1
POPSAs Seen at the Republican Party State Convention in Texas. The passionate defenses of free speech are amusing, inasmuch as nobody needs protection for speech that is unlikely to offend. On the other hand, the defense itself is kinda like pleading the Fifth. Or in other words, people using the first amendment defense should just admit they are racists and stop trying to pretend otherwise. Ethics aside, it's just so much less embarrassing for everyone involved.
0
POPS"Idealism counts - but it counts with a sword" Everything said here is just as correct when speaking of the US Right. Pit the two against one another and you have the perfect conditions for a civil war, for many of the same reasons that led Jefferson to predict the First.
6
POPSAnd the end of political apathy. Let's keep it simple, folks. It's not NAFTA or Social Security that will beat McCain. It's 3 dollar milk, shrinking wages, skyrocketing gas prices and a war that has delivered nothing but three dollar milk, shrinking wages and skyrocketing gas prices.
1
POPSCue the Acme Anvil Apparently all this came about due to Seidel revealing how much money Shoemaker makes from bringing losing cases before the court - and what percentage of them ARE losers.
1
POPSWm. Rivers Pitt asks "Why?"
I don't do anniversaries. It requires keeping track of things, and I don't do that very well. Needless to say, I was unprepared for this momentous occasion, five years into a war that was more theater than national security exercise from the first. Pitt reduces the issues to the essentials in a way that most people who have retained their sanity throughout these five years of wretchedly corrupt, irresponsible and incompetent leadership can understand. At this point, even the serious disagreements boil down to issues of motivation. But motivation for acts of felonious carnage, constitutional usurpation and the willful perversion of the arms of justice and national security into services dedicated to the preservation of a unitary executive by "whatever means" matters little. The acts themselves and their consequences insist on resolution in favor of those oppressed, displaced, killed, maimed and exploited - and serve to utterly discredit any motive and any cheerleader for Bush.
1
POPSCan I get fries with that idea? Find out more at http://www.zazzle.com/webcarve* and consider signing up as an associate (you get a nice cut for sending folks this way. I will create a special template in a bit, to help viewers create their own versions. OR you can take the "M$M can I get fries with that idea" WITHOUT the graphics and run with it. I'll be putting up a scroll with all shirts using that phrase. Yes, it's a googlebomb. Yes, there' some money in it for me - and for you. And yet, it's still a great idea. You should steal it.
4
POPSAnother Breathtaking Bushism George Bush, in his own person, is the single best argument against both intelligent design and an active and participant God of Justice. I mean this quite seriously; this is the sort of thing that causes people to loose their faith - or at least, put the greater part of their faith into causes and ideals with more immediate payoffs. After all, if there were such a god as the followers of Bush proclaim - the thirty-percenters, the name-it-claim it fringe of the ignorant, the stupid and the magical thinkers, bush would have been incinerated by a bolt of divine lightning as he uttered these words. On the other hand, were that the case, we'd pretty much have to live with the idea of the Divine Right of Kings, so I suppose it's a wash. Not to mention being a huge relief to personal security personnel the world over. Still, when a Bush president says they want to "help the people realize the blessings of liberty," that means everyone else hears a chorus of "Freedom's just anot
9
POPSThey aren't Conservatives, they are Authoritarians Which is the point to sociologist Altmeyer's book, who has been researching authoritarianism for thirty years, and can now publish a popular work (for free) because he's about to retire and can't be fired for his temerity.
0
POPSRon Paul: A matter of concience. Trevor Lymon, the unpaid and unofficial Ron Paul volunteer who is directly responsible for two record-breaking "money bombs" has captured the attention of the MSM. Why is he doing it? What does he expect to gain? What agenda does he advocate? What strings, in other words, come with this money? Concience. Strings of principle, of ethics and of concience - strings that Ron Paul is more than happy to be bound by. "I know my tax dollars are being used to kill people," Lyman said. "It makes me feel horrible." It's hard to argue with motivations like that - and it's hard to argue that such motivations are "naieve" or "unrealistic" in light of more than ten millions raised on the strengths of Ron Paul's principles alone, without direct or implied bribes. Ron Paul doesn't advocate single payer health care and he's opposed to social security in principle (I differ with him there, by the by). But there are few personally selfish reasons to vote for him.
