stillnotking's blog

A moment of truth - UPDATED

Submitted by stillnotking on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 3:26pm. Tags:

Politics

Those who care about such things may be familiar with the case of Ali Saleh Khalah al-Marri:

al-Marri was close to going on trial for fraud when prosecutors marched into an Illinois courtroom with a demand. Dismiss the charges, they said, because President Bush had just designated the defendant an enemy combatant.

Spreading the wealth around

Submitted by stillnotking on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 9:15am. Tags:

Politics

Conservatives appear to be upset about Barack Obama's comment, made to Joe "My Last Name Isn't 'The Plumber'" The Plumber, to the effect that he wants to "spread the wealth around".

Department of false equivalencies

Submitted by stillnotking on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 3:17pm. Tags:

Politics

Krugman on ABC's This Week (video, h/t ObWi):

Shocking!

Submitted by stillnotking on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 5:56pm. Tags:

Politics

Who could possibly have foreseen this?

Exclusive: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

...

Sharks with Laser Beams!

Submitted by stillnotking on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 8:46pm. Tags:

Politics

No, not really, just an homage to the previous diary title.

I've had my disagreements with Dr. Franz de Waal, but he's certainly one of the greats in primatology and I thought this article was an interesting read.

David Broder in the Washington Post of September 28, 2008, writes an opinion piece entitled "McCain as the Alpha Male."

Since the term "alpha male" comes out of primatology, and I have known many males who qualify, I feel like commenting on Broder's observation

Another good idea that probably won't happen

Submitted by stillnotking on Mon, 09/22/2008 - 9:29pm. Tags:

Economics and Business

Chris Dodd is proposing that if the government is going into business, it should, y'know, negotiate:

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd offered an alternative today to the Bush administration's financial rescue plan aimed at giving the U.S. Treasury an equity stake when it helps companies burdened by debt.

Elitism

Submitted by stillnotking on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 7:42pm. Tags:

Culture

Ta-Nahesi Coates just defined it for all time. Since it would be impossible to excerpt his excellent piece and retain the sense of it, click the link. I'll add my thoughts.

The real point of the DNC - Updated: ABC gets same treatment

Submitted by stillnotking on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 4:24pm. Tags:

Politics

So it turns out that AT&T threw a lavish private party at the DNC Sunday night for lobbyists and Democratic lawmakers. Glenn Greenwald was on the scene, well, on the sidewalk anyway:

Wherein the big question is answered

Submitted by stillnotking on Fri, 05/23/2008 - 7:30am. Tags:

Politics

No, not the meaning of life; that's already been answered ("It's nothing very special really. 'Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.'")

A Christian suicide bomber

Submitted by stillnotking on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 6:56pm. Tags:

Politics

I'm speaking -- metaphorically, of course -- about Rev. Jeremiah Wright's remarks to the National Press Club today.

MS. LEINWAND: What is your motivation for characterizing Senator Obama's response to you as, quote, "what a politician had to say"? What do you mean by that?