And so it was during the vice-presidential debate last Thursday, where Biden stuck to his talking points and whole lot of policy (Bo–ring), while Palin stuck to her talking points, folksiness and, oddly enough, a whole lot of winking.[1] Reading the transcript afterwards confirms that there was very little substance to Palin’s responses and that to call them “responses” is being very generous. At least half of her answers were filled end-to-end with words and concepts completely unrelated to the... [More]

Lot of politicians—most recently and fervently, Vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin—want to represent “Joe Six-pack”. Good old Joe represents, for them, the quintessential American. America exists to protect Joe and, should Joe come to harm or should Joe fail, America has failed. Accepting that, perform the following thought experiment: envision Joe, picture good old Joe in your mind. Got it? Good. Now answer the following questions:

1. Is Joe black?
2. Is Joe gay?
3. Is Joe female?
4. Is Joe... [More]

Examining the Republican TicketA recent analysis, George W. Bush’s Overall Job Approval Matches ARG Low (American Research Group), sounds pretty good, on the surface. People think Bush is doing a poor job; McCain wants to be Bush, so McCain’s plummeting, right?

Right?

Things are rarely that simple. Two excellent election resources are Five Thirty Eight.com and the vaunted Electoral-Vote.com (EV)[1]. Whereas both sites currently have Obama in the lead (with FTE giving Obama a 75%—oops, today, it’s 73%—chance of winning), the Republicans are not... [More]

The batch of conservatives preening their plumage weekly on This Week on ABC flipped a bitch so hard this weekend that they nearly lost their false teeth and toupés. After having effectively campaigned brilliantly for McCain throughout the 2008 season—when they thought electing him would be better for their investments, presumably—they now unreservedly trash him, dragging out his dirty laundry for all to see.

ABC Roundtable: McCain 'Unpresidential' & Age Issue (YouTube)

They played Obama’s newest campaign videos, then gleefully agreed with them,... [More]

At long last, the article A Nation of Masochists by Juan Cole (Informed Comment)[1] proposes a realistic alternate theory that explains America’s voting habits. This one is no less subtle that the current theory that Americans suffer from sheer, blinding ignorance mixed with heaping helpings of stupidity.

Juan Cole reports almost exclusively on the Middle East, but clearly something ruffled his feathers and he is pissed.[2] His recounting of the last eight years under the Republicans is mostly accurate, not completely fair, but... [More]

There is no way that the average American (or world citizen, for that matter) can stay on top of the firehose of mis-information aimed at them in an election season. Any conversation about policy, society or the philosophical underpinnings of living on this planet together, without killing each other, inevitably—and incredibly quickly—devolves into a bilateral effort to disprove facts held by the other party. For example, imagine a devout Republican discussing “equal pay for equal work”... [More]

On September 3rd, Jon Stewart was much more vicious than usual, tearing into Laura & George Bush, Fred Thompson (“Foghorn Leghorn”) and Senator Lieberman (“Deputy Dawg”).

John McCain: The Person He Is by Jon Stewart (The Daily Show)

Next up was a juxtaposition of videos that let Karl Rove contradict himself (wherein he gushes over Sarah Palin’s experience running a town of 9000 people after disparaging a Democratic VP hopeful as inexperienced because his city has only about 100,000 people). Bill O’Reilly also hit the chopping block for, on the one... [More]

Palin/McCain '08Reports that the Democratic convention has given Obama a “bump” are greatly exaggerated: he was ahead by six points a month ago, McCain caught up and passed him just before the Democratic convention[1] and, now, after five days of nearly exclusively Democratic coverage in the media, Obama has clawed back his six-point lead.

Bravo, Democrats.

This is clearly still the party that knows how to speak to the American people and holds a tremendous amount of appeal. Obama didn’t have the guts to choose... [More]

The following comment at Irish Vote Scuttles Treaty Of Lisbon by logbass (Plastic) was rated as brilliant, but it seemed to miss the point by a mile:

“It is funny that Europe is so quick to point out failings in the US democracy, but when push came to shove they tried to completely subvert democracy to get Lisbon approved. Kudos to Ireland for actually caring what its citizens want.”

