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Category Archives: Issues

Democrats, the soul of reason

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Walter Mondale has weighed in on the pages of the Times (for future reference, and in response to a commenter, any reference herein to the Times, is implicitly a reference to the grey lady) in support of filibuster reform. My wife tells me that the twittersphere (or the portion thereof that she inhabits) is alive […]

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Credit where credit is due

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

As we helplessly watch the spectacle of a nation being consumed by racism and Islamophobia, urged on by Republicans and some Democrats, we should pause to recognize the politicians who have done what should be the easy thing: come out in support of one of the most fundamental American values, freedom of religion. Talking Points […]

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Wow! Sanity in Kansas

Friday, January 29, 2010

From McClatchy: After 37 minutes of deliberation, a jury today found Scott Roeder guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller. The judge let him testify about his anti-abortion beliefs, but apparently the jury wasn’t buying.

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It was 40 years ago today

Sunday, November 15, 2009

On November 15, 1969 half a million people descended on Washington D.C. to protest the Vietnam War, not a single one of them directly or indirectly subsidized by a TV network or an astroturfing group of lobbyists. I made the trip to DC with some college friends. There were four of us, joined by two […]

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Zero Thought Policy

Monday, October 12, 2009

The New York Times features a front page story about a six year old kid who was given a 45 day suspension for bringing his boy scout “knife” (a combination spoon, fork and knife) to school. The cases is emblematic of a national movement toward zero tolerance policies, usually regarding weapons and drugs (including alcohol). […]

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Birthers and “truthers”

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com draws some distinctions between the “birthers” and the “truthers”. The “truthers”, if like me you’ve never heard of them before, are people who believe that George Bush, Dick Cheney and/or the CIA knew about 9-11 before it happened. Apparently a 2007 Rasmussen poll found that 61% of Democrats “either believed that […]

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Numerical illiteracy

Monday, July 20, 2009

We get the Boston Globe daily, so I was generally aware that there is a movement afoot to relieve us geezers of our driver’s licenses as we get older. Yesterday, an article in the Day, at least on the surface, seemed to imply that there was little evidence that the elderly driver was a threat. […]

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Sotomayor voted a racist, 5 to 4

Monday, June 29, 2009

My mind is boggled. The Supreme Court has overruled a case in which Judge Sotomayor participated, which proves that she is a racist. That, according to Limbaugh, et. al. Much of the media duly repeats that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Ricci case somehow proves something about her, as a person, a judge, or […]

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Drip, drip, drip?

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Washington Post reports (via the Washington Monthly blog) that the White House is set to disclose more torture materials, which will probably put the lie to the Cheney induced meme that torture worked, so what’s the problem. Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is […]

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Crazy and/or stupid in Georgia

Friday, May 8, 2009

Wow. If you ever needed proof that the people of these states, particularly those in the South, have a habit of electing truly stupid and/or crazy people, check this out. Hendrik Hertzbert reports (I got to him via the Washington Monthly) on a Georgia State Senate Resolution that adopts whole hog the reasoning of the […]

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