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Leading up to the vote

This election cycle has been very trying.  I almost feel like the last one never ended.  Aside from the few months of relative quiet between Bush's swearing-in and 9-11, there has been a constant...

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Control Room

Control Room is a new documentary release by the Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim that follows the invasion of Iraq in the Spring of 2003 from the perspective of Al Jazeera.  It has an...

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Election eve - Frontline biographies

Here we sit on election eve.  According to the latest polls, the electoral college is split 269-269 with neither Bush nor Kerry having a clear win tomorrow.  How has our country come to this point?  It...

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Issues for rural American voters

The single largest determinant of whether you vote for Republicans or Democrats is where you live.  The split is not between the south and west against the northeast and west coast -- rather, it is...

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The ownership society

Bush has declared that he will promote an Ownership society.  What does this mean for the American public?  His plan consists in essence of three major elements: (1) Partially privatize Social Security...

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Demographics and the election returns

It is hard to understand the outcome from the elections unless one looks at American demographics.  While many Americans live in metropolitan areas, a large percentage live in small towns and sparsely...

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An expansion of the middle-east war?

We really don't know how many civillian deaths there have been in Iraq because the US occupation forces have chosen to not record them.  We have had to rely on estimates compiled by others.  A figure...

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Republicans are swimming downstream

because they have the corporations at their back.  Companies are constantly sending advertising messages to the public.  They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to sell the public on their products...

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Liberals need to voice clear messages about morality

Liberals are moral relativists.  They don't believe in moral absolutes.  They don't have standards that can serve as guideposts to themselves and others.  If you ask people in Middle America what they...

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Social Security privitization

Privatization of Social Security has become a NO-NO in the Bush administration.  Not that they don't want to see it -THEY DO-.  They just don't want you to talk about it that way. According to a story...

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CIA purge is consistent

David Brooks wrote extensively about the current CIA purge in the New York Times on November 13 (edited, with emphasis and italics added). The administration is clearly going after its perceived...

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Scientists finding it is "Payback Time"

If you were critical of the Bush administration science policy during the campaign -- better watch out, because it is payback time. Now that the election returns are in and we know who is boss, there...

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Faith, reason and creationism

The post-election soul-searching over "moral values" has elicited a discussion about how to approach religion.  One of the most contentious issues is creationism.  According to a Gallup poll performed...

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A message from the Ukraine

The following entry is part of an email that I received this morning from a colleague who lives in Liviv in the western Ukraine.  Their situation is clearly uncertain and possibly dangerous.  We can...

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Constitutional amendment on congressional districts

This country needs more competition in the lower house of Congress.  The founders set their term of office at two years with the intention of having House Congressional representatives constantly...

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A new browser

For anyone who has not yet tested the Firefox browser, you are in for a pleasant surprise.  The single best feature is its automatic blocking of pop-up ads.  If this does not seem like much you must...

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Tax "Reform" to Hit the Blue States

So have you heard the latest in the "tax reform" news from the White House?  They want to eliminate the Federal deduction for state income taxes.  Just by chance this happens to hit the blue states the...

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A framework for meaningful Social Security reform

Social Security is fiscally sound over the next few decades, but a large majority of Americans under age 50 doubt that they will realize meaningful benefits from the system.   To make matters worse,...

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Rumsfeld's apology

It is interesting that on every previous occasion that Secretary Rumsfeld has chosen to address the press, he has spoken spontaneously.  He is so confident of himself, that he always gets out there in...

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Why did they shoot the dog?

This evening, as on most recent Tuesdays, I watched Frontline.  The program this evening was entitled "A Company of Soldiers".  If you did not have a chance to see it, you should try to watch in a...

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The right wing lashes out with murder

Somehow they never fail to disappoint.  When right-wing bigots do not get their way, they resort to violence and murder.  the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh is perhaps the...

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The Hate Group Network

The recent murder of the husband and mother of Federal judge Joan Lefkow has revealed an exceedingly ugly side to right-wing hate groups. Stories in the New York Times, the CultNews.com, the Chicago...

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Ward Churchill at UW Whitewater

This week, Ward Churchill spoke at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater despite a tide of protest stemming from his characterization of the victims in the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center attack as...

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The nuclear option and the Republican Senate MINORITY

We have heard much from the Republicans lately concerning "the will of the majority" in their efforts to destroy a Senate rule that has stood for more than 200 years.  Republicans claim that they want...

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Intelligent design is a fact

There is no question that intelligent design exists.  Certainly forms have been created in the image of their designer.  They have two arms, a head, five fingers and are capable of hiaghly...

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Were the April job numbers a fluke?

The stock market took off last week in response to a report by the Labor Department that nonfarm payrolls grew by 274,000 in April.  This was a full 100,000 more jobs than the Wall Street consensus...

