I have been accused (and convicted) of throat-clearing in my writing, but there is plenty of space-time for it now, and the need for a clear throat has never been clearer. Sarah Palin's tweeting and now her TV show . . .

which I have not watched. So let me begin. Some of the words I would like to apply to this blog: "deliberate," so justly associated with Thoreau; "familiar," "conversational," and so forth; "allusive," but not so indirect as referenced, footnoted, and linked in the new style;