tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123456142009-11-06T23:14:57.026-05:00Est. 22 April 2005 ||| "Id est quod est"Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-45748527570991650922007-07-26T01:51:00.000-04:002007-07-26T03:19:29.218-04:00

About the only ink afforded to Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich after his performance at Tuesday's CNN/YouTube debate was in reference to his dubious distinction of having the lowest-testing moment of the night among focus groups.He earned the enmity of these political taste-testers by being the only person on a panel of eight candidates, including one black man, who is openly in

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-39098886789157592492007-07-24T13:25:00.000-04:002007-07-24T15:41:50.905-04:00

I'm in the midst of enjoying my morning coffee at 1:00 PM, as is my custom, and browsing Crooks and Liars to catch up on whatever ass-hattery perpetrated by Team Bush I managed to miss thanks to our species' confounded need for sleep. A post titled Dems' big advantage on Iraq by Steve Benen reports the results of a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, which does indicate a shrinking level of public

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-28595994738020890782007-07-20T16:00:00.000-04:002007-07-21T00:21:47.377-04:00

As this article begins, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds stands within two home runs of tying the Major League record of 755, currently held by Henry Louis (Hank) Aaron, and three of breaking it. Bonds is and has been embroiled in a cloud of controversy for several years as allegations of performance-enhancing drug use have been leveled at him from several sources.In last year's book

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-86082966326035097572007-07-03T00:03:00.000-04:002007-07-03T01:37:43.671-04:00

Of course everyone is going to write about this filth. It is, to me, the winning stroke for George W. Bush's bid for the worst President in American history. In the words of Armagideon Time: "Congratulations, Mr. President. There is no bar for venality set so low that you can't find a way to slither underneath it."Two blog posts really brought home how truly disgusting and foolish a man the

Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07225223676713366033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-77617312914818345972007-04-16T18:50:00.000-04:002007-04-16T20:12:46.183-04:00

As the debate rages on between Capitol Hill and the White House over the military appropriations bill currently being hammered out between the two Houses of Congress, President Bush has stuck to the narrative that he will veto anything but a "clean bill" that comes across his desk. "Clean" means in this case no timeline for withdrawal of United States forces from Iraq, and no "pork" spending on

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-50102014142160770982007-04-06T14:48:00.000-04:002007-04-06T15:03:19.930-04:00

Or, WHY ARABS ESPECIALLY HATE AMERICA, PART 2When we last left off, America was spreading freedom in the Middle East by deposing a democratically elected official in Iran so that the authoritarian monarch they had put into power could rule even more absolutely. This set the stage for any old religious nut to rise to power by voicing the dissent of the people and, not so much breaking, but more

Matt Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15382614700327752344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-67436189553876285452007-04-05T13:19:00.000-04:002007-04-06T15:02:42.591-04:00

Or, WHY ARABS ESPECIALLY HATE AMERICAThe 1920s and 30s were a very special time for the Middle East. It was a time of very special changes: when the young nations entered adulthood, and—thanks to technological advances—for the first time noticed their blossoming oil reserves. However, the older, more mature nations only noticed the countries with the biggest oil reserves, and those with small

Matt Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15382614700327752344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-91650063685070079012007-04-04T02:14:00.000-04:002007-04-06T15:12:54.736-04:00

Or, WHY ARABS HATE EACH OTHERIslam is unique from all other religions in that it is based on the teachings of one charismatic figure who proclaimed himself divine and whose teachings are documented in a “holy” book. Modern Islamic practice is divided between two opposing groups, not unlike the Protestant and Lutheran factions within Christianity, or the Buddhist and Confucist factions within

Matt Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15382614700327752344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-54304095616349468902007-04-03T22:57:00.000-04:002007-04-03T15:00:43.963-04:00

White House counsel Dan Bartlett made a really fascinating statement to Bob Schieffer of CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday morning. Asked by Schieffer about the departure of President Bush's political strategist Matthew Dowd, -- more specifically, about his bombshell interview in The New York Times in which he declared, among other things, "Kerry was right" -- Bartlett, in so many words, dismissed

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-1408234562084182792007-04-02T00:53:00.000-04:002007-04-04T02:07:22.809-04:00

