Andrew Sullivan publishes an eerie e-mail from a high school teacher in the midwest about the response of young conservative students to Sarah Palin. My conservative students can’t discuss or write about Palin to my satisfaction. These conservative kids can be intelligently critical of Obama and his policies; of the wars; of Bush and torture [...]
Dave Barry cathartically recaps a miserable year for the nation, taking it month by month, starting with January: during which history is made in Washington, D.C., where a crowd estimated by the Congressional Estimating Office at 217 billion people gathers to watch Barack Obama be inaugurated as the first American president ever to come after [...]
So insidious: Over the past few days, a Biblical verse has reportedly topped the google trends charts. It is also turning up in bumper stickers and tee shirts across the country. It reads: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8” But what do you see when you look up that Psalm? “May his days be few; may [...]
A month ago we highlighted the unconscionable decision of 30 Republican senators to vote against Al Franken’s bill which would assure that those who were raped in connection with their employment at Haliburton’s would have rights to sue Haliburton. In this tense exchange, a rape victim confronts one of those senators, David Vitter. A transcript [...]
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald, an uncompromising, non-partisan champion of civil liberties and opponent of U.S. violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Constitution, sat down with Bill Moyers the end of last month and made a sobering case about the self-perpetuating character of war in America. I feel very conflicted personally since even though I opposed [...]
The epitome of self-parody: Your Thoughts?
Upsetting: Around the world, free speech is being sacrificed on the altar of religion. Whether defined as hate speech, discrimination or simple blasphemy, governments are declaring unlimited free speech as the enemy of freedom of religion. This growing movement has reached the United Nations, where religiously conservative countries received a boost in their campaign to [...]
Presidents have the darnedest things said to them: I love his response. He uses the opportunity as a chance to model both empathetic understanding for his enemies and an unflappably positive, resilient spirit amidst disdain. Your Thoughts?
From The Associated Press: A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. Neither [...]
This guy is so, so, so much better than the lame SNL one we seem stuck with. His Obama is as good as Carvey’s Bush, Sr. and Fey’s Palin.
Johann Hari has an interview with Gore Vidal, in which Vidal expresses some wild opinions. First Hari’s rundown of Vidal’s one of a kind biography: At 83, he has lived through one third of the lifespan of the United States. If anyone incarnates the American century that has ended, it is him. He was America’s [...]
Here’s a key 2:34. And the full text, via the White House Press Office: REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN DINNER Walter E. Convention Center Washington, D.C. 8:10 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Please, you’re making me blush. (Laughter.) AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Barack! THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. [...]
Geir Lundestad, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee explains the reasoning: (H/T) Your Thoughts?
As I already said, everyone left, right, and center is baffled today by Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize received out of the blue and before he has actually accomplished much of anything of what he had promised from his presidency (as Saturday Night Live compellingly argued). Earlier I made an argument that his election merits the award [...]
This guy’s pretty funny and insightful on the GOP and Obama. The real must-see bit starts at 2:34 when he explains how to figure out the GOP’s views on any issue: Your Thoughts?
Everyone left, right, and center is baffled today by Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize received out of the blue and before he has actually accomplished much of anything of what he had promised from his presidency (as Saturday Night Live compellingly argued). He certainly has failed to be a fierce advocate of gay and lesbian rights, failed [...]
From David Fitzsimmons of The Arizona Star, via The Moderate Voice Your Thoughts?
Well this is… unexpected. When I went to bed last night the thought that Barack Obama would win the Nobel Peace Prize and Marge Simpson would be on the cover of Playboy would have never, ever crossed my mind. Maybe the other way around would have even been more plausible. What a goofy world we [...]
Scapegoating of the ugliest, most baseless kind. (via Atheist Media) Your Thoughts?
Way high up on my list of pet peeves is children’s choirs where kids are trained sing vapid preachy platitudes. Few things are more obnoxious sounding than a child’s programmed moralizing and it never sounds quite as ugly as when it takes the form of song. So, really, I don’t care if they’re singing about [...]
I am simply appalled at the deep cynicism that keeps this rotten reckless, racist, careless, moronic, lying lunatic on the air: Your Thoughts?
Oy: The full video, which will play across the country, was made by “Live Prayer.com” is here, the website of fundamentalist Christian minster Bill Keller. Talking Points Memo coverage is here. Your Thoughts?
During his May speech on civil liberties at the National Archives in May Obama argued for the idea of creating a legal mechanism for indefinitely detaining people without charges. He said at the time: I know that creating such a system poses unique challenges. . . . But I want to be very clear that our goal [...]
A dispiriting video: Your Thoughts?