Sunday Discussion Group

If the 2004 presidential campaign were decided on campaign songs, Kerry would have won in a landslide. Our guy had Springsteen’s “No Surrender” — which, not incidentally, Springsteen performed live at several Kerry rallies — while their guy had “Still the One,” which led to rock legend John Hall issuing a cease and desist order […]

Why we fight: Well, um, we’re not really sure

Guest Post by Morbo Every now and then you read something in the paper that just causes your head to explode. I had one of those moments recently while reading a Washington Post story headlined, “U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved In Iraq.” The second paragraph of this story by reporters Robin Wright […]

The tragedy that is Zell Miller

Guest Post by Morbo In Sinclair Lewis’ book about the coming of fascism in America, “It Can’t Happen Here,” a character named Adelaide Tarr Gimmitch eagerly serves the crypto-fascist Sen. Buzz Windrip by rallying the women of America to his self-serving brand of phony populism. When Windrip is elected president, Gimmitch expects a big payoff […]

A mean death in the subway

Guest Post by Morbo Police in London shot Jean Charles de Menezes to death in the Underground July 22. It was about two weeks after a horrific terrorist bombing had taken the lives of 56 people and one day after some phony bombs had been found in the subway. Initial police reports disseminated through the […]

The Pinkos who educate our children

Guest Post by Morbo School will be back in session soon, which means it’s time to celebrate that unsung hero of American life, the public school teacher. One of the reasons I like public school teachers so much is that the kook right can’t stand them. I figure teachers must be doing something right to […]

Cheney’s ‘gratitude’ only goes so far

I know I mentioned this the other day, but I’m still annoyed. Dick Cheney spoke to the 73rd National Convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart last night and delivered his usual spiel trying to connect the attacks of 9/11 with the war in Iraq. But before he did that, Cheney spoke glowingly […]

Heard any alerts lately?

Apropos of nothing, I was reviewing some reports from August 2004 and noticed something interesting: talk about domestic terrorist attacks, orange alerts, and the need for constant vigilance dominated the news. August 2005? Not so much. A year ago this week, for example, U.S. News & World Report reported that the ongoing threat was so […]

The GOP gas problem in a nutshell

The Washington Post had an interesting item today on how politicians have just run out of things to say about high gas prices. Voters are angry, Bush’s energy bill offers little in the way of solutions, the strategic petroleum reserve is off limits, and GOP talking points have, if you’ll pardon the expression, been tapped […]

Friday’s political round-up

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, has finally acknowledged publicly that he plans to run for governor of New York next year. Weld said he was encouraged by former Mayor Rudy […]

I don’t think this is going to win over any hearts and minds

We’ve all heard about concerted attempts by the U.S. government to improve our nation’s image in the Middle East. I never delved too deeply into the details, but I more or less assumed the initiative would include print and broadcast media that emphasizes the best America has to offer in the way of ideals, values, […]