The simultaneous occurrence
of events that appear significantly
related but have no discernible
causal connection.
Laura Dawn | MoveOn.org | 13 Mar 12
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It’s not always easy to make sense of the news. This week we witnessed an innocent teenager in Florida killed because of a law that panders to fear and racism. One could easily get discouraged and conclude that humanity is going to hell in a hand basket. But then you see a bunch of travelers pausing to listen to Ravel in a train station in Copenhagen. The world is a roller coaster. One side up. One side down. Take your pick…
YouTube | May 11
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More Romney sketchiness…
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I think Bill Maher has hit on something here. Ever listen to service representatives on the phone? You’d think they were personally responsible for your DVR not working or the internet being slow. Apology, apology, apology. The first thing they say after “This phone call may be recorded for training purposes” is “I apologize for whatever it is that ails you,” as if it was their fault. In America this has led to the notion that life means being free from any discomfort or idea that rattles our sensibilities or threatens our ‘values’. Political correctness now includes any statement that might offend anyone for any reason. As Maher points out, this has become a convenient political weapon. When the poll numbers go down just get offended…
Bill Maher | NYTimes | 21 Mar 12
THIS week, Robert De Niro made a joke about first ladies, and Newt Gingrich said it was “inexcusable and the president should apologize for him.” Of course, if something is “inexcusable,” an apology doesn’t make any difference, but then again, neither does Newt Gingrich.
Mr. De Niro was speaking at a fund-raiser with the first lady, Michelle Obama. Here’s the joke: “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”
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Says it all, doesn’t it?
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You could be excused for listening to the news yesterday and not getting the message. A news item about a proposed republican budget is, after all, not as exciting as a plane crash or bombing Iran. Yet the message behind the news is just as concerning (and maybe as destructive) as a bunker buster. While Paul Ryan’s budget will never be passed, it will dominate the debate in Congress over the real budget. And with a republican House and right-leaning Senate eager to “send a message” during an election year there is a good chance many of the draconian values represented in this proposal will see their way into legislation. In an era of high unemployment and low net worth this can only have a negative impact on the budgets that really matter, yours and mine…
Opinion | NYTimes | 20 Mar 12
As he rolled out his 2013 budget on Tuesday, Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, correctly said that he and his fellow Republicans were offering the country a choice of two very clear futures. The one he outlined in his plan could hardly be more bleak.
It is one where the rich pay less in taxes than the unfairly low rates they pay now, while programs for the poor — including Medicaid and food stamps — are slashed and thrown to the whims of individual states. Where older Americans no longer have a guarantee that Medicare will pay for their health needs. Where lack of health insurance is rampant, preschool is unaffordable, and environmental and financial regulation are severely weakened.
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Full disclosure… The video shown here is a commercial. It’s a political ad promoting the reelection of Barack Obama for a second term of office. That said, I urge you to watch it anyway, regardless of your political leaning. I think it tells the story of this president in a powerful and honest way. Obama is not Jesus incarnate. He has not accomplished all that he promised or all that was hoped for. There are many facets of his leadership that invite criticism and disappointment on both sides of the political color divide. However, when you consider the mess he inherited from the jokester who preceded him, along with the categorical focus of the republican party on destroying the political process in this country, it is a wonder this president has been able to accomplish anything at all. You may not like Obama but you must seriously consider the alternative…
The White House | 15 Mar 12
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Samuel Johnson is credited with saying, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” I might add, “Morality is the favored currency of bankrupt politicians.” When you start hearing dimwits like Rick Sanitorum making speeches about how he’s going to crack down on pornography you can be sure it’s because he has run out of better ideas. If you’re Rick Sanitorum there is one simple campaign rule… Sex Sells!
Thales | Yahoo! Contributor Network | 16 Mar 12
GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Rick Santorum recently put out a statement denouncing pornography, and announcing Santorum’s intention to take legal action against it:
“America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography. … Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. … As a parent, I am concerned about the widespread distribution of illegal obscene pornography and its profound effects on our culture. For many decades, the American public has actively petitioned the United States Congress for laws prohibiting distribution of hard-core adult pornography. … Current federal “obscenity” laws prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier. Rick Santorum believes that federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced.”
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Paul Krugman | NYTimes | 15 Mar 12
To be a modern Republican in good standing, you have to believe — or pretend to believe — in two miracle cures for whatever ails the economy: more tax cuts for the rich and more drilling for oil. And with prices at the pump on the rise, so is the chant of “Drill, baby, drill.” More and more, Republicans are telling us that gasoline would be cheap and jobs plentiful if only we would stop protecting the environment and let energy companies do whatever they want.
Thus Mitt Romney claims that gasoline prices are high not because of saber-rattling over Iran, but because President Obama won’t allow unrestricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Meanwhile, Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal tells readers that America as a whole could have a jobs boom, just like North Dakota, if only the environmentalists would get out of the way.
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Sarah Shourd spent a harrowing 14 months isolated in an Iranian cell—and wants an end to solitary confinement in her own country.
James Ridgeway | MotherJones.com | 14 Mar 12
Sarah Shourd is one of three Americans who were imprisoned in Iran in July 2009, after they were arrested and charged with espionage while hiking on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan. Her two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were jailed together, but Shourd was isolated in a 10-by-14-foot cell in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, and held there for almost 14 months.
In September 2010, Shourd was released on humanitarian grounds, according to Iranian authorities, due to ill health. (Bauer and Fattal were released a year later.) Since returning home, Shourd has spoken out against the widespread use of solitary confinement in the United States, and has appeared in support of the inmates at Pelican Bay and elsewhere in the California prison system who recently engaged in a hunger strike to protest conditions in long-term solitary. Her op-ed on the subject appeared in the New York Times last November. I spoke with Shourd about her time in the hole, and why she has taken a stand on behalf of American prisoners.
Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer at a news conference in Tehran in May 2010. -- Ahmad Alabisaz/ZUMA
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