News from Around the World

Newt Gingrich's declaration on Meet the Press that World War III has already started, brought a quick demurral from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), who was also a guest on the show. According to Jay Bryant, though, Newt is Right: It's World War III, Yahoo News.

But there is something even more insidious implied here. Plantinga suggests that the judge legislated that “the scientific community has successfully refuted the criticism of unguided evolution brought by the IDers” and this is utterly false. The judge did not ‘legislate’ this conclusion at all. What he did was summarize the general consensus within the scientific community. Intelligent Design has very very little support within science, so, in fact, if it is a question for science then ID has lost and lost catastrophically. This much is obvious to anyone who bothers to actually take a look. What is insidious in Plantinga’s argument is the suggestion that the judge did not have the right to do this, that the judge was not qualified, somehow, to take the advice of experts.

Congresswoman Pelosi’s “traps and smears” stemmed not from the legitimate vote, but from the MSM’s peevish misrepresentation of Congressman Murtha’s stunt. And while I don’t think he’s a coward, I’m offended by Democrats playing politics with troops that include my son.

He said he had resisted prior offers from Peretz to enter politics, believing that his work in the Negev was of greater importance. "But the turnabout, the big bang that has occured, Amir Peretz' entry as the leader of the Labor Party, changed my decision."

WHEN IT COMES to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics.

("The General," Wes Clark, has a plan up at his Securing America site, too.) There seems to be a consensus among military experts on this. We need to begin drawing down forces, and we need to leave a much smaller "rapid reaction" force behind, partly in Iraq, mostly in Kuwait. Even the wildest winger surely knows we will be pulling significant numbers of troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later, mostly because of the politics.

A leading new media voice from the left, Rachael will join us to discuss the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito, the ongoing debate over pre-war intelligence and the impact of the citizen journalist movement on politics today. Should be a great show.

I listened to the Nov. 8 installment this morning with coffee — in addition to being informational, it’s also wryly funny and urbane. I go forth into the day better acquainted with the politics of French literary prizes and with the comforting knowledge that Scooter Libby does not, as it turns out, sign his books “Scooter.” Check it out.

But there are some real issues coming up during this legislative session and this election cycle. I would like nothing more than to have a real, frank, honest and intelligent discussion about these issues, without getting caught up in personal politics or the ever famous “politics of personal destruction.”

Oh, just now figuring that out? Because now it's one of your "own" in the hot seat? I wonder if this dawned on Mr. Rivkin and Mr. Casey during the 4+ year, 70 million dollar, hyper-partisan Ken Starr investigation of Bill Clinton? And not one person can credibly argue that Fitgerald's inquiry has even the slightest hint of partisan politics behind it- can the same be said of Ken Starr's invesstigation? No.

In the museum shop I came across a campaign for fair trade. Due to almost one billion dollar in subsidies a year, the European Union still produces excessive amounts of sugar, more than we could ever consume. (this can be said of almost any agricultural product in fact). The surpluses, heavily subsidised and extremely cheap, go to developing countries. These products are literally being dumped on the Thirld World, with disastrous effects. Sugar farmers over there cannot sell their sugar anymore, because their is no serious possibility of fair competition on the world markets. Many of them decline further and further into poverty. The EU-agricultural politics are a crying shame and a grave injustice. Help stop the dumping. Sign the online petition for a world without poverty, where trade is free and fair.

The answer is found in an essay written about 40 years ago by Richard Hofstadter called “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Hofstadter argues that sometimes people who are dispossessed, who feel their country has been taken away from them and their kind, develop an angry, suspicious and conspiratorial frame of mind. It is never enough to believe their opponents have committed honest mistakes or have legitimate purposes; they insist on believing in malicious conspiracies.

There are a number of reasons why economics appears to trump politics. The shift from statist mercantilism to high-tech capitalism has transformed the economics behind war. Markets generate economic opportunities that make war less desirable. Territorial aggrandizement no longer provides the best path to riches. Free-flowing capital markets and other aspects of globalization simultaneously draw nations together and raise the economic price of military conflict, because the political destabilization resulting from war deters profitable investment and trade. Moreover, sanctions, which interfere with economic prosperity, provides a coercive step short of war to achieve foreign policy ends.

Above all, the Vietnam War was never banished from the minds of our war planners and policymakers. Even when they were playing an opposites game with Vietnam (as in, for instance, their no-body-bags, no-photos-of-the-American-dead-coming-home policy), Bush administration officials had a clear case of Vietnam-on-the-brain, as did the society they represented. In 2003, while the invasion of Iraq was still ongoing, the historian Marilyn Young commented, “In less then two weeks a 30 year old vocabulary is back: credibility gap, seek and destroy, hard to tell friend from foe, civilian interference in military affairs, the dominance of domestic politics, winning, or more often, losing hearts and minds.”

Ogre at Ogre’s Politics and Views presents ACLU Supports Censorship. If you want to argue Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution, this is the place to go.

The real crackup has already occurred, on the left! The Democratic Party has been hijacked by 1960s retreads like Howard Dean; billionaire eccentrics like George Soros; and leftwing computer geeks like MoveOn.org. It nominated John Kerry, a notorious Vietnam-era antiwar activist, as its presidential standard-bearer. Its major spokesmen are old extremists like Ted Kennedy and new propagandists like Michael Moore. Its great presidential hope is one of the most divisive figures in U.S. politics, Hillary Clinton. And its favorite son is an impeached, disbarred, held-in-contempt ex-president, Bill Clinton.

Are these two books about the same country? The first depicts Saudi Arabia as a violent, benighted place whose ruling family is pursuing a decades-long plan to subvert American power. The second is the authorized biography of the richest man in Saudi Arabia, a member of the ruling family, who is portrayed as the consummate mix of “East” and “West” — a man who can bridge cultures and repair the torn U.S.-Saudi relationship. Unfortunately, neither is a reliable source about politics and life in Saudi Arabia today, nor does either book shed much light on the fascinating, difficult issues involved in relations between Riyadh and Washington.

Went on a Politics social on wednesday, and frankly it wasn’t great, there was such a lack of 3rd years, but I did enjoy going to Red Leicester at the end since all my housemates were out there even though I somehow managed to miss Matt all night.

I've been in a big conflict with a woman in one of our satellite offices for a couple of weeks now. You know how office politics are. We're still hashing out the pecking order in the organization. It was over a tiny little insignificant matter which shouldn't have taken any time at all, but we're both grown women and handle this in the most mature fashion possible, which means we run to the boss to tell on the other one.

Now, before I launch into my diatribe about why each and every American, regardless of their politics, religion, gender, race or creed should be concerned about this news, let me make a few things VERY clear (to both my readers and the FBI, should they be reading this):

Smurfs are the latest casualty in advertising’s race to the gutter. In a tasteless anti-war ad for UNICEF, the cuddly blue creatures are carpet-bombed, complete with flames, bodies, and crying babies.

The weekend began slowly, on Friday: Dina went to bed early, and I turned out the living room lights and watched Dragonslayer. The movie was much darker than I imagined, and was pretty much the polar opposite of the extravagances in the Lord of the Rings films. I kept thinking how Dragonslayer would make a fine low-magic D&D campaign, where politics and fear are the forces that move the world, and magic is mostly bluff and trickery�except when it’s not.

Mr Blair said that had been “a genuinely significant change in the politics of Northern Ireland”.

Fuck up of the evening, Kilgore refusing to pledge to be at least 51% positive in ads up until election day. Even if it's a lie, you don't refuse to pledge something like that on television. Kaine may very well go 75% negative in his ads even though he pledged not to, but no one will care on election day. Until then, there's a whole host of editorials waiting to be written about how negative politics can be, and that Kilgore, in refusing to pledge to be at least 51% positive, is the perfect illustration.

It was telling that no one even mentioned the earthquake in South Asia which is now estimated to have killed 30,000 people. What might this mean in terms of geo-politics in that critical region? Viewers of This Week won’t know the answer to that as the question was never posed by Stephanopolous.

On the position of armed struggle, we have also been quite clear for many years, At the Séamus Costello commemoration in 2003, the IRSP asserted: “Today the IRSP has to face into the struggle for a socialist republic based on democratic principles, equipped with the integrity of republican socialist politics.

If you’ve been following Ohio politics at all lately, you know that both Iraqi War Vet and OH-02 candidate Paul Hackett and populist Congressman Sherrod Brown might be squaring off in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and the chance to beat Mike DeWine.

3. I will stay out of Republican politics. I promise not to get involved with any Republican politics, unless my father runs for judge, and than I reserve the right to work on his campaign.

Political historian Dr Eamon Phoenix said Belfast was then a place of cultural renaissance and radical politics.

Impeach Bush - No, not really interested in politics right now. God knows I’d like to impeach the little texas cow-wrangler, but nevermind.

I’m at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim with a press credential. A group of us has just heard a series of speeches directed at bloggers, mostly by second-tier candidates or first-tier candidates for second-tier offices. Of the speakers, all but one were long on personal background in politics, and short on the issues. The one exception, Insurance Commissioner candidate Phil Kurzner, told us a great deal on where he stands on the issue of health insurance, the one kind of insurance over which the Insurance Commissioner has almost no jurisdiction. Great.

I have seen some pundits wondering if this latest development will make it more likely Edgar wil jump into the race. I think it would not be good for him. He is not immune from currution himself. If the Republicans want to win back the State, they need to elect someone who is not part of the establishment. We need someone who will speak up and end the politics/corruption as usual in this State. Please join me in telling Gov. Edgar, No.

