Noise as Censorship (18 Jun 2013 08:44pm)

Noise becomes a cover. I would say that the ideology of the censorship through noise can be expressed, with apologies to Wittgenstein, by saying, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must talk a great deal." The flagship TG1 news program on Italian state television, for example, is a master of thi...

Tom Clancy Combat Concepts (18 May 2013 02:36pm)

No one amongst those people had served in combat, but Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson and his staff were all the combat personnel. And it's funny, they were shuffled over at the State Department and the civilian ideologues were put over into the Pentagon and they were the people who came up with wh...

How to Make War Bipartisan (15 May 2013 07:54pm)

Recall back in 2008 that the CIA prepared a secret report (subsequently leaked to WikiLeaks) that presciently noted that the election of Barack Obama would be the most effective way to stem the tide of antiwar sentiment in western Europe, because it would put a pleasant, happy, progressive face on t...

Dobson's Negro as Other (21 Apr 2013 08:49pm)

In the complexion of negroes we meet with various shades; but they likewise differ far from other men in all the features of their face. Round cheeks, high cheek bones, a forehead somewhat elevated, a short, broad, flat nose, thick lips, small ears, ugliness, and irregularity of shape, characterize ...

In Memoriam: 4 April 1968 (04 Apr 2013 06:26pm)

In 1968 sanitation workers made history in Memphis, Tennessee. Over a thousand workers went on strike to protest unfair wages, discrimination, and unsafe working conditions that took the lives of two of their own. Marching through the streets, they wore signs declaring "I Am a Man." In April, Dr. Ma...

Yglesias on "Illegals" (25 Mar 2013 12:27pm)

The correct word choice around unauthorized immigration to the United States is, of course, politically contested in the United States. I like to refer to unauthorized immigration or migration because I think it's correct. Talk about undocumented immigrants seems euphemistic, like they just lost the...

Epicurus' Trilemma (24 Mar 2013 01:55pm)

(1) If God is unable to prevent evil, he is not omnipotent. (2) If God is not willing to prevent evil, he is not good. (3) If God is willing and able to prevent evil, then why is there evil? —Epicurus Trilemma Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion...

Hamilton Straightens the Prols Out (12 Mar 2013 03:51pm)

All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are tur...

Economic Libertarianism (08 Mar 2013 10:53am)

The fundamental error of economic libertarians is one of faith, faith in the divine efficiency of the almighty market. And, like chiliastic Christians everywhere, market fundamentalists—no matter how many times events refute their articles of faith—can be relied upon to find some handy e...

Obama Talks About Himself (23 Feb 2013 02:37pm)

Most of us are wise to the ways of admen, pollsters, speechwriters, and pundits. We know how high-flying words can be deployed in the service of cynical aims, and how the noblest sentiments can be subverted in the name of power, expedience, greed, or intolerance. —Barack Obama, without a hint...

Sullivan on Revolutionary Republicans (15 Feb 2013 08:53am)

No entity in our polity right now is more radical and revolutionary than the current GOP: their contempt for institutional custom knows few bounds when it comes to the short-term tactical possibility of impeding even a newly re-elected president, after losing the popular vote for the presidency, Sen...

Gojira on CNN (06 Feb 2013 05:08pm)

I am a good historian when I get home, plop down in front of the TV, switch it on, see an image of a giant creature smashing Tokyo, and do not infer, "Oh! I must be watching CNN!" Is it because I know darn well that monsters do not and cannot exist? I know no such thing! Cryptozoology tell us we may...

Kiriakou on Conviction (28 Jan 2013 09:02am)

I am proud that I stood up to our government. I stood up for what I believed was right conviction or no conviction. I mean they can convict anybody of anything if they put their minds to it, but I wear this as a badge of honor. I am not a criminal. I am a whistleblower. The thing that I blew the whi...

Antisemite Martin Luther (17 Jan 2013 09:15am)

I shall give you my sincere advice: First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are C...

More Tea Party Idiocy (16 Jan 2013 10:53am)

It is pure baloney to say we have to pay the bills for things Congress has already approved. We are drawing the line on future spending, not the debt or obligations to Social Security, Medicare and the military, which can all be met without an immediate rise in the debt ceiling. —Amy Kremer Q...

A Tale of Two Movements (09 Jan 2013 08:33am)

The fact is this—anyone paying careful attention could have told you that the Tea Party was simply the old far right dressed up in funny new clothing. Its numbers historically hover between one-fifth and one-third of all voters depending on the times. These were the people who thought Presiden...

First They Came With... (08 Jan 2013 12:08pm)

First they came with their Social Security, and I didn't speak out because it seemed like it would be good for the old and the economy too—a win-win. Then they came with their interstate highway system, and I didn't speak out because I knew that could be great for commerce. Then they came wi...

Our Final Rest (26 Dec 2012 08:22pm)

I think death is, gratefully, final. It's no different from the state that we were in before we were conceived. Even though life is very short—I'm fond of pointing out to people that the average human life is less than 1,000 months long, which is a good reason for not wasting time if one can h...

