Health of the Republic
« Previous EntriesIt’s Funny Because It’s True…
Monday, July 14th, 2008… and it hurts so much for exactly the same reason: This cartoon neatly sums up the amazing failure of American democracy over the past few years.
Health of the Republic: Down 7% to 5%
Friday, July 11th, 2008I’ve been meaning to write this post for a little while but net issues have been keeping me away. In any event, the recent passage of the so-called “FISA reform” (now with telecom immunity!) has sent the Health of the Republic tumbling downward. I had begun to be cautiously optimistic that American liberty [...]
My two cents
Friday, June 20th, 2008I suspect I will write more on this, eventually, but for now, here’s what I’ve sent to the Obama campaign regarding the Senator’s disappointing collapse on FISA:
I have contributed over $500 to the Senator’s campaign, more than all my previous contributions in my life. I had intended to donate all the way to the [...]
Call to Action: Oppose Telecom Immunity
Thursday, June 19th, 2008Tomorrow (Jun 20) the House is likely to pass a “compromise” revision to the FISA law so as to, in effect, grant complete immunity to telecommunication companies who knowingly broke the law in supporting the Bush administration’s illegal eavesdropping program. Make no mistake: This isn’t about the telecoms per se — House Democrats offered [...]
Real Leadership
Monday, December 17th, 2007“Leadership” is a word tossed around a lot today, especially by those who evidence none of it. But today, in the United States Senate, Christopher Dodd (D-CT) stood up for the rule of law and demonstrated the sort of leadership that once made this nation great. Faced with Harry Reid’s inexplicable kowtowing to [...]
Health of the Republic: Down 3% to 12%
Saturday, December 1st, 2007Calling Orwell…. Calling George Orwell… Or maybe Kafka is a better target. US military prosecutors have asked for — and now have been granted — a blanket order preventing the defense counsel of a Gitmo detainee from discussing the identity of any prosecution witness with anyone, the defendant included. The defense argues [...]
Recycled: What’s So Wrong About Military Tribunals, Anyway?
Thursday, November 8th, 2007Another piece written some time ago (circa 2002 January) that reads chillingly a propos today. This was written before the series of judicial rebukes to the President’s overreaching constitutional “doctrine” of unlimited executive power. Sadly, those rebukes have not rendered the points raised moot.
Waterboarding
Thursday, November 8th, 2007I don’t like me-too blogs but every once in awhile, someone writes on a topic in a way that exactly captures my own feeling, a way that I could never match, much less trump. This piece by Joe Galloway is one such.
My God, how did we come to a point when Senators [...]
Recycled: Just Wrong
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Long before this blog, I kept an equally-erratic literary journal called A Voice in the Wilderness. And while nothing written there was particularly world-shattering, I don’t want it to get lost in the mists of cyberspace. So to do my part to save the planet, I’m going to recycle and reuse that content, [...]
Worrisome Phrase
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007In reading this AP News story on the upcoming speech by the President, I came across the following:
Bush and his senior advisers are likely to hear the initial thinking from Ryan Crocker, Bush’s envoy in Baghdad
[emphasis added]
Isn’t Ryan Crocker the accredited ambassador to Iraq? Confirmed and empowered, one would hope, by the United States [...]
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