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Senator Kohl on the Nuclear Option

Senator Herb Kohl is a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary committee.  I wrote to him to express my concern over possible use of the nuclear option to block debate on judicial appointments. The...

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Stem cell vote in the House

Lynn Sweet has done a great background piece on the pivitol role played by role played by Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) in bringing the Castle-DeGette House bill to allow more federal funding for...

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Philip Cooney takes the fall for greenhouse policy

Philip Cooney was chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  His sudden resignation on a Friday evening could be a turning point for official policy on greenhouse gas...

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Is Syria the next target for invasion?

Have others on this board noticed the increasingly hostile news and policy talk directed toward Syria?  It strikes me that this is the kind of lead-up that could result in a US invasion of that...

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It will have to be a female

Politically, there is no question - Bush must nominate a female to replace  Sandra Day O'Connor.  She was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and if she is not replaced by another female, it...

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Ed Rogers is a political lackey

I just finished listening to Ed Rogers on the News hour, and I think I want to puke.  This guy is a total political hack.  Why in the world did Karl Rove put him up for this job?  Obviously because he...

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The neighbor didn't know Valerie's job

One of the lines of defense we are hearing from the Bush spin cycle is that Rove could not have broken the law because it was an "open secret" that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. Well, this is a lie...

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There's no fuel like an old fuel

So who woudda thunk it?  The Bush administration tried to delay the release of an EPA report on automotive fuel efficiency until after passage of the energy bill... Why, you ask? Perhaps because it is...

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DeLay's Pork Barrel Energy Research

Passage of the energy bill ended last week after a long fight over principles and priorities and in the end was about political power.   Depending on your perspective, the bill either did not do enough...

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Finally David Brooks "Gets it"

OK, so maybe I am not fully ready to applaud everything he says, but tonight on the News Hour, David Brooks really laid into the administration.  He essentially said that the federal response to...

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First hand report from New Orleans

As a native of New Orleans, I watched with horror as Hurricane Katrina approached, and then reflected with astonishment when the administration tried to deflect onto Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco...

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Supreme Court Sex Change

The discussion about the fitness of Judge Alito for the Supreme Court is bound to go on for many more weeks.  Even though hearings have not begun, his writings show that he is substantially more...

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Rumsfeld on the News Hour

Jim Lehrer finally began to express some well-deserved skepticism to the long line of BS that the Secretary of Defense has been feeding the public for so many months. Rumsfeld deserved to be asked,...

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Would Ted Stevens benefit from ANWAR drilling?

Ted Stevens has been around the Senate a long time - and has been a motivator behind Alaska legislation even longer.  He is an institution in himself.  Unfortunately, this sort of long affiliation and...

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Tinsel Top Time

OK, roll out the tinfoil -- make a hat -- here comes a new ungrounded fear... As I see it, the real problem with Hayden's confirmation is that he has an unbridled confidence in technology.  Think of...

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"Wise fiscal policies means keeping revenues low."

When I heard Bush make this statement in response to today's reported 0.4% increase in consumer prices, I almost fell out of my chair with laughter. One must laugh, afterall, to keep from crying. How...

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Buffett to give his fortune to the Gates Foundation

Warren Buffett has decided to give 85% of his fortune - more than $37 billion dollars - to the Gates Foundation, which will make this the largest charitable foundation in the world.  Perhaps it should...

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Bill Clinton for UN Secretary General

OK, so this is just speculation - but what about it?  Do you think bill Clinton would make a good Secretary General for the UN?  Would he take the job if offered?  Does he have a snowball's chance in...

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A letter to Feingold

Day by day, the situation only gets worse in the Middle East.  This administration will keep trotting out its apologists and warmongers.  They will not take the steps necessary to bring peace.   We...

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Air America replaced by Fox Sports Radio

Madison, Wisconsin The following story was sourced from Rob Thomas of the Capital Times and can be discussed at www.madison.com/tct/forums ------ As if bankruptcy was not enough for Air America, Clear...

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Operation Chaos worked in Pennsylvania

One statistic from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania was not widely reported.  CNN exit poling showed that 15% of those voting in the Democratic primary plan to vote for McCain in November. Of...

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Operation Chaos in Pennsylvania? (Update)

One statistic from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania was not widely reported.  CNN exit poling (p 4) showed that 15% of those voting in the Democratic primary plan to vote for McCain in November....

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Effects of "Reagan Democrats" in Pennsylvania

A significant fraction of the people voting for Clinton in the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary have no plans to vote for her in the fall. According to the CNN exit poll, in an Obama:McCain match up 15%...

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Bobby Jindal's Louisiana

I have just finished listening to President Obama followed by a response from Governor Bobby Jindal from Louisiana.   While I was inspired by what President Obama told us, I was gravely disappointed...

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