Fmr. US Senator Jesse Helms, 1921 - 2008.
posted on Jul 4, 2008 - View this thread

United States election logos, 2008-1960.
posted on May 15, 2008 - View this thread

The Democratic Primary Season in 7 Minutes.
posted on May 6, 2008 - View this thread

Want to live it up at the U.S. party conventions and get access to Senators and Congressmen? USA Today has posted the campaign committee price lists:
Democratic Senate and Congress
Republican Senate and Congress

If you've got the dough, you may conveniently request a convention package online from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The National Republican Congressional Committee and the NRSC have other price lists on their sites, but it seems like the DSCC and DCCC sites keep theirs under wraps.
posted on May 1, 2008 - View this thread

A very special 'This American Life' about an administration with the endemic belief that laws only apply to the little people, and a limitless refusal to concede on even petty issues, no matter the costs. The highlight is about immigrant widows of US citizens (30:50). The program also discusses the constitutional beliefs of the presidential candidates.
posted on Apr 2, 2008 - View this thread

"It's the first time since Japanese Internment that we've imprisoned children" -- from a post displaying a letter written by a 9 year old Canadian.
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - View this thread

Is an Experienced President a Good President?
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - View this thread

Vanity Fair has obtained confidential documents, since corroborated by sources in the U.S. and Palestine, which lay bare a covert initiative, approved by Bush and implemented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, to provoke a Palestinian civil war.
posted on Mar 3, 2008 - View this thread

Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University have compared the recent US subprime mortgage crisis with five downturns in industrialized economies in the past 30 years in their brief paper, Is the 2007 U.S. Sub-Prime Financial Crisis So Different? (pdf). Their conclusion: “given the severity of most crisis indicators in the run-up to its 2007 financial crisis, the United States should consider itself quite fortunate if its downturn ends up being a relatively short and mild one.” Summarized, with some data and charts, here. Via.
posted on Feb 9, 2008 - View this thread

The Iowa Scam. Christopher Hitchens confronts a system where "only 124,000 Democrats voted last time, less than a quarter of those eligible. So if Barack Obama, say, edges Hillary Clinton by 2,000 votes, he'll be hailed in headlines as a giant-killer despite the tiny margin."
posted on Jan 2, 2008 - View this thread

American Fascists: A CBC interview with author Chris Hedges regarding the Christians Right's onward march toward political power.
posted on Dec 26, 2007 - View this thread

Yesterday, Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party for conspiring to prevent him from running for president in 2004. The lawsuit alleges that defendants used “groundless and abusive litigation” to bankrupt Ralph Nader’s campaign and force him off the ballot in 18 states, and names as co-defendants the Kerry-Edwards campaign, the Service Employees International Union, private law firms, and organizations like the Ballot Project and America Coming Together that were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket. According to attorney Carl Mayer from the team that filed the suit, interviewed this morning by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, "what this lawsuit will do, and the importance of it is, is to set a precedent so that the two-party monopoly system that shuts out minor parties in a way that other Western democracies never do, that this will set a precedent to prevent this type of intimidation and harassment."
posted on Oct 31, 2007 - View this thread

Texan Larry Kilgore is running for a seat in the US Senate. Agree or disagree with the man, he certainly has the courage of his convictions.
posted on Oct 10, 2007 - View this thread

Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin. This Saturday will mark this article's four year anniversary. Frankly, I was mildly surprised not to have found it mentioned before in MeFi. It's a good read about a sad state of affairs; how our government is turning its own people into outlaws, because freedom has been traded in for an illusion of security. ...but then we already knew that. Don't we?
posted on Aug 29, 2007 - View this thread

Clinton White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart does stand-up. Text, or if you prefer there is some audio at the 51min mark from This American Life.
posted on Aug 17, 2007 - View this thread

The Interrogation Documents - a collection of available records relating to U.S. interrogation policies. (via) (previously)
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread

"Good Riddance Attention Whore" Cindy Sheehan is done protesting. CNN Story [via]
posted on May 29, 2007 - View this thread

The Hillary Show. For those that base their political ideas on poorly drawn caricatures.
posted on Feb 27, 2007 - View this thread

"Tired of the LIBERAL BIAS every time you search on Google and a Wikipedia page appears?" At Conservapedia, a "conservative encyclopedia you can trust," you can learn that "faith" is a concept "exclusive to Christianity," and about how Wikipedia is biased in matters such as its description of the Bell Trade Act of 1946, its gossipy treatment of the private life of NPR reporter Nina Totenberg, and its seeming acceptance of evolution. The Wikipedia bias entry also complains of a "rant" against the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group for which Conservapedia founder (and son of conservative gadfly Phyllis Schafly) Andrew Schlafly has worked. Signups are here; its take on evolution is criticized here.
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - View this thread

While there have been many posts on Mefi of blogs written by those affected by the Iraq War, I have not seen this one posted. No matter your stance on the war, your opinion of American soldiers, or the amount of other Iraq war blogs you've read, all I ask is that you at least read these few entries. I've used too many words already, when the journal does more than enough to speak for itself. A Soldier's Thoughts. (via) [more inside]
posted on Feb 7, 2007 - View this thread

“President Barack Hussein Obama – it does have a ring to it, doesn't it?” – Who’s hot for (and who’s not for) America’s up-and-coming presidential wonderboy.
posted on Dec 15, 2006 - View this thread

Cost of Government Day - "n. the date of the calendar year, counting from January 1, on which the average American has earned enough in cumulative gross income to pay for his or her share of government spending (total federal, state, and local) plus the cost of regulation."
posted on Dec 3, 2006 - View this thread

It's official. Democrats have taken control of the United States Congress.
posted on Nov 8, 2006 - View this thread

Red America is shading purplish blue. A new poll shows rural voters in 41 highly competitive districts have swerved Democratic since September. Now 52/39 for the Dems.
posted on Oct 27, 2006 - View this thread

A manual for electoral apocalypse in America. Quite a bit's been written both on MeFi and other places about how bad Diebold machines are. Rolling Stone wrote an article about election fraud in 2004 that was discussed here on MeFi. Tonight, Ars posted a very thorough, very clear article about how we are completely screwed if we do not enact expensive, fundamental changes in how we handle elections in America. It's too late to do anything about the elections in a couple weeks, but perhaps steps can be taken to fix things before 2008...
posted on Oct 25, 2006 - View this thread

Empire Falls. "They called it 'the American Century,' but the past hundred years actually saw a shift away from Western dominance. Through the long lens of Edward Gibbon's history, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Rome 331 and America and Europe 2006 appear to have more than a few problems in common." By Niall Ferguson, whose views on the American hegemony have been discussed previously.
posted on Oct 25, 2006 - View this thread

