Posts filed under 'Uncategorized'
It was not till the 2000 presidential election that I began following politics seriously. I got most of my news from the New York Times and then began watching all the cable shows in the weeks building up to the election. During the recount and the court debacle I watched hours and hours of CNN and MSNBC every day. After a while of this, I started wondering where all the sane analysis had gone. The pundits on cable news were entirely void of substance, and even the op-ed pieces in good papers like the Times didn’t seem incredibly relevant or insightful.
Then came Paul Krugman, who forcefully and consistently pointed out the idiocy of the Bush Administration, and the harm it was doing to the nation; first with the tax cuts for the rich, and then with the disastrous war. The rest of the Times staff and the mainstream media were notably uncritical of the war until late 2004, when things had gone so poorly for so long, there was really no other way to cover it. As Courage and Journalism are still nursing the wounds of a decades-old divorce, Krugman deserves tremendous respect and admiration for getting the two to reconcile, if only for the couple days out of the week that his column runs in the paper.
But the story does not end there, my friends. Oh no, it does not. Krugman also tossed in a plug for talkingpointsmemo.com in a late 2002 op-ed. This turned me on to a whole world of online bloggers, the best of whom took the idea of ethics and accuracy much more seriously than the “professionals†in the mainstream media. These guys have since gained a good deal of well-deserved credibility, and many of them now write their blogs out of the offices of quality periodicals, like the American Prospect and the Atlantic Monthly.
January 29th, 2008
There is a real chance that Obama could win and Hillary could even come in third. Gotta love those Iowans. History in the making, right here.
January 3rd, 2008
The elephant in the room is the real GOP. It’s the real George Bush. Why are we acting like the Republican leadership has decided on a sane course of action for this country that we just happen to disagree with? There are plenty of legitimate choices to be made about how government should run, how foreign policy should be conducted. But let’s stop pretending Republicans offer one of those choices. Let’s ditch the ludicrous notion that the only kind of politics we need is a coin with a D on one side and an R on the other.
The elephant in the room is the real Global Warming. The gradual warming that might eventually put our children at greater risk for skin cancer was 30 years ago. The one we’re facing now is more serious. At this late stage in the game, we shouldn’t still be talking about drafting a bill to send a hand-written thank you card to every company that voluntarily decides to cut CO2 emissions.
And why isn’t anyone talking about the elephant? Because the Bush Administration denies the existence of elephants. And the Bill of Rights that protects the freedoms of people who mention elephants.
November 8th, 2007
Interestingly enough, I am currently attending Bunker Hill Community College as well as the Harvard Extension. They are pretty much the best representatives for each end of the spectrum of universities in Boston. BHCC has a lot of kids from city high schools, as well as over 600 international students. It has joint admissions programs with the state schools in Massachusetts (UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, etc.), and is considered one of the better options for students looking to move on to a four-year university after their stay at the Bunk. The community colleges and state schools in Massachusetts pale in comparison to their counterparts in California, say, but they provide a decent and affordable education.
Harvard, by contrast, is the most prestigious college in the United States. As a disclaimer, I should note that the extension is open to all, so I can’t claim any accomplishment for treading the “hallowed grounds” of Harvard Yard. Decent and affordable are two words long absent from the Harvard dictionary. I think it is quite likely I’m the first individual to be attending both of these institutions concurrently, and it should provide the opportunity for numerous societal and academic observations; or at the very least, the opportunity to make clichéd class contrasts, jokes and soap box declarations. Stay tuned. At least it’s not politics, right?
November 6th, 2007
I added all my favorite political blogs to the link section on the right. I can’t imagine you all will want to visit them, since I’ve already been getting requests to write less about politics, but here they are anyway. They are organized alphabetically, definitely not in order of preference. I will probably expand the links section to include other types of useful websites. How exciting!
November 6th, 2007
In the last few years, Al Gore has greatly repaired his image, becoming respected and beloved internationally, as well as among American progressives and people who believe in science and all that nonsense. He has dramatically increased awareness and the potential for action on global warming, but has done so in a shrewd and dignified manner that has largely inoculated him from the kind of criticism that has pushed other progressive advocates like Michael Moore to the fringes of public debate.
Gore’s remarkable success since 2000 has left many wishing he’d take another crack at running for prez. There are several strong arguments against the idea. Allow me to briefly roll them out.
The Hillary Juggernaut is nigh unstoppable at this point, running against her would merely diminish Gore’s possible influence in a future Clinton Administration, divide the party, and distract from Gore’s mission. As Dave Roberts of Huffington Post puts it, Al has managed to transcend the “glorified high school of U.S. politics”. He can engage Americans and the world on a higher level than he would be able to as a mere political candidate. Why regress now?
