Category Archives: politics

Raw Deal

Posted on 2011 August 1 by mongreldogs

TR had the Square Deal.  FDR had the New Deal.  Harry S has the Fair Deal. Barack Obama will have the Raw Deal. So a debt-ceiling “deal” has been reached.  Going in to this, the President was willing to compromise … Continue reading →

Posted in Health of the Republic, politics | Leave a comment

Can seeing a US flag turn you Republican?

Posted on 2011 July 10 by mongreldogs

And if so, what cn be done about it? A study referenced in Discover has the provocative conclusion that seeing a small American flag while completing a political questionnaire can induce the respondents into being more Republican, even up to … Continue reading →

Posted in Health of the Republic, philosophy, politics, ramblings | Leave a comment

The debt ceiling and the 14th Amendment

Posted on 2011 June 5 by mongreldogs

The 14th Amendment is more-or-less the Swiss Army amendment of the US Constitution.  It defines citizenship, extends constitutional protections to state constitutions, and so on.  Lately, it’s become popular to posit that it also holds the key to avoiding a … Continue reading →

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National Constitution Center endorses torture

Posted on 2011 March 7 by mongreldogs

Well, by extension.  They’ve invited John Yoo to participate in a forum on “A Conversation on Civility and Democracy in America” — apparently without a blink of irony, too.  Yoo, you might recall, is the author of the infamous Torture … Continue reading →

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Currently Reading: First Quater 2011

Posted on 2011 January 4 by mongreldogs

American Scripture by Pauline Maier Consider Phlebas by Ian Banks Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel

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Sometimes the worst thing is saying, “I’m sorry”.

Posted on 2010 September 14 by mongreldogs

So, last Saturday (Sep 11), a paper in Maine ran a story about the local celebrations at the end of Ramadan the day before.  It was a pretty innocuous piece, a typical fluff article about local culture. Then the Internet … Continue reading →

Posted in American cantos, personal, politics | Leave a comment

Nice metaphor

Posted on 2010 August 19 by mongreldogs

Neil Irwin explains the current dilemma faced by the Fed by extending a metaphor promoted by guest host Christopher Hayes on Monday’s episode of The Rachel Maddow Show: The Fed is in charge of watering the fields but has exhausted … Continue reading →

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Political snark of the day

Posted on 2010 August 2 by mongreldogs

Regarding the fact that Fox News will now have a front-row seat at the White House briefing room: Fox News is a propaganda outlet, a detail everyone seems to know, but which is apparently impolite to say out loud. The … Continue reading →

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Political snark of the day

Posted on 2010 July 28 by mongreldogs

I stole the tagline from a commenter at Political Animal and the picture from a public domain image at Flickr, and put it together using the motivational poster generator at Big Huge Labs.

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Quote of the Day

Posted on 2010 July 26 by mongreldogs

Why did the stimulus go wrong? In the end, we took a soapbox racer to a go-kart track and then realized we were competing against actual cars. Great analogy — and better analysis — by Ezra Klein.

Posted in law, politics | Leave a comment