The Votemaster has returned. Electoral-vote.com has been re-launched for the 2006 elections. The major focus is on the Senate but there is also some quick analysis of the hotter House races. For those who missed the phenomenon during the heady days of 2004, here is the Wikipedia article and previous MeFi discussion.
posted on Sep 8, 2006 - View this thread

"In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) distributed a 38-question survey to 5,918 FDA scientists to examine the state of science at the FDA. The results paint a picture of a troubled agency: hundreds of scientists reported significant interference with the FDA’s scientific work, compromising the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and safety."
posted on Jul 20, 2006 - View this thread

Bush and Koizumi: Roadtrip to Graceland - NYT link
posted on Jun 29, 2006 - View this thread

GOP Senators have lost their bid to kill the currently-defunct estate tax. This defeat of the permanent repeal effort is a major triumph for the 98% of Americans who've never been in danger of having to pay the tax.
posted on Jun 8, 2006 - View this thread

Seperation of Power? (newsfilter) In a strange move, both the Rs and the Ds are livid that the FBI raided the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, (who may have accepted substantial bribes). House speaker Hastert spoke directly with the president, so, The president steps in an orders the documents sealed as a cooling off period as congress demands this is a separation of Powers issue. Some predict it will go to the SCOTUS.
posted on May 25, 2006 - View this thread

Shelley is a Republican.
posted on May 2, 2006 - View this thread

Boycotts : politics and corportate power Hispanic News on a call to boycott Kimberley Clark (Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, etc...) as the corporate member behind Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner "author/sponsor of HR 4437 which would turn 11 million undocumented immigrants into felons, punish anyone guilty of providing them assistance" and more. What's the real story here? Boycotts, are they still effective? How much of a link (symbolic or otherwise) is there between this legislation and the company? None? A little? A lot?
posted on Apr 24, 2006 - View this thread

The Bush administration is busy preparing for a possible military conflict with China. "The most important strategic decision the United States will make in the next decade is not about Iraq, Iran or North Korea. It is about China. What will America's basic attitude be toward the rise of China? And similarly, the most important strategic decision that Beijing will make in the next decade is: how should it relate to the United States? Depending on whether the answer to these questions is 'cooperation' or 'confrontation', one can imagine two very different 21st centuries." The Bush administration's containment strategy for China may herald the next cold war. [via]
posted on Apr 19, 2006 - View this thread

Advice for weary, wandering Democrats Note to Democrats: "Barack Obama put it exquisitely in his victory speech: "Government can help provide us with the basic tools we need to live out the American dream." Here's a dirty little secret. The Republicans know this. Nothing scares them more than us returning to our simple answers. ..."
posted on Apr 11, 2006 - View this thread

Baghdad is calm, except it's neither. So this guy Howard Kaloogian is running for Congress in California, and he supports the troops. Thinks they're making all sorts of progress that simply isn't reported by the evil lib'rul mainstream media, so he went to see Baghdad for himself, and posted a picture of a calm Baghdad street - See? No terrorists here! Except that certain sleuthing types found something awfully fishy about that photo...
posted on Mar 29, 2006 - View this thread

A Letter to the American Left By Bernard-Henri Lévy. "Nothing made a more lasting impression during my journey through America than the semi-comatose state in which I found the American left. I know, of course, that the term "left" does not have the same meaning and ramifications here that it does in France. And I cannot count how many times I was told there has never been an authentic "left" in the United States, in the European sense.

But at the end of the day, my progressive friends, you may coin ideas in whichever way you like. The fact is: You do have a right. This right, in large part thanks to its neoconservative battalion, has brought about an ideological transformation that is both substantial and striking. "
posted on Feb 11, 2006 - View this thread

Beyond the Playing Field: Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate. (more inside)
posted on Jan 16, 2006 - View this thread

The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.
posted on Dec 31, 2005 - View this thread

Newsfilter: Washington Post columnist/blogger Dan Froomkin writes the "White House Briefing," an online "daily anthology of works by other journalists and bloggers," which is often critical of the administration. This past Sunday, the new Post ombudsman wrote that the paper's White House correspondents worried that Froomkin's column creates an appearance of bias at the Post. Froomkin responsed, and hundreds of commentors offered their support. Then Post national politics editor John Harris weighed in, to somewhat less acclaim from commentors. Harris expanded on his views in this interview. The whole affair raises issues about allegations of a subservient, stenographic press, how the media deals with charges of liberal bias, the perceived vindictiveness of the Bush administration, and the relationship between in-house bloggers and the traditional media.
posted on Dec 14, 2005 - View this thread

Diebold boss resigns pending fraud investigation
posted on Dec 13, 2005 - View this thread

Don't Bomb Us. In response to credible reports that Bush wanted to bomb al-Jazeera's HQ in allied Qatar (discussed here and here on MeFi), Al Jazeera staffers start their own English-language blog. Their site contains remembrances of their fallen colleagues, firsthand accounts of US attacks on their offices, links to relevant reports on the controversy, Flickr photosets of protests calling for an official investigation, and al Jazeera's code of ethics. Also, a quick note to Tony Blair: " P.S. Thanks for talking Mr. Bush out of bombing our offices!" Not surprisingly, their blog is generating some comments.
posted on Nov 26, 2005 - View this thread

In 2001 America destroyed the Kabul offices of al-Jazeera with two smartbombs; officials said it was an accident. In 2003 America destroyed the Baghdad offices of al-Jazeera with missiles; officials said it was an accident. Now, two British civil servants are on trial for leaking a memo revealing that Bush intended to bomb al-Jazeera... at their headquarters in allied Qatar.
posted on Nov 22, 2005 - View this thread

The solution?
posted on Oct 13, 2005 - View this thread

A surprise from Al Gore: I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions. How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate universe"? I thought maybe it was an aberration when three-quarters of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11, 2001. But more than four years later, between a third and a half still believe Saddam was personally responsible for planning and supporting the attack.
posted on Oct 6, 2005 - View this thread

At this challenging time for President Bush, let us reminisce about the system that elected him. Will the next election be different? Do you want it to be? What are you going to do about it?
posted on Sep 12, 2005 - View this thread

Are the counter protests today pro-war or something else? Photos coming into the news wires show a mixture of devout Bush loyalty, people erecting giant Ten Commandments and traitor paranoia... and not to forget.. supporting the troops. So is this just a misfire of people who simply hate protestors or do they believe in something besides waving the flag?
posted on Aug 27, 2005 - View this thread

Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! (54 pp., illustrated, "The story of two boys who dream about opening a lemonade stand when a strange thing happens...") Don't miss the excerpt [pdf] and the "cast of 'characters'" links on the left. Feel free to skip the author's note. (via.)
posted on Aug 25, 2005 - View this thread

China to invade USA within the decade, using biological weapons to kill "hundreds of millions". On the other hand, China is a wonderful land which has given an immensely rich culture to the global community.
posted on Aug 21, 2005 - View this thread

Devils Lake is the largest body of water in North Dakota, and it's growing. Landlocked and continuously fed by surrounding rivers and lakes, its size corresponds to the amount of rainfall and can vary dramatically. In fact, recent changes aren't even on the map yet. With more rainfall on the horizon, the government of North Dakota is building an artificial outlet for the lake, channeling the water northwards. But Manitoba doesn't want the water, fearing that an invasion of Devils Lake species will seriously upset the Red River's ecological balance and harm the Manitoban fishing industry. Nonetheless, the ND government seems determined to prevent the loss of any more trees and farmland and roadways and villages.
posted on Jul 12, 2005 - View this thread

A Spreading Treason The vagaries of U.S. involvement in the Middle East were surely brought home to First Lady Laura Bush on her recent trip to Israel, on a tour of Jerusalem's holiest sites. At the Wailing Wall, where she placed a note in the Western Wall – as is the custom – she faced surly throngs of protesters shouting "Free Pollard Now!" The Pollardites also showed up earlier that morning, as Mrs. Bush paid a visit to the home of Israeli President Moshe Katsav: "Pollard, the people are with you!" they chanted.
posted on May 25, 2005 - View this thread

By the end of 2008, will religious social conservatives be rode hard and put up wet or will they get their Christian Theocracy? Is the American Taliban set to shred our secular government? Some think so. Others however point out that those in power may be simply exploiting their religious base and have no intention of furthering theocracy in any meaningful way. After all we have a president who doesn’t go to church, and a gay-friendly vice president (who we shouldn’t rule for a 2008 run.) Oh and the Faith Based Initiative? It’s simply an effort to get blacks to vote Republican, duh. And if it’s conspiracy theories that interest you then what about Bush’s abortion, or gays in the Whitehouse?
posted on May 16, 2005 - View this thread

I ran into this article on the The Progressive website. Upon reading it, I said, "Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him?" You Vermonters know him. He's your congressman, Bernie Sanders. Does anyone else (besides the Vermonters, of course) think this guy's got the right ideas?
posted on Apr 27, 2005 - View this thread

UN investigator who exposed US army abuse forced out of his job.
posted on Apr 24, 2005 - View this thread

Adding images to words makes things easier to remember. The 14 defining characteristics of Fascism as a flash movie. I know, I know, it's been discussed quite a few times at MeFi, but I only post this as Thursday fun. Only. Really. Fun.
posted on Apr 7, 2005 - View this thread

Freedom's Defenders or Politicians' Pawns? No pretense of protecting Americans’ freedom went into the decision to enter into the Spanish-American War. It was out-and-out imperialism and nothing more. Veterans of that war may have helped to liberate Cuba , Guam , Puerto Rico , and the Philippines from Spanish rule; but those same veterans then turned around and rammed the jackboot of the U. S. military into the faces of those they had just liberated. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, who had thought they were being freed only to find out they had merely exchanged one colonial master for another, were killed in their own independence-from-Uncle-Sam movements. When they finally did throw off direct U. S. rule, they were then saddled with dictators of Uncle Sam’s choosing. No credit for the defense of Americans’ freedom can be granted to veterans of this war. Compare to this: Gunning For Saddam We report, you decide indeed...
posted on Mar 6, 2005 - View this thread

Dear Condi, -- Lloyd Axworthy was Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs for five years (1995-2000). Now that he's no longer in government, he doesn't need to be so diplomatic.
posted on Mar 3, 2005 - View this thread

Frank Luntz GOP Playbook Now Online: No Downloads, Searchable Text I can't stress enough the importance of reading this document. It is absolutely amazing how politicos co-opted so much of our language and led us down the path to THEIR agenda.

Unfortunately, the monstrous PDF file previously available for download made that a 'challenging' endeavor. Thus, I thought it was very important to bring to everybody's attention the existence of an online, readable, searchable, text version of Frank Luntz’s Playbook. It is a masterpiece of manipulation and an historic political document.
posted on Mar 3, 2005 - View this thread

"The Bush administration intervened to argue that their claims should be dismissed" I seriously can't believe it. This is Brechtian. Something has to be missing. This can't be my government.
posted on Feb 16, 2005 - View this thread

"Rose . . . is as close to us as family". Rose Mary Woods, who died Saturday at 87, was Richard Nixon's private secretary. In 1973 Woods was transcribing secretly recorded audiotapes of Oval Office conversations , working on a June 20, 1972, tape of a conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, that might have shed light on whether Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in three days earlier. While she was performing her duties (.rtf file), she said, the phone rang. As she reached for it, she said she inadvertently struck the erase key on the tape recorder and kept her foot on the machine's pedal, forwarding the tape. More inside.
posted on Jan 24, 2005 - View this thread

Blackout Some sites have gone black today in protest of black box voting and/or four more years of Bush. But, actually, I haven't seen many. Are people tired of fighting or is this just a poorly-organized effort no one knows about?
posted on Jan 20, 2005 - View this thread

A Picture of the Future, You're not in It An address to the John F. Kennedy School of Government...September 11th, 2011
posted on Jan 9, 2005 - View this thread

Links to the government memoranda on torture and the Geneva Convention can be found here (sign-up required) or else through the "featured link" on www.c-span.org. While Alberto Gonzales will probably be confirmed as Attorney General, the memoranda were the subject of some stinging testimony by such heavy-hitters as Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, at the end of today's confirmation hearing.
posted on Jan 6, 2005 - View this thread

Kid Rock To Play Bush Inauguration ... The Bush Twins have invited Kid Rock to play their inauguration bash after their father is sworn in to a second term. Rock also played the Republican National Convention. This is a guy who stuck his head through an American flag at the Superbowl and has lyrics that say all women are whores and extol drug and alcohol abuse. (The link has actual lyrics from Rock, so if you are offended by cursing don't follow it.)
posted on Jan 4, 2005 - View this thread

AARP Says No To Bush ... The AARP is coming out strong against private Social security investment accounts, saying they "will actually make the problem worse, not better." In January they plan to spend $50 million on an ad campaign opposing privatization. Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly has also been awesome in pointing out that the common wisdom that Social Security is in trouble is just not true.
posted on Dec 30, 2004 - View this thread

