Will the next President bring in the head of Osama?
"Wanted Dead or Alive" said former president George W Bush once upon a time. Now we face the reality TV series where Osama's son, and his elder British wife camel-trek across North Africa in search of...
View ArticleHow Democrats fail on foreign policy.
What was the Kerry phrase, "the most inept, the most ..... " . The list of possible adjectives was endless. Arrogant, incompetent, counter-productive.... And wasn't John Kerry right? And since the 2004...
View ArticleOlbermann, Obama, Clinton, and some truths.
I have absorbed this amazing week, from the SOTU, to the Reagan library, to the Kodak moment and viewed an overdose worth of analysis and spin. Tonight's episodes of Bill Maher and Keith Olberman are...
View ArticleObama and The Urgent Necessity: A national popular mandate. Part 1 of 4....
The American Republic is, by design, capable of producing greater good for its citizens. Combined with its wealth, resources and and level of education it is capable of maintaining a position of...
View ArticleAnd IF Hillary wins...and Treats John McCain..
And so Hillary's kitchen sink policy works, the idealistic gloss of the Obama bid worn thin by engaging in the day to day knife fight with Mark Penn, marginally modern white voters driven into corners...
View ArticleJ'accuse... all Vichy Democrats of complicity in all of it.
After I wrote an impassioned but historically defensible comment in a diary earlier, in which I posited that it takes a "good German" 1941 style to have a problem with Reverend Wright's remarks, that...
View ArticleThe Necessity of Truth Comes Home to Roost.
Disclaimer: This diary will posit no alternative explanation for the events of September 11, 2001. It does recognize the recent work of the NY Times reporter and his book on the 9/11 commission. This...
View ArticleThe Wright Story is Over. Now.
Diaries concerning Reverend Wright's sermons and how to interpret them, how much tape before or after the "damaging words" to view and the like continue to appear. Diaries concerning how much we can...
View ArticleWas Obama not describing "Lou Dobbs Democrats"?
Barrack's comments in the San Francisco soundbite are not his golden moment in political analysis. Sentences that don't know exactly where they are going are regular fare of discourse. The listener...
View ArticleDebate: ABC News Graphics Dept. I Saw What You Did!
The setting, camera angles and visual imagery built into tonights debate were an astonishingly blantant use of ABC-Disney's entertainment-artistic expertise. Art critics and professors could...
View ArticleObama, Bush, Media and the Question of Patriotism and Fairness
The dominant trends in "journalism" in the mainstream corporate media have, over the last eight years, logically produced one of these 3 things: re-inforced but not changed the best and worst of...
View ArticleStewart and Colbert: Seriously. America's Real TV News
Perhaps cynics, humorists and misguided youths of 2003 might have suggested that Comedy Central was hosting the most truthful news program even if disguised as a satire/comedy show. By 2004 there...
View ArticleHow George W Bush Sanctioned Iranian Attacks on USA
Consider the theory of "pre-emptive attack" on a real threat mounting against your nation-state. America has converted this theory to policy for no real purpose and to poor effect in the invasion...
View ArticlePrice of Octane Collapses as Gas Prices Soar?
Ok, I am a liberal arts and humanities kind of guy. Mathematics of an order higher than arithmetic can trigger feelings of anxiety and inadequacy. However even my limited faculties have detected a...
View ArticleDeaths Not Marked on TV Today
There were 5 military deaths reported in Iraq from last week. Members of their team will note their passing. Their team is not a network news team. Their loss will be felt away from the cameras and...
View ArticleApocalyptic Capitalism gets Cheery Fox Reception!
Once in a while one is privileged to catch for a micromoment, an epiphanous glimpse of stark ugly reality. The kinds of things that pass for normal and go unnoticed until you realize your moral...
View ArticleThe Incredible Lightness of Audacity.. 16 Month Withdrawal
People with solemn faces..like Brit Hume or Lou Dobbs or even David Gergen might give you that solemn look, one eyebrow slightly raised ..to suggest that Barack Obama might be just a bit "one bridge...
