“Democracy” is usually my code category for stuff the Bush administration does that pisses me off, usually becuase of the way they make a mockery of whatever the concept “Democarcy” has going for it
A fellow “State of the Union” boycotter: Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 29, 2006 – February 04, 2006 Archives I have a confession: I’m not sure when the last time was when I watched the State of the Union address. I think I may have watched it in 2003. But I’m not even certain of that. Perhaps Continue Reading
Notice I DIDN’T SAY “looking forward”……I probably won’t even tune in, since I can hardly stand to listen to him, since it’s all posturing with practically no ability (or even intention) of doing much of anything, except to put a “democratic face” on what these guys really want to accomplish, which is to drain the less fortunate , to the Continue Reading
This is a really good post from one of those Cluetrainer guys, Doc Searls. Doc, David Weinberger, and Chris Locke, the three who blog, basically got me in to blogging in the first place back in 2002 after I read The Cluetrain Manifesto and started reading theirs and other blogs. Thanks , Doc, for that tribute to Dr. King. The Continue Reading
In Ga., Abramoff Scandal Threatens a Political Ascendancy By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 16, 2006; Page A01 DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Ralph Reed, candidate for lieutenant governor, had just finished his opening statement to the Dawson County Republican Party when retired pulp paper executive Gary Pichon sprang from his seat with a question that cut to Continue Reading
Freedom, liberty. Fox News Middle East. via Informed Comment KR Washington Bureau | 11/30/2005 | U.S. military pays Iraqis for positive news stories on war U.S. Army officers have been secretly paying Iraqi journalists to produce upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about American military operations and the conduct of the war in Iraq. U.S. officials in Washington said the Continue Reading
Juan Cole on George’s illusions about being remmebered fondly as a “war president” Informed Comment Let me finish with a word to W. As for your legacy two decades from now, George, let me clue you in on something–as a historian. In 20 years no Iraqis will have you on their minds one way or another. Do you think anyone Continue Reading
Will Sampson with a set of questions wondering how who I call the “Bush Christians” will begin to react to the now daily uncoverings of the pervasive scandals and manipulations of the Bush administration and its tentacles (the “tentacles” part I have added to the assesment, as well as the question about “holding out”—-these are two things that occurred to Continue Reading
Josh Marshall has a few choice words for the Disaster readiness consultancy firm Michael Brown is starting. Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 20, 2005 – November 26, 2005 Archives First , from an AP article: Brown said officials need to “take inventory” of what’s going on in a disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid Continue Reading
Juan Cole reflects on the Bush-Aljazeera relationship, and why he doubts that Bush was “joking” Informed Comment Despite attempts of British officials to muddy the waters by suggesting that Bush was joking, another official who had seen the memo insisted, “Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men.” Not Continue Reading
Pastor John Wright with a great post Pastor John Wright This week, however, I got involved in a discussion in another context that contested the moral superiority of the United States to the ‘fascist and totalitarian nation-states’ of the mid-20th century. While, to understate the obvious, I am not a big fan of Hitler, Mussolini, or Lenin, I tend to Continue Reading
I haven’t pointed to James Carroll in quite a while, but he has a good article, much on the same theme as my previous post, about the hideous force of evil and how craftily sneaky it is in seeping into our culture via fear, greed, and the hubris of those such as the neocons. Dance of the Demons Dance of Continue Reading
Fox News treated the whole Plame affair like it was no big deal; Plame was just a clerical worker; she really wan’t covert, blah blah blah. I hear the Fox-watchers echo the lines. Such is the news-ghetto these people have allowed themselves to slide into. This article sheds some actual news on the matter, rather than the Fox-fodder CIA Yet Continue Reading
Steve Bush points to a post by Jamie Smith (a.k.a JKA) responding to an article by Jonathan Kozol in Harper’s Fors Clavigera: Orwell, Foucault, and the State of Urban Public Schools Documenting years of visits and conversations with children, teachers, principals, and education bureaucrats at state and federal levels, Kozol paints the picture of a nation that is clearly going Continue Reading
While I’m at it with the venting of my disgust with the Bush men, here’s a couple of archived , not-published posts that I had been saving from last week, not sure that I wanted to go down that road, for fear that I’d ’tilt’ again and drain energy from my exploration/reflection on what the church IS rather than what Continue Reading
Today and editorial in The NYTimes asks a sobering and scary question of the government: Katrina’s Assault on Washington – New York Times There are dozens of questions Americans will demand to have answered once this emergency has passed. If the Homeland Security Department was so ill prepared for a natural disaster that everyone knew was coming, how is it Continue Reading