President Barack Obama sending dual messages to voters and has moved from the “hope and change” candidate we saw in the 2008 election, to the “doing what it takes to win” president fighting for reelection. President Barack Obama Sending Dual Messages to Voters in Quest for Reelection (Wikipedia) The political transformation of President Barack Obama is glaring. He has moved from the “hope and change”...

I have seen every single Superbowl ever played, going back to Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. I remember quite well the empty seats in the Los Angeles Coliseum. And believe me, Madonna was perfect for this thing called the Superbowl, although it bears little resemblance to what I remember. Football game, blah, blah, blah. No, what I am talking about — divorced from a game that’s still...

NATO’s campaign to overthrow Libya’s strongman Gadhafi had 2 terrorist groups rejoicing. A recent UN’s report confirmed what many suspected – NATO’s operation unintentionally provided stocks of heavy weapons to terrorist groups in Northern Africa. Among the groups benefiting from the arms are al-Qaeda and the deadly Islamic terror organization Boko Haram, which is currently on a killing...

Dear Vice President Gore, et al. I’m concerned. More than concerned, in fact: deeply troubled. How can I say this, diplomatically? Hmmm. Your new news  shows look like crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And by “look” I mean the physical plant that serves as a backdrop for your hosts. They are an embarrassment, and, much as I’d like to be a fly on the wall for the sessions in which your “look”...

I think this is the conclusion. But this isn’t easy stuff, and the preceding parts (see below for index) were meant to set you up for the finale. And fireworks, we got! Strap in, pilgrims … Ivan Petrovich Pavlov Selling the New Nixon, part i (2011/12/01) Selling the New Nixon – A Clockwork Luntz (2011/12/05) Selling the New Nixon – What Ailes Us (2011/12/07) Selling the New Nixon – Pavlov...

Hamburg, Germany: Preventive Detention Controversy Splits Politicians and City Residents A ruling in spring 2011 by the German Constitutional Court enables dangerous criminals in preventive detention to return to living “a normal life”. And that includes having a place to stay, becoming part of a new neighbourhood. German politicians now have a burden on their hands and residents have serious safety concerns....

Iran has been working on its nuclear weapons program for years. The west has been trying to convince Iran to back off its nuclear intentions for years. Through diplomatic efforts and through increasingly severe sanctions, the west has been trying to make its point. But defiant Iran is not getting the point and is refusing to stop its nuclear program. Now Washington and Europe are trying to up the stakes with...

At first blush, you may find this incredible, even impossible to believe, but, my friends, this “crackpot” story could well shake the political establishment of our nation to its very root touch-ups. L. Frank Baum, author of a series of beloved children’s books, admittedly snuck certain political and allegorical information into his writings. But other information has been included as well....

Guest post by Rob Miller Rob Miller is a US Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. A Charleston native and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, Rob and his family currently reside in Beaufort, South Carolina. Having served over thirteen years in the United States Marine Corps, from enlisted infantry Marine to Company Commander, serving twice in Iraq to include the Battle...

First, an observation which I seldom see in print: King remembered going to a lecture on the principles of Gandhi, and how it changed his thinking. And Gandhi remembered reading Henry David Thoreau‘s “Civil Disobedience” while in jail in South Africa. Now, of course, we know that another South African prisoner, Nelson Mandela, was, in turn, inspired by King in South Africa, where Gandhi had...

Your news media at work: first, obtain the authentic photo of the actual story; THEN black out anything in the photo that would actually show anything; THEN slap your video logos and bumperstickers all over it. • You know what I’m talking about. • No army that ever marched didn’t have douchebags like these. You know these guys. And so do I. They were the dumbasses who put the frog on the...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urges Gov. Mitt Romney to release tax returns and data that could substantiate his claims of having created 100,000 jobs as CEO of Bain Capital. Sarah Palin Calls on Mitt Romney to Release Tax Returns, Show Proof of 100K Jobs Created at Bain Capital (Wikipedia) Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, AKA “Mama Grizzly,” has called for Gov. Mitt Romney to release his tax returns,...

Meet fake cowboy and superPAC proprietor Foster Friess (center) This moment that Rick Santorum’s money backer is revealed is a fleeting moment. The New Hampshire Primary is this Tuesday, followed by the quadrennial South Carolina Confederate Flag controversy a week later. (Don’t laugh. It was that, far more than the “black babies” whispering campaign that doomed John McCain’s candidacy...

