31 December 06 - 16:32
Stabbed in the Back!: The past and future of a right-wing myth.sth - Politics - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 13:02
OIC kicked out of Mogadishu: Theocrats get the boot. Next step is to get the warlords disarmed, humanitarian assistance, economic infusion, and most importantly, the internationally recognized government starts asserting real control of security and reconstruction. Immediately.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 10:03
People are mourning Gerald Ford? The man who pardoned Nixon, supported the invasion of East Timor...and appointed the neo-con pyschopaths that have run this country for 6 years-Cheney and Rumsfeld. Oh, and he's also the guy that put George Bush Sr. at the helm of the CIA. Ford was no national hero. It could be argued that he did more damage to this country than Nixon ever could.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 07:25
Q: Problem? A: It's the Conservatism, stupid.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 04:34
How to respond to conservatives: a handy guide.sth - Politics - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 03:50
Framing the issues: '...conservatives, especially conservative think tanks, have framed virtually every issue from their perspective. They have put a huge amount of money into creating the language for their worldview and getting it out there. Progressives have done virtually nothing. Even the new Center for American Progress, the think tank that John Podesta [former chief of staff for the Clinton administration] is setting up, is not dedicated to this at all. I asked Podesta who was going to do the Center's framing. He got a blank look, thought for a second and then said, "You!" Which meant they haven't thought about it at all. And that's the problem. Liberals don't get it. They don't understand what it is they have to be doing.'sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 02:03
Washington gets ready to gossip as DC sex blog goes to court: as is often the case, the wrong debate is taking place. The questions should be "why does anyone care?", "why are these things an issue?", and most importantly "why can't people stop being closed, and repressed and be honest about what they want and what they do?". If everyone started doing that, we wouldn't be having these discussions or court cases. Just look at what's being discussed: people have sex with who they want the way they want (sexual openness, open relationships), prostitution, and exhibitionism. Here's a real idea: be honest and destigmatize (and in the case of prostitution, legalize) these things! It's just genius. The regressiveness that continues to reign in this country is just so very, very sad.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
28 December 06 - 01:49
Sun Myung Moon: what a frightening man.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
27 December 06 - 12:58
Burning EPA's Books: What They Don't Want You to Read Could Save Your Life. The assault on science continues.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
26 December 06 - 21:55
Could understanding Terror Management Theory deter human aggression? '"The current research represents a unique attempt to prospectively understand the reactions of people who were about to witness the collapse of their worldview," wrote the authors. "From a terror management perspective, worldviews are "standardized systems of death denial" (Becker, 1975, p. 154), and when worldviews come under threat, their proponents may feel that the road to eternal life has been obstructed. In this case, denial of the threat may be an effective way to shield oneself from existential terror. However, when denial ultimately fails, violence may be a preferred mode of coping because it constitutes a desperate attempt to salvage the disintegrating worldview."'sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
26 December 06 - 20:26
Generals Promote Christianity Inside the Pentagon: this country needs regime change and a purge of theocrats ASAP.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
24 December 06 - 03:47
Target Iran: Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change. Illuminating and frightening.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
23 December 06 - 04:12
"When once a republic is corrupted there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption . . . every other correction is either useless or a new evil." - Thomas JeffersonWhat exactly will it take to impeach Bush. Does he have to go and kill someone personally on live TV or something? How much more damage can we allow this administration to do?
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23 December 06 - 03:53
End of the neo-con dream: project of mass destruction.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
21 December 06 - 02:11
Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan Leader, Dies: another brutal authoritarian down.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
20 December 06 - 15:05
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals" - Mark Twainsth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
20 December 06 - 13:03
Get a clue, Mr. Blair. 'He called on moderate leaders across the Middle East to join a "monumental struggle" between democracy and extremism.' The US and UK allies in the Middle East are anything but democratic. In case you haven't gotten the memo, those allies are autocrats. Brutal dictators who are only slightly less brutal than the those who they struggle to keep a lid on. If these countries were democratic (Egypt, Syria), you'd have full blown theocracies, and several of those allies already are (like Saudi Arabia). Perhaps you meant "moderate" or "secular"? Whoops, they aren't that either, like I said. Democracy, a term still enduring non-stop abuse.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
19 December 06 - 14:09
The Joke Lab: people actually spend money on this stuff?sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 17:20
The Old American Century: Twenty Years of Realist Foreign Policy. "It is indeed a dark, dark place we have entered with the Bush administration that the band of nefarious, mercenary realists are now viewed as the great statesmen of the day. The realists and the history of their brutalizing agenda have been granted a pass on their dreadful legacy. There are two reasons for this. One is that the United States, firmly enthralled by the myth of its own exceptionalism and greatly abetted in this by the vehicle of a compliant media, has long sported an intentional desire to remain ignorant of it own true history. And two, because the current gang of murderous fantasy-landers appear to be so much worse."sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 14:55
Humanism in Africa: it's good to see people are combating nutbaggery in places other than the US and Europe.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 13:42
An Atheist Manifesto: Sam Harris is a smart man.sth - Politics - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 13:24
Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma: bingo.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 12:41
