Someday, I'll figure out how to put my e-mail on the page, but I have a real job, so don't hold your breath. Until then, just send it to pseudopundit@hotmail.com. Since this is a new blog, I am curious to know if anyone even reads it. One caveat: As mentioned before, I have a real job and a real boss who expects me to do real work, so I won't even promise to read, let alone reply to whatever e-mail I receive.

Thanks.

Here is an interesting article about Colombian singer Shakira. I have no idea who this person is, or even if the story is true. They say that she is severing her ties with a clothing line because of an alleged labor dispute. I guess she is so image-conscious that she thinks she should end the relationship before even finding out if the allegations are true. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the truth no longer seems to matter. Sprite has it wrong. In America today, image truly is everything.

I read the Opinion page of the Houston Chronicle nearly every day. It is not a bad paper, as they go (I read a while back that it is delivered to the White House each morning). Occasionally, a poignant opinion makes its way through the murk and mire of the monotonous humdrum that normally populates such pages. Yesterday's column by William Raspberry was one such piece (OK, I know that the link isn't to the Chronicle, but something about my subscription is messed up and I can't see the archives).

Raspberry makes the case that it is increasingly difficult for women, especially black women, to find an acceptable mate as they climb higher up the educational and vocational ladder. His conclusion is that since these unmarried women typically don't have children, that the fundamental fabric of our society is changing. Not to be disrespectful, but the fabric of our society has been changing for quite a while now. One might question whether it has EVER been entirely stable, and perhaps it should not be. Raspberry asks the question "where are the black men?". I think the more relevant question is "Why aren't these women already married?".

I believe that what we are seeing here is merely a symptom of a wider problem in our society: we no longer place a higher value on family than on education or career.

Karen Hughes was one of the most powerful women in the United States. As a primary advisor to the President she had unfettered access to the Chief of the lone superpower. She resigned last week so that she could spend more time with her family. But to the beltway intelligentsia, as exemplified by Maureen Dowd on Friday, she might as well have been speaking Greek or one of those other languages that they no longer teach in school. Could it be that Hughes is human after all? Could it be that all of the talk about the Bush White House being "family friendly" is more than just spin? Whether this is true or not, Hughes' decision highlights a universal truth: It is not enough to "have it all" in the sense of the business or political world. There is a deep need in the soul of each person for something which cannot be filled by money, power or fame.