If we were having this conversation in 1985, and I had said to you, “Four years from now the Soviet Union will collapse and in six years it will disappear,” you would have thought, “This is not a reliable observer.” But the U.S.S.R. is gone -- disappeared -- and we didn’t predict it. Russia today is a much smaller country than the former Soviet Union. The CIA had all the wrong data. We also made a mistake when we concluded that we had won the Cold War. We had almost nothing to do with what happened in the Soviet Union: there were internal issues and it certainly wasn’t Star Wars. We now know in detail how Gorbachev brought Sakharov out of exile in Gorky to address the Politburo on, “What would you do about a ballistic missile defense?” Sakharov said, “It’s easy to overwhelm it with missiles. I wouldn’t spend a ruble on it.” And they didn’t. But in mistakenly thinking that we won the Cold War, we strongly imply that we did something to cause that. Instead, the Soviet Union collapsed because of overstretch, a case of imperial overstretch.   An Empire of More Than 725 Military Bases
An interview with Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback and The Sorrows Of Empire (More Inside)
posted on Dec 1, 2004 - View this thread

LAWs instructions for starting criminal procedures against Bush Today in Vancouver, Lawyers Against the War filed torture charges against George W. Bush under the Canadian Criminal Code. The charges were laid by Gail Davidson, co-chair of Lawyers against the War--LAW, under provisions enacted pursuant to the U.N. Torture Convention, ratified by both Canada and the United States. The charges concern the well known abuses of prisoners held by US Armed Forces in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The charges were accepted by the Justice of the Peace and referred for a hearing to decide whether Bush should be required to appear for trial. The Attorney General of Canada's consent is required within eight days for proceedings to continue, and the question of Bush's diplomatic immunity will have to be resolved by the court.
posted on Dec 1, 2004 - View this thread

EVIL/LIVE is a 28 minute edit of the first debate featuring Bush listening to and debating with himself. It may be broadcast, copied, distributed, edited etc. without permission. (170 MB / 635 MB) [via nettime]
posted on Nov 5, 2004 - View this thread

Jeff Johnson wants to know what Pete Coors has to say.
posted on Nov 4, 2004 - View this thread

Imminent job openings at CNN... Open the link and right click the picture of Bush and wife, click "Save Picture/Image" and look at the filename! In the words of a certain Denis Leary, "He's an asshole, asshole, asshole-e-o-oe-oh". I suggest someone mirrors this ASAP!
posted on Nov 4, 2004 - View this thread

Electing to Leave - A guide to expatriating (via blogdex)
posted on Nov 3, 2004 - View this thread

While you were re-electing a president:
Senator-elect Jim DeMint: Thinks that unwed pregnant women and gays are unfit to be schoolteachers.
Senator-elect Tom Coburn: Wants the death penalty for abortion doctors.
Senator-elect John Thune: Mr. School Prayer Amendment.
Voters in 11 states voted to ban same-sex marriage. The lowest margin was 57%-43%. The highest (Mississippi) was 86%-14%. Kentucky's also bans civil unions. That one was 75%-25%.
The Senate will likely be split 55-45 in favor of Republicans, creeping closer to a filibuster-proof supermajority. Meanwhile, 89% of these guys are older than 65.
Enjoy your tax cut, America. You're going to need it.
posted on Nov 3, 2004 - View this thread

"You're An Asshole." A film strip we can all appreciate in time for tomorrow's big event. Try singing along!
posted on Nov 1, 2004 - View this thread

The Big Picture Yep...one day left. MSNBC.com presents a broadband-only interactive that puts you in the hot seat of a Campaign Adviser. The "Produce and Ad" bit is a hoot.
posted on Nov 1, 2004 - View this thread

Over 125 voter guides, sorted by city and written collaboratively by Indyvoter's network of members are now on-line. This is social software with a purpose - members of the network form voting blocs to swing close elections, from city council members up to the national level.
posted on Nov 1, 2004 - View this thread

Endorsement: Kerry for President Ok. The NY Times endorsed Kerry. And now the Washington Post. But now the Orlando-Sentinel, a paper that has not endorsed a Demcorat in the past 40 years! "Four years ago, the Orlando Sentinel endorsed Republican George W. Bush for president based on our trust in him to unite America. We expected him to forge bipartisan solutions to problems while keeping this nation secure and fiscally sound. This president has utterly failed to fulfill our expectations. We turn now to his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, with the belief that he is more likely to meet the hopes we once held for Mr. Bush. Our choice was not dictated by partisanship. Already this election season, the Sentinel has endorsed Republican Mel Martinez for the U.S. Senate and four U.S. House Republicans. In 2002, we backed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush for re-election, repeating our endorsement of four years earlier. Indeed, it has been 40 years since the Sentinel endorsed a Democrat -- Lyndon Johnson -- for president...."
posted on Oct 24, 2004 - View this thread

Trekkies for Kerry
posted on Oct 23, 2004 - View this thread

Becoming what you hate : Nathan Sproul, case study in moral relativism on the Religious Right "former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition....Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voters' Outreach of America Inc." - Sproul's firm is accused of fraud and the destruction of voter registration forms. He also failed to pay his workers and his office rent. Rick Perlstein, in the Village Voice, comments on the Sproul scandal : "Both sides are not equally bad, and any reporters who don't recognize that conservatism's very core has become shot through with a culture of mendacity should turn in their press badge..... It used to be that we could count on the conscience of conservatives to protect our democratic institutions."
posted on Oct 22, 2004 - View this thread

American teens have spoken, and they want George W. Bush for president. Nearly 1.4 million teens voted in the nation's largest mock election, and the Republican incumbent wound up with 393 electoral votes and 55 percent of the total votes cast.
posted on Oct 21, 2004 - View this thread

Iranian regime endorses Bush, saying democrats have historically "harmed Iran." Head of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Hassan Rowhani, is very close to the hardline leader, Ali Khamanei. But the truth is Republicans have always helped dictators in Iran,. Biggest example: 1953 coup that toppled Mossadeq, the extremely popular elected official prime minister of Iran and brought back the tyrant Shaah.
posted on Oct 19, 2004 - View this thread

STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show. Just one tiny bit of a very memorable Crossfire on CNN. Guest is of course, Jon Stewart, one bright spot in our media cesspool, even though they seem to be clueless that he's parodying them.
posted on Oct 15, 2004 - View this thread

