[This is the second post in the series Why Everything You Know about Your “Self” Is Wrong. The series explores how our understanding of selfhood affects our sense of individuality, our interpersonal relationships, and our politics.] In the first post in this series, we disentangled the notion of selfhood from the body, the mind, and the witness. Another common mistake is to … [Read more...] about Am I a Home for Identities?
Hillary Alert! (Cartoon)
See great cartoons by all the top political cartoonists at http://cagle.com. To license this cartoon for your own site, visit http://politicalcartoons.com … [Read more...] about Hillary Alert! (Cartoon)
President Obama to Name Daniel Werfel Acting IRS Commissioner
BREAKING NEWS: President Obama will reportedly name Daniel Werfel as acting IRS Commissioner. Daniel Werfel is currently the controller of the Office of Management and Budget. He has served in that role since 2009. He will replace Steve Miller was resigned at the request of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette. … [Read more...] about President Obama to Name Daniel Werfel Acting IRS Commissioner
Is President Obama Having a ‘Katrina Moment’ as White House Battles Three ‘Scandals?’
Is President Obama having a "Katrina moment" with the trio of scandals rocking his administration -- Benghazi, IRS snooping and the Associated Press wiretaps? I knew it was a matter of time before someone invoked "Katrina moment" as a way of explaining away the drama that continues to dominate the news cycle. Personally, I believe Eric Holder should be put out to pasture, given … [Read more...] about Is President Obama Having a ‘Katrina Moment’ as White House Battles Three ‘Scandals?’
Breathing Bad Air
Tina Brown (Vanity Fair>Newsweek>Daily Beast) isn't someone I'd turn to for the last word on our political culture. She may be condemned by her position at the Beast to chase the latest scandal. Whatever. But when, in an interview this morning, she made it sound as though Obama will never climb out of this mess (you choose.. there are so many), I had to switch her off. … [Read more...] about Breathing Bad Air
Quote of the Day: National Review Warns Republicans Not to Overreach on Obama Scandals
There is a danger for Republicans' good fortune in the three scandals (which seem to be deflating in various degrees but by no means gone) that have set in place the "second term curse" for President Barack Obama -- and Democratic hopes for 2014: it's overreach. And our Quote of the Day comes from the conservative National Review in an editorial. Here's the most important … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: National Review Warns Republicans Not to Overreach on Obama Scandals
How Twitter has changed local politics (Guest Voice)
How Twitter has changed local politics (via The Christian Science Monitor) Newark Mayor Cory Booker has used his Twitter account to connect with his constituents on pertinent issues. Many of them have used social media to engage in political discourse or campaign for community action.(Twitter) Lynette Barnes, a southern New Jersey native, was initially hesitant about … [Read more...] about How Twitter has changed local politics (Guest Voice)
The false god of ‘narrative’
WASHINGTON -- "What if the government starts enforcing the espionage statute whenever there's a leak?" Steve Roberts, a former New York Times journalist who teaches at George Washington University, observed to the Baltimore Sun. "It's going to have a tremendously chilling effect on this interplay between sources and reporters." But Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) insisted … [Read more...] about The false god of ‘narrative’
Eric Holder’s abdication (Guest Voice)
Eric Holder's abdication by Dana Milbank Washington Post Writers Group WASHINGTON -- As the nation's top law enforcement official, Eric Holder is privy to all kinds of sensitive information. But he seems to be proud of how little he knows. Why didn't his Justice Department inform The Associated Press, as the law requires, before pawing through … [Read more...] about Eric Holder’s abdication (Guest Voice)
Let’s Take a Walk Down the Memory Hole
With the manufactured Benghazi scandal tying with the IRS for the story that the right is pretending is a story, it’s worth looking back at what a real scandal looks like. Most people think of Watergate when they think “scandal” but by Nixon standards, Watergate is just a little icing on the cake. The premise behind the Benghazi scandal is that the President failed to label … [Read more...] about Let’s Take a Walk Down the Memory Hole
GOP Needs A Robert Strauss