How did religion acquire its extraordinary immunity against normal levels of criticism?: I've wondered this myself. Many excellent articles by Sam Harris.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
18 December 06 - 12:36
Misapplied multiculturalism and its effectssth - Politics - / No trackbacks - § ¶
16 December 06 - 17:52
White House Clamps Down On USGS Publishing: the war on Science and our drift towards authoritarianism continues unabated.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
15 December 06 - 14:21Democracy: a term abused
'Taleban law' blocked in Pakistan: with good reason. Those who supported this law said in response: "The federal government's decision to go to the court exposes their claims that they believe in democracy". Democracy is useless and destructive if you do not have fundamental, inviolate protections on human rights, civil liberties, and equality first. Once those things are protected, then we can talk about Democracy. That's really the end of the story. Democracy without fundamental protections is Tyranny of the Majority. It's so convenient for despots and tyrants to use the term Democracy to allow them to subvert fundamental rights, like these guys, Hamas, and Turkey's Erdogan. The rhetoric of the US administration has made it much, much worse. So much talk about "spreading Democracy" without every qualifying it with "after spreading education, enlightenment, fundamental rights protections, and Secularism". Without those things, Democracy is a tool of tyranny. What would happen if the (already brutal) Egyptian government was overthrown and democracy was put in place? You'd have an even more brutal, vicious, rights-violating - but democratically-elected theocracy. So politicians, shut up about spreading democracy and work on spreading those other things first.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
14 December 06 - 14:02
How the Dutch protect their prostitutes: yet another reason the Netherlands is at the forefront of pro-human rights policies. It's amazing how many people have such a difficult time thinking about these issues. It's very simple; the right to do what you wish with your own body (when dealing with the individual) should be considered a fundamental human right along with non-interference with all behaviors which take place under informed consent(when dealing with the interactions between individuals) For other types of behaviors (organization to individual, "passive" behaviors, etc.), what should be considered is the harm principle.. Everything. Not just select behaviors. Every single law should be measured against these things.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
14 December 06 - 11:26
McCain finally becomes a real Republican: anti-freedom of speech and attempting to childproof the world at the expense of adults.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
14 December 06 - 07:52
A bombshell with a long fuse: "The Iraq Study Group report may be DOA. But it shows the Washington establishment is finally confronting reality in the Middle East."sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
14 December 06 - 07:03
ACLU Challenges Government Attempt to Seize "Secret" Document: regime change in Washington is more important than ever. ITMFA!sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
13 December 06 - 03:12
Iranian Students Disrupt President's Speech . Dear Governments of secular countries, stop thinking about invasion and starting sending these guys more money. Thanks.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
12 December 06 - 14:59
Fidel's final victory: When Castro goes, his regime will stay-whether Washington likes it or not.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
12 December 06 - 01:58
There is no Iraq, and that's basically the problem. "The study group lists all sorts of things the Iraqi Army lacks - leadership, equipment, personnel, logistical support. But it does not identify the most fundamental: absence of sufficient belief in the nation." You can't create nation states if the majority of the people don't care about it. This administration surely failed Nation Building 101.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
09 December 06 - 06:35
US approves Indian nuclear deal: kicking the NPT while its down. Sad.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
09 December 06 - 00:30
Bush Backs Away From Two Key Ideas of Panel on Iraq:' One day after the study group rattled Washington with its bleak assessment of conditions in Iraq, its Republican co-chairman, James A. Baker III, said the White House must not treat the report "like a fruit salad," while the Democratic co-chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, called on Congress to abandon its "extremely timid" approach to overseeing the war.'sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
08 December 06 - 12:28
Birth rate 'harms poverty goals': you don't say! Here's an idea: the US government stops preaching their stupid, outmoded, religion-based ABC rule and start funding birth control methods, and the people in these countries stop whining about neo-colonialism and just use the birth control. It's amazing that people with ideas this stupid are on opposite sides of an argument. How about a clue?sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
07 December 06 - 21:25
Becoming What We Despise. 'Once the Twin Towers were knocked down, supposedly, we could no longer afford to be "nice guys" - as if the rule of law is an indulgence of only the most secure nations.By that standard, any tyrant can justify the cruelest of actions by citing enemies, real or imagined, be it King George III blockading Boston Harbor to teach the rebellious colonists a lesson or Saddam Hussein killing Kurdish villagers after an assassination attempt on his life. The very uniqueness of our national experiment was the checks and balances put upon the government to prevent such convenient rationalizations for abuse of the individual. The Founding Fathers won a war, but their true contribution to human history was to tackle head-on the reality that humans and their institutions can so easily become that which they despise.'
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07 December 06 - 13:36
Sharia law forced upon yet another country: Somalia the latest victim of the growing worldwide theocracy. Ideally we'd have UN peacekeepers in there to bolster the current government, but failing that, I'll take secular warlords any day of the week. Somalia's peackeeping conundrum: and people want to stop Ethopia?sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
02 December 06 - 02:47
Socialist Senator to Push Congress From Left: more senators like this please.sth - default - / one trackback - § ¶
01 December 06 - 00:23
New Head of Population Affairs Office Anti-Birth Control: hen house, meet fox.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶
01 December 06 - 00:20
Engaging closed regimes vs. isolating them. The former makes you potentially complicit in their abuses, the latter simply allows those who will tolerate those abuses step in your place. No good options is just not a fun place to be.sth - default - / No trackbacks - § ¶