MetaFilter posts tagged with politics

Bruce Sterling's 2010 State of the World

brianstorms — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:16:29 -0800

Acclaimed writer Bruce Sterling is back for his annual State of the World interview in The WELL's inkwell conference. It's a must-read. The first question comes from Cory Doctorow who asks him to help him plan for the future now that Cory has a kid, etc. Sterling's answer is hilarious, biting, and brilliant all at the same time. And that's only the beginning...

De Facto Pedophile

d1rge — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:46:51 -0800

In Illinois, a political ad is airing on the radio. In it, former Republican Party candidate Andy Martin says current Illinois congressman Mark Kirk is a homosexual. Another ad claims Kirk is a "de facto pedophile." Jack Roeser, an Illinois businessman, is quoted in one ad as saying there is a "solid rumor" regarding Mark's sexuality. What says Roeser about Martin? "I have nothing to do with that SOB."

a very long article

kliuless — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:42:16 -0800

How America Can Rise Again by James Fallows
Is America going to hell? After a year of economic calamity that many fear has sent us into irreversible decline, the author finds reassurance in the peculiarly American cycle of crisis and renewal, and in the continuing strength of the forces that have made the country great: our university system, our receptiveness to immigration, our culture of innovation. In most significant ways, the U.S. remains the envy of the world. But here's the alarming problem: our governing system is old and broken and dysfunctional. Fixing it—without resorting to a constitutional convention or a coup—is the key to securing the nation's future. (via|previously)

A Politics Straight Out of French Lick, Indiana

l33tpolicywonk — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:38:37 -0800

Clothes Make the Man: Jonathan Valania writes on the political conversion of Urban Outfitters founder Richard Hayne, whose disenchanted co-founder and ex-wife is a "diehard liberal activist" and restaurant owner while he runs a bi-continental hipster clothing chain which has supported controversial former US Senator Rick Santorum (h/t the Phawker).

"Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes."

defenestration — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:49:17 -0800

Revisionaries: How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids’ textbooks.

Obama Told Me I Was Doing The Right Thing

reenum — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:59:13 -0800

A medical marijuana provider in California is mounting a novel defense after his marijuana farm was raided by Federal agents. James Dean Stacy is arguing that statements made by President Obama while on the campaign trail about easing marijuana laws constitutes "entrapment by estoppel, defined as when an official tells someone that something is legal, then busts them for it. Put plainly, Stacy would not have formed the collective if the government hadn’t assured legal collectives that they wouldn’t be prosecuted."

Eat your heart out, Tom Delay

Horace Rumpole — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:07:16 -0800

For serious Poli Sci junkies only: the Swing State Project is holding a contest for best redistricting of New York, using the nerdtastic Dave's Redistricting App. (Requires Silverlight, reading instructions highly recommended.) New York is virtually certain to lose a seat in the House of Representatives after the 2010 redistricting, so your challenge is to create 28 new districts that have a partisan makeup likely to elect no fewer than 26 Democratic representatives. New districts must have equal population (+/- 1%) and not violate the Voting Rights Act's provisions on minority representation. Bonus points for screwing Peter King in some fashion.

Mexico City Approves Gay Marriage

SpringAquifer — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:31:31 -0800

In a first for Latin America, Mexico City's legislature voted to legalize gay marriage Monday night, changing "the city's civil code definition of marriage from the union of a man and a woman to the 'free uniting of two people.'" Mexico City's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, is expected to sign the bill into law.

a coherent platform for the grand new party?

kliuless — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:01:55 -0800

Keeping America's Edge (via) While the prescriptions are stock conservative boilerplate, I found the diagnosis remarkably congruent with, say, David Simon, altho I have my (not so minor) quibbles that 1) the US faces an existential threat from "those who oppose our values" -- if anything, it's the other way around -- and that 2) he doesn't properly account for regulatory capture, i.e. for libertarianism to be "roughly true in practice" we need something approaching perfect competition and there is far from a level playing field, moreover, "the political system seems incapable of addressing large-scale objective problems." BONUS -America's broken colleges -Do liberals have it wrong on inequality? -Asteroid Deflection as a Public Good -Start-up Visas Can Jump-Start the Economy [1,2,3] -Reforms to help China maintain growth [1,2,3]

Single Link Wire-Filter

gerryblog — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:22:24 -0800

You’re going to hire people to guard your sh*t, but you’re not going to give them health care. Vice has a long spoiler- and profanity-laden interview with The Wire creator David Simon, running the gamut from backstage Wire details to the media's obsession with "the Dickensian aspect" to his next series (set in New Orleans) to Joe Lieberman to this fight he almost got in at a concert one time. Via /Film.

Adnan's World

reenum — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:40:13 -0800

Adnan Khashoggi was one of the high society news makers in the 80's, considered by some to be on Donald Trump's level. While things have gone alright for the Donald, Khashoggi hasn't done as well... Khashoggi led a high society lifestyle, even as his finances were in shambles. He went from a life of luxury to prison in the United States within a short amount of time. He is no stranger to political intrigues. Now 74, he works as a consultant.

Annise Parker elected mayor of Houston

granted — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:14:06 -0800

Annise Parker, current City Controller of Houston, has defeated Gene Locke in a runoff election for mayor. She is the first openly gay person to lead a major U.S. city.

