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Searching for the word “liberals” on Openbook I discovered that the link du jour for those on the right is Charles Krauthammer’s “The Last Refuge of the Liberal.” Perhaps the level of willful ignorance is equal among the left and the right and I just don’t read lefties with the same critical eye. Regardless, one [...] A couple of columns from Charlie Brooker worth reading. ‘Ground Zero mosque’? The reality is less provocative “The planned “ultra-mosque” will be a staggering 5,600ft tall – more than five times higher than the tallest building on Earth – and will be capped with an immense dome of highly-polished solid gold, carefully positioned to bounce sunlight directly [...] I’m still browsing Openbook, this time searching the word “honor.” I’m not sure why I find this so compelling, but I can’t seem to stop reading. “Why did Beck choose to rally at the feet of a murdering, tyrannical President and use the word “honor”? I found it interesting that Glenn Beck had his “Restoring Honor” [...] I’ve been wasting (too much) time the last couple of hours searching Openbook, a search engine just for Facebook pages with their privacy settings set to the most transparent option. Wonkette recommended using the search term “mosk.” OK, that’s pretty hilarious and scary, but as I searched around I found a few status updates I thought [...] I don’t think those attending the Beck/Palin rally are clear on the concept of honor. One aspect of honor is to have principles; to have an integrity of thought; to maintain an ethical philosophy that doesn’t shift with changing opinion or political expediency. One attendee said he wants “government to stay out of people’s lives.” Excellent! [...] This Saturday Glenn Beck reclaims the Civil Rights movement in his “Restoring Honor” event. (via Other 98%) (Thanks, BR!) Tea Party enthusiasts are so shallow, so ill-educated, so dismissive of the conservative values of tradition and honor, and so repulsed by the humane policies of progressives that they think it perfectly reasonable to celebrate the words of [...] This is the last week of training at work, so with any luck next week will bring about a more regular schedule. Be sure to vote in the primary elections tomorrow (Tuesday, August 24, 2010). You can find out more about who you’re voting for at the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections page. *** For a party that [...] I’ve barely looked at the Internet or the news for the last ten days, so I’m not sure exactly what to be incensed about. I suppose I’ll make today’s Politics Monday a round-up of links of interest. *** First, during my staycation I read an interesting book by George Friedman titled The Next 100 Years: A Forecast [...] Krugman asks why Obama seems to bend over backwards for the right-wing folks who will never support him no matter what he does, while giving his most faithful supporters the finger. “But progressive disillusionment isn’t just a matter of sky-high expectations meeting prosaic reality. Threatened filibusters didn’t force Mr. Obama to waffle on torture; to escalate [...] Nice graphic from Good clearly demonstrating where the money we spend in Iraq goes. I’m guessing hookers. Thank goodness we’re sending more money over there. Maybe they can afford to buy those hookers some blow. Two weeks in a row we’ve had big stories on secrecy. Last Monday the Washington Post released its report on Top Secret America, and this Monday we have the Wikileaks story about the war in Afghanistan. We will spend nearly $700 billion on our defense budget this year. Our Global War on Terror has cost more [...] Why you should never argue politics on the Internet. How facts backfire “In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set [...] It’s been a busy day, so today’s post is a round-up of some of the items that caught my attention. LeBron is a democrat (or at least donates to the DNC). *** Rasmussen polls indicate that 60% of Floridians oppose the federal government’s suit against Arizona over their new immigration law. 62% support passing legislation similar to Arizona’s [...] For me, one of the most appealing aspects of the Obama campaign was his call to resist cynicism. I agree. Looking back over history it’s easy to see that entrenched, corrupt powers benefit most from cynicism. The people who successfully fight for change; ending slavery, enfranchising women, legislating for civil rights, etc., are not cynics. They fight [...] In our national debate about illegal immigration there seems to be one side that is never mentioned. Decriminalizing immigration. What if we opened our borders and allowed anyone who wanted to enter or exit? Would this be the end of our nation as we know it, or would we barely notice the difference? Or, would [...] Over the weekend I wondered exactly what regulations are keeping the free market from cleaning up the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. If only government would get its boot heel off the neck of oil clean-up entrepreneurs, this mess could be resolved. Right? Isn’t that the argument of the de-regulators and the free [...] Some of these workers will end up with life-long health problems. BP will continue to make astronomical profits and ultimately their fine will be a pittance. “Fishermen here and in other small communities dotting the southern marshes and swamplands of Barataria Bay are getting sick from the working on the cleanup, yet BP is assuring [...] I have three topics for this week’s Politics Monday. First, civic education in Florida. Even Florida Republicans sometimes advocate liberal values. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, sponsored the “Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Education Act,” which requires middle school students to be tested on civic knowledge. The bill passed both houses unanimously. Civic education has been a cornerstone of [...] End the war on drugs. After 40 years, $1 trillion, US War on Drugs has failed to meet any of its goals — $121 billion to arrest more than 37 million nonviolent drug offenders, about 10 million of them for possession of marijuana. Studies show that jail time tends to increase drug abuse. — $450 billion to lock [...] Salon picked up this nifty post from Oz and Ends. (I’m linking to Oz and Ends and not to Salon, because Salon sometimes plays NOISY ads when I’m trying to be quiet and forget my volume is on.) J. L. Bell decided to compare Internet rumors about Bush with Internet rumors about Obama and found the [...] Should we get used to the new normal of double-digit unemployment for the working [...] No essay today, just some links and idle thoughts. *** You know what the most marginalized group in America is? Atheists. Seven of the United States include religious tests that preclude atheists from holding office in that state. Imagine a world where seven states stated specifically in their constitution that gays could not hold office, or that [...]
Two days after the explosion. Fifteen years ago today Timothy McVeigh parked his rented Ryder van at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and walked away. Once safely away from the building he detonated the explosive-filled truck. “The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6, and more [...] Just a little reminder that Vice President Al Gore did more to shrink government and cut waste during the 1990s than any VP or President in the whole 20th century. Al Gore led the National Partnership for Reinventing Government while he was VP. During his time in office, and under his leadership - * the NPR reduced [...] The Coffee Party (sort of a liberal response to the Tea Party) polled its members and found the two most important things on Coffee Party (Coffeebaggers?) members minds are money in politics and corporate corruption. “Over 12,000 of you participated in our poll and the results confirm what we’ve been hearing over these last weeks: 92% [...] I continue to be astounded at how far to the right this country has moved in the last half-century. A self-identified conservative justice from a staunchly Republican family, appointed to the Court of Appeals by a Republican president, nominated to the Supreme Court by a different Republican president retires and it is certain that current day [...] Is it time we elect a cyborg to office? The year-long debate over Health Care Reform (now known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was simultaneously one of the most transparent legislative efforts we’ve ever seen, and filled with secret negotiations, back room deals, and sweetheart giveaways. The debate lasted for a year, and included [...] Protesters will be gathering in the nation’s capital on April 19 to protest “The Tyrant” (aka Barry Sotero aka “President” Barack Obama) at an open-carry rally across the Potomac River at Fort Hunt National Park, blithely unaware that such behavior was illegal until Obama took office and loosened the rules on carrying guns in national [...] Either that or they hate the Constitution of the United States. Article 1, section 2, clause 3 states “The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.” This [...] My friend EHP pointed out that searching Google News with the phrase “domestic terrorist” or “domestic terrorism” and Hutaree shows that that combination is not used by our major news orgs. Despite the fact that the FBI defines domestic terrorism as “Americans attacking Americans based on U.S.-based extremist ideologies.” (UPDATE: This has changed since I [...] |
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