Democrats & Liberals

Glenn Beck: Moocher of Historic Significance

Even as Glenn Beck makes his bid for self-importance, I think it's good to note the irony of what he's doing. Glenn Beck, in his rally, is doing nothing less than trying to leach off the historical significance of the giants that came before him. The fact that his movement operates in contempt for both the key historical figure's values should not be ignored.

Obama-Instigated Change

Republicans are throwing around negative inuendos, smears and outright lies about Obama - his citizenship, his religion, his fitness, his loyalty, his policies..... But I am most disgusted with the way Republicans malign Obama's solid achievements with regard to the economy. Two things they scream most about are the bailouts and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. They fail to say that the big financial bailout was the work of the Bush Administration. And they deliberately confuse the Recovery Act, with which Obama has instigated an era of economic change.

Republicans Seek Social Security Privatization

Republicans want to privatize Social Security. President George W. Bush spent months seeking privatization with no luck. Today Republican Representative Paul Ryan is touting his new "budget" that seeks privatization of Social Security. And now the old Republican Senator Simpson, the co-chair of Obama's deficit commission, is trashing Social Security.

LTCM and Frontline's The Warning: Crash and Burn

Imagine a market where you could defraud your investors, and get away with it. Imagine a market the Government couldn't investigate, that no outsider could peer into. Imagine that the banks would do everything in their power to conceal what was going on from you, yet when the time came, and one company went under, the obligations to and from that one failed company could trigger the failure of the entire system. Of course, you don't have to imagine this to be true. This is what actually happened, in 2008. » Continue reading "LTCM and Frontline's The Warning: Crash and Burn"...

America Ends Combat Mission in Iraq

The last combat troops have left Iraq.

Enough said. Enough done. Let's go home. My thanks to all the troops who have risked their lives and given their lives in this fight.

A Mosque as a Mask for Intolerance

Americans are in the midst of a contentious debate about a "Ground Zero Mosque." Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf submitted plans for an Islamic Cultural Center to be built 2 blocks north of Ground Zero. A few loud-mouths, looking for a way to stir people up, started the controversy. The Mosque became a mask for intolerance.

It's None Of Our Business.

That is, the question of whether those folks, who own private property, should be allowed to build a mosque on it near where the Twin Towers once stood. Once we get past the question of rights, then all we have left are methods which rely on essentially pressuring these people out of doing what they want to do.

The Theory of Relativity is about Speed and Energy...

...not disdain for consistent moral values.

There's a reason that science has been such a smashing success. It's about putting our ideas about the world to the test, by actually looking at the world to determine their truth value. Cut out the emotional BS, cut out the handwaving around the unprovable, you're dealing with what can be proven or disproven in terms of evidence.

Ground Zero Reconciliation

Ground Zero in New York is where Osama bin Laden slaughtered 3,000 people. Bin Laden does not think of himself as a terrorist, but as a Muslim instigating a war with Christians in order to make the world safe for Islam. From Bin Laden's point of view the 9/11 atrocity was a huge success: Americans have been rendered ridiculously paranoid, so much so, that many are hysterically against the building of a peaceful Islamic house of worship near Ground Zero.

We've been Googled!

I remember when Google was one site among many that I accessed when I wanted to find something on the Internet. Slowly but surely, Google became my preferred site and the preferred site of almost everyone because it had an outstanding search engine. Google became a verb, as in "Google it" and "I googled the facts." It pains me to say that google now means something radically different: "double-cross." Yes, we've been googled!

America's Birthright of Freedom

It's not often that I agree with Alan Keyes, but this is one of those times. He hit it on the nail: Conservatives should not mess with the Fourteenth Amendment, because once birthright citizenship goes, Citizenship does indeed become a grant of the government, even for folks born right here in the states, a grant that can be rescinded, or never given to certain classes of people, born American.

Angry Republicans

Why are Republicans so angry? They don't argue with Democrats; they vilify them. Instead of disagreeing with President Obama's policies, they call him a Hitler, a Stalin, a terrorist, a socialist, a communist, the anti-Christ, someone who hates whites - the list is endless. Republicans spew the same kind of ravenous rage towards Nancy Pelosi and other prominent Democrats. Why?

Five Reasons The Republican Majority Remains Lost

Let's start with today's number one reason:

House GOP leaders: 9/11 first responders aid bill 'a massive new entitlement program' I dunno. I'm still trying to figure out how this makes things better for the GOP.

Judge Grants Injunction Against Arizona Law

US District Judge Susan Bolton has granted an injunction on the most controversial portions of the controversial Arizona Immigration Bill.

Fifty-Seven Should Win.

In the old days, if something got fifty-seven votes in the Senate, it would have been a victory for the majority.

Clearly, we we are in a different time. Republicans have struck a blow for corporate secrecy, for people to pump millions of dollars into ads they don't have to take responsibility for. But they certainly haven't struck a blow for Democracy.