Democratiya aims to contribute to a renewal of the politics of democratic radicalism by providing a forum for serious analysis and debate. We will strive to be non-sectarian and ecumenical, and our pages are open to a wide range of political views, a commitment to pluralism reflected in our advisory editorial board.

KF: Chalila - this book is full of holy words. This is the L-rd Himself in a costume of letters. If I will throw it to this pool, all holiness in it is like, banished. It will be kadosh (holy), and when I throw it to this pool, it will be tamei (impure). It’s the same thing about getting into politics. I think that getting myself into politics, into taking sides, is getting myself dirty. I’m not taking any sides, I’m not dealing with it. I’m doing my music. And that’s it.

When it comes to the economic conditions that are prevailing for so many Americans, it is almost a joke. Here is a cartoon from the Washington Post. This is the sybaritic power player who is pulling the strings behind the scene, calling the shots, dictating politics and policy; and he is saying, “It is not trickle down economics. We got the plumbing fixed.'’ Here is the poor little fella down here, little panhandler trying to wait to get some of the stuff that is trickling down, and it is not trickling down any more.

And this is where the politics comes into play: invoking the Insurrection Act meant Bush would be basically removing a female governor of the opposing party from effective control of her own National Guard. Big deal to any state. Bigger deal to a southern state. Bigger still if the governor is a Dem-and then add the female angle on top of that.

And don’t give me that canard about “this isn’t a time for politics” — the Bush team is in full spin mode. It’s sad to see Bill Clinton allowing himself to be used this way.

For the last few decades, with increasing Republican dominance of the executive and legislature in Washington, DC, the court has been moving steadily rightwards. The new appointments expected over the coming months to replace Judges Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor, who retired earlier this year, will most likely continue this trend. The implications for American politics could be profound.

On the human side of Hurricane Katrina there is ample blame to go around, beginning and ending with the ultra-corrupt nature of Louisiana politics and its corrosive impact on the greater New Orleans community. Nevertheless, this is a natural disaster unprecedented in the history of our nation. Certainly others have endured worse; Pompey, Krakatoa, Lisbon and even Galveston (6000 dead) to name a few. There have been numerous natural disasters that have claimed far more lives and that have destroyed whole cities. Still, for Americans and particularly those directly impacted, the catastrophe in New Orleans seems apocalyptic.

The French wire AFP reports that politics have changed in France since President Jacques Chirac’s hospitalization for bursting eye veins.

The most exciting time in politics is about to commence: the post-Labor Day sprint to Election Day. There are a couple of good articles today reflecting this.

"I hope people don't play politics during this period of time," Mr. Bush told Diane Sawyer of ABC's "Good Morning America" in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. "This is a natural disaster, the likes of which our country may have never seen before."

What a load of hate-filled crap. These are the people who are controlling the politics of this administration!

This is not about Republican or Democrat - poor leadership is not only the domain of one party - but it most definitely is about politics. It is about who we elect as our leaders, the choices they make on our behalf, and whether we are paying attention to the job they are doing before it is too late.

It’s only natural to look forward to Friday, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing for a living. Now, don’t get me wrong. I actually loved what I was doing as a corporate trainer. When I was in front of the classroom teaching, I couldn’t have been happier. I had fun. It was a great time. Problem is, eventually I had to go back to my desk and deal with the corporate BS or Politics… if you want to be politically correct.

“It’s high time to rescue ‘intelligent design’ from the politics of religion. There are too many riddles not yet answered by either biology or the Bible, and by asking them honestly, without foregone conclusions, science could take a huge leap forward.” MORE

This development reflects a critical turn in the relationship between the Sheat clergy and the government, and the ruling politicians will be faced again by the danger of having clerics interfering with politics but this time, the Sheat alliance which insisted onmentioning the clergy in the introduction of the constitution will certainly realize this danger and they will be left before a hard choice as they have put all their weight on the balance of the clergy and if the latter lets them down the consequences will be catastrophic for those politicians.

Seriously, I’m reading the South Dakota blogs and I’m getting sick. It’s generally a bunch of East River people so entrenched in partisan politics that they can’t see what a great day this is for South Dakota, and particularly Western South Dakota. I’m not defending the progressives or the conservatives.

The subhead for the main story gives what might be the most important news: “Move over, politics. Americans are looking for personal, ecstatic experiences of God, and, according to our poll, they don’t much care what the neighbors are doing.” That has to be a nightmare concept for the Talibaptists of the Religious Reich, who have exercised their lust for power by claiming that orthodox busybodies are a voting majority of Americans.

People like Jose Arguelles do not represent either the Pagan movement or Earth day in any significant way whatsoever. To make that claim would be like saying that Jerry Falwell represents all of Christianity. There are generally recognized and respected leaders of the Pagan community but he is not one of them. Besides, Paganism is divided into many different denominations or “paths” and not all of them agree on matters of politics or theology. Even if you could interview a leader of the Pagan community, any conclusions would only represent the path that person represents. Otherwise it would be like trying to draw conclusions about what Mennonites believe by interviewing a Catholic.

However, satisfactorily, I concluded that there is no doubt, that Gambians and friends of the Gambia can only see the chemistry in their politics as fake, false and an entanglement between lies, fears, distortion and shamelessness. Yankuba Touray in the first place was charged with economic crimes and found guilty of stealing millions from Gambian state coffers. Has Yanks case been already dumped in the doldrums or is Jammeh just taking Gambians and the civilize world for a ride? Once the APRC can come out with a convincing answer to such a question, then Gambians and friends of The Gambia will find their causes to be true and genuine. Yanks must know that he has been exposed beyond reasonable doubts as not only a thief and a liar, but also a murderer. Gambians and friends of The Gambia at home and abroad, must know that retired Captain Touray brutally participated in the murder of FORMER FINANCE SECRETARY OF STATE OUSMAN KORO CEESAY, who was beaten with batons at his residence and finally driven in his own car to be only found burnt in into ashes whilst taking the last breaths of his life. Should we therefore listen to such a Politician?

But No Politics. Despite going mountain biking with President Bush and inviting his Democrat rival John Kerry to his big retirement party in Paris, Armstrong maintains that he is not going into politics, reiterating that the stress and the time away from his family would be too much. That aside, he did offer this comment on the money spent on the US's involvement in Iraq. "As a survivor, I think we would be better spending money on an illness like cancer," he said. Armstrong did indicate in post Tour de France interviews that he might consider a career in politics, but now he says that was “more or less a joke.” We’ll see about that!

Levy spent years as a critic of Sharon's character and politics. He is now certain that the prime minister's Gaza pull-out initiative is for real. Regardless of its origins and motives, Sharon has become personally committed to it, as his pet project, and he does not like to be on the losing side and have his name appear along with the word "failure" in the same headline.

I am Rodric (a basterdized verision of Roderick derived from german meaning fame and power which i quite like), a 24 year old student of politics, currently wasting my time by spending a week besides the sea in Swansea.

But, as the Washington Post points out, the issue is also handy politics. While immigration is not a major issue in more rural areas of Virginia, it is in Democratic, and vote-rich, Northern Virginia, an area Kilgore would like to make headway in.

Two men having sex with each other in Iran would not consider themselves to be Gay, the way that Western (American) society would want them to be. Their faith, their politics, their family, their society do not enable them to use the label "Gay". So why do we thrust it upon them?

Last year, the government prohibited the use of English words on television and foreign programs that promote “western ideology and politics.” It also banned programs about crime or violence in prime time in order to promote a “healthy environment” for children.

Communism did kill, Courtois and his fellow historians demonstrate, with ruthless efficiency: 25 million in Russia during the Bolshevik and Stalinist eras, perhaps 65 million in China under the eyes of Mao Zedong, 2 million in Cambodia, millions more Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America–an astonishingly high toll of victims. This freely expressed penchant for homicide, Courtois maintains, was no accident, but an integral trait of a philosophy, and a practical politics, that promised to erase class distinctions by erasing classes and the living humans that populated them. Courtois and his contributors document Communism’s crimes in numbing detail, moving from country to country, revolution to revolution. The figures they offer will likely provoke argument, if not among cliometricians then among the ideologically inclined. So, too, will Courtois’s suggestion that those who hold Lenin, Trotsky, and Ho Chi Minh in anything other than contempt are dupes, witting or not, of a murderous school of thought–one that, while in retreat around the world, still has many adherents. A thought-provoking work of history and social criticism, The Black Book of Communism fully merits the broadest possible readership and discussion.

This is above electoral politics and shows that the Jihad is definitely being directed by clerics in both branches of Islam, Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran. In the Islamic world this is a sign of legitimacy given to the war effort by the religious establishment. Islamic religious leaders in mosques in other countries, whether in the Islamic world, Europe, Asia or the U. S. the same message of support is being made and very openly.

Politically, Japan has become more conservative. Its Left has effectively collapsed. The Socialist party was never serious about governing, but existed as an obstructionist force in parliament (sound familiar?). After electoral reform in the early 1990s, it all but evaporated. Japanese politics has become more populist, and Japanese society more open and less risk-averse. A new generation of politicians both in the ruling Liberal Democratic party and in the opposition Democratic party is not so wedded to the old pieties. "Japan is tired of constantly apologizing, and it wants a place in the sun more than in a pure economic sense," says former State Department official Jim Kelly.

According to Hateful Harry, the only political affiliation appropriate for Blacks is with the Democratic Party. Any one who strays from Hateful Harry's plantation gets a verbal whipping. Those who decide to throw off the politics of poverty, go out and get their own, and God forbid become Republicans are now ''tyrants'', or ''house slaves''.