Another point: a lot of Gore’s failings as a candidate are still there. He doesn’t talk like Pete Farmer, he doesn’t act like Pete Farmer. A nobel peace prize and an Oscar, far from a launching point for a presidential bid, can actually be negatives in the world where Pete Farmer resides. P.S., fuck Pete Farmer.
Many also feel that it is too late to enter the race. The funding and organization needed to seriously compete in the early state contests take months to cultivate.
I’m not entirely sure these obstacles can be overcome, but I think the possibility is worth considering.
America is ripe for a strong progressive candidate, and yet the three top-tier candidates are all hesitant to offer bold, inventive solutions to our country’s growing problems. Not since the 1960s have American politicians been so unwilling to latch on to overwhelming public sentiment.
The argument that Gore doesn’t want to run for president is just hogwash. No doubt he enjoys the great reception he’s been getting over the last few years, and knows much of it will evaporate should he run for office again. And his real strengths do not lie in campaigning. But if he thought he would win, he would run in a heartbeat. And I am much of the same mind. He has a lot to lose, but if it’s doable, it should be done.
We aren’t going to see real change in the Democratic Party until the Clinton stranglehold on the party establishment is forcibly released. Gore is the only one with enough star power, credibility and leadership, to make such an attempt with the least amount of mud-slinging.
There is an apt parallel here. James Dobson has voiced the reluctance of Christian Conservatives to back a pro-choice Republican candidate, Rudy Giuliani. They worry that nominating an “abortion lover” for both parties would effectively kill the pro-life movement. Similarly, progressives are worried that nominating Hillary takes many important issues- genuine universal health care, speedy withdrawal from Iraq, a carbon tax - off the table, possibly for the next 8 years. The difference is that Democrats have a mandate from the electorate for real change. The conservatives have a mandate to return back to the realm of the sane. Dems and Republicans should take two very different lessons from the threat of mutiny (or at least apathy) by the party base on each side.
As a Jerry Springer final thought, I think it is unlikely that Gore would win. But I think he is the only possible Democratic nominee worth campaigning for, and I think he would make a great president. If he does choose to run, I think we should see it less as a sign of his unchecked ambition, and more of an acknowledgment that his kind of leadership is desperately needed in the “glorified high school of U.S. politics”.
October 13th, 2007
So yeah, I watched the Democratic debate tonight. Just atrocious. Republican Lite Joe Biden and Crazy Uncle Gravel got in the only good lines. The Big Three were as anemic as I’ve ever seen them. While it’s chicken shit, this kind of makes sense for Hillary, but someone should explain to Obama and Edwards that playing it safe and running out the clock works best when you lead in the polls. Hillary voted for Iraq Resolution 2007 (ie Lieberman’s Iran bill), Obama was conspicuously absent for the vote, and Edwards criticized from his safe perch in ex-Senator land. I’ve taken more courageous shits.
Tim Russert made sure to ask his typical obtuse gotcha questions, along with incredibly relevant doosies about Boyscouts, ridiculous Iran hypotheticals and finished the night off with “what’s your favorite passage from the Bible?” Russert, you’ll recall, is the same reporter we thought had heroically refused to divulge his sources during the Valerie Plame fiasco, until it came out at the trial that he’d already told the FBI everything the first time they contacted him.
Obama, for me, is the biggest disappointment of all. Edwards tried the “why can’t we all just get along” approach in 2004 and it just doesn’t work when the political system is this broken. Bill pulled it off in ‘92 because he could be positive and still call a spade a fucking spade when he needed to. And because he’s Bill Clinton. But “civil discourse” is not the anitidote for the absolute corruption we have seen over the last six years.
One more thing that pisses me off. Edwards, Clinton and Obama always go on about having a discussion with the American people, like no one takes the time to find out what Joe Everyman wants, anymore. Bullshit. Joe Everyman wants health care he can afford, cars that don’t run on borrowed time, and he wants his son on the next plane home from Iraq. Polls say it, the 2006 election said it, everyone you talk to will say it. The question isn’t what we want or need, the question is who’s willing to fight for those things. Unfortunately, the only candidate who appears willing to do so is a shrill little elven man from Ohio. I would give Barack Obama’s nonexistent left nut for Al Gore to enter the race.
September 27th, 2007
I’m not sure there is a practical reason for being able to do this, but it is amazing nonetheless. And hey, since when did FTP become a bunch of advertisements for trivial web shit?
August 18th, 2007
The Associated Press has a story about SJSU’s annual bad writing contest. This year’s winner made me laugh:
“Gerald began — but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them ‘permanently’ meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash — to pee.”
July 31st, 2007
Jerry Falwell died yesterday. Thank the lord. Checking out his obit, I learned that he became a born-again at 19. If you are indoctrinated with that stuff as a child I can understand. Born-agains throw me for a fucking loop, though. I just don’t get it. He turned down pro basketball to go to Bible college. What a world.
May 16th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts