"Smith's Young Republican": Smith econ professor James D. Miller, about whom I've blogged before, gets cover story treatment from the local alternative newspaper regarding his long fight with both Smith College and the Association of American University Professors over his claim that he was denied tenure based on his conservative writings (for TCS, NRO, Weekly Standard). The article is, as they say, fair and balanced, and well worth a read.

A free-Iraq Democrat, of the Biden/Lieberman stripe, is enough of a rarity in this bastion of the Bushitler/No Blood for Oil mindset to stand out like a duck among geese. A real, live conservative is more like a Yeti sighting around here -- people hear stories about them wandering into civilized settings, knuckles dragging all the way, etc. -- but I doubt most residents have ever really, at least knowingly, talked to one.