Robert Novak, whose revelation of a CIA officer's name in a 2003 column has sparked a federal probe, was suspended by CNN after he swore and walked off the set during a live taping of "Inside Politics." ***

All the while, Oppenheimer maintained relationships with communists. As most intellectuals during the 1930’s, Oppenheimer saw the depression as a failure of capitalism and communism as the wave of the future. Using his vast inheritance, he bankrolled many left wing causes while marrying a former communist Kitty Harrison. It was these associations that would come back to haunt him later although it appears Oppenheimer himself was never that interested in politics. In fact, once Stalin’s horrors started to become known, Oppenheimer began to cut his ties with most left wing organizations and individuals. Cynics also point to the fact that it was at this time that the federal government was getting interested in the potential for building the atom bomb and that Oppenheimer’s associations would have precluded his participation.

A year ago, the liberal group America Coming Together was on the cutting edge of national politics, spending tens of millions of dollars on a massive voter-mobilization project in every presidential battleground state.

First, it was blogs. Then, it was Meetup.com. Now, the newest technology to combine the Internet and politics is slowly starting to creep into the mainstream: podcasting.

So there’s a none-too-subtle undercurrent of yearning here for the Christian Right’s familiar (but fictional) version of the good old days, when religious instruction was an integral part of public schools, when science looked toward the Bible for guidance, and when anyone who questioned religion’s role in politics became an instant pariah.

This blog, as with all others, is concerned with all the things that are important to me and which occupy my mind on a daily basis. My obsessions; weather, books, music, travel, politics. My hatred of ‘home’; how terrible the UK has become (I rue the day that I have to step foot upon English soil and, if I had my way, I would never return to that sorry land), and other random meaningless, meaningful, irrelavent, relavent thoughts and ideas on whatever is on my mind. I make no apologies for offensive opinions, cliched observations or poor spelling/grammar.

Personally, I’ve always loved to spend part of my summer reading — history, biography, science fiction, politics (surprise, surprise), and more. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time to do it recently, given the combo of a) a day job, b) RaisingKaine, and c) having a life (i.e, wife, friends, family). This weekend, though, I read a great book, one of the all time classics of science fiction, called “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon. Here’s the book description from Amazon.com:

Moving into the realm of politics, take the case of Karl Rove, the man who - all the current evidence suggests - outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson in retaliation for her husband’s refusal to go along with the myth of an Iraqi nuclear threat. If a Democrat were to reveal the identity of a CIA agent or otherwise leak classified material to the press, you may be sure he or she would be tarred, feathered and suspended from a lamppost within hours of the crime. But Rove carries on with his vicarious presidency - continuing to promote Bush’s voter-repelling social security plan and playing a visible role in the selection of the new supreme court justice.

Those who follow Presidential politics closely, especially second term presidential politics, are on a constant lookout for the exact time and place when the President officially becomes a lame duck, and it seems, by all reasonable accounts, that for George�W. Bush that time has come.

The following questionnaire plays a very special part in the history of the Salon Des Grands Geeks, and our site would hardly be complete without it. During a visit to Washington at which Kiri, Trey, Iain and myself were in attendance, we found this quiz on a greeting card in Politics and Prose. Although the card was entirely in French and spelled poor Marcel’s surname “Poust” in places, we overlooked these small flaws and spent the entire afternoon and much of the next day answering it, and it has figured in one form or another in several salons since then. I have some of our answers written down from salons past, but rather than post these quite personal responses, I leave it to you to decide how much you would like to discuss online, and perhaps we can get a livelier discussion going about it once the site is read-protected. More information about the origins of the questionnaire and its famous madeleine-nibbling responder can be found here.

I believe it would be a wash, nationally. What it would do is remove abortion as an issue, which would generally relieve some of the tendentiousness and avarice in the partisan politics in Washington.

This being DC, at some point in the evening politics came up. For the most part, our dinner companions had their polite guard up--not trying to offend, or be overtly partisan--but casually discussing things like the vacancy on the court and the Rove/Plame affair. This, after all, was a group of strangers, stuck together for the next couple of hours...no need to get in anyone's face...right?

Objectivism, like any other philosophy entails the eight aspects of it, which are: epistemology, politics, economics, ethics, esthetics, metaphysics, morality and psychology. The extent of my knowledge covers the first seven aspects of the philosophy alone.

Oh, and here is why Canadian politics is so entertaining and while I'll probably miss this (and now HOCKEY!) most of all...

That's it, I'm out of here and off to do some bike riding. I encourage all bloggers out their to step away from the computer and go outside and enjoy the weekend. Politics will be here when we get back.

Before setting off decided that I should grab a book to take to work. I’m a book fanatic. I’m not that profligate normally but when it comes to books I can’t help but pick up those 3 for 2 offers. And there’s so many good non fiction books around; anthropology, politics, current affairs, history, biography, science, nature; you name it, I bet there’s an interesting looking book about it. So I buy endlessly and they just pile up as it’s impossible to actually read them all, as even when I do sit down to tackle a book it’s always 2 steps forward and 3 steps back as I’m guaranteed to buy another bunch of books before finishing the current ones. I have them piled up in my study - each one beckoning me to read it. Many have bookmarks in the first few pages as initial enthuasasim was swayed by the next set of new arrivals. I’m sure this isn’t healthy and is boarding on an addiction.

The Live 8 Concerts are all over the media and the blogosphere. Josh Trevino over at local outlet Politics from Left to Right gets it just about spot on:

OK, the “partisans on both sides” of this argument need to check themselves and their politics at the door. This is neither the time nor the place for a political argument over federal judges. Besides, what would those arguing against naming the school after Marshall really be arguing against? I fail to see how racial bigotry (either subtle or overt) wouldn’t enter into the discussion, and it has no business there. I see no valid reason not to let the students name their new school after this brilliant legal scholar and champion of equality under the law.

This site is not intended to be political, except in so far as every choice a writer makes is political, but in this time it’s difficult to separate culture from politics from entertainment. And, of course, I do have a strong interest in history and history deals with politics. So I have a blog category here called “Politics and Activism.”

by Jason S. Evans @ 11:48 am. Filed under Culture, Politics

And what is up with that stupid looking logo on the tablecloth? Looks like my politics time bomb icon upside down after IT went to Jared!

Initially I did not put any postings about this story on our site. While it was a tragic case, every parents nightmare, there are horrible cases of missing children and innocent victims of murder and mayhem everywhere you turn. Somehow this became the mega-story of the moment to the extent that you could switch across the night menu of news shows from CNN, to MSNBC to Fox and it was on every channel, every night, almost all night. I could understand the coverage by Greta van Susteren since that is her specialty, but I always thought Scarborough was about politics. So while I’m sympathetic to the parents, and glad they were able to generate attention and concern for their plight, it struck me as sensationalism, not coverage and too much hype. Consider the many other victims, even at least three murders on other islands, over the past few weeks with barely a mention. I did make a posting when the elder van der Sloot was arrested since I found that very intriguing, and still hold a personal gut feeling that he is involved. If not directly, at least in telling the three young suspects what to do and what to say if the investigation came their way. All of that said, my entry this morning is more about some of the comments recently from Natalie’s family, and from some of our media, about the investigation and the Aruban, or Dutch justice system. Step back, and step down. Take a look at the headlines right here. Every month there is a major story about some hideous, chronic child abuser, and murderer freely roaming the streets. Our own system of justice, and record for how that system works and fails, is a long, long way from infallible. What makes anyone think that a similar crime on U.S. soil would be solved quickly? Particularly when we so often see people with money or position, like the van der Sloot’s, accorded special considerations, allowing then to skip around the outskirts of justice. Tap on that wall, and you’ll likely find it’s closer to glass than brick.

Though somewhat dated, John Noonan’s “A Private Choice” provides a very helpful overview of what’s at stake in battles over court nominees. For Noonan, the question is not one of politics, but worldview, in this case, the clash between traditional American jurisprudence and that of Hans Kelsen.

As Bruce Miniter in the WSJ noted yesterday that all the "Vietnam" stuff is wishful thinking by the Left and reminds Sen. Dustbin and the MSM that more than politics is at stake:

Participating in a collegiate sport reflected many of the negative politics and of the work world that human resources like to sugar coat over. Think getting downsized is tough at work? Imagine being an 18 year old kid trying to get an education when the coach of your team gets forced to resign, and the new coach that’s brought in subsequently tries to get every athlete that arrived before his tenure to quit.

Cardin and other free-trade Democrats concede that many of the Democratic opponents are motivated by partisan politics: They want to see Bush lose a major legislative initiative or, at the very least, make Republicans from districts hit hard by international trade take a dangerous vote in favor of a deal their constituents oppose.

I’m not going to get into the politics of it all, the organizers do that much better than I can. However, I did want to give kudos to AOL. Their website features many of the performances that took place around the world from Live 8. I’m not a huge fan of any of the performers, but I do respect many of the artists performing and liked the performances by REM, U2, Sam Roberts, Tragically Hip. Neil Young, The Who, and Snoop Dogg. I always will have a soft spot for U2’s “One.” It’s so simple, yet so powerful and it really works as a teary anthem ballad.

# posted by Neighborhood Retail Alliance @ 9:29 AM

“Miguel Estrada, the Hispanic gentleman who, at one point, seemed headed for the D.C. appeals court for which Brown is now confirmed – until his nomination was unfairly derailed by rank racial politics. Estrada is a top-shelf Washington lawyer who had, after coming to the United States from Honduras and graduating with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and an assistant solicitor general. Yet none of that prepared Estrada for the meat-grinder of the judicial confirmation process. Before long, Estrada was – in an experience that must have seemed surreal to him at the time – fending off accusations from white Democrats that he “wasn’t Hispanic enough.” That was Estrada’s defect. It was also complete nonsense. I don’t see why liberals won’t say what they really mean. It’s obvious that what concerns them is not that these nominees aren’t real minorities, but rather that they aren’t their kind of minority. You know, the kind that asks for permission before they speak and makes sure that what they say falls in line with the views of their liberal benefactors”. –Ruben Navarrette Jr.

