Another Fourth of July is upon us and my thoughts turn to patriotism. In the past I've waxed and waned in my attitude toward this so-called civic virtue. It seems to me there are two kinds. The first, and most legitimate, is the sentiment of attachment to place and people…
The conservatives are working hard to characterize the president as incompetent. To do so is an attempt to hide the fact that much of the damage done by the president comes right out of the conservative playbook. George Lakoff elaborates, in this insightful article: The mantra of incompetence has been…
Remember Tom DeLay -- former Texas Republican (and self-proclaimed born-again Christian) who was the Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives until a corruption scandal forced him to resign from office? Well, he now says he is a resident of Virginia, not Texas. Why? Because he won the Republican primary…
Once more a "we need to protect the flag" amendment is up before congress. It could not be more politically timed. It is soon to be July, wherein the Fourth Day thereof is our national Holy of Holies, when all the good citizens can get hammered on bad beer and…
Earlier today, President Bush said it was "disgraceful" that the news media (i.e., the New York Times, LA Times & Wall Street Journal) disclosed his secret CIA program to illegally wiretap millions of financial records at the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ("SWIFT") to search for terrorist suspects. Likewise,…