Lying To Make Friends

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Entries Tagged as 'Barack Obama'

You Keep on Using That Word. . . I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

December 10th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics

Conservatives have repeatedly accused President Obama of being a socialist.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proudly admits to being a socialist.  Those confused about whether the president is in fact a socialist should listen to what a real socialist sounds like: Anyone still confused should watch the full8.5 hours of Sanders filibuster. -AR

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Losing Heart

December 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment · AR, Politics

In The American Prospect, Paul Waldman wonders whether Obama has reached a tipping point in terms of losing the faith of progressives.  While progressives have grumbled since the beginning of his presidency about Obama’s olive branches to Republicans, both symbolic and substantive, these concessions have gotten more frustrating as it has become clear that they [...]

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Just About States’ Rights, Honest

June 16th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics

This discussion of Obama’s lack of popularity in the South, and the role that race plays, touches on two points that are commonly overlooked in our public discourse.  The first, which can’t be repeated enough, is that racism is not an all or nothing proposition.  The subtle (and even many not so subtle) influences of [...]

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55 Days and Counting

June 13th, 2010 · No Comments · AS, Arts and Entertainment, Politics, Supreme Court

Obama is going to outline his plan to hold BP accountable on Tuesday, even though we all know BP will just weasel its way out of paying for much of the damages a la Exxon 2008. Happy 55th day of this horror, everyone. – AS

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White People

May 4th, 2010 · 1 Comment · AS, Technology

If you ever go back and watch a movie you’ve taped off TV in the 80s, you’ll be shocked at how little racial diversity there was in advertising back then. Just about every TV ad featured a happy, white, big-haired 80s couple, often with obligatory son, daughter, and golden retriever. I don’t mean to suggest [...]

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Hypocrite!!!

March 30th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Law and Justice, Politics

Nothing delights politicians, talking heads, and activists more than being able to accuse their opponents of hypocrisy.  I myself love having the opportunity to cry hypocrite.  Often, such charges are warranted because partisans are willing to abandon long-term principles to score points in the short-term.  But charges of hypocrisy are often themselves a product of [...]

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Health Care’s Winning Season?

March 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments · AR, Politics, Sports

Every year about this time, I start talking myself into believing that this will finally be the year that the Pirates have their first winning season since I was 10 years old.  I even have a pathetic exercise where I go through the starting lineup and the rotation, and imagine the best-case scenario stat line [...]

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In Defense of the Somehow Controversial Position that Getting Rid of Teachers is not the Way to Improve Schools

March 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment · AR, Labor, Politics

Last week, the Central Falls School District in Rhode Island decided to fire its entire high school teaching staff of 93 people.  The decision was made under pressure from state and federal to turn around failing schools, and after the District failed to come to terms with the teachers’ union over compensation for extra duties [...]

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Imagining Scenarios In Which I Support Sarah Palin or John Edwards (again) for President

February 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics

Often times, when reading poll numbers or looking at election results, I have to face the fact that my obsession with politics and rabid partisanship makes me different from most Americans.  Particularly difficult to accept, though, is my recent realization that I’m more insanely partisan than the modern Republican Party. DailyKos recently commissioned a poll [...]

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The State of the Union. . . Depends on Mitch McConnell Growing a Conscience

January 28th, 2010 · 1 Comment · AR, Politics

My expectation going into last night’s State of the Union address was that the President would be bold and combative in tone, but timid and capitulatory in substance.  In other words, that he would renew his call  for victory on major issues like climate change and health care, but dramatically redefine what victory means in [...]

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