The Problem With Tolerance (26 Dec 2012 06:33pm)

If you step back from this for a second, you realize that what they are saying is "we are not for marriage equality, but we are for tolerance." So, quite literally, what is being suggested is that certain people will be tolerated instead of made equal. And that is the way tolerance has operated for ...

The Danger of Conservative Frames (24 Dec 2012 08:41pm)

There are, of course, problems with this "truth by focus group" approach. For instance, polling data show that a majority of Americans do not know that electrons are smaller than atoms. The diffusion of knowledge would be greatly impeded if science teachers were expected to adjust their ideas accord...

Different Views of Fiscal Cliff (18 Dec 2012 01:12pm)

Let's say that President Obama and Speaker Boehner agree on a deal that allows $1 trillion of the scheduled tax increases to take place over the next decade and cuts $1 trillion in spending over the same period. Most Republicans will view that as a deal with a 1-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax incre...

Chico's Favorite People (14 Dec 2012 08:59am)

Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed. —Gummo Marx, about his brother...

If I Had a Nickel... (05 Dec 2012 09:21pm)

If I had a nickel for every time I've been incarcerated... I'd have fifteen cents. —John Lyshitski Let's Go To Prison...

King on Poverty (05 Dec 2012 10:31am)

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has com...

The Plutocrats (29 Nov 2012 11:31am)

I think the way it works—and I think Romney's comments were very telling in this regard—there are two differences in the mind of this class. First, they're absolutely convinced that they're not asking for special privileges for themselves. They're convinced that it just so happens that t...

Economic Fairness for Homeowners (23 Nov 2012 10:31am)

We certainly should be trying to help underwater homeowners as a simple matter of fairness. We bailed out Wall Street billionaires, it seems a pretty minimal proposition to offer assistance to homeowners who bought into a bubble that all the top economists insisted did not exist. —Dean Baker ...

This Is What I've Been Saying About the DMV (21 Nov 2012 11:54am)

I've recently had fairly extensive dealings with both our health care system and with the New Jersey DMV. In one case, I encountered vast amounts of paperwork, mind-numbing bureaucracy, and extremely frustrating delays. In the other, my needs were met quickly and politely. So far, then, it's DMV 1,...

Fix The Debt Hypocrisy (21 Nov 2012 09:13am)

What [Fix The Debt] believe in, instead, is the overwhelmingly importance of rate-cutting tax reform and reduced spending on retirement programs. Which is fine. Tax reform and the appropriate level of spending on bolstering the living standards of retired people are legitimate topics for debate. But...

Sex Scandal Highlights War (13 Nov 2012 08:57pm)

WASHINGTON—As they scoured the Internet for more juicy details about former CIA director David Petraeus' affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, Americans were reportedly horrified today upon learning that a protracted, bloody war involving U.S. forces is currently raging in the nation of Afghanista...

Latinos Not Natural Conservatives (13 Nov 2012 12:05pm)

This post isn't meant to take sides in that debate, just to urge that one talking point in it be retired. Namely: "Hispanics are natural conservatives because they're hard working, family-oriented, and religious." This line manages to be condescending to Hispanics, self-congratulatory for conservati...

The Truth About Republicans (07 Nov 2012 06:07pm)

I don't think the "crazies" of the GOP are any different, policywise, from the mainstream, they're just a bit more uncouth. They shriek instead of dogwhistle, say what they actually think instead of speaking in code. —Duncan Black, Taken Over By The Crazies ...

"Likely" Voters (05 Nov 2012 03:22pm)

[T]he study shows is that the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner went back at the end of 2008 and looked at who in their samples actually voted. It turned out that something like 87% of people who said they were likely to vote ended up voting. 70% of those who said they [were] pretty likely voted...

Bill Clinton Tells the Truth (03 Nov 2012 12:33pm)

Let me tell you something. I may be the only person in America, but I am far more enthusiastic about President Obama this time than I was four years ago. —Bill Clinton, campaign rally in Florida (Thanks to PoliticalWire.) ...

Krugman's One Point Economic Plan (26 Oct 2012 09:25am)

Actually, if describing what you want to see happen without providing any specific policies to get us there constitutes a "plan," I can easily come up with a one-point plan that trumps Mr. Romney any day. Here it is: Every American will have a good job with good wages. Also, a blissfully happy marri...

The Wonderful Reagan Years! (20 Oct 2012 01:53pm)

On December 5, 1982, Ronald Reagan met Guatemalan president Efraín Ríos Montt in Honduras. It was a useful meeting for Reagan. "Well, I learned a lot," he told reporters on Air Force One. "You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries." It was also a useful meeting for Ríos Montt. Reagan decl...

The Cheech-and-Chong Machine (08 Oct 2012 05:10pm)

We have allowed the powerful, the rich, the Democratic and Republican Cheech-and-Chong machine... to define the political context through which we view the world... We need to remove 9/11 from our memories for a moment, and look at a perfect trajectory of mass slaughter in Iraq that extends back man...

Theodore Roosevelt on Inequality 1910 (26 Sep 2012 05:14pm)

The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effect...

Kung Fu Wisdom (03 Aug 2012 11:37pm)

Not to understand a man's purpose does not make him confused. —Master Po If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past. —Master Po In striving for an ideal, we ...

Total Articles: 38