you affect to denounce me, forget the obscenities and cheap one-liners. Get me up a concoction like this and let me admire your skill.

Empire Week: At Chapati Mystery,"Empire Week" continues with:

I. Canned Food
II. The E Word
III. The Case of the Americans
IV. Absent-Minded Imperialists and the Doughnut Effect
V. Black Legends

Demons and Shadow Warriers: In case you hadn't noticed, our colleague, Mark Grimsley at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age is developing a very distinctive style of blogging that interweaves several thematic threads at a time with remarkable graphics. His current post about Emmett Till is part on his on-going thread,"Shadow Warriors." It begins here and explores whether and how military history can help young men and women to become men and women. Interwoven with that thread is another on Combat as Metaphor about confronting the demon within.

Dissertations: If you are working on a dissertation that does not seem to want to end itself, PhinisheD may be the support group for you.

Rick Perlstein is a Fickle Lover: Cliopatria invited him to guest blog over here. Cliopatria promoted his new book before Political Animal ever gave it a sniff. So, where does Perlstein publish an excerpt from it? Ms History Blog has a long memory, Rick.

Ralph E. Luker - 6/15/2005

Jeez, Rick, whaddya want? I haven't voted for a Republican candidate for president since 1960.

Robert KC Johnson - 6/15/2005

The dangers of political litmus tests . . . :)

Rick Perlstein - 6/15/2005

Give the full story, Ralph! The condition was that you never vote Republican again...

Adam Kotsko - 6/10/2005

I tried to get Rick Perlstein to write a post for The Weblog about the McLemee t-shirt, but he wasn't fooled -- he knew I was just trying to rope him into a full-time co-blogging position.