Tag Archives: Politics

Labels suck

Why is it that people can often be so quick to categorize? Humans are very unique creatures, and any attempt to corral them into particular sets is always imperfect at best and usually counterproductive.
I particularly despise the “left wing” vs. “right wing” labels, despite their common use in today’s vernacular. How I feel about one [...]

The hemispheric balance paradox

In one of those interesting twists of logic, it appears that the importance of freedom as it relates to the feeling of security actually fluctuates depending on where you live, longitudinally speaking.
For example, if you live in the United States, it is now apparently considered acceptable to surrender any of your freedoms the government deems [...]

The news

This morning we launched the largest military offensive operation since the beginning of our invasion in Iraq. The target was the area of Samarra.
All of the news reports so far have been sure to mention the fact that there were 50 aircraft, 200 “tactical vehicles”, and 1500 troops engaged in the attack. I couldn’t help [...]

Best George Lucas quote ever

George today, in a rare moment of political commentary:
“Because the emperor works behind Darth Vader; he doesn’t actually stand in front of him. I say that in fear of getting hit with a lot of buckshot.”
I always wondered if some of the political maneuvering in the eps #1-3 (one and two, especially) was inspired by [...]

Don’t forget to keep being afraid!

From the LA Times…
Employees in and around the U.S. Bank Tower reacted with concern, confusion and skepticism to President Bush’s reference this morning to a terrorist threat four years ago against the high-rise building.

Later today, National Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend said it was the “analytic judgment” of the U.S. intelligence community that the building, [...]

Bono’s sermon

Here’s the link to the video for Bono’s message regarding social justice in the global context at the recent prayer breakfast in DC. It’s pretty great. A lot of people bag on him for being so “political” (or whatever you may want to call it), etc. but this is a clear example of what more [...]

If only this were a joke, like it sounds

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.
Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
What’s almost as messed up as the concept itself is the way it was shoehorned into some other legislation. The way laws are [...]

Politics is Stupid

In an obvious attempt to move towards a more middle of the road reputation, Senator Clinton backs a proposed flag burning law. This is illustrative of the lame state of politics in our country in a number of ways. What should be even more obvious is that she has no chance of winning the presidency [...]

Good news

As a follow-up to my previous post:
Senate fails to reauthorize Patriot Act
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Friday refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans’ privacy and liberty…

FINALLY

… kind of. It’s probably as close as we’re going to get.
“And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As President, I’m responsible for the decision to go into Iraq and I’m also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities.” - Pres. Bush - [...]