Category Archives: government, law, and politics

Gutsy Move

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My kilt-wearing buddy, Adam Graham, has added an interesting twist to the 2006 Bloggies.

"The blog awards, particularly in the field of politics are an ideologial monolith. Still, I’ve got to tell you I’ve been getting some hits off the awards page (39 so far). I’m not nominated, but I’m giving the prize for the political blogs, a copy of the Screwtape Reports."

&quo;You read it right folks, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Firedog Lake, and Wonkette are battling out for an award where the biggest prize (other than bragging rights) is MY book, a book by a Conservative Christian Republican."

"The humor and irony of this situation is thick. I was prepared for the possibility of a Liberal blog winning the Bloggies when I offered it, but not the absolute certainty of it."

"Of course, whoever wins, I’ll send the book to. Will they want it? Will they accept delivery?"

Be sure to read the rest of the post as well as the follow-up posts to find out how the left wing of the blogosphere has reacted thus far.

For the record, I am not a Republican, nor am I a Democrat. I am a disgruntled Independent who registers with whichever party is politically useful at the time. If Pennsylvania had open primaries I wouldn’t have to do that. But I digress. My point is that I have no horse in this race. I’m just interested to see how this thing plays out.

What I’ve Been Saying All Along

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Democrats and Republicans are equally full of crap. (Fedora Tip: UnSpace and Grabass)

"Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows."

"And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that's contrary to their point of view."

"Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored while they pondered."

Another Reason to Hate Country Music

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This is freakin’ hilarious.

"This is the greatest collection of Al-Qaeda crooners ever assembled — almost 2 hours of the most memorable country music titles all on indelible hi-fidelity audio — featuring 13 huge hits, from the caves of Pakistan to the ‘private studios’ of Guantanamo Bay, including 10 Top 10 country smashes, duets with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri and more! Digitally remastered from the original sources for sterling analog sound quality"

Read the rest!

Brought To You By the Letter K

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From the Truth Laid Bear:

"We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street."

"We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members."

"But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process."

"As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future."

I don’t know John Shadegg from Adam, but I conceptually support this appeal. In fact, I’d ask the same of all Congressman, regardless of party.

Burying News

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A CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson describes some ways that folks prevent, spin, or kill negative articles in the press. Andy Havens thinks what Attkisson describes is "both ‘old hat’ and refers predominantly to the laziest kind of reporting in the book". In my opinion, both articles are worth being read by ordinary folks. (Fedora Tip: Minding the Planet)