Who let this guy stir the coffee?

American. Male. Straight. Lily-White. Opinionated. Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community.

Some of you are probably waking up for your first caffeinated rush of Pam's House Blend. "Zoinks!" you exclaim, "why is Jeff Gannon's bald head peering at me?" After shaking your head and refocusing, you realize "that's not Jeff Gannon... this guy looks too straight!" Finally your eyes read that "Radical" Russ part and your mind beings to piece it together. "Isn't that the guy who keeps leaving mini-novels in the comments?"

Yes, yes, it is that guy.

Permit me to introduce myself. I'm "Radical" Russ and I'm here blogsitting for Pam as she and her lovely wife take a much-deserved vacation to celebrate their anniversary. In the last e-mail I got from Pam she told me she'd only be gone through July 3rd, so never fear, devout Blenders, my time here will be but five short days.

I must admit it is an honor to be here guest-hosting. Pam's blog is one of my favorites and I'm really quite stunned to be asked to guest host. At first I thought I was far too different from Pam to be guest-hosting the Blend. But then I realized we're not too different after all:

• Pam's American, so am I.
  
• Pam's "ethnically diverse", so am I (if French, English, and Scandinavian are "ethnic"... yeah, like "eggshell", "ecru", and "ivory" are colors... LOL!)
  
• Pam's female, my mother was female.
  
• Pam's lesbian, I love women, too.
  
• Pam is from the South, I'm from the south of Portland, Oregon.
  
• Pam's married to a woman who escaped Talabama, my wife is a recovering Christian Scientist from North Utah, er, I mean "Idaho".

I don't expect to be able to fill Pam's shoes (or match her prolific posting!), but I hope I can provide all the readers out there some insightful posts and opinionated perspective. I'd really appreciate any scoops anyone can offer (e-mail me at letters<AT>radicalruss.net). I know LGBT issues, Repugnican hypocrisy, progressive politics, the Religious Reich, and race issues are often covered here; if y'all can help out with the first one and the last one, I'll tackle the middle three.

Now, where did Pam put the industrial-strength latex gloves and gas mask she uses for wandering through Freeperville, AgapePress, and Westboro Baptist Church?... Dark Wraith, what are you doing with that cane... yeeowtch!