Bush Like Me: Ten weeks undercover in the grass roots of the Republican Party:
As a professional misanthrope, I believe that if you are going to hate a person, you ought to do it properly. You should go and live in his shoes for a while and see at the end of it how much you hate yourself. This was what I was doing down in Florida. The real challenge wasn't just trying to understand these Republicans. It was to become the best Republican I could be.
posted on Oct 15, 2004 - View this thread

Simon Robson is an animator, and his friend Barry McNamara has political views. Simon made an animation to broadcast them. What Barry Says [QuickTime, political, via madamjujujive]
posted on Oct 11, 2004 - View this thread

More than rhetoric... As the campaign gets more divisive and time grows short incidents of violence are breaking out more and more often. Shots have been fired on more than one occasion, swastikas burned, intimidation and just plain kicking. Hopefully it gets better from here, but somehow I don't think so.
posted on Oct 7, 2004 - View this thread

An excellent WashPost primer on the lies each candidate is currently telling about the other, and how they hold up to reality. Also, enjoy the many euphemisms employed to avoid the "L" word: (Misleading. Inaccurate. Oversimplified. Exaggerated. Carefully selected. Unfair. etc etc) Who will be the first mainstream media outlet to state plainly that a politician has told a lie? Login: shutyomouf@hotmail.com - pw:shaftbaby)
posted on Sep 30, 2004 - View this thread

Terrorising free speech. Al Lorentz is a reserve Non-Commissioned Officer currently serving in Iraq. His blazingly clear, succinct article on Iraq, titled "Why we cannot win", has raged over the wires (also at MeFi) since it was published on LewRockwell.com. Now, the military chain of command is considering charging Al with violation of Article 134 for making a statement with the intent to promote disloyalty or disaffection toward the U.S. by any member of the Armed forces. The military is also considering charging Al with violation of 1344.10, the conduct of partisan political activity, and violation of Standards of Conduct for unauthorized use of Government assets to create and email stories.
posted on Sep 29, 2004 - View this thread

klingons for kerry
posted on Sep 28, 2004 - View this thread

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear." He is one of America's great novelists, but you don't expect Philip Roth to be barreling up the best-seller list with a book that hasn't even been published yet. And yet "The Plot Against America" is in the top 3 at amazon.com. It spins a what-if scenario in which the isolationist and anti-Semitic hero Charles Lindbergh runs for president as a Republican in 1940 and defeats F.D.R. "Keep America Out of the Jewish War", reads a button worn by Lindbergh supporters rallying at Madison Square Garden. And so he does: he signs nonaggression pacts with Germany and Japan that will keep America at peace while the rest of the world burns. The Lindbergh administration hatches a nice plan to prod assimilation of the Jews. Innocuously called Just Folks, it's a relocation program for urban Jews, administered by an Office of American Absorption fronted by an obliging and pompous rabbi of radio celebrity. The teenage Roth character is shipped off to a Kentucky tobacco farm, to finally live among Christians. The book is about American Fascism, but while Roth is no fan of President Bush ("a man unfit to run a hardware store let alone a nation like this one"), he points out that he conceived this book (LATimes registration: sparklebottom/sparklebottom) in December 2000, and that it would be "a mistake" to read it "as a roman à clef to the present moment in America." (more inside)
posted on Sep 28, 2004 - View this thread

Mr. Bush and His 10 Ever-Changing Different Positions on Iraq: "A flip and a flop and now just a flop." Delightful Moore (to those who like what he does), and a few links to backup his reasoning for those who don't.
posted on Sep 28, 2004 - View this thread

Was your voter registration form thick enough? Ohio's republican secretary of state has issued an order (three days before the registration deadline) to throw out all voter registration forms printed on paper less then 80lb. Coincidence that dem-leaning areas have seen a 250% rise in voter registration, with tens of thousands of new voters in a race expected to be closer then FL 2000?

Oh yeah, the state sent out 40lb forms to those requesting them. Cute, huh.
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread

Voter Vault versus Demzilla
Compare and contrast the voter databases of the major political parties. Open source or proprietary? Locally operated or offshored? Paid staff or volunteers? Do these attitudes and/or methods reflect a more general mindset of the parties? Are there other distinctly different ways in which the national party organizations do business that may reflect wel or poorly on them?
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread

Monkey hacks Diebold voting machine. Really.
posted on Sep 23, 2004 - View this thread

John Edwards: "No military draft if Democrats win" - which comes as a relief to me today as my own son turns eighteen. However, as it stands, the Selective Service System has been ramping up its ability to begin a draft as early as Spring 2005, especially a possibility should Congressional Bills S. 89 and H.R. 163, known as the "Universal National Service Act of 2003" pass in the House and Senate. Many people who have been in the military feel a draft would actually degrade the quality of our military forces. Nonetheless, this time around, a draft would include men and women. And the Selective Service is also looking for a few good people to become a Selective Service System Local Board Member, one of the tasks of which is to guarantee "that each CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR is properly CLASSIFIED, PLACED, and MONITORED."(emphasis added)
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - View this thread

Nature presents Bush and Kerry talking science. I never thought I'd see an incumbent president flip-flopping on Mars!
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - View this thread

"Hey, darling. Love you. Need your vote." Politics without presidents: a soulful portrait of former DC mayor Marion Barry. I was really impressed by the dog in the left-hand corner of the picture. (registration required)
posted on Sep 13, 2004 - View this thread

Sure, it's just more Bush-bashing, but it's gussied up durn pretty. Philip Gourevitch on Bushspeak.

He is grossly underestimated as an orator by those who presume that good grammar, rigorous logic, and a solid command of the facts are the essential ingredients of political persuasion, and that the absence of these skills indicates a lack of intelligence. Although Bush is no intellectual, and proud of it, he is quick and clever, and, for all his notorious malapropisms, abuses of syntax, and manglings or reinventions of vocabulary, his intelligence is—if not especially literate—acutely verbal.

posted on Sep 10, 2004 - View this thread

"Any day in which Bush's Nat'l Guard service is the dominant news story is a lost day for the Kerry campaign." As another round of media yadayada (see below) is about to emerge over President Bush's National Guard service or lack thereof, Noam Scheiber explains why this is probably very bad news for ... Kerry. We know who Bush is. The election is about the future, not the past. Scheiber's point may have been made in the MeFi thread referenced above, but I'm afraid I lost consciousness after a screen or so.
posted on Sep 8, 2004 - View this thread

Bush and Kerry Hit Road, Trade Blows on Jobs I can only guess that someone at Reuters has a sense of humor.
posted on Sep 3, 2004 - View this thread

