‘Political & Politicians’ Archives
The KKK glorified as Confederacy grows in the South
The Confederacy Making a Comeback in the South? KKK Grand Wizard Glorified, Civil Rights Heroes Ignored As Southern whites sink into economic despair, more and more are retreating into a fictional past. January 28, 2013 | On a windy afternoon a few days ago I went to a depressed section of North Memphis to visit an old clapboard house that was once owned by a German immigrant named Jacob Burkle. Oral history—and oral history is all anyone has in this case since no written documents ... Full Story
Can We Have Sane Gun Control?
Yes, We Can Have Sane Gun Control Without Trampling Gun Owners' Rights The NRA is a problem for sane gun enthusiasts. By Joshua Holland, AtlerNet, December 14, 2012 | Editor's note: a version of this piece originally ran after the Minnesota Sikh Temple shootings in August. The United States is not the only country to experience the horrors of mass shootings. We are, however, the only society in which a serious discussion of tighter gun controls doesn't follow incidents like the ... Full Story
Ho-Hum the Deficit
The Deficit: Not as Bad as They Want You to Think By Evan Soltas Dec 26, If those so-called deficit hawks would stop moralizing long enough to look at the data, they might find something surprising: That data almost entirely undermine their argument. Yes, the long-run path of spending on federal health programs remains a serious and legitimate source of concern. But the numbers show that our current fiscal deficit is well within control -- as have been the deficits of the last ... Full Story
Republicans protecting rapists?
Why Does Eric Cantor Want To Protect Rapists? by Jessica Pieklo - January 3, 2013 There is no greater coward in Congress right now than House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Cantor and his GOP allies killed off the highly effective, highly popular Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) this session over a provision that would give Native American tribes limited authority to prosecute non-Native Americans accused of domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes against ... Full Story
Politics are tribal warfare
Have You Ever Wondered What Compells Your Conservative Relatives to Vote the Way They Do? Jonathan Haidt on why seemingly decent people are so divided on politics. By Ryan Howes January 3, 2013 By the time you’re reading this, the 2012 election will have been decided, and we’ll all have had our fill of the partisan rancor that’s become commonplace in politics. Perhaps you yourself have had the experience of getting lost in an argument in which you became ... Full Story
Where has liberty gone
The Bill Of Rights Has A Very Bad Week By Charles P. Pierce Of course, while everyone in Washington, and the courtier press that serves them, were endlessly droning on and on about the Gentle Fiscal Incline, the Bill Of Rights closed out 2012 by having one of the worst weeks it's had in the two centuries of its existence. But the courtier press paid that little mind, possibly because selling out the Bill Of Rights was done on a "bipartisan" basis, and the denizens of the various ... Full Story
Honest Conservative?
Bruce Bartlett: ‘My Life on the Republican Right And How I Saw It All Go Wrong’ By Brad Friedman on 11/27/2012, 3:33pm PT We've been quite remiss by failing to offer the The BRAD BLOG's much-sought yet rarely-bestowed "Intellectually Honest Conservative" Award to Bruce Bartlett, Ronald Reagan's domestic policy adviser and George H.W. Bush's Deputy Asst. Secretary for Economic Policy. We were reminded of our delinquency again today upon reviewing his ... Full Story
Teachers die protecting children
America’s Teachers: Heroes or Greedy Moochers at the Public Trough? by: Dave Lindorff Viki Soto I’ll be brief here. Let’s just note that the heroic teachers who died while courageously trying to protect their kids at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, and the others who survived but stayed to protect the kids, were all part of a school system where the employees are members of the American Federation of ... Full Story
Generals Run Amuck
Tomgram: William Astore, Generals Behaving Badly Posted by William Astore He was “an ascetic who... usually eats just one meal a day, in the evening, to avoid sluggishness. He is known for operating on a few hours' sleep and for running to and from work while listening to audio books on an iPod... an encyclopedic, even obsessive, knowledge about the lives of terrorists... a warrior-scholar, comfortable with diplomats, politicians..." Those were just the ... Full Story
Ron Paul hates democracy
Ron Paul's Farewell Speech in Congress Lays Bare His Hatred for "Pure Democracy," and Love of Oligarchy Paul believes in liberty... for businessmen. November 28, 2012 | By Robert Parry Rep. Ron Paul, an icon to the libertarian Right and to some on the anti-war Left, gave a farewell address to Congress that expressed his neo-Confederate interpretation of the Constitution and his anti-historical view of the supposedly good old days of laissez-faire capitalism. In a near-hour-long ... Full Story