Shooting the Messenger

Posted by: Gary Priester
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 07:43:03 pm , using 190 words
Category: Commentary

The righteous right are raving again. This time it is about the New York Times for revealing the government's not so secret program to monitor our financial records, which for the record is no secret, it was proudly presented to the press in 2003 by Trea… more »
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Ritualized Stupidity: American Schools and the Culture of Vulgarity

Posted by: Kevin P. Keating
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 07:29:58 pm , using 2803 words
Category: Commentary

Allow me explain why I believe the American education system, at least in its present form, is doomed to extinction (for members of the religious fringe who believe dinosaur bones were placed in the earth to confuse scientists, you may substitute the obj… more »
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Reply to Mr. Cohen

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 07:17:10 pm , using 411 words
Category: Commentary

In his recent Washington Post article, Richard Cohen laments the shallow mockery of Saddam Hussein’s trial in Baghdad, while chiding anti-war protesters for totally ignoring the “thug’s” removal as, at least, one real justification for the most recent Ir… more »
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Speaking French

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 07:14:52 pm , using 537 words
Category: Commentary

Recent riots among Left Bank students in Paris against proposed government changes in labor laws revealingly reflect both strong social and political undercurrents in France. They are political insofar as the intellectual youth of the country are unwilli… more »
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George Bush Joins the Greens

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 07:12:34 pm , using 411 words
Category: Commentary

There is a widespread assumption in America that ethanol (alcohol fuel derived from about any biomass—corn, sugar cane, potatoes, biodegradable garbage, et al) can be used only in small proportions with gasoline to power internal combustion engines. Thi… more »
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Liar Liar

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 01:25:20 am , using 461 words
Category: Commentary

One can forgive the liar, but not the lie … perhaps. When it(they) emanates from some fool who has learned to hypocritically parrot cracker-barrel American laissez-faire entrepreneurial success anecdotes out of the mouths of Midland, Texas airheads and e… more »
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It's the Economy, Stupid!

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 01:14:43 am , using 388 words
Category: Commentary

That was, of course, Clinton’s famous battle cry for an economy apparently so precarious (a ‘consumer’ economy, remember) that too much tilt and it goes into a tailspin of deficits that sends every true conservative yearning for democracy with a small ‘d… more »
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Play It Again, Sam

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 01:08:21 am , using 370 words
Category: Commentary

Bush has got nowhere else to go. He’s got to resort to the BIG SCARE. Hence, his speech of 10-6. The shining democracy on the hill (Iraq) has given way to the terrorist den on the Tigris-Euphrates. I mean, his advisers (speech writers) are hard-edge. The… more »
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Bush Unveils New Deal

Posted by: Bill Pearlman
Published on September 2nd, 2007 @ 12:55:55 am , using 483 words
Category: Commentary

In a surprise move, the White House announced today that the president has appointed Karl Rove to lead the effort to implement what he’s calling The New New Deal. “I’m tired of hearing how the Roosevelts saved the nation,” said Mr. Bush in a Rose Garden… more »
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Dumbo Gumbo

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:44:20 am , using 698 words
Category: Commentary

“That was a good speech, Mr. President. Not exactly your bullhorn moment in New York, but close …” “Thanks, Carl. By the way is that with a ‘C’ or ‘K’? ‘K’ sounds awfully European and existential, I think.” “You promised them much ado, Mr. Presid… more »
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Connecting the Dots

Posted by: Al Galves
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:40:24 am , using 1461 words
Category: Commentary

It doesn’t make sense to blame Hurricane Katrina on the Bush Administration or even to directly or solely blame the Bush Administration for the tragic failure of government to protect New Orleans from flooding and the slow, ineffective response to Katrin… more »
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The Battle of New Orleans

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:35:09 am , using 688 words
Category: Commentary