View ArticleBush Conspiracy Theory Diary Gets Rec'ed Up on Dkos!!??!!
As Friday August 15 dissolves into Saturday August 16th, you will note a ground breaking change of policy at Daily Kos. It is a startling reversal of policy. One is reminded of observing "glasnost"...
View ArticleGOP Meme... We're Shocked that it's this close!!!
How many guest commenters on Cable News programs trotted out this new talking point yesterday? To paraphrase; " In fact, we are quite delighted that the presidential race is as close as it is. We come...
View ArticleLet Palin Stories Rest.. the Country Gets It!
Reckless? Dangerous? You Bet! Dick Cheney is visiting Georgia and Ukraine to firm up their resistance to Russia. Unprecedented numbers of NATO ships are sailing around the Black Sea. Does this have...
View ArticleSpiro Agnewesque.. and the Unimpeachable John McCain.
It may be passing strange that the only Republican presidential candidate in the last 56 years to put forward a "viable vice-presidential candidate" was Ronald Reagan. This esteemed president of the...
View ArticleOpen Note to Mika @ Morning Joe
Oh Mika... Hi. Sorry.. I know you are just about to go on. But. I am wondering if you happened to catch last night's episode of The Colbert Report, starring the irrepressible Stephen Colbert....
View ArticleDear George Bush 41, Your son burned down the house, cancelled the fire...
I suppose this is an awkward time for a thank you note. As Sarah Palin might say, "Thanks, but no thanks." You gave America a one term Republican administration that had its failings and excesses. More...
View ArticleBiden Faces A Real Stephen Colbert... err...fake Stephen Colbert..
It's hard not to share the fruits of late night websurfing of the usual suspects of the progressives. A quick cup of joe at TPM, a song and a YouTube moment at Crooks and Liars... or a late...
View ArticlePresident Barack Obama. Rethink Afghanistan!
I enthusiastically await the presidency of Barack Obama. I have a very good feeling about his personal ethics and his intelligence. His awareness of the world outside America is a resource this...
View ArticleThe Undignified Crawl to the Bush Finish Line
Monday, January 12th gave us the final George Bush press conference. Its pathetic protestations have been noted most of the day by the media. Perhaps the best statement was in Craig Ferguson's...
View ArticleVP Joe Biden and an "uptick" / with poll
Over the course of the day, from the first exposure to VP Biden's use of the word "uptick" to describe what we can expect from an increased US military presence and mission in Afghanistan, through to...
View ArticleAfghanistan, 9/11, President Obama and Choices.
The election of President Barack Obama is the best damn thing I have lived to see since the election of JFK. I think in fact Obama has more to offer and fewer inner psycho-sexual demons and Freudian...
View ArticleOther Eyes on Afghanistan.
My roots and citizenship are Canadian, but Louden Wainwright III's songs about contemporary life in "the valley", yes the huge rectangle from West Hills to Burbank, from Mission Hills to Sherman Oaks,...
View ArticleThe Other Urgent Priority... Military Suicides.
This is not a statistical anomoly. This is not an "uptick". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/... Any country that cares for and about its servicemen and their families would recognize the size of the...
View Article9/11. Cheney, Bush, Secret Service. Let's Talk.
Dear (Former) President George W Bush: I hope you enjoyed your visit to Toronto. I am just a bit surprised that Bill Clinton split the bill and the tab, so to speak. It's always good to know that in...
View ArticleIran in Turmoil - Trusting the Media Again, Aren't We?
As much as one wants to shoot the messenger bearing bad news, there is an equal and opposite desire to toast and celebrate the messenger bearing the news we have longed for. And be sure, sometimes the...
View ArticleNBC Goes Orwellian Tonight. A Betrayal of Fact and Fiction
Channel hopping in Pacific Time after BBC World News on PBS outlet KCET, I landed at the NBC affiliate and was held for a fewer than 5 minutes when my ability to distinguish between drama and...