A book review on Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics by Doug Bandow

These are the sorts of issues that Markell’s books can speak to. While the majority of the book is concerned with technical issues in the political ontology of agency and identity which, despite how luminously well written it is, will be slow going for people who can’t immediately jump into discussions of Arendt, Hegel, Herder, and Taylor, the chapter on multiculturalism is perhaps the easiest way in to the argument for nonspecialists. Here his focus is on the politics of recognition (think Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser, Axel Honneth, Will Kymlicka, etc.). The politics of recognition has emphasized the way in which recognition and affirmation of one’s identity and culture is itself a social good which ought to be recognized in multicultural liberal states, and particularly Canada (home to Taylor and Kymlicka). However, Markell argues that this aspiration to mutual recognition is appealing but ultimately unsatisfying and even incoherent.

OK, it wasn’t Chekhov, but it was a start. And now that I’d done the hard part, I could leave the matchmaking to a complicated, anonymous system of computerized tabulations, rather than my well-intentioned pals who have tried, bless them, many times to set me up with their Other Gay Friend (OGF). My past dates with OGFs have included a hookup with a staunch Republican who told me I subscribe to “pansy politics,” a guy who appeared physically incapable of talking about anything but his Lhasa apso, and a gentleman who was so addicted to cocaine that he named it Mary.

What i think of the politics of New Britain, Ct, It stinks and sucks. It's like the politicians of New Britain don't care for anyone but the polish people of New Britain. They don't give a damn for the spanish or the asians that live in Ne Britain. The problem here is that New Britain is a polish town and that the minorities are the spanish and asians. I believe that in order to get into politices in New britain, one must be polish and live in the broad street Area. The current politics of New britain right now is that they are closed minded and that they do not open up to the voters of New Britain. They do not care about the people in the city and they do not bother to listen to the concerns of the people in New Britain.

is the Word not clear on how we are to care for those in need? lately i’ve felt so cynical, failing to see where Christ dwells in Christianity. failing to see God in the church, in the actions of believers. all i’ve seen is politics and prejudices, hypocrisy, and social bubbles. but lately God seems to be pounding one message into me, love is an action. the past few weeks we’ve had speakers at gs that are out there in the world really working to further God’s kingdom by loving people where they are. teaching and caring for low-oppurtunity students in a poor community, working with high-risk youth, showing them love when every one else has forsaken them. feed the poor. care for the widow. bring justice to the oppressed. even in the midst of my cynicism about the church, God is continually reminding me that His love is in people. the community i am in, the brothers and sisters that love and support me, this is where i encounter God. it is in their eyes, in their embraces that i feel the love of the Father. there are believers living this life of sacrifice. for some reason i had forgotten that. there are those who truly embrace love and justice, and live it out everyday. is this the God i’ve been seeking my whole life? is this the Truth that will finally bring meaning to to my unstable faith?

A Mankato, MN high school teacher Tim Walz is running for US Congress in the MN First District. Here are a few more details. I am very interested in his approach to issues and policies. He has some very good ideas regarding Healthcare for ALL Minnesotans. Here’s an “Inside Minnesota Politics” podcast with an interview with Tim Walz.

We continue to hear rationalisation’s on how many views are too simplistic to work in eradicating poverty, hunger, and diseases. The answers are always SIMPLE - politics complicate them. Bull-Shit complicates them.

So much has been written about african poverty but money is not the problem, not even the food. It’s about corrupt politics and it’s hold on distribution, education and overall infrastructur.

I don’t remember hearing this poll on yesterday’s Inside Politics:

Michael Savage doesn’t hold back in his latest book. This book is his third installment in which he ties it all together and backs his statements up with facts which are easy to check using the bibliography. The book has chapters focused on Homeland Security, Islamofacism, the alien invasion, lawsuit abuse, Clinton, Arafat, Kinsey, the ACLU, and the Red & Blue of politics. He shows no loyalty toward any party, just a loyalty to a strong libertarian ideology.

I’m presently reading a library book titled: ‘Asia: Cultural Politics in the Global Age’ by Birch et al. I’ve only skimmed through the first chapter so far, but the authors have made an interesting statement probably worth further examination.

It’s because of women like her that I am given the opportunities I have today. Strange to think that I was a year old when the Supreme Court received it’s first woman… politics have come a long way.

I took this piece off Real Clear Politics. It argues that the Bush White House is committed to nominating a genuine conservative to the Supreme Court. Remember that President Bush is determined to NOT repeat the mistakes of his father. His father balked at the chance to remove Saddam Hussein - George W. did not. His father raised taxes - George W. held his ground and initiated the largest tax cuts in American history. And we all know that George H.W. Bush’s nomination of David Souter is at the top of this list of terrible political mistakes that George W. is determined to avoid. As the following piece shows, the White House is already on the right track, and is well-prepared for the nasty political fight ahead:

Been trying to decide what topics would be interesting to me and those who view the blog. My catagories reflect those interests. I would like this blog to not be a drag to the many who dont really care to get involved in certain discussions. With that in mind all of the catagories will stay on this site except politics.

The 21st century does not reflect so kindly upon this heritage. It has been spoiled by people who wrap themselves in the flag but only represent greed. That tragic fact that blood has to be spilled to feed this greed is not relevant to them. They claim the mantle of Christianity, but do not represent the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. They come under a banner that reads, “Culture of Life” while embracing the politics of death. We walk around every day trying to be politically correct. You don’t say the president lied; you say his statements were not borne out to be factually accurate. You don’t say that the president lied to go to war; you say the intelligence was poor. Everyone dances around the truth, afraid to confront the fact that the enemy is thyself. The Word of God says:

The only positive to be taken from the bombings is that, from what I have seen, Iraqis are uniting rather than falling back on sectarian differences. However, unless the US commits to withdrawing its military and stops its gerrymandering with Iraqi politics to create a government that is artificially co-operative with its interests, I can only foresee that it will face an uprising from all sections of the Iraqi population, together with a repeat of all the tragedy of the past year and the problems for regional stability that will ensue.

I mentioned this earlier, but let’s take a harder look at it. Here’s Bush from last night’s speech:

I firmly believe the three most powerful forces on earth are religion, politics, and the media. Religion, for its ability to make and break conflicts, to affect people the world over for thousands of years, for its endless incarnations and applications, and because it is one of the few ideals for which people are willing to wage war and die. Politics, because it is the greatest game that men play, and its effects are more far-reaching and profound than those players often consider. The media, because it combines the characteristics of the first two, because it can further or inhibit the progress of the first two, because it has the ability to shape the viewpoint of the average person, to make or break people, places, wars, or peace, to raise up governments or tear them down, to highlight or shadow situations and the heroic or shameful actions of men.

Why do we need a new flag? Because the only place where Originalists are still alive in National politics is in the Supreme Court. There too, they're simply not enough to turn the tide against the 'progressives'. Clarence Thomas is the last nationally relevant man in power I hold in high regard, with the other 3 (sometimes 4) getting varying amounts of grudging admiration, depending on the issue and where they feel like standing that day.

The interesting thing is that with all things the Republicans do (or, I should say, politicians in control of both Congress and the White House do), this seems to be a coordinated event. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal Op-Ed section opened fire on the same study. Congress also has been working on the energy bill which contains little climate change policy and in general chooses for the U.S. to go it alone. Not surprising considering the administration.

Now that Katherine Harris has announced that she's running for Bill Nelson's (D-FL) Senate seat, it sounds like Republicans are starting to have second thoughts about her candidacy. At least one Republican, Mark Foley (R-Jupiter), is still mulling a bid. The article explains:

People accuse the republicans of letting their religion get in the way of their politics. What they don’t seem to grasp is that their religion is money.

We all know that politics is a dirty game, with international politics probably being the dirtiest and sleeziest part of it…. for it is in the international political arena that innocent people in far off lands like Iraq, Rwanda, Haiti, Dufar, and now Uzbekistan, are sacrificed on the alter of national self interest. The latest example of this is the Government of the United States helping to block NATO from calling for an international probe into the killings in Uzbekistan because

Your politics suck, your nation sucks, the EU sucks, We had to pull your fat out of the frier in the 40's. We had to keep you from being swallowed up by the Soviet Union. Our politics is our business. So bugger off.

The Pope has criticized aspects of Swiss politics. Although he doesn't specifically mention this month's country-wide referendum giving gay couples increased rights, there is little doubt he had it in mind when penning this (emphasis supplied):

I wasn’t going to go into the politics of PBS shows but after I watched God in Goverment I couldn’t resist. The show spent a majority of its hour bashing Bush’s ‘Faith Based Initiative’ saying it favored Christian organizations and hurt non-Christian groups. It also, throughout the show, compared the Bush administration to Iran’s government by the Mullahs. Good to know there’s no bias on PBS.

The Revolution of the Saints: A Study of the Origins of Radical Politics: Michael Walzer (Walzer is a good political ethicist to read.)

Some background before you click on the link: The FEC (federal elections committee) is thinking about expanding the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, a.k.a McCain-Feingold) to regulate political speech even more - and this has got some people really scared. The reason they are scared is because many bloggers would fall under the proposed legislation - basically, it would suddenly make it a lot harder to talk about or engage in politics on the Internet.