Katrina (the Storm) goes, in part, a long way in illustrating just how a cautious military foreign policy can strategically prevent a nation’s flanks being exposed in the event of domestic catastrophe. There can be no doubt expeditious life-saving nation… more »
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You're Damn Right I'm Mad! (A Rant)

Posted by: Gary Priester
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:32:50 am , using 1480 words
Category: Commentary

Republicans, whose motto should be "Pass the Buck and Blame the Victims," frequently respond to Liberals who the criticize the President's policies and performance by asking, "Why are you so mad?" "Take a few deep breaths and relax," is the advice they o… more »
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Goodbye Heather

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:26:01 am , using 456 words
Category: Commentary

Our local congressperson, Heather Wilson, is not a bad person, despite her rather consistent Republican behavior. She does what she has to do, votes the party line most of the time, and ingratiates herself with all the special interests that Republicans… more »
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Let There Be Light

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:22:19 am , using 812 words
Category: Commentary

The rise of the social democracies in Europe following WWII may be the most important event in world history. While each of them is economically patterned around modified free-market systems, each insures social protection for their populations all thei… more »
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The Blitz

Posted by: Bill Dodd
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:13:06 am , using 862 words
Category: Commentary

At the moment, I’m looking at a schematic of the London ‘Tube’ system following the terrorist bombings, musing that the schematic on its walls for the passengers there is considered a modern graphic arts classic. Today is the latest installment of the li… more »
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Report from Geezerville: Twenty-Five Chips Short

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 02:03:24 am , using 1582 words
Category: Commentary

Life in Geezerville revolves around little things—habits, schedules, expectations. Growing old, in case you haven’t heard, is difficult and full of discomfort, disappointment and loss. (It has its satisfactions, too, but that’s not what this piece is abo… more »
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SUPERSYCOPHANT

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:57:49 am , using 1102 words
Category: Commentary

The appointment of John Negroponte as the country’s first “intelligence czar” is at least as shocking as any of George Bush’s appalling appointments to major cabinet positions. Far from being the spokesman of truth to power that is needed in this office… more »
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The Truth About Social Security

Posted by: Gary Priester
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:50:58 am , using 287 words
Category: Commentary

Two years ago, Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stood before the United Nations, and the world, and proclaimed, the US knows Saddam has weapons of mass destruction and WE know where they are hidden. Condoleezza Rice, Powell's successor, warned the smoki… more »
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Terrorizing America

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:36:08 am , using 611 words
Category: Commentary

It has become increasingly clear that George W. Bush got himself re-elected by systematically, deliberately (and cynically) frightening voters with talk of terrorism, and by convincing a bare majority of voters that they would be safer in a country gover… more »
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Whistling in the Dark

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:35:42 am , using 1572 words
Category: Commentary

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a… more »
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The One Real Issue

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:18:59 am , using 883 words
Category: Commentary

There is only one real, fundamental issue in American politics, regardless of the election year, the candidates, or any of the cultural ephemera that candidates use to stir up the voters. The Iraq war was (and still is) most certainly an illegal and atro… more »
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Hating George Bush

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 01:15:51 am , using 1143 words
Category: Commentary

This is a kind of confession: I know I’m not supposed to; I know that it’s not nice and that we should accept our political differences; but I do “hate” George W. Bush. That is, I find his demeanor, his voice, his ideas (such as they are), his policy pro… more »
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As American As ...

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 12:05:16 am , using 957 words
Category: Commentary

We make a huge mistake if we see the Abu Ghraib disgrace as an anomaly. It is as American as…as... the Iraq War. It emanates from a decision made by our national government and approved by congress and by a majority of the American people, a decision to… more »
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A Deadly Failure

Posted by: Richard Hopkins
Published on September 1st, 2007 @ 12:00:34 am , using 941 words
Category: Commentary

The war in Iraq, which began a year ago this week, has been a massive, deadly failure, a bloody disaster. The sole positive outcome of the ongoing war has been the capture and imprisonment of Saddam Hussein, although he is, after all, a mere mortal whose… more »
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