6
POPSHuckabee - Theocrat wannabe So, he's lying about his qualifications, and deluding himself that he knows what "this war on terror" is about. AND he thinks fighting fire with fire is a good idea, too.
4
POPSThe Truth In Pornography The more I think about it, the more I realize that the objection is not to it's existence, but to the existence of some of it's direct and implied messages that contradict conventional (and in my humble opinion, dangerous and destructive) moralisms.
4
POPSRender Unto Ceaser When people make their faith a reccomendation to the voters, it becomes important to review and consider their statements in light of the faith they claim and consider the implications that arise if we believe they are sincere - and also the implication that arise if we find their professed faith is in conflict with their ambitions.
1
POPSDems place their faith in Mike Huckabee I'm particularly amused by the fact that he wants to make all pornography illegal - but is absolutely opposed to the slightest sanction against hate speech. For a person of the slightest intellectual capacity, that level of cognitive dissonance could cause serious damage.
1
POPSThat Inexplicable Clinton Magic I have never quite understood what it is about Bill Clinton that provokes hatred to such a degree that even otherwise fairly sensible people are perfectly willing to commit obvious and outrageous perversions of justice in what generally turned out to be futile efforts to discredit him. It turns out that this perverse "magic" predates his presidency and, of course, Ken Starr.
3
POPSRumsfeld Flees France Fearing Arrest Of course, the French did not catch him. But then, the unresolved situation as it stands is so very much more elegant than the potential unpleasantness and paperwork involved in actually catching and prosecuting him, which would have allowed Bush to do something. This situation leaves the White House impotent - and leaves Rumsfeld an official fugitive from justice. Of course, the honorable thing would have been to INSIST that the matter be resolved before a court. But under Napoleonic Law, you have to establish your innocence, rather than our system, where the prosecution has to prove your guilt. I can understand why Rummy might prefer a venue with different standards. A FISA court, for instance.
2
POPSBush Antichrist? Nah. He's all too human, merely a criminal and a bully. But that's evil enough, don't you think?
2
POPSSun Tsu would not have approved of GWB. Over 2000 years ago, Sun Tsu predicted what would happen to arrogant chickenhawks who went strutting into a war without a plan, without a clue, and without accurate (much less sufficient) intelligence. His foresight was 20/20
3
POPS The friend of my enemy is my... friend? But the overwhelming majority of the outrage reveals a depth of hatred, bigotry and ignorance about law, constitution, spelling, grammar, logical construction, evidence, rational argument, ethics, reason and most especially the Bible that I suspect that the supporters for his former stance were as persuasive to him as those he'd been arguing against. Final two 'graphs: But the overwhelming majority of the outrage reveals a depth of hatred, bigotry and ignorance about law, constitution, spelling, grammar, logical construction, evidence, rational argument, ethics, reason and most especially the Bible that I suspect that the supporters for his former stance were as persuasive to him as those he'd been arguing against.
0
POPSThe New Frontier - Second Life Internet, Threat or Menace in a new wrapper; 2nd Life presents a huge potential challenge to those who would impose public regulation of private conduct.
1
POPS Faux Outrage: Ellison under fire for comparing 9/11 to Reichstag fire. Rep. Ellison was careful to limit his comments to what is and pointedly avoid what might be, apparently in response to a direct question, Faux was reduced to one of the oldest tactics of propaganda, which is to attempt to discredit the messenger. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, is defending himself... Let us suppose I were writing a similar article, say, about something Sen. Lieberman had said regarding the Middle East situation, and it happened to be an accurate observation that I'd very much like to go unconsidered. Democratic Senator Lieberman, a Jew with a long history of commitment to Zionist causes, is defending himself... When you see this phraseology used anywhere, check around to see if whoever it is is actually having to defend himself against anyone other than the writer. Odds are rather good it's either the first shot, or one shot of a pre-arranged volley in an orchestrated smear campaign.
0
POPSFeed My Sheep. Please. So, if you choose to be a shepherd, you take on the responsibility for keeping them out of trouble and the karmic debts they have managed to incur on their way to your flock. Still sure you want that job?
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