In an interview with CNN’s Larry King, former President Bill Clinton warns conservatives and liberals alike on the the hazards of using God in politics.

In either case, there may be times when I post later in the day, or even in the evenings, since other things will be taking priority to blogging. I'll still be posting about politics, Iowa events, conservativism, being a Republican, etc. I'll just be throwing in a post or two a week about my studies, too.

I am reminded of Thomas Kuhn's arguments in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions these days as I watch the dance of politics and economics, particularly the view that such transitions, from paradigm to paradigm, are not graceful. I am also reminded of the waning stages of any great ethical faith and Capitalism, like representative government, was, in my view, such a faith. In the early stages only a few believe but their belief is strong and pure. Then the faith is diluted but spread to many. In the later stages the faith is assumed, by which...

HERE’S ED KILGORE, making an important point about politics as it’s played in the real world.

PoliticsOnline is the premier global company providing news, tools and strategies for using the Internet in politics and public affairs. The company was founded in 1996 and is now . . .

Simmons is an interesting figure--his most visible political work, from what I've seen, has been his PETA animal rights ads. I don't think Simmons' word is God on this--but he's obviously an influential figure, and I think he's playing smart politics, trying to pressure Dean to meet with him and other black leaders.

In the June 2005 issue of “O” (thank you Jo!), Oprah interviews Jon Stewart. They are discussing The Daily Show’s move into politics and Jon says something that’s been digging at me for days.

Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal examines the destructive impact of politics on theater and offers hope that art is winning. Too good to exerpt. Read the whole thing.

One of the most insightful and knowledgeable observers of RI politics, Tom Coyne of RI Policy Analysis, has provided further information for us about that Dan Yorke show in a June 5 posting, which is recreated here:

The Senate Judicial Filibuster: Power Politics & Religious Bigotry

Two sentences exist which usually argue against activist art: “Art can not change anything, so if politics worry you, you should become a politician instead of an artist”, (is usually accompanied by affirmations such as, “this isn’t art, it’s sociology”). The other assures: “The art that advocates social change became useless the day that it was assimilated by the circuit of exhibitions and sales of the conventional and prevailing art world".

"I'm living proof that the (GOP) isn't what Howard Dean is trying to describe,'' Becerra said during a telephone interview. "It's a sad day when Democrats don't have any ideas to put forward, and they have to resort to race politics. President Bush didn't get 40 percent of the Hispanic vote (in 2004) because we're a monolithic, white Christian party."

Cleveland's decision on where to place red-light and speeding cameras had as much to do with politics as it did with traffic safety.

I suspect that the problems run deep and this surface behavior we are experiencing has been in the making for a very long time. It is not our economic situation, our lack of faith. It is not globalization and international politics. I think there is something deep in our culture that has gone wrong; we have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Ben Shapiro's article today at Townclowns.com speaks to the current right-wing schizophrenia regarding the prospect of a Hillary Clinton run for the White House in 2008. Clearly, Hillary is the most hated woman in America. But on the other hand, the 'wingers are salivating at the prospect of a Hillary run because they think they can easily take her down. So on the one hand, Shapiro spends the first two paragraphs of his article pushing Hillary's run, but then goes on to say she doesn't have a chance because she's a pinko-socialist (which would make...

I know that TPMCafe is just a blog and that comment sections have their own dynamic. Nonetheless... is anyone else struck by the schizophrenia between what the official bloggers write and the commenters' comments? It's like a head-on crash between the center-left commentariat and the entire dailyKos readership. Actually, while it's experienced as a center-left vs. progressive-left split, it's at base a split between policy Democrats and movement Democrats. The former think that solutions to problems (income inequality, education, the environment,...

To the extent that I want to loosen up the State Democratic Party and see Phil Johnson out of a job, I'm all behind Charley at Blue Group's call for a more democratic approach to politics. And from the sound of it, Deval Patrick is becoming quite effective on the stump.

And now, in part because of those social services, Hamas is a strong political force in the Palestinian Authority. What else is propelling Hamas into mainstream Palestinian politics? US "Nice Guy Diplomacy."

Hey, who needs geology and history anyway? If you’re going to live the John Kerry life, it’s all politics and French.

OH MY GOD! This is some funny shit people. We've all gotten to the point of almost distaste when it comes to politics so, even though this is British politics, you can remove MP and put in Senator or whatever title you want to make it US politics, and you will realize the humor in it all. Also what this has done is make me look at political bloggers with a hell of a lot more humor...as in, their posts make me laugh because they take the shit far too seriously.

So I’ll put it in layman’s terms. First, banking firms pretty much rule the world, though certainly indirectly. If you don’t know that already, you probably don’t care. Bankers care only about one thing, of course: money. They get involved in politics to protect that money. They’ll use any legal fiction to gain control of things not rightfully theirs, and insure laws are passed to prevent any ordinary people having any say in such things. They are wholly unaccountable, in spite of stock ownership. They always manage...

Finally, for you to assert, on zero evidence, that Tobin’s time as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers was unique and that since the early sixties, all other Council members have had to hew to a political line and sacrifice honesty and objectivity is insanely insulting to all other members of the Council and their staffs. The history of honesty and objectivity of members of both parties is unquestioned (except maybe by you, again, on a hunch, without any data at all). However, they all loved their jobs and knew who their bosses were....

Wonder why Broadcast Machine isn't getting more attention on the net. It's all about citizen video channels using RSS over BitTtorrent, a nonprofit venture of the Participatory Culture Foundation, tied to the Participatory Politics organization.

In his Navy application, Kerry made clear that he spent much of his college time on extracurricular activities, including the Yale Political Union, the Debating Association, soccer, hockey, fencing, and membership in the elite Skull and Bones Society. Asked to describe nonschool training that qualified him for the Navy, Kerry wrote: ''A great deal of sailing -- ocean and otherwise, including some navigation. Scuba diving. Rifle. Beginning of life saving." He said his special interests were ''filming," writing, and politics, noting that the latter...

I have to admit, it's an interesting time to be watching Canadian politics.

KS - The DCFP started to build up a youth group, called Young Christian Filipinos (YCF). It offers young people the opportunity to get involved in the politics of the Philippines. Until now not many young people are getting involved in politics but the DCFP wants to change this.

Although there is the “Sangguniangn Kabataan” (SK) which shall attract young people to get interested in politics, not many are aware of it. An additional lack of knowledge probably can be found among the youth and an existing disinterest for political issues within the younger society. Furthermore, the members of the SK are usually Filipinos aged between 15 and 21 years.

ok - enough politics for a monday....back to our regularly scheduled program.

The latest set of comments submitted to the FEC argue that citizens be forced to choose one identity per election--journalist or fundraiser. That proposal is probably too strict. As far as the state is concerned, journalists are generally allowed to participate in partisan political activities in their spare time. Some media outlets forbid their own news staff to participate in engage in private partisan politics, but these rules have more to do with professional ethics than with election law. Obviously, all members of the media have a responsibility...

You know, the success of the whole "Constitution in Exile" movement could be a really good thing for some parts of the country. Take today's ruling on medical marijuana, for example. Right now, because of federal law, any sick person can be prosecuted for using the ganja to relieve pain associated with very serious health problems like cancer. If the Bushies and the Neo's get their way, and the High Court becomes a roost for myopic federalists, well then federal laws like the one banning nugs and fuzzies should technically be considered unconstitutional....

[W]hatever the politics of this issue, the Democrats' position is indefensible on the substance.

> See more on the couch ban and how the internet is changing Ann Arbor politics here

Bunker was one of the first golf bloggers and had a great blog. His blog Bunker Mulligan amazingly found a way to mix golf, politics and the military.

I'm quite a cynical person when it comes to politics, but I have to say I am genuinely pleased with Brown's proposals, especially as so many Christians (and indeed non-Christians) have prayed, campaigned and protested for this to happen. The issue of being just and kind to the poor, sick and downtrodden is mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible, far more than any other issues that Christians are extremely vocal on such as homosexuality (6 mentions in the Bible), or the evils of evolution (0 mentions), or the importance of prayer in schools (0...

politics, as can be seen from several trials of mafias in French

Anyway, I am incredibly honored that my Texas home-boy, Dylan is allowing me to post here while he's on vacation. I won't be giving you much in the way of politics or social commentary, but, I hope to provide a little bit of entertainment and perhaps some thought-provoking topics to discuss. Who knows, maybe I'll be as famous as he is one day!

Posted by northstar at 07:26 AM | Politics & other bad ideas

Reformed Politics will be hosting the 73rd Christian Carnival this week. The Christian Carnival is a weekly collection of some of the best posts of the Christian blogosphere. It's open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought. This is a great way to make your writing more well known and perhaps pick up some regular readers.

To enter is simple. First, your post should be of a Christian nature, but this does not exclude posts that are about home life, politics, or current events from a Christian point of view. Second, please submit only one post dated since the last Christian Carnival (i.e. from last Wednesday through this coming Tuesday).

Commentary, International Politics and Ethicsarully evening time

Filed under: Politics, Programming — Adam Wright @ 1:46 pm

no small wonder no average citizen is interested in politics - the politicians aren’t! My current plan is to organise some telephone calls to both Labour and Conservative to force them to actually

Still, I’ll admit to being a bit dismayed that, after wending my way through 375 pages of Thomas D. Clark’s The Kentucky, the only thing he has to say about my home county, a county of 352 square miles that claims a fair chunk of the Kentucky’s length as its western border, the only tales he has to tell concern Owen County’s penchant for dirty politics. Or at least politics as a sort of no-holds-barred sport.