I’ve been offline most of the day but I will live blogging the remainder of the ABC News Republican Presidential debate. As usual, many of my comments should be taken as the impressions of an independent voter about how the candidates are coming across. END OF DEBATE: Sort of considered a blah debate. Mitt Romney came out unscathed. Look for the band wagon to begin. 6:48: There he goes again. Former House...

Return with us to the thrilling days of yesteryear, where, astride his faithful steed Hedgefund, the fake cowboy/real gazillionaire from Wyoming spurred into the sunset and rode valiantly to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Salt Lake City Tribune takes up the tale [emphasis added]: V.P. talks Iraq, borders in SLC BY ROBERT GEHRKE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 29, 2007 1:58 AM Vice President Dick Cheney...

I had never been hospitalized before. I was in my forties, and, save for a long, sadistic episode in which they WOULDN’T let me sleep, after ten hours in a steel mill in Kansas, having hit my head on pavement and requiring five or six stitches and the creepy claustrophobia of a CAT scan and nothing to eat (which I do not consider hospitalization, but, rather, the eight-hour airport layover from HELL). As...

EDITOR’s NOTE: DUE TO A TECHNICAL GLITCH THIS WENT OUT UNDER THE WRONG BYLINE. WE REGRET THE ERROR MERRIMACK, N.H. — I love watching Republicans engage in class warfare. They condemn it as a sin when Democrats come within 100 miles of even mentioning the sharp and growing class inequalities in the United States. But when conservatives play the class card, they see doing so as a high ethical calling...

Heard before the Iowa Caucuses:

Latest poll results show Ron Paul leading at 20%, Mitt Romney 19% and Rick Santorum at 18% in a dead heat, as Newt Gingrich fades fast, in home stretch for lily-white Iowa caucus. Iowa Caucus Heading to Photo Finish with Ron Paul, Mitt Romney & Rick Santorum Leading the Pack (Public Policy Polling) The latest Public Policy Polling survey in Iowa shows the three leading contenders all within two points...

I need to warn you that what follows may be a bit confusing. It sure as hell confused me over a decade and more. But it’s timely for “Boxing Day” and if it scores a knockdown, that’s great. A TKO or KO would be better, but we takes what we can gets. [h/t to Jan C. for the link that started this descent into the "Political Cesspool"] Note the use of “parasites” below, cribbed...

Welcome to his vorpal sword‘s  Seventh Annual presentation of “The Saint Nick Case,” a Christmas radio play of approximately one-half hour. Click for the radio play For a special treat,  The KOPT Radio Theater Players in the 2005 production of “The St. Nick Case,” in wide-spectrum, full color stereo. The radio play was broadcast live on Eugene’s Air America affiliate KOPT-AM 1600...

Guest post by Ali Ezzatyar Approaching the one-year anniversary of the Arab spring, it’s very easy to forget that the events of 2011 would have been unthinkable last Christmas. Browse through the op-ed pages of every major newspaper or foreign policy journal, or the title of any of the books that were being published on the region this time last year: not a single clear, quantifiable notion that one man’s...

It is the Winter Solstice at precisely 9:30 PM PST (or 12:30 AM EST, 3:30 AM GMT). And, on the darkest day of the year, we manage to come to one of the darkest moments of the political year, coincidentally. I’ve never trusted neatness … Which brings me to a point I’ve wanted to make for some time: the “crisis” that the Tea Party screams out is not actually a crisis. It is an outcome....

Conservatives should take a second look at GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, who is by far the most conservative candidate of the slate of presidential candidates and has the most foreign policy experience. Shouldn't Conservatives Take a Second Look at Jon Huntsman? (Wikipedia) Conservatives should take a second look at GOP presidential hopeful former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. After all, he is far more...

In Part i. we talked about the GOP’s cognitive dissonance and how they plan to invite everyone into the corner they’ve painted themselves into — since there’s no time to unpaint it. In Part ii. it was noted that we have moved “beyond freedom and dignity” into an utterly amoral world of Skinnerian rat conditioning and how Frank Luntz targets the message to the reptile brain,...