View ArticleThe Assault on Obama: Rovenge & Faux Equivalence
What can account for the assault on the Obama presidency from corners where irrationality and passion compete for primacy? What progressive "leftist" agenda has Obama followed? Federal borrowing...
View ArticleThe Endless Disgrace of "THE HISTORY CHANNEL" and "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC"
I wrote and deleted a longer diary on this topic. I got too didactic. I am sure I am not alone in tv channel hopping and encountering the following mess. ( I've been laid low by the smoke of the...
View ArticleWhat Part of Jon Stewart's Tuesday night would you disown?
By way of preamble: I confess that I have previously and will now continue to argue that Jon Stewart and his writing staff and their spin-off cousins at the Colbert Reporrrrrrr... have a more accurate...
View ArticleTerror, Underpants, Suspicion and Journalism 101: A Journey
There's nothing like a good news story that appeals to your suspicions and confirms your worldview. You get to say to yourself, "Ahaaa!" and "Just like I suspected!" Previously I had found the...
View ArticleHow Lies Spread. Abdulmutallab and 12/25 Detroit.
On January 27th of this year, 2010, the online edition of the Detroit News carried a story of serious importance: Terror Suspect kept visa to avoid tipping off larger investigation. If you type those...
View ArticleObama in Cleveland. Kucinich 1, Obama 0
I have tried to express my heartfelt disappointment tonight a few times and have scrapped each attempt. And yet I cannot put it to bed. I think I can say it best in a series of points. Each attempt at...
View ArticleYour Next Door Neighbour Saw That..Eww!! Kewl Update
As an ex-pat Canuck in California, a US resident, but hanging on to Canadian citizenship until Jesus returns to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, or the end of medical practices for dividends, I hereby...
View ArticleFacts, Vigilance, Media: The Arrest of Shahzad. WTF!!
I am generally pleased when the axiom " you are entitled to your own opinions, but you can't invoke your own facts" is played like a trump card in a heated debate. It refreshes the mind, like a hit on...
View ArticleThank Heavens for Coincidences!
One might think, when blogging in one's PJ's, at 3 am, three tokes into the wind that weird shit in the world is somehow connected. Remember the good old days when missing blondes, missing wives,...
View ArticleThe History Channel Redeems Itself, Changes Course!
As the humble owner of a post-graduate degree in History and a handful of additional credits earned by a love of the field, as a teacher of History for 29 years, I have bemoaned, regretted and been...
View ArticleBarack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Bradley Manning: Dreams from my heroes.
I have a soft spot for idealists. I suspect most people whose political views are shaped by their morality as opposed to immediate self-interest have that same soft spot. I never doubted for one...
View ArticleDear Chris Matthews....
Mr. sputtering, frothing and infinitely rude Chris Matthews please...PLEASE!!!!.... ask your network to pull that F*%$ing promo spot where you dare the GOP to put forward "one" just "one"...
View ArticleNATGEO TV and the Sin of Conflation: 9/11 and Saddem
I awaited the National Geographic Television event... "George W Bush: the 9/11 Interview" with some academic interest. (Aired Sunday August 28, 8 pm in most time zones) It was interesting trying to...
View ArticleSpeculative Friday Note:
For the sake of gamesmanship... you have to name which two of the leading candidates for the GOP Presidential nomination ... are the two most likely to be intelligence agency assets. That's right. If...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the Editor: Atlanta Jewish Times - Assassination of Obama...
According to wikipedia, one Andrew Adler has been the owner/publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times for a few years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/... According to the wikipedia entry :In January 2012, :...
View ArticleReflections:In the aftermath of Eichenwald's op ed
Kurt Eichenwald's op-ed at the New York Times and his subsequent appearances on CNN and MSNBC serve as a reminder, welcome or not, of an elephant that remains in the room even after being acknowledged...
View ArticleNYC Teachers, Mugged ..HELP!! Did You See?
The New York Times has a reporter ( Patrick McGeehan) who has shown more concern for the pension funds of New York City's public sector workers and demonstrated a profoundly better understanding of...
View Article