Screen Play is a new play by A.R. Gurney. Described as a political satire, it's set in the year 2015, and envisions a future America ruled by a conservative religious majority. The economy is sagging, wars are raging, and culture is in decay. Many Americans have begun to flee to Canada and Mexico, and the government is struggling with this pandemic reverse immigration. The press release says, "With a plot borrowed liberally from a classic 1942 American film, Screen Play is a tale of politics, history, the city of Buffalo, and a love ruined by the...

Even within Australian politics, assuming élites exist, we have always had an absolute packet of different varieties of them. Conservative élites, reactionary élites, trades-unionist élites, bureaucratic élites, academic élites, capitalist élites, sporting élites, religious and sectarian élites, migrant élites, gendered élites, military élites, feminist élites, published élites, professional élites. The joy of a supposedly ‘classless’ society is the chance for any individual to step out of the mob, and join with others...

As you all know I wasn’t alive during Reagan’s presidency, in fact I wasn’t a speckle in my parents eye. Even when I was born he was already gone. However yesterday I got an email from a gentleman at Mister Politics. He sent me a magnificant video he compiled. You can watch it here. I HIGHLY suggest you watch it, if you are a Reagan fan or not. I hope he took my advice and emailed this guy.

Filed under: Virginia politics , Blogging by John Behan @ 10:05 am

I’m not sure what to make of this, other than to say that Virginia blogs are clearly beginning to have a real impact on Virginia politics. At the very least, we’re being noticed.

"Commonwealth Conservative is absolutely a daily read, with great writing on Virginia politics."

Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas

September 11 was a circuit breaker on these politics. Globalisation was decisively pushed from the front pages of the world’s media, and has not recovered its former position as a topic of widespread interest. Measured in terms of the dominant ideas of our times, we have moved decisively from the era of globalisation into one of perpetual war, wherein the nation-state has not only failed to whither away, but is resurgent. Instead of a world regulated by markets, we have a world once more being increasingly regulated by force of arms. Instead...

The second part of my interview with Stan Guthrie on faith and politics is now posted at Stan's website. Please check it out if you get a chance -- even if you don't get a chance.

Whatever you think about the Liberals, it must be obvious to anyone with open eyes that the Globe and Mail is practicing partisan politics instead of balanced, ethical journalism.

I run the blog site "Hare Krishna Cultural Journal", which is overtly about the views, culture, and progress of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (popularly known as the Hare Krishnas). With regard to your rules, the results of elections do have an effect on us, and we may sometimes comment publically on the fitness or unfitness of policies advocated by certain candidates with regard to our religious beliefs. In this regard I find your proposal to limit the speech of bloggers on political issues to also be a limitation...

Shortly after that, Byun said "We don't play politics at the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, the Agency for Defense Development." Follow the money, indeed.

Meanwhile, the blogosphere is getting on this as well - the reaction is pretty well unified, no matter what the politics of the blogger. Here's an excerpt from a letter Navy veteran (and blogger) Mark Jones:

No matter what your politics, if you're of a certain age, this is still such a fascinating American story.

There are other aspects of my position that cross over and actually make it a fairly good micro example of the macrocosm that is big time politics, even the NYC variety. I’ll give you an example:

My wife and I built the house we live in ten years ago. At the time, most homeowner’s building in our subdivision were an equal mix of young professional white, black, and East Indians with no kids, or very young ones. There was much harmony and for the first five years, no real issues that typically plague older neighborhoods of homes in our price range. Then, houses began turning over. The younger couples began out growing their 3 bed, 2 ½ bath homes and moved up and out. Interest rates fell, banks became more willing to qualify just about...

Samir Qaseer, a journalist best known for his attacks on Syria's presence in Lebanon was killed yesterday in a car bombing, casting doubt on how serious Syria is about removing its thirty year control of Lebanese politics.

June 3, 2005 at 10:40 AM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink

To be honest, I salute their efforts to get more people involved in politics. However, the means by which they are conducting themselves is overtly illegal.

By this statement, she is drawing a line between herself and those who are not like her. But this is antithetical to the real message of her article. She expresses a politics of exclusion, separating people more than bringing them together.

Reading Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, by S. Craig Watkins, Abcs Of Chakra Therapy: A Workbook by Deedre Diemer. Lots of books on my shelf waiting for my eyeballs including Lazarus by Rashid Darden and two other books on Hip-Hop.

I was absolutely disgusted by today’s events. I am a political person and while I think that everyone should be political, there is no way I would ever force someone to share my politics or do what I told them in their spare time.

So how is that some people who (or so it seems to me) define ‘political’ by knowing and caring only about top up fees, think that they have got the right to dictate their beliefs to me? Of course I am furious about top up fees, but I don’t think that society and politics begins and ends with Higher Education. I’m not just Jo Salmon, NUS National Women’s Officer - I am also Jo Salmon, private citizen, and I have opinions, beliefs and values that go beyond the student movement. Politics isn’t just about single issues - for me, being a socialist is about giving a damn about society, about collectivism and solidarity, about freedom and democracy, and the right to express your beliefs free from harassment and discrimination.

The whole thing stinks, and I urge the student movement, regardless of their political beliefs as individuals, to stand together against a trend that seeks to de-politicise our movement, that would ban politics from our work, that would rather hide behind the individualism generated by Thatcher than fight for collectivism and a society that works for the millions, not the millionaires.

(2) Check off a few items on my reading list. Currently, I have House of Leaves and The Mismeasure of Man to work on, and those are fairly hefty, but once that’s done, I guess I’ll go to my Amazon.com wishlist for more reading material. There’s a lot of books on psychological topics, politics, random things, and some gadgets on there as well.

Turning from politics, he says something worthwhile. He says he had 50 good friends from college. He didn't lose touch with most of them because they stopped likely each other. Rather, he said, it was because “there isn't enough time in life to be friends with everyone you feel friendly to.” Too true.

Although the effect of the money stream on the organizations was visible, the tracking of the money is not. The two major political parties always have been secretive about how much money they spend on voter registration and get-out-the vote activities, said Steve Weissman, a researcher for the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan organization that studies money in politics.

Mr. Walters said the caucus is holding back because it is concerned about the potential corrupting effect of money in politics.

Filed under: Virginia politics , Kilgore - Kaine 2005 by John Behan @ 12:49 pm

"Commonwealth Conservative is absolutely a daily read, with great writing on Virginia politics."

« The politics of Star Wars | Main | Welcome to Progressive Commons »

Let me offer a preview: the present possibilities look a lot more like latent and extant potentials, and an extremely strong case can be made that we are entering, or have already entered, a swing towards fascism. As an intellectual who favors progressive politics, I am - to say the least - very concerned. As a progressive interested in political strategy, I am confused. If fascism presents itself as a realistic possibility today, here and now, what are the "politics of crying fascism"?

Confirmation bias goes a long way to explaining some of the weirdness people see in politics. For instance, a "teflon" politician is usually benefiting from positive conformation bias. People have the impression that he is a good leader, and so evidence that he isn't is somewhat discounted.

The Super Lawyer list is compiled by Law & Politics based on a survey of 47,000 attorneys statewide. Only 5% of Illinois attorneys earned the distinction.

Even though Stedman's evidence is circumstantial, his testimony comes as Congress is expected to consider new copyright legislation this year. An invocation of terrorism, the trump card of modern American politics, could ease the passage of the next major expansion of copyright powers.

Mr. Wackenhut, outspoken in his conservative politics, was occasionally seen as overly zealous in his investigations. In 1967, when Gov. Claude R. Kirk Jr. of Florida appointed him chief of a private police force to investigate organized crime, Mr. Wackenhut was criticized for saying that he and his officers would not limit themselves to suspected criminals but would "investigate everyone and anyone who needs investigating."

The NYT always has an array of archival obituaries available on its website, and it is always insightful to read them. Here's the one for J. Edgar Hoover. It shows that he started his 1/2 century tenure with startling innovation and pretty much coasted from there.

Mr. Hoover's power was a compound of performance and politics, publicity and personality. At the base of it all, however, was an extraordinary record of innovation and modernization in law enforcement--most of it in the first decade or so of his tenure.

Like J-Walk, I’m a little ashamed to admit that the Drudge Report is a guilty pleasure of mine. Worse than his politics are his damn popups, which bypass Firefox’s blocker. Here’s how to kill them:

Bill asks a good question: Important to whom? My answer (and we dwelled on this quite a bit last weekend) is society. My fear is that there may not be an economic model in the coming world of journalism to cover important stories--things like the doings of the planning boards. The way I see it, newspapers in the old days had the resources to deliver a full diet of news. It wasn't often that great, but like the school cafeteria from the same time, it served up a helping of meat, pototoes, a vegetable and dessert. The meat and pototoes were the stories...

Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart, advice for established media was to start small and go slow in adapting to the blogging world: For example, let readers join the conversation in areas away from politics that are of interest to them, such as dining.

That began to change with shows such as Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere. The dramas used multiple story lines in the same show -- as many as 10 -- and required viewers to do some of the thinking and keep track of dozens of social relationships, sometimes over years. Shows began to use avante garde methods -- an episode of Sienfied got 30 million viewers for one episode that ran the scenes backwards. The punch lines game after the setup. On first viewing, the show was incomprehensible. People had to tape and watch it again to make any sense of it....

On the Internet, an explosion of diversions has turned millions into writers, communicators and participants in politics and the community. It's filled with what Johnson calls "lean forward" diversion -- requiring participation from the user -- as opposed to "lean back" technology such as television.

An editor who inexplicably feels the need to come home from a long day at the office and write tripe about politics, journalism, religion and technology. Much to the dismay of his beautiful spouse and five children, he also posts photos of them on the Web. The dog doesn't mind.

