Xrlq links to this highly amusing Wall Street Journal article about the widespread addiction many have to their BlackBerries (or “CrackBerries”) and/or Treos — and the costs that this addiction imposes on the families of the addicts. My favorite parts are this passage:

In Austin, Texas, Hohlt Pecore, 7, and his sister, Elsa, 4, have complicated relationships with their mother’s BlackBerry. “I feel very annoyed,” says Hohlt. “She’s always concentrating on that blasted thing.” (Hohlt says he picked up the word “blasted” from the film “Pirates of the Caribbean.”)

Elsa has hidden the BlackBerry on occasion — Hohlt says she tried to flush it down the toilet last year. Their mother, Elizabeth Pecore, who co-owns a specialty grocery store, denies the incident. But Elsa also seems to recognize that it brings her mom comfort, not unlike a pacifier or security blanket. Recently, seeing her mom slumped on the couch after work, Elsa fished the BlackBerry from her mother’s purse and brought it to her. “Mommy,” she asked, “will this make you feel better?”

Emma Colonna wishes her parents would behave, at least when they’re out in public. The ninth-grade student in Port Washington, N.Y., says she has caught her parents typing emails on their Treos during her eighth-grade awards ceremony, at dinner and in darkened movie theaters. “During my dance recital, I’m 99% sure they were emailing except while I was on stage,” she says. “I think that’s kind of rude.”

and this one:

Lucas Ellin, the son of “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin, says his dad checks his email at restaurants, during Lucas’s soccer games and on school visits. Lucas sometimes tries to divert his father’s focus away from the device by hiding it or taking his dad’s face in his hands to physically get his attention. When nothing else works, Lucas turns to the highest of authorities. “I go tell my mom that Daddy’s not listening and then my mom yells at him,” he says.

I strenuously deny that any such thing has ever happened in my household. Uh, not that you asked.

I’m going to say this only once.

If you want to vote for this blog as Best Conservative Blog, the voting is open, and you can do so here. You can vote once per day through December 15.

I am in last place now, and that’s where I’m going to end up. I’ve known that from the beginning, and I’m fine with it. It’s quite arguably the correct result anyway, given the other fine blogs on the list.

But feel free to vote anyway should the spirit move you. It could at least minimize my embarrassment, y’know?