There are probably many who will agree with this type of flailing logic, but it mixes many false assumptions in order to come to the... [More]

As detailed in Swiss reject new citizenship rule (BBC News), an overwhelming 64% of Swiss rejected a return to secret ballots for deciding citizenship. Also on the referendum was the elimination of the right-to-appeal for rejected citizenship applications. Both of these measures were enacted five years ago when the previous situation was deemed unconstitutional. This is good news, but the way the BBC reported it was interesting:

“The Swiss People’s Party, the largest in parliament, wants the secret... [More]”

According to a Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) study, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has busted over 400,000 people in the last decade for marijuana possession. That makes it the center of the drug war, according to NYCLU: City Now World’s ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital’ (wcbstv).

According to State & County QuickFacts (U.S. Census Bureau), New York City (NYC) had a population of just over eight million people in 2003[1]. Also according to the census of 2000, 44.7% of NYC identified as Caucasian, while 26.6%... [More]

When non-Americans can corner an American abroad, they more often than not end up following this line of questioning: “I can understand, in some way, how you guys elected Bush the first time—avoiding, for now, a discussion about what we mean by ‘elected’—but how in the name of the sweet baby Jesus did you guys elect him a second time?”

The short answer is: Americans care about policy issues—just not when they’re actually voting. They’ll be happy to answer poll questions that show concern... [More]

The timing is poor for linking to this article, Club Gitmo: What it’s really like behind the wire. by Jacob Laksin (Weekly Standard) because it’s reads so much like an April Fool’s joke or an article from the Onion. The tour the writer claims to have received from the base staff sounds nothing like those given to members of the Red Cross or Amnesty International or the UN. He makes Gitmo sound like a pleasant place to spend some time to unwind. Consider this description of the chair on which detainees (read: prisoners) are... [More]

…you don’t talk about policy. Instead, you write long articles defending Obama against “absurd allegations that he has no specific policy initiatives” without mentioning a single one of them yourself. The article The Obama Generation − He’s No Pied Piper by Bethany Woolman (Common Dreams) is a typical, information-free example—packed with adulation, but containing no substance.

“Obama’s presidential campaign is inspiring a new generation of leaders. […] the true genius in the Obama campaign […] is [in] inspiring our... [More]”

The word “bailout” sounds so crass; it is to be avoided at all costs. Far better to dress up an announcement of corporate socialism in language the layman will interpret as sound financial planning, to make a statement to imbues on with a feeling that there is nothing to see here—just very knowledgeable people managing the very complex economy to the very best of their abilities to ensure as well as possible for you, the little guy. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like that, but, despite all... [More]

There are a lot of online surveys to help voting Americans figure on which of the candidates in the quickly dwindling field they should pin their hopes. Though USA Today has taken it on the chin over the years for their vastly over-simplified graphics—usually prominently featured on their front page—their Candidate Match Game (USA Today) is tour-de-force of design. It compresses a huge amount of information into a very understandable form. It also has only 11 questions, which vastly increases the... [More]

First the Tom Cruise video and now this one: Yes We Can − Barack Obama Music Video (YouTube). OMFG! Famous people *heart* Obama! Game, set and match to you sir. There is also a Letter from an Obama supporter by Jesse Last (3QuarksDaily) making the rounds and people who should know better are guzzling the kool-aid at a majestic pace and are completely gaga about this gentleman, philosopher, poet and bridger of cultures.

Here are some excerpts with snide commentary.

“I cheered with hundreds of people from all backgrounds and thought... [More]”

The State of the Union 2008 wasn’t all boring. In addition to essentially declaring war on Iran, Bush demanded that Congress pass the new FISA legislation tout d’suite[1]. He naturally couched the demand in a way that failure on Congress’s part to do so would play directly into the hands of the terrorists and make America unsafe. Congress, for their part, has agreed to the legislation, but dared to take exception to the provision for retroactive immunity for telecoms companies that aided in... [More]

Jonah Goldberg has been doing the “book circuit”, attempting to pump up interest for his latest and greatest “Liberal Fascism”. His interview on (a) Daily Show with Jon Stewart didn’t go well for him at all—well, because Jon Stewart is not stupid enough to believe his premise and is both well-read and quick-witted enough to refute him in real-time. Goldberg was intellectually defrocked within minutes (but at least managed to chuckle good-naturedly—albeit nervously—instead of getting... [More]