For instance--take the Christian Right as a trend. People like Frederick Clarkson and Chip Berlet, two people I'm working with on a new project you should check out, Talk To Action, were covering the Christian Right nearly twenty years ago, and were telling anyone who'd listen: "Watch out, folks! These people 'get' electoral politics, and they're on the move." And they were ignored, their stories the sort of subject matter no one in the media or in the Democratic Party seemed interested in.) I'm a liberal's liberal, my blog demonstrates...

I think it’s important, too, that the Lebanese have some post-WWII experience with democracy and with the building of parliamentary and de facto coalitions. It makes the players less likely to take up the gun as soon as they don’t get their electoral way. I’m not as confident, though, that Lebanese politics won’t, in the long run, degenerate into a sectarian battleground, as it did during the 1970s. Do you think the continued presence of an armed Hizbollah in Lebanon will eventually cause the same sort of trouble that the...

Memorial Day Tribute; Zarqawi roundup; King Fahd; France, the EU, and ‘non’ mean ‘oui’?; Shift in war effort; NATO’s punch; Iran Reports; Lebanese politics; Palestinian prisoner release; Mexican antiterror commandos turn; AQ in Algeria; More probl…

A recent blog friend, Miguel Buitrago writes at MABB a blog about Bolivia; it's environs, it's politics and it's peoples. His latest here questions the thinking of a group of "rebels" blocking access to El Alto, a region in Bolivia. The actions of the rebels may end up costing the region most of it's jobs. Not a good way to keep a revolution going methinks. Miguel, perhaps they are indeed blind to the consequences of their actions, much as the so called insurgents in Iraq are murdering fellow citizens and fellow muslims. Perhaps they, like the islamofascists are more interested in attaining power and not really the interests of the people.

We learn a bit about how the community feels about politics:

Well-accustomed to talks of reform that they know do not have a future, the Armenians of Iran, no matter their social background, steer clear of national politics. It is only community issues that hold an interest for them and to such an extent that New Julfa places more importance on legislative rather than executive power.

Denis Staunton dredges up some Professor of Politics in Edinburgh - presumably the holder of some Jean Monnet ideological chair - to state, quite falsely, that there is an obligation under international law for the EU Member States to continue trying to ratify this Treaty when one State has rejected it.

ratifications while ignoring No votes in some countries, contrary to what Mr Staunton and his Edinburgh Politics Professor imply. That would be a political decision, a decision by politicians to ignore a people’s vote. It

This is playing politics and making EU propaganda, not good journalism. It us unfortunate that so many European correspondents who “go native” in Brussels seem unable to tell the difference.

Also, don’t forget the Carnival of Bad History, which will be at Science and Politics on 31 May. Submissions to: *coturnix1 AT aol DOT com* or *badhistory AT aol DOT com*.

Hostile too to the norms of international relations prevailing in recent centuries. One can look at the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) as the midpoint between the wars of religion launched by the Reformation, and the dawn of reason in the Enlightenment. That treaty posited the sovereign state as the basic unit in world politics and promoted non-intervention in order to maintain peace.

“The Democrats who are clamoring for this have already voted against John Bolton,” Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “This is about partisan politics, not documents. They have the information they need.”

Do not be fooled. John McCain is not sorry for anything. You would have to have the I.Q. of a rock to not know what he is up too.

Rickey, a close friend of my wife, has an amazing blog Rickey.org that topped out at 35,000 visits yesterday for the American Idol finale. Holy cow. That is a hellava lot of people to come visit. Chris Walton and his Philocrites.com blog with excellent liberal religion and politics news has several thousand. Me and my beginner blog merit a couple dozen visits a day.

May 16, 2005 at 07:45 AM in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink

This is a horrible time to have politics affecting the Church's handling of sexual misconduct. It is a reminder, however, that those charged with responsibility in the Church need our constant prayer.

“This series is a moving portrait of four fascinating people at a dramatic time in their lives,” said Sundance Channel’s Laura Michalchyshyn in a news release. “TransGeneration also offers an engaging first-hand look at the current trend on college campuses of confronting gender issues and politics head-on.”

There's no news item about backstage.bbc.co.uk on the Creative Archive Licence Group site, and no link in the opposite direction either. Again there's a whiff of inter-organisational politics and 'ownership' in the distinctly separate presentation of these closely-related sibling projects.

The second phase is identified with a move toward a broader interaction with society, in areas of art, religion, and literature, among others. The funders in this phase “were more self-consciously conservative than libertarian. While sympathetic to the writings of Hayek and the ideals of classical liberalism, they adopted a broader intellectual framework encompassing fields beyond economics: preeminently religion, foreign policy and the traditional humanities. In contrast to Hayek and his followers, they were also prepared to engage the world...

This is just an exercise in the typical Kenyan-style politics that we have grown so tired off.

Finally, tribal politics continues to reign supreme in Kenya. The guy who's been appointed to replace Murgor is (drumroll please) a Maasai

Ambiguous Adventure (Ideas, Culture and Politics in African Affairs)

Matt Drudge, Weekly Standard, NY Times, CNN, Fox News, Wash Post, Wash Times, WSJ Best of the Web, Media Research Center, National Review Online, Free Republic, ABC - The Note, Tech Central Station, World Net Daily, American Conservative, FactCheck.org

Yeah, it's politics at play, but the ironic thing is that Bloomberg is trouncing his Republican rivals and what might have been a scare 2 months ago is no longer today. Any notion of Bloomberg being a "real Republican" is easily forgotten in delightful glee at seeing the Democrats squirm in disarray.

Dave's Point #13: "Did you know that when the revolutionary war first began the british govnt refered to it as "that presbyterian revolt". That's because A. politics were discussed in churches and presbyterians in particular wanted to seperate. and B. because our form of government that we were proposing was the same/similar to the presbyterian form of church government."

He said if a positive response was forthcoming from the IRA, the Irish and British governments would expect unionism to participate fully in partnership and inclusive politics.

Posted by Carlos Stouffer on May 27, 2005 at 07:18 AM | Permalink

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A new breed of business professional will enter the workforce after Presidio World College graduates its first class from the MBA program in Sustainable Management. Following two years of intensive, collaborative studies at the San Francisco-based school, the Class of 2005 will be awarded diplomas on Saturday, June 4, at the Presidio Golf Course & Clubhouse. George Lakoff, Ph.D., renowned speaker, best-selling author on progressive politics and linguistics professor at UC Berkeley, will deliver the commencement address.

According to Gloria Galloway, only fake Christians like Paul Martin, who attend church when the cameras are watching, are welcome in Canadian politics. Gloria notes that...

I thought we'd take a unscientific look back and ask you to help us add to the list as we prepare to take a couple of days off after session and then turn our burning wit onto other issues with Texas politics.

Not to wander too off topic here, but there is something I could never quite get my head around. If all the intelligentsia are liberals, if all the reporters who follow politics are liberals, what does that make conservatives? I mean, if being smart and informed makes you a liberal, doesn't that mean people who often use these as slurs while arguing for conservative causes are basically saying that they are stupid and ignorant?

If you think you've got the chops to help us cover the last week of the Session, email us and let us know. You, too, can be an anonymous blogger and skewer Texas politics.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee urged Gov. Perry to 'disinvite' the minutemen from coming to Texas. So that means they should be here any time now.

The Houston Chron reminds us that there isn't much time left in the Session and some shady shit goes down from now on until May 30.

Filming of the new reality show Real World: Texas Politics is winding down. Here is our exclusive cast bios for all you fans.

In the meantime, we'll keep watching the next few weeks and then we'll think about where PinkDome will go next. There's plenty of options and Texas politics is always interesting. We've focused on the lege, but nationally Texans are a big joke, too. Maybe we'll turn our eyes on Washington. Then there's the possibility of a special session or two and then the upcoming elections. So stick around, keep sending us those tips and emails.

But the same cannot be said for papers in Washington. The mayor of Spokane, a former state legislator, was 'outed' for soliciting 18 year old men for sex and internships. He was known during his tenure in the legislature for opposing gay rights. He even authored a bill which failed, that would have barred gay men and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. It called for screening prospective employees for sexual orientation and firing employees whose homosexuality became known.

As we approach the close of the session, we've been perusing the sites of substance abuse centers to check ourselves in after sine die. We think we'll need a full 28 days to overcome our addiction of getting drunk and writing about the most ridiculous thing we've ever written about: Texas politics.

Clean Up Texas Politics was the casting agent, here are the bios for our cast:

For Wesleyan Christians, this should not be about liberal or conservative politics, but about reforming the nation by spreading scriptural holiness through out the land as Wesley said, changing hearts and social structures.

Now, my responses: Shane you said changing hearts will change social structures, but changing social structures will not change hearts. I agree with the second part of the statement - changing structures does not change hearts. But changing hearts does not guarantee change in social structures. There has to be a Biblically informed awareness of structural injustice, inequity, or unfairness, and intentionality in effort to change them. That’s how this so often spills out at politics. Charity and relief efforts are great, but there is a role for...

Accommodating to a particular political viewpoint: This is tricky. It seems like your political viewpoint that the unregulated market solves all things economic caused you to jump on this issue in response to Faithful America. Is that a fair statement? What I did NOT mean to imply is that you put your politics ahead of your faith, or that you think only one position on this issue is authentically Christian - my apologies, Shane, if it sounded like that. Unfortunately, I do see plenty of Christians, both liberal Democrat and conservative Republican,...