Urban Guerilla Warfare. The upcoming protests outside the Republican National Convention are becoming less notable for the expected numbers and more notable for the extremes each side will go to. The GOP has decided to blame everything happening outside on the Democratic Party. Liberal groups are feared to be infiltrating the convention's own volunteer staff. And some right-wingers, feeling "compassionate conservatism" means abandoning people in the middle of New York, have taken to pretending to offer housing to out-of-state protestors. Has anyone else started to dismiss the idea of a terrorist attack simply as "too obvious?"
posted on Aug 23, 2004 - View this thread

Is the GOP tampering with Florida elections? The New York Times reports that State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November. Also, see here and here. Why do we even put up with this?
posted on Aug 16, 2004 - View this thread

F*ckNewYork-- very fitting quicktime piece (9 meg, NSFW--offensive language/attitude) concerning the upcoming Republican Convention. Links to RNC Not Welcome, and Counterconvention, but i don't think it's something they created. And a torrent here.
posted on Aug 15, 2004 - View this thread

"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz." In its haste to get a scary headline the weekend after the Democratic Convention, did the Bush Administration deliberately blow the cover of one of its best informants within al-Qaeda?
posted on Aug 8, 2004 - View this thread

Mail Room Veterans for Bush
Not exactly your Swift Boat Veterans, but staunch defenders of all things holy and honorable and patriotic just the same. Submitted for your Friday fun.
posted on Aug 6, 2004 - View this thread

An OpEd piece by Bruce Springsteen, announcing the tour of Vote for Change, the umbrella of a new group including the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Jurassic 5, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. (NYT)
posted on Aug 5, 2004 - View this thread

Bush camp solicits race of Star staffer. President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.
The jounalist's name was Mamta Popat. She sure sounds like a terrorist.
posted on Jul 31, 2004 - View this thread

In His Own Words -- just in time for FlashQuicktime Friday, Bush's own words, from 2003's State of the Union matched with more appropriate and now-historic imagery than a man standing behind a teleprompter and podium. (Warning: some graphic stuff inside.) Realplayer version available here. and perhaps because not everything deserves the lighthearted jibjab treatment.
posted on Jul 29, 2004 - View this thread

Tax Man Bush says tax cuts stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, he's fallen more than 2.2 million jobs short of the projection made by his own economists.
posted on Jul 28, 2004 - View this thread

Clinton’s Former Aide Drops Windfall in the Lap of Bush Campaign "...Presidential challenger Kerry will have to think twice before attacking Bush on national security issues lest he lay himself open to reminders that a former Clinton aide and his own adviser was caught red-handed misappropriating classified materials that revealed how a Democratic president mishandled the threat of terror...."
posted on Jul 20, 2004 - View this thread

This Land is Your Land (with apologies to Woody Guthrie). Belated non-partisan Friday Flash Fun. (Saturday Sarcastic Silliness?)
posted on Jul 17, 2004 - View this thread

Yet another political flash cartoon! Anyone else getting tired of hearing the same bland crap about the upcoming election? This flash cartoon somehow manages to be funny anyway, even though its subject has been done to death. It's brilliant, and definitely worth a look.
posted on Jul 12, 2004 - View this thread

The dog ate my service records. The Pentagon has announced that the payroll records for National Guard service for three months between 1972 and 1973 have been accidentally destroyed. These three months coincidentally cover the disputed period of George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. (Similar Google link here, via dKos)
posted on Jul 9, 2004 - View this thread

You can probably guess who people like Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stein have given campaign contributions to. But how about Jennifer Garner? Reese Witherspoon? Siegfried and Roy? Karl Malone? The Newsmeat Hall Of Fame has the answers.
posted on Jul 8, 2004 - View this thread

With under four months left to the real election, the Atlas of Presidential Elections is holding a mock election (free registration required to vote), in which Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik holds a lead over John Kerry and George W. Bush. The real results may be a little bit different in November.
posted on Jul 6, 2004 - View this thread

Veepfilter: The well-kept secret about Kerry's running mate might just have broken... on an aviation message board, of all places.
posted on Jul 5, 2004 - View this thread

The anonymous author of Imperial Hubris has been revealed.
posted on Jul 2, 2004 - View this thread

The Green Party rejects Ralph Nader. On the second ballot at the Green Party nominating convention held today in Milwaukee, WI, David Cobb defeated Peter Camajo (Nader's running mate) for the Green Party nomination, thereby denying Nader automatic placement onto the ballot in 23 states.
posted on Jun 26, 2004 - View this thread

Interesting dissection of US energy/environmental politics and policy along conservative/liberal lines: "We are, it seems, always in some kind of energy crisis, real or imagined. Some worry that our major sources of energy are about to run out. Some despair that our energy-hungry civilization is destroying the natural world. Some believe our quest for energy is driving us into unnecessary wars and unsavory alliances. And some lament that excessive regulations on energy development are crippling the American way of life. When it comes to energy politics, there is no shortage of alarmism, conservative and liberal alike." The conclusion was sorta weak tho, I thought :D [via J. Orlin Grabbe - NSFW!]
posted on Jun 19, 2004 - View this thread

The spite factor - Or, why Democrats are in danger of losing their wonderful, angry momentum.
posted on Jun 16, 2004 - View this thread

Is U.S. like Germany of the '30s?
posted on Jun 12, 2004 - View this thread

Juan Cole remembers Reagan. Cole: I did not say anything yesterday about Ronald Reagan's death. The day a person dies he has a right to be left alone. But yesterday is now history, and Reagan's legacy should not pass without comment.
posted on Jun 7, 2004 - View this thread

Anti-Bush Online Adventure [4.7 MB Flash; parts NSFW] The Bush Administration discovers "the ultimate method of bringing about global domination for corporate America." [via What Do I Know]
posted on May 26, 2004 - View this thread

Where do you live, among a bastion of geeks, or sea of academia-phobes? US Census released the smartest cities, states, and counties with Seattle and Raleigh topping the cities. Also for those who are politically curious, of the top 15 states with Bachelor degrees 11 went to Gore, while 13 of the bottom 15 went to Bush.
posted on May 14, 2004 - View this thread

The Most Important Press Conference of This (US) Election Cycle! (It's not quite Friday, but it's Flash. Really flash)
posted on May 6, 2004 - View this thread

