Ryan v.Putin: Their methods may not be equal, but they are equally mad

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Monday March 10, 2014 · 5:04 PM PDT

2014/03/10 · 17:04

Paul Ryan gives a speech at CPAC in which he tells a touching story about a poor, hungry boy who doesn't want help from Big Government; he just wants a parent who loves him. As it happens, the story is a complete fabrication.

NPR reports that Russia is now broadcasting fake news stories into Crimea, with "lurid descriptions of chaos and violence wracking Kiev." Kiev is actually quiet and peaceful.

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Thursday February 07, 2013 · 9:35 AM PST

2013/02/07 · 09:35

On January 28th, a hearing was held at the State Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut to discuss gun laws in the wake of the horrifying tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The New York Times quoted a gentleman named David Gentry, who attended that meeting, as follows:

David Gentry, a personal trainer from Stamford, wore a holster on his waist with a copy of the Constitution tucked in it. “I just feel that’s where the conversation should start,” he said.

He is wrong. The conversation must start with the victims of gun violence and the family members and friends who are left behind to mourn them. In light of the terrible tragedies taking place all across the nation, this is a far more compassionate and humane response. The Second Amendment is ambiguously worded and open to interpretation. It does not contain an unlimited right to any kind of weaponry a citizen may wish to carry.

My full response to Mr. Gentry can be found here. My thanks to the photo editors at Minnesota Public Radio, who put together a touching and tasteful photo essay to accompany it.

Peace.

He'll Say Anything - An Ode to Mitt Romney

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Thursday October 25, 2012 · 12:06 PM PDT

2012/10/25 · 12:06

Hello!

I am re-posting this entry from yesterday, as several friends have expressed confusion over the odd "banner" at the top of the post.

The banner - now just below - is an embedded music player, courtesy of SoundCloud. Please click on the white arrow within the blue circle if you wish to hear the song.

And thanks to everyone who has clicked, shared, and liked!

He'll Say Anything by Adam Wernick

Original post:

I have been leaving the political commentary to others for a while. Still, I needed a way to vent my loathing and contempt for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. So, here it is in song form - with tongue only slightly in cheek.

My original plan was to use the song to underscore a video of Romney himself declaring one after another all the various positions he has taken on so many issues. But I am short on time and expertise. So, if any enterprising reader out there wants to run with it, please help yourself to the song.

Otherwise, if you enjoy it, please share it, pass it around, send it to your Republican Uncle Ed in Ohio, play it out the window of your home for passing strangers.

In my fantasies, entire stadiums of people are singing along, holding up their lighters (Do people still hold up lighters?) and then marching off to the polls to cast their votes for President Obama.

Life is so much nicer as a fantasy, isn't it?

Fanaticism, Hatred and Racism Rule The Day In America Now

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Tuesday July 26, 2011 · 11:24 AM PDT

2011/07/26 · 11:24

There is no longer any doubt that the country - or at least a small and disproportionally powerful segment of the country - is in the grip of a kind of insanity that I don't recall ever witnessing.

The fight over raising the debt limit has little or nothing to do with fiscal policy or the size of government or competing beliefs about the role of government in public life.

It has to do with hatred, ignorance and fanaticism. Hatred - of President Obama because, a) he is a Democrat; and b) because he is black. Ignorance - of the most basic history of the United States - up to and including the years between 2001 and 2008. And a fanatical obsession with one idea: that taxes are the single greatest threat to individual liberty.

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Tuesday February 22, 2011 · 9:41 AM PST

2011/02/22 · 09:41

In 2010, bonuses to individual employees on Wall Street totaled $135 billion dollars. That is more than the total combined state deficits in the nation ($124 billion).

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Martin Luther King and the Judgment of History

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Tuesday January 18, 2011 · 7:59 AM PST

2011/01/18 · 07:59

On Monday, as the nation honored the life and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, it's good to be reminded what greatness looks and sounds like.

Despite the best efforts of bigots and demagogues, the judgement of history is clear: Dr. Martin Luther King will forever be remembered as one of our nation's most heroic and important figures.

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Friday January 14, 2011 · 2:25 PM PST

2011/01/14 · 14:25

President Obama's speech in Tucson memorializing the victims of the shootings in Arizona called upon all Americans to use this tragedy to "expand our moral imaginations." He also raised the question: "What is required of us going forward?"

He answered his own question near the end of his speech with the following words:

"...[O]ur task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations."

"Widen the circle of our concern." That is what is required of us.

We must expand out moral imaginations, we must expand our notion of community. We must re-imagine our idea of what it means to sacrifice something for the sake of another.

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Wednesday January 12, 2011 · 12:02 PM PST

2011/01/12 · 12:02

On the one hand, Sarah Palin and other Conservatives who are "outraged" by the idea that their ugly, violent rhetoric may somehow be responsible for the tragic shooting in Arizona are right: It is impossible to draw a straight line from their inflammatory words to the act of one mentally unstable individual.

On the other hand, just as rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, so too does rhetoric designed to provoke fear, rage and paranoia fall on the sane and the insane alike.

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Friday January 07, 2011 · 9:21 AM PST

2011/01/07 · 09:21

Recently, Politifact named "government takeover of healthcare" its 2010 Lie of the Year.

And what a lie it was! When was the last time so blatant a lie had such profound implications for the nation?

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Tuesday December 21, 2010 · 8:07 AM PST

2010/12/21 · 08:07

Since the days of Ronald Reagan, Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater, the Republican Party has become expert at controlling the political conversation in the United States.

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Tuesday December 14, 2010 · 3:51 PM PST

2010/12/14 · 15:51

Perhaps the tax deal President Obama cut with Senate Republicans just had to happen.

The American public has not seemed to care particularly that the GOP has blocked everything that President Obama has tried to do - purely for political gain. The public does not seem to care that the GOP has deliberately tied the political system in knots - thereby worsening the damage their policies inflicted upon the nation.

But if the public doesn't seem to care much what kinds of policies the GOP blocks, maybe it will notice the kind of policies it enacts, when it has the power to do so.

What will the Republican Party actually do when given the chance? How will they seize the political opportunity the midterm election results afforded them?

Now we know: Extend tax breaks for the wealthy and increase tax breaks for the really, really wealthy.

That's it. That's all they've wanted all along, apparently.

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Sunday November 07, 2010 · 8:32 AM PST

2010/11/07 · 08:32

There were few more sickening post-election sights than the self-satisfied smirk on Mitch McConnell's face as he addressed the conservative crowd at the Heritage Foundation the other day.

Enough has been said and written about this repulsive man's clueless harangue, so I needn't recap it here.

It's worth noting, however, that both McConnell's revolting triumphalism and President Obama's conciliatory defeatism - which seems to indicate an appalling lack of fighting spirit - are equally misguided and useless.

The attitudes of each man, though diametrically opposed, will lead to the same outcome: The continued abandonment of millions of people in the U.S. who currently live in very, very grave circumstances.

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Ryan v.Putin: Their methods may not be equal, but they are equally mad

Where the conversation must start on gun regulations

He'll Say Anything - An Ode to Mitt Romney

Fanaticism, Hatred and Racism Rule The Day In America Now

Putting Wisconsin's Budget Battle In Perspective

Martin Luther King and the Judgment of History

In the Wake of Tragedy in Arizona, Redefining Our Idea of Community

State of Denial: Palin, Conservatives, Violent Rhetoric and Guns

A New Dawn for Doublespeak: A Brief Guide to Republican Vocabulary

The Wrong Conversation: Republican Distraction and Misdirection

The True Color of Red

The Only Certain Election Result: Continued Misery for the Poor and Powerless