2. Since everything (and I mean everything) that I do is directly connected to my success (or failure), I find that I am incredibly focused and much more efficient. Many of the office distractions, politics, etc. are gone. Everything I do is for a clear purpose (this blog, for example). So, that "free" time quickly translates into more work time.

Here at Air America, we're doing our best to undo the longstanding truth that the best coverage of American news/politics is often generated outside the US. In the meantime, though, there's the Guardian every day, AFP, and now this cool newish thing: Watching America. It seems to be foreign-language press translated into English, and English-language links no one else is picking up on.

. . . if you're keeping up on the politics of podcasting: "Bickering among the 'Pod squad," by Alex Beam of the Boston Globe.

Whoever thought I would approve of a troll? Seriously, it is this kind of cyber-guerrilla warfare that changes the nature of politics in this day and age--especially in authoritarian and/or totalitarian settings.

The Blogosphere is abuzz with the news that there has been a deal on the judicial confirmation wars. You can find the text of the deal here, courtesy of an excellent blogger who is most displeased with it.

Color me unimpressed. I understand the desire of Republicans to get rid of the filibuster entirely when it comes to judicial nominees. I share in that desire. But remember that politics is a game of inches. Tip O'Neill once admiringly said of Ronald Reagan that the latter may not get 100% of what he wanted, but that Reagan would always get about 80%. When Reagan heard the compliment, he responded by saying "Yeah. And then next time, I go after the other 20%."

Patrick, if you are arguing that the Democrats will continue to play politics, then I agree with you. But I think that their wiggle room just got a whole lot tighter. Time will tell, of course, but I see the Republicans as having the freer hand now.

When we heard Harp 46 at Nashville, I got a chance to get some great photos and video, which I'll try to get online in the next few days. Anyway, they were both fabulous hosts and it was a really great time to spend getting to know them better, laugh, talk about seminary, church politics, blogging, Emergent and a lot of other stuff.

It will, says the prime minister, save us all billions of pounds.

Clever things ID cards. Could these be the same little bits of plastic that just last year were going to protect us from terror attacks. And might those be the same pocket-sized data vaults that will also stamp out benefit fraud, fix the asylum and immigration system and - wait for it - enhance and protect our civil liberties.

So what does the deal really do? It means we've got a few nominees who will go straight to up and down votes, a few that are undetermined, and a few that are basically left out to dry. It's easier to defend this bickering if you have a long list of nominees being held up. That is a game and not one I think is really in the interests of the country. If we need the judges we need the judges and they should not be held hostage to partisan politics. They should pass through the easy ones first, then go to the last few for some serious debate and...

I get tired of Panglossian appeals to the big picture. If we care about privacy, equality before the law, separation of church and state, and the other Core Democratic Values, we'll fight for them when they're threatened. Right now, threats to choice impinge upon all of the above and others besides. Politically, we can't fight for principles in the abstract--we've got to actually step up to protect our rights where they're threatened. That means putting a very high practical priority on persuing pro-choice politics.

Not necessarily. Not all of politics is vote-getting. True, a broader "privacy advocate" message works better at the polls, but a more focussed message works better to raise funds. The extra money you raise with the more ardent approach can be used to get more votes than you lose. This is most effective when compartmentallized and "PAC'd". Candidates with ardent, focussed views raise PAC funds in locked-up districts, while candidates in contentious districts go with a broader message.

Filed under: Politics — Mia at 9:57 am on Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Finally, a little common sense in politics. What makes this somewhat pathetic, though, is the fact that we have to create a law to pre-empt a lack of common sense! As someone who has been “obese,” but has managed to work her way down to merely “overweight,” I recognize that there are some health issues that adversly affect individuals, making it easier to gain weight and more difficult to lose it. However, I also recognize that I am free to choose where I consume my meals and no one is forcing McDonald’s to sell me that supersized QPC meal.

Ouch! Politics ruining blogging’s long praised objectivity was just a matter of time.

For one, keep in mind that jobs are a huge issue in this state. Attacking corporations sure seems like it might be bad politics, but most Montanans shrugged and O’Keefe was still competitive to the end. Apparently, it wasn’t that bad of a mistake, as O’Keefe merely wounded himself.

$4 million and independent help makes a candidate competitive in my mind. We won’t get outspent 3-to-1. Regardless, in politics, money isn’t everything. If we have a good candidate, people in Montana have already shown an inclination to change.

It's a tense and potentially hostile environment here, and it's not something I want to be a part of. I'd really rather be home under my covers right now. Away from petty office politics. Away from stupid people who act like they haven't even gotten out of middle school. Even my guinea pigs are more mature.

More library users, but borrowing declines. But, on the same subject: Tabloids beat libraries for the facts that matter. “Much of the British public goes to the source it trusts least - tabloid newspapers - for its most crucial everyday information on politics and society, according to a study.”

3) The Republicans demonstrated that any minority can, by digging in its heels, completely work its will on the Senate on any issue it chooses. I dearly hope the Libertarian party is listening because the Democrats just showed how a small bloc of Libertarian Senators could, by threatening a filibuster, strongarm the majority party into doing anything it wanted. Sure, it wouldn’t be Constitutional but, as we’ve heard, the work of the Senate trumps the Constitution. And, hey, if we’re going to trample the supreme law of the land,...

And their emotion was plain as Byrd exulted: "We have lifted ourselves above politics. I say thank God, thank God, for this moment and these colleagues of mine."

A week ago we had our first meeting for the God's Politics book club. It was one of those ice-breaker get-to-know-you type evenings that makes an introvert's skin crawl. OK, so it wasn't that bad, but at least I was only a participant. Yesterday evening was the official start of our conversation on the book. But Bart was out in California (did I mention that he's planting a church in Berkeley?), so that left the facilitating master of ceremonies duties to his trusted lieutenant: me. Yikes.

So if moral values were like a nebula, we then wondered whether politics could be considered like a black hole. Did politics exert an irresistible and destructive pull on matters of faith? How would we define politics, anyway? My own definition of politics aligns with Merriam-Webster's third definition: "competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership (as in a government)", but as with defining moral values, we were all over the map. This led some to wonder whether it was possible to separate politics from policy,...

What, then, would faith tell us about the politics of God? There was some concern in the group that the author seemed to have a limited definition of God's politics of justice, as he stated that the weightier matters of justice could be summed up by poverty and war. It's amazing what a difference a point of view makes. As people who grew up in the '80s and '90s, we were bound to think differently from someone whose formative years were spent in the turbulent '60s. If nothing else, it highlighted the uncertainty around labeling any political position...

But then we wondered, does God even do politics? Or does God simply make decrees? Politics implies (to me, at least) give and take, compromise. Does God work like that? Does God want us to work like that? Or are we doomed as soon as we "baptize" our issues as being the politics of God? Ultimately, I was reminded of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's admonition in Ethics that the concern of Christian ethics should not be matters of right and wrong, good and evil, but simply, "What is the will of God?"

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people who fear technology puzzle me. i cannot for the life of me understand why someone would not WANT to know how a piece of technology functions. sometimes i think they pride themselves on being misinformed or ’stupid’ when it comes to stuff like this. i guess the same goes for people about politics, science or any other myriad of subjects that are part of their daily lives. fear of inanimate objects would also top this list.

Two rather interesting articles about Sen. Santorum, a rising voice in Conservative politics.

"It clearly fuels the perception that his investigation is politically motivated. It was probably not a wise move," said Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who heads the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics."

On Monday night, fourteen Senators (seven from each party) reached a deal to avoid going nuclear and move forward on some of President Bush’s appellate court judge nominees. Ohio Senator Mike DeWine was one of the seven Republicans to join the compromise, and proverbial shit is hitting the fan:

Hugh Hewitt: DeWine has never been other than a good senator and a solid Republican vote. His attempt last night to argue that this was a good deal may be sincere, but it doesn’t say much for his grasp of politics on the big stage. I cannot believe this helped him in his re-election bid in ‘06.

Commentary, International Politics and Ethicsarully late at night

International Politics and Militaryarully late at night

For those who are well versed in the intersection of blogging, journalism, and politics, most of the book will have a familiar feel. The first two-thirds of the book is largely a summary of events that have led to the current state of play with grassroots media, moving deftly through phenomena and events such as indymedia, ohmynews, bloggers' reports following September 11 2001, the Trent Lott scandal, and many others. While initially I worried that the familiar material would be too much, it was a well paced summary and is certainly likely to be...

The stuff I spew forth on this blog is vitriolic. It's hostile. It's disrespectful to the President and the administration. I apologize for none of it. My Republican friends no longer attempt or want to discuss politics with me. One, because I have now kept myself so well informed about many issues that I can easily overpower them. While they stand up on moral grounds espousing their support of the president, I can easily show them how this man has not shown any of the attributes they tout (I do five credit to GW himself for supplying me with such...

Since it’s May, why not: Bureau of Public Secrets // Situationist International Online // Situationist Archives (nothingness.org) // NotBored // Spectacular Times // Against Sleep and Nightmare // Politics is in the streets. //

Yes, I know, it’s all to do with oil and complicated politics. But really. I’m going to write a letter to my MP; Craig Murray (the British Uzbek envoy who was sacked) did a great interview in The Metro (of all things) reccomending it, saying something along the lines that if an MP receives one letter, they have to reply within a week, but if they receive 6 or more letters, they think the entire electorate cares deeply about the issue.

The only true disappointment of the recent British parliamentary election was the George Galloway's narrow victory over Oona King in East London. Of course, this makes Galloway an instant hero on the far left.

This post just mentioned on CNN's Inside Politics. A moderate thrill.

Filed under: Politics — John @ 6:31 am |

Filed under: Politics, Society — John @ 6:53 am |