Community Organizer?

I completely stole this from Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Nachos:



One community organizer who moved a nation, when our political leaders wouldn't.

Read more...

One Little Web-bit

So, in an attempt to find a way to declare my allegiance in advance of this week's Michigan/ND game, I did a Google Image search of 'fucking Notre Dame'. And what do you think was the first hit?

It was this image, from none other than the good people at Around The Keg.



Congratulations, and well done gentlemen. We are now the world's foremost internet source of images related to inappropriate fornication with Our Lady.

**** UNRELATED UPDATE***
This has nothing to do with the earlier post; but it pretty well encapsulates what I've learned thus far in Law School...


Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'

Read more...

The Hypocrisy of Experience, Teenage Pregnancy, and Sexism.

Thank goodness for the real journalists. (on comedy central)

Unfortunately it wouldn't embed, but watch here.

Read more...

Did the Republicans "Bounce" Back?

So the conventions have ended, we have heard both candidates and their Veeps speak, and the post-convention polls will soon slow their “bouncing”.

Last week we ran a lot of posts and comments on the Obama/Biden speeches and the Democratic convention.

Now it’s the Republican’s turn.

What did you think of the McCain/Palin speeches? Were they effective?

Did the Republicans outline an agenda for America, or did they return to the Rovian/Nixonian approach to campaigning?

Have at it.

UPDATE: I have been looking to find decent coverage of the protests inside the RNC Convention last night. I had to go to the source to find it.

In case you missed it, (because there hasn't been coverage) Iraq Veterans Against the War member, Adam Kokesh protested McCain's lack of support for veterans issues. See more at the IVAW website.

Read more...

Bad Presidents

"If I hear one more word about the Constitution I'm arresting this whole fucking country."

I thought I'd lighten the mood of this presidential race with another list.  A while back I linked to one with The 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time.  The same site has another similar one entitled 6 Great US Presidents and Their Crimes Against Humanity.  I am sure there are plenty of other heinous acts, but it is still pretty interesting.

Read more...

Taking a Look at Wedge Issues

In the interest of continuing the fine discourse that Steves spoke of in his last post, I would like to hear what people think of the following snippet of Barack Obama’s speech delivered before the Democratic National Convention:

"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort."

I’d really like to hear from readers who land on both sides of the above issues on how this part of the speech impacted them.

Read more...

Sarah Palin Scandal(s)?

Before I get to the point, I wanted to thank the people involved with this blog.  There seems to be no shortage of political blogs, but so many of them offer very little in terms of rational debate, but tend more towards hyperbole, name calling, and bloviation.  This place is different and people are able to reasonably and passionately express opposing viewpoints.  I'd like to think this is beneficial.  I have certainly learned much and have changed my opinion in several policy areas and this is due to the type of discourse that occurs here.

The same can't be said for the rest of the blogosphere.  The Palin nomination has drawn a lot of scrutiny, as it should.  She is a relative unknown and we should know about how she has governed, how she has voted, and what she thinks on the "issues."  Reasonable or not, I would also expect that people would have questions about her personal life.  I don't care for most of the gossip or personal stuff, but I do expect there to be some factual basis.  We have already seen Obama be the subject of a nasty rumor that he was some kind of closet Muslim.  Some even took that to the absurd by suggesting he would institute some kind of Islamic law in the US.  

The Palin version of the nasty rumor was seen briefly on our own blog before Smitty canned it.  It suggested that Palin's youngest is actually the child of one of her other children and that she faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her daughter.  Daily Kos ran a very elaborate one with pictures that has already been debunked by numerous outlets and is completely without merit.  I have never been a huge fan of Kos, but had respected them for the most part.  I would certainly have put them in the top 10 for left leaning blogs.  I am pretty jaded about some stuff and I know this is nothing new.  That being said, it still makes me very mad.  On one level, it is just a rotten, dishonest thing to do.  On another level, it distracts people from more important issues that are certainly critical to our nation.  Despite being denied and proven wrong, they are still believed by some.  I still hear the closet Muslim rumor.

As I was composing this post news came out that Sarah Palin's disclosed that her daughter is pregnant.  It is hard to tell where this will go.  I am sure both sides will spin it all sorts of ways.  The fact that McCain knew maybe says that we are able to not make such a big deal about irrelevant stuff, but maybe not.  One thing is for sure, this will clear up the accusation that he was pandering to the religious right.

Read more...