I was flipping channels today and came across a replay of a Book TV episode on C-Span. The topic was a biography of long time Democratic operative Robert Strauss. One of the points made by the author (his great niece) was that Strauss took over as chairman of the Democratic national committee in the aftermath of the McGovern fiasco of 1972. At the time there was talk that … [Read more...] about GOP Needs A Robert Strauss
Obama’s Bush League Scandals Are No Match
Democrats who have been wishing for years that their party turn as nastily combative as the GOP are getting a taste of what St. Teresa of Avila meant centuries ago by saying, “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.” Suddenly the Obama White House is besieged by accusations of IRS targeting Tea Party groups and the Justice Department bugging the … [Read more...] about Obama’s Bush League Scandals Are No Match
Climate Denial’s Death Knell: 97 Percent of Peer-Reviewed Science Confirms Manmade Global Warming, Consensus Overwhelming (Guest Voice)
Climate Denial's Death Knell: 97 Percent of Peer-Reviewed Science Confirms Manmade Global Warming, Consensus Overwhelming (via Desmogblog) A new survey conducted by a team of volunteers at Skeptical Science has definitively confirmed the scientific consensus in climate science literature - 97 percent of peer-reviewed papers agree that global warming is happening and human … [Read more...] about Climate Denial’s Death Knell: 97 Percent of Peer-Reviewed Science Confirms Manmade Global Warming, Consensus Overwhelming (Guest Voice)
Obama fires head of US tax agency over scandal
Obama fires head of US tax agency over scandal (via AFP) An angry President Barack Obama sacked the acting head of the US Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday over a fast moving scandal sparked when officials unfairly targeted conservative groups. Obama said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had asked for and received the resignation of tax agency chief Steven… … [Read more...] about Obama fires head of US tax agency over scandal
Asleep at the wheel
[Editor's Note: This was written before President Barack Obama's announcement that the acting IRS Commissioner was fired, and before other White House actions on some of these crisis. Some think columns such as the one below made the White House re-evaluate its approach to these scandals -- but this column's points still hold up.] Asleep at the wheel by Dana … [Read more...] about Asleep at the wheel
A Look Back At A World Gladly Gone By
We've all seen photos of the era of segregation but usually those pictures are in black and white, which somehow seems to make them less real. I came across this link to a series of pictures in color, which I found fascinating. … [Read more...] about A Look Back At A World Gladly Gone By
Democrats Worried About 2014
An article at Politico takes a look at one of the possible scenarios for election 2014. I am one who thinks you can't predict elections this far out if for no other reason than we are likely to have a whole new pile of scandals between now and then. But I think the Democrats are less optimistic about things than the GOP, and with good reason … [Read more...] about Democrats Worried About 2014
White House Releases 94 Pages of Emails, Notes About Benghazi Terror Attack
The White House released nearly 100 pages of emails and notes about the Benghazi terror attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The internal emails included the talking points Ambassador Susan Rice and other officials used on Sunday shows following the attack on September 11, 2012. View the emails and notes here, courtesy of … [Read more...] about White House Releases 94 Pages of Emails, Notes About Benghazi Terror Attack
Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg: If Obama Could Cure Cancer, GOP Would Still Hate Him
I am no fan of Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, but every now and then he gets it right. He and Bernie Goldberg reached the conclusion that even if President Obama could cure cancer, the Republicans would still hate him. The Associated Press phone record seizure is worthy of scrutiny, but the Republicans have cried wolf so many times by manufacturing scandals where there were none, … [Read more...] about Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg: If Obama Could Cure Cancer, GOP Would Still Hate Him
Notes From A Hate-Thy-Neighbor Political Culture
I thought I had a good idea. An obvious idea. An idea with a lot of natural and timely appeal. It involved too-big-to-fail banks. A couple of months back the Senate, in a highly unusual bipartisan move, unanimously passed a resolution. In vague and general terms this resolution called for the break up of too-big-to-fail banks. Being just a resolution, of course, it had no … [Read more...] about Notes From A Hate-Thy-Neighbor Political Culture