Have You Prayed Today?*
Today is the National Day of Prayer in the US (I had never heard of it). Oliver North!?! is the honorary chairman this year. Here are the President's remarks today. Meanwhile, Larry Flynt is calling for a different sort of prayer today.
*Muslims and Mormons need not apply.
"We're in an election year, and we believe God cares who's in those positions of authority," said Mark Fried, spokesman for the National Day of Prayer Task Force. "But we're not endorsing a candidate, just praying that God's hand will be on the election." The private task force, which operates from the Colorado headquarters of the Christian organization Focus on the Family ....
... since the mid-1980s the ceremony has been organized by the nonprofit task force headed by two prominent evangelical women: Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, and Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. She also made no apologies about the task force's exclusion of Muslims and others outside of the "Judeo-Christian tradition" from ceremonies planned by the task force on Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the country. "They are free to have their own national day of prayer if they want to," she said. "We are a Christian task force."
posted on May 6, 2004 - View this thread

Staking out the high moral ground, a bill would punish those wearing low-riding jeans. It seems that Representative Derrick D. T. Shepherd of Louisiana, a Democrat no less, wants to outlaw low slung pants. Plumbers beware, and stock up on Butt-Crack Caulk! Really, don't they have anything better to legislate besides fashion or holidays?
posted on Apr 23, 2004 - View this thread

Remixing Bush's tasteless joke. Has some graphic images.
posted on Apr 11, 2004 - View this thread

Frustrated Republicans: President on vacation while Iraq burns got you down? Feeling loyal to the party, ideas, or repulsed by the Dems? Agonizing over voting Bush to stay true? Sign the petition, Maybe you won't have to. And Dems, if you can promise to be open minded in November you can sign as well. via Blogging of the President
posted on Apr 10, 2004 - View this thread

How the left's fear of a right-wing Christian conspiracy gets George W. Bush -- and today's evangelical Christians -- all wrong. Alan Jacobs (more from him here and here) suggests that the idea that President Bush's evangelical Christianity has an impact on his politics is really a misunderstanding of Bush, fundamentalists, and evangelicals.
posted on Apr 10, 2004 - View this thread

Its a vast left wing conspiracy! It seems that the RNC (Republican national committee) is seeing conspiracy everywhere. There are lots of stand alone groups that have been trying to get rid of this administration before Kerry showed up on the scene, and now that there is a target they want to hang everything on him. Its almost like flattery. Of course it reminds me of when SCO claimed IBM was orchestrating all the bad press about them.
posted on Apr 3, 2004 - View this thread

Conservatives Win Big With Fetus Bill
posted on Mar 27, 2004 - View this thread

Thou shalt not make scientific progress. "Medical research is poised to make a quantum leap that will benefit sufferers from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and other diseases. But George W. Bush's religious convictions stand in its way."
posted on Mar 24, 2004 - View this thread

Fake news. How is it legal to present a commercial as real news, without any indication that it is a commercial? And when did it become legal to use government money (i.e. *my taxes*) to push partisan issues, as well as try to influence election politics?
posted on Mar 18, 2004 - View this thread

Props to the 1st amendment This election year, the impact of grassroots organizing on the internet is pricking up some ears in Washington. Here's something to add to the chorus.
posted on Mar 11, 2004 - View this thread

The American People. Greg Knauss' latest offering let's the Americans know who is speaking on their behalf. Nifty use of RSS technology. [via msippey]
posted on Mar 5, 2004 - View this thread

RumorFilter: Gov. Perry of Texas in bed with his Sec. of State --for real! More on this brewing scandal here, here, here, here, and here. Perry in 2002 called Texas' then-existing/now-illegal sodomy laws "appropriate." And here's a rundown on the rumor and non-response (from the kos link)
posted on Feb 21, 2004 - View this thread

Our top story tonight: John Edwards and John Kerry both beat Bush in polls and in "totally unrelated news" the search for Osama Bin Laden intensifies and in "other totally unrelated news" the new Election Assistance Commission assured the states that they would expedite the distribution of $2.3 billion dollars in federal funds for new voting booth equipment
posted on Feb 19, 2004 - View this thread

If you get your protest, then you ‘ve got to have your subpoena! "I've heard of such a thing, but not since the 1950's, the McCarthy era," said David D. Cole, a Georgetown law professor. "It sends a very troubling message about government officials' attitudes toward basic liberties." (NYT article)
posted on Feb 10, 2004 - View this thread

US elections: the world-wide vote.
"In November 2004, U.S. citizens will elect their new President. The outcome of these elections directly influences the lives of citizens around the world. Theworldvotes.org seeks to apply new technologies to provide citizens around the world with a voice in matters that affects us all. Ensure that your voice is heard by registering electronically and add momentum to a worldwide drive to establish global democracy."
Noble sentiments, but isn't this an admission of submission to the empire? A surrender of sovereignty? A call for a new Caracalla's edict? Is this a good idea both for the US and the "rest of the world"?
posted on Jan 30, 2004 - View this thread

New poll: Bush sinking, Kerry surging Overall, 52 percent of those polled by NEWSWEEK say they would not like to see Bush serve a second term, compared to 44 percent who want to see him win again...
posted on Jan 24, 2004 - View this thread

With all the matchmaking services around it was only a matter of time for presidentmatch.com to show up.
posted on Jan 23, 2004 - View this thread

Republican Dirty Tricks "From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics. The office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has already launched an investigation into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a website last November." They just can't get Nixon out of their system, huh?
posted on Jan 22, 2004 - View this thread

The George Bush Conspiracy Generator ...is long overdue, and will make the lives of certain Mefi'ers just a little easier. Still, I think it needs some work. It's nowhere near as clever as an old favorite, Web Economy Bullshit Generator, the output of which I've actually inserted in proposals.
posted on Jan 19, 2004 - View this thread

Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising. This, despite running anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. So, is it only issues about which they disagree?
posted on Jan 16, 2004 - View this thread

Which is the best type of writer to cover a nine person campaign that lasts two years? A novelist of course. Only a novelist can come up with the sort of obvious truths that reporters can't or aren't allowed to write. Like, "I've met Sharpton before and I can say with full confidence the man is a liar, an opportunist, and a swine." The other candidates on Gore's endorsement, "Fuck fat fucking Al shit fucking Gore." Or Kucinich's campaign, "Just before I go to sleep I ask myself, Why not love your fellow man, why not peace on earth? ... And the answer occurs to me immediately—because the other guy wants to rape your women and kill your children." Stephen Elliott, four time novelist and card shark, is on the campaign.
posted on Jan 16, 2004 - View this thread

"The Media vs. Howard Dean." Salon (subscription or Flash ad viewing required) observes that the media have been doing everything in their power to attach negative labels to US presidential candidate Howard Dean. Will the adage that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" prevail? Meanwhile, the Internet is increasing in relevance as a news source, according to a recent survey. Which websites do you peruse for political coverage, if any?
posted on Jan 13, 2004 - View this thread