The candidates, their issues, their campaigns and the media coverage thereof is a carefully-managed show. Unless you actually show up at a campaign stop, you do not see anything that a candidate’s handlers don’t want you to see—and they make sure that the wishes of their biggest donaters are honored. In a rare moment of honesty, the video below shows this process at work; it stars Mitt Romney fending off accusations that his campaign is “run by lobbyists” from a reporter who had deluded himself... [More]

News about Iraq has recently dropped off, and the military has filled the void with intimations that the surge is working. The explanation is clearly due to US military efforts, which are capable of fixing everything. That we are still within the six-month ceasefire window opened by Moqtada Al Sadr in August is a minor detail. The BBC is happily burbiling away right now with interviews of people from the American Enterprise Institute (a favorite source for the BBC) telling us that weak... [More]

Subduing Protesters in New Orleans

As reported today in New Orleans to Demolish Thousands of ‘Poor’ Homes by Leonard Doyle (Common Dreams) and New Orleans Police Taser, Pepper Spray Residents Seeking to Block Public Housing Demolition (Democracy Now!), a meeting of the City Council of New Orleans to decide whether to raze 4500 units of low-income housing and replace them with mixed-income housing was disrupted by police wading into crowds of chanting protesters with pepper spray and tasers. The clips on Democracy Now! sound like an... [More]

As feared by right-wing pundits everywhere, the power of a slightly democratic Congress and Senate is a fearsome thing to behold. As stated in the article, Senate Approves $70 Billion To Continue Wars (Common Dreams):

“In a boost to President George W. Bush, the Senate voted late Tuesday to approve the catch-all 555 billion dollar budget bill, adding extra war funds without any of the restrictions that Democrats hoped to pin on their release, such as linking them to a withdrawal date for US troops.”

... [More]

It would be nice if all of the faithful in America would apply their faith constructively for once. Instead of shopping amongst the meatheads on the Republican side or the non-commital shysters on the Democratic side, they should take a look at Kucinich’s platform and believe that he could make it work. Vote him into the presidency and give him four years—if he only accomplishes half of what he would like to, America will be on its way to being the country we were all[1] taught it already was.

Debates... [More]

There’s a fun little video called What We Call the News (JibJab), which lampoons the state of American media today, which has degenerated from “anchors of integrity and three channels to choose” to “a ratings race, with the anchors replaced by blondes with big, fake boobs”. To be fair, it’s not these superficial qualities that form the crux of the problem—Lou Dobbs, for example, is neither blonde nor especially busty. But he exemplifies the problem with the news with his shocking incompetence and... [More]

The Congress spent the weekend proving, once again, that they have no idea what the safe word is in the sub/dom game they’ve been playing with the executive branch since early 2001. And, despite the title of this article, Hillary Clinton Votes for War — Again by David Bromwich (Common Dreams), it’s not just Hillary grinning madly around the ball gag, either: she’s joined by 75 close friends in the Senate who also saw fit to approve the following language[1]:

“…that it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside... [More]”

On the subject of the suspiciously quiet home front in the war on terror, there’s Things I Used to Know by Scott Adams (Dilbert Blog):

“We Americans know that Al Qaeda has cells in America planning to attack. And we know that there are more terrorists than ever, thanks to the Iraq war. It’s easy to get people and explosives into the country on private boats or across our porous borders. The woods must be full of terrorists by now. Apparently all the slow ones came to America. I mean, Iraq has almost as many car bombs as... [More]”

What is a terrorist? A terrorist, according to the dictionary, is someone who kills or destroys in an attempt to exert political influence. According to the media and almost all of America’s politicians and police forces, it’s pretty much anyone who’s ever had a seditious thought. Ever. And why is every one of these potential terrorists treated like the most capable evil mastermind to ever walk the earth? A thirty second sound byte is usually more than enough to show that the person (or people)... [More]

Or “Benito Giuliani”, if you prefer. That’s how he was known to the denizens of the fair city over which he ruled with an iron fist, using and abusing his beloved black-booted police squads to do so. It’s this same Rudy Giuliani—former mayor of New York City and proud owner of an elaborate back tattoo depicting himself holding a bullhorn, an American flag and a New York hot dog while simultaneously digging a fireman out of the rubble of the World Trade Center on which he stands, illuminated... [More]