Deep politics

Abiezer — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:57:33 -0800

Lobster: The Journal of Parapolitics was started in 1983 by Robin Ramsay and Stephen Dorril, two conspiracy enthusiasts who weren't actually nuts and believed in proper research. The magazine primarily covered the activities of the British security and intelligence services and what they term 'parapolitics'. They've had a brochure website for a while with some sample articles, but starting from the current issue the full journal will be free online (PDF download). The pair had a falling-out some time ago and have gone their separate ways. On his personal site Dorril, now also the author of a well-received study of Mosley and the Blackshirts, offers early back issues of the magazine for free download too.

Obama's Big Sellout

moorooka — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:36:11 -0800

Taibbi-filter: Obama's Big Sellout What's taken place in the year since Obama won the presidency has turned out to be one of the most dramatic political about-faces in our history. Elected in the midst of a crushing economic crisis brought on by a decade of orgiastic deregulation and unchecked greed, Obama had a clear mandate to rein in Wall Street and remake the entire structure of the American economy. What he did instead was ship even his most marginally progressive campaign advisers off to various bureaucratic Siberias, while packing the key economic positions in his White House with the very people who caused the crisis in the first place. This new team of bubble-fattened ex-bankers and laissez-faire intellectuals then proceeded to sell us all out, instituting a massive, trickle-up bailout and systematically gutting regulatory reform from the inside.

Climategate?

mccarty.tim — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:07:17 -0800

The public's opinion of the field of climatology has been shaken by the leaked CRU emails. While it's arguable that the messages show any wrongdoing, many pundits have now reached the conclusion that global warming is a hoax, coverup and conspiracy, years in the making with millions of faked datapoints. Sarah Palin has written an editorial saying Obama should boycott the Copenhagen COP15 summit.

It's Not My Party And I'll Fly If I Want To

Joe Beese — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:21:18 -0800

As the Tea Party outpolls the Republican Party in a generic three-way ballot, disaffected progressives are considering independent parties of their own.

Has he lost his O-mentum?

GrammarMoses — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:49:05 -0800

New York Magazine thinks the thrill is gone. True? Or just the latest meme? If true, what are the implications outside the Beltway? The 3-D chess references do seem thin on the ground these days.

Portraits of Power

gwint — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:26:59 -0800

Portraits of Power "An interactive portfolio of portraits by Platon of world leaders, with commentary by the photographer."

and there are no citizen initiatives in NY to overturn it

gerryblog — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:14:06 -0800

News is breaking that the New York Senate will pass marriage equality legislation today, despite media reports that the legislative push was "stalled" from as late as last week. (The State Assembly repassed the same bill shortly after midnight last night to facilitate the Senate's vote today.) This has all happened largely under the radar—though Markos "Daily Kos" Moulitsas was apparently in the know, hinting at this "big news" in his Twitter feed on Monday night. Today he writes: "So by the end of the week, gay marriage should be legal in New York. And there are no citizen initiatives in NY to overturn it."

The Rehabilitation of Charles Johnson

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:29:57 -0800

Charles Johnson, post-9/11 reactionary firebrand, debunker of the Killian documents and spearhead of the American "anti-jihadist" movement via his Little Green Footballs blog, officially parts ways with the right. Staunchly Republican well into early 2008, Johnson now supports the science and research behind anthropocentric global warming, attacks the Republican rank-and-file for their creationist beliefs and homophobic bigotry, and (perhaps most surprisingly) repudiates hate-speech. While muted threads of discontent have long been present in his blog, the turning point appears to have been Johnson's reaction to the "CounterJihad Europa" conference of October 2007.

Inconceivable!

bardic — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:34:15 -0800

WANTED: EDITOR OF A SUCCESSFUL LIB-LEANING BLOG AND NEWS ORGANIZATION LOOKS TO HIRE A PUBLISHER. Say what you will about the relative merits of Talking Points Memo or whether or not it's the triumphant example of why we don't need "real" newspapers or journalists any longer (previously on Mefi [1] [2]), but it does seem we've turned a corner (or perhaps jumped the shark?) when editors hire publishers instead of the other way around.

Climate change FAIL

wilful — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:36:10 -0800

Australia's emissions trading scheme, the "Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme", is being debated in the Senate today. It is deeply flawed, and the Greens will not vote for it. Of more interest is that the Opposition are being torn asunder, exposing massive fault lines between the liberal modernising wing and the conservative agrarian group, who deny the science and have advocated delay for the past decade. Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull's days are clearly numbered, while the Liberal party appear doomed to spend the next decade out of power. A link to Rudd's recent Lowy Institute speech I couldn't fit into the main body.

Best Friends for Sixty Years and Counting

emjaybee — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:56:51 -0800

Cloe. I am begging you honey. None of that Jello crap. No one eats it and the garbage stinks for a week after I throw it out. Margaret and Helen (mostly Helen) have a blog, thanks to Helen's grandson, and have a lot to say to America, about remembering an America where black men didn't grow up to be president, abortion, and the sorry state of the American media, among other topics.

GEORGE HUTCHINS INVITES ALL BLACK, WHITE, SPANISH, AND ASIAN U.S. VOTERS TO JOIN US !!

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:36:54 -0800

Whether or not you agree with the platform and views of Mr. George Hutchins, candidate for the 4th Congressional District of North Carolina, you must bask in the glory of the most awesome candidate website ever created.

Senate Sends Health Care Bill to Floor

shivohum — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:36:27 -0800

The Senate votes to bring health care bill (text in an amendment) to floor, 60-39. Major concessions extracted by holdout senators. Other analysis here and here. Differences between this and the House bill.