Are you tired of two-party politics? Cheer up. You can be a Beer Drinker or a Nazi [possibly NSFW] or a Fascist. Join the Pot Party or even the anarchosocialist Birthday Party.
posted on Jan 7, 2004 - View this thread

A challenger to Bush for the Republican nomination?
posted on Jan 2, 2004 - View this thread

Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting According to their contracts, expectations and desires, all three soldiers should have been civilians by now. But Fontaine and Costas are currently serving in Iraq, and Eagle has just been deployed. On their Army paychecks, the expiration date of their military service is now listed sometime after 2030 -- the payroll computer's way of saying, "Who knows?" The three are among thousands of soldiers forbidden to leave military service under the Army's "stop-loss" orders, intended to stanch the seepage of troops, through retirement and discharge, from a military stretched thin by its burgeoning overseas missions. As Helena Cobham notes, They don't want to call it a draft but it sure ain't your father's "all-volunteer military" any more... Marine's Girl, Cobham's cause celebre of some time ago, writes about stop-loss here and here. See also Army reservists choosing to be citizens, not soldiers.
posted on Dec 30, 2003 - View this thread

Powerful anti-war flash animation from the Kucinich campaign. A bit heavy handed, but when dealing with life and death, literally, its best to just come out and say what one thinks.
posted on Dec 8, 2003 - View this thread

richard perle has been discussed here before, finds himself caught in his own web again. should this man be allowed to remain on the defense policy board arguably one of the most influential bodies of unelected citizens in the world?
posted on Dec 5, 2003 - View this thread

Harry Potter: The New Atlas Shrugged.
posted on Nov 30, 2003 - View this thread

The President Calling: American Radioworks (MPR) explores the secret phone tapes of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. AFAIK, the content is all previously available, but online, they've packaged and annotated it for ease of use. It's not exhaustive, but the moments picked out are often illuminating, showing "how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history." You might want to start here.
posted on Nov 20, 2003 - View this thread

To Invade Or Not To Invade?
Many have expressed the sentiment that unilaterally invading other countries can be justified as serving the best interests of its people. We can all agree that brutal dictatorships are a bad thing. What should be done when they are identified? Engagement or invasion? Should cognitive dissonance by our leaders be ignored and/or accepted? Are double standards justified by financial interests? Here is another case where all litmus tests fail.
posted on Nov 18, 2003 - View this thread

Tom DeLay thinks of the children. The GOP House Leader is attempting to create a charity fund for abused and neglected children. Oh, the fund also pays for "late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush's speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises" during the 2004 GOP convention. Unlike election funds now restricted by Campaign Finance law, donations to DeLay's semi-charity will be tax-exempt, and of course completely unreported to election officials. (NYT Link)
posted on Nov 14, 2003 - View this thread

"American power worldwide is at its historic zenith. American global political standing is at its nadir." - Zbigniew Brzezinski speaking at the New American Strategies for Security and Peace Conference. [ via tpm ]
posted on Nov 3, 2003 - View this thread

A follow up on the debate concerning the Constitutionality of the pledge of allegiance. Apparently the Supreme Court is going to hear it.
posted on Oct 14, 2003 - View this thread

Dominance and Its Dilemmas Noam Chomsky.What more be said? Those on the Left: Appaud. On the Right: sneer. If you are brither than a 15 watt bulb : read and then decide.
posted on Oct 11, 2003 - View this thread

Attorney General Is Closely Linked to Inquiry Figures Karl Rove, President Bush (news - web sites)'s top political adviser, whose possible role in the case has raised questions, was a paid consultant to three of Mr. Ashcroft's campaigns in Missouri, twice for governor and for United States senator, in the 1980's and 1990's, an associate of Mr. Rove said on Wednesday. Jack Oliver, the deputy finance chairman of Mr. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, was the director of Mr. Ashcroft's 1994 Senate campaign, and later worked as Mr. Ashcroft's deputy chief of staff. No wonder 69% of Americans think that an independent counsel should conduct the investigation.
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread

And the Weasel Award Goes to...
In the best weasel tradition, this poll is exuberantly, unapologetically unscientific. Last year a conservative group rallied its troops to bias the poll to serve its own agenda. We applaud that behavior and find it to be in the true spirit of weaseldom.
Sounds like a challenge to me... [more inside]
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread

The New Republic . . . is one of multiple sources featuring variations on Bush-hating in recent weeks. What's up with the sudden currency of the phrase?
posted on Sep 26, 2003 - View this thread

Let's fire Rumsfeld! Moveon wants him fired and so does Truemajority. Considering the White House has been looking for a fall guy for Iraq for some time now, can the constituents help Bush decide? I guess we can debate the effectiveness of petitions but photos like these are just impressive.
posted on Sep 18, 2003 - View this thread

Labor Day's forgotten ones. "...there is one class of workers who are largely ignored during Labor Day celebrations, even as our country remains at war on multiple fronts: members of the U.S. armed forces."
posted on Sep 7, 2003 - View this thread

Bird-Dogging involves showing up at a presentation or speech by a public figure and asking well-informed, pointed questions. Now Bird-Doggers are getting organized. Live near New Hampshire? The American Friends Service Committee has a handy set of tips and a schedule of appearances by the Democratic contenders. What questions would you ask?
posted on Sep 2, 2003 - View this thread

Flashing Candidates Sometimes strident, sometimes funny, straight, or a quickie, sometimes all of the above -- I guess it's better than plain wallpaper.
posted on Sep 1, 2003 - View this thread

"By recklessly cutting taxes, President Bush has enriched the wealthy and neglected the poor, sent the federal budget deficit to record heights, and imposed a colossal financial burden on the coming generation. He has revived the culture wars by flaunting his Christian faith and by promoting traditional values. He has undermined public schools by supporting school choice. He has eroded the wall of separation between church and state by seeking federal funding for faith-based charities. He threatens to reverse decades of progress in civil rights by packing the judiciary with right-wing extremists. He has alienated our European allies with his crude cowboy diplomacy and provided a legitimate basis for anti-Americanism around the world. And he has knowingly deceived the American people in a matter of grave national importance by resting his case for war against Iraq on trumped-up charges about weapons of mass destruction." "That's a caricature", says Peter Berkowitz in a coolly favorable article about the current Presidency. 1st link via aldaily
posted on Aug 24, 2003 - View this thread

Forget California. The real political breakdown is in Texas with Democratic Senators still in exile after 22 days. Moveon.org has been called to help. Sen. Rodney Ellis writes to Moveon to help fight the on-going GOP power-grab.
posted on Aug 20, 2003 - View this thread