For a time, most Americans believed theirs to be a liberal democratic republic respectful of individual freedoms, and many including some with authority, behaved as if it were. As long as there was a separation of powers—the federal authority limited by the power of states, while itself divided by across executive, judicial and legislative branches, and big business balanced by government regulation—it was believed that space exists for individual freedom. Where the individual confronted the state, due process would guard against abuse. However plausible as a theory, or even as a description of reality, the United-States-as-a-liberal-democratic-republic notion now appears to be antiquated and tattered.

Greetings all. Regular viewers of Open Media Boston will likely have noted that I have periodically mentioned being an MFA student at a local university for almost a year and a half. Well, now that I'm angling towards my thesis semester, my editorials will be a bit more sporadic when I'm busy with schoolwork - as is the case this month. So much as I love holding forth on issues of the day, I've got a big project I'm working on and a thesis to write over the rest of the year. And if all the effort I've been putting into school is going to be worth it, just be aware that I'll there will be three or four months over the rest of 2012 when I have to prioritize my studies. I'll get out my next regular editorial within a few days, but I always like to make sure that folks know what I'm up to when I'm not cranking out articles and editorials. Meanwhile, we'll continue running articles by other OMB staffers and opinion pieces by our many contributors as usual while I'm busy. Cheers to all.

Earlier this week, the Boston Bruins hockey team was knocked out of the NHL playoffs when Washington Capitals Winger Joel Ward scored a game-winning goal in overtime. And true, the Bruins were the defending champions. But, as the saying goes: too bad so sad. That would have been that. Were it not for the fact that Ward was black, and all but a small percentage of other NHL players and Bruins fans (and hockey fans in general) are white. And while most of those white fans are likely reasonable people who believe in good sportsmanship and racially-integrated teams in what Black Sports Online just called "the least racially integrated of the four major American Sports", over three dozen Bruins fans immediately started spewing forth some of the most vile racist sentiments on Twitter in recent memory. All directed at a black player who had the temerity to play to the best of his abilities and beat their beloved team.