Ok, I'm back, although I'm going to be playing "linker" again, at least in this post. (Then again, it's a good link.)

Originally referenced by Atrios, P.L.A. is a new and unique blog, written by Dwight and Deb Meredith. Why unique? Listen to the name: it's called "A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism".

Yes, Autism.

The entries on politics and law are well written, but not out of the ordinary except in their quality (and to the extent that any left or liberal thought online can be considered out of the ordinary), but it's the intensely personal articles about their seven-year old autistic son that make the site a must-read. I'll let Dwight describe it in his own words:

In my posts on politics and law, I hope to inform, persuade or amuse you. Those posts are for you, the reader. The autism posts are for us. For me. One of the purposes of establishing this site was to have fun writing about law and politics while forcing myself to write about autism. Writing is discipline. I hope that the discipline of writing about autism will allow me to gain some distance and some perspective. I hope to eventually be able to hold autism up to analytical thought and rational analysis. That day has not yet come...

To us, Autism is a seven-year old little boy who is not yet out of diapers and has not yet learned to talk. To kids at school or on the playground, autism is simply what makes Bobby a “retard.” To us, autism is sitting in an audiologist’s office while our two-year old son’s hearing is tested and praying that he is deaf because there is something you can do about deafness... [I]t is playing with Bobby at the swimming pool and seeing flashes of a normal happy child locked inside him and being unable to break down the wall that prevents us from rescuing our son. I have more to say, much more, but right now, at this moment, the pain is simply too great.

As of this point, this is the only entry about autism, but it already adds a powerful personal aspect to the interesting political commentary.