Or, WHY ARABS HATE THE JEWSThe two biggest fads of the late 1800's were, in no particular order, bowler hats and anti-Semitism. Some people, specifically the Jews, had a slight problem with this. In 1896, journalist Theodor Herzl offered a solution in his book Der Judenstaat. Written in the long-dead language of German, Der Judenstaat gave a name to an idea that had been around for centuries: the

Matt Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15382614700327752344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-77485963536438950432007-04-01T19:12:00.000-04:002007-04-02T21:46:12.788-04:00

Or, WHY ARABS HATE WESTERN CIVILIZATION“Arab.” The word sends shivers down your spine and bile up your throat. But how much do you really know about your bearded brothers and veiled sisters to the East? You know that they love hummus, they love Allah, and they love hating America; but do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shi’ite? Can you locate Lebanon on a map? Do you know if Yemen

Matt Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15382614700327752344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-18385291561243415382007-03-28T14:11:00.000-04:002007-03-28T14:25:14.040-04:00

I've been waiting for a long time now for a particular indictment and finally, here it is.Thinkprogress has video here of General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan testifying at a Congressional Oversight Hearing regarding this Gonzalez controversy and she essentially makes one of the most damaging admissions this country has had in a long time:PowerPoint sucks!That's right, the truth is

Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07225223676713366033noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-44896663546855484202007-03-21T02:08:00.000-04:002007-03-21T09:28:16.217-04:00

So! You've lost yourself a child!Congratulations! By some unfortunate eventuality or another -- the sinister hand of a rapist, a freak tornado, maybe even your kin's own glaring negligence -- you are now the parent of a dead or missing youngster.Unlike more barbaric eras, in which tragic happenstances were handled behind closed doors by families too proud to accept any rubbernecking or even

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-75583098275424417952007-02-24T12:40:00.000-05:002007-02-24T14:58:50.983-05:00

Congressional Democrats plan to introduce a bill in the coming days that would strip President Bush of the authority they voted to grant him in 2002 to wage war in Iraq. However, given the structure of the Constitutional system, this cause is more or less lost before it is to begin, as it would require the President to sign off on a cut to his own power.This eventuality seems to have been

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-45579440063700758232007-02-23T15:20:00.000-05:002007-02-23T15:27:20.988-05:00

We don't approve of the practice of tarring this or that candidate or faction with the message board postings of their most, er, passionate supporters. That being said, however, we would like to offer, without commentary or prejudice, the sentiments of one Free Republic user posting under the moniker "Prophet in the wildnerness" ...We are getting dangerously near the point where the Democrats

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-84633573233118085752007-02-22T23:07:00.000-05:002007-02-23T00:57:06.356-05:00

ABC News has posted a gallery of some highly moving photos of Bob Woodruff, who was anchor of World News Tonight for less than a month before being brained and nearly killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in January, 2006.Woodruff has made a remarkable recovery, considering that surgeons had to remove part of his skull in order to allow his brain to swell following the attack. He is even back on the

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-42334117888097682802007-02-17T11:19:00.000-05:002007-02-17T12:49:53.636-05:00

Some Conservatives have a new favorite word they like to toss around... A new label they like to pin to any of their enemies. Not in the know? Confused? Well, today's cover of the New York Post will help you out in big, bold, black print:This accusation coming from the right (parroted by pundits and politicians, "justified" by a falsified quote from Abraham Lincoln) is about as responsible and

Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07225223676713366033noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-31765619070735578772007-02-16T19:52:00.000-05:002007-02-16T20:36:18.321-05:00

I've been horribly MIA lately, but in my defense I've been mind-numbingly busy with my grad work. One thing I couldn't let fly under the radar though was this recent quote from George Bush where, when asked how he would be remembered, he said, "I made a name by being compassionate."That such a statement is delusional and ignorant is readily apparant. We could speak all day about how Bush has

Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07225223676713366033noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-38735826844641317172007-02-16T12:44:00.000-05:002007-02-16T17:35:53.454-05:00

I'm really sick of Hillary Clinton. Not just her, but also the prevailing thought that her winning in the Democratic nomination for President is a fait accompli. The woman is underqualified, not as brilliant as she's generally credited as being, and has said and done some incredibly stupid things. In the name of putting Sen. Clinton under the microscope and cutting through the phony hype and

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-25504328764352099552007-02-16T11:38:00.000-05:002007-02-16T11:41:21.320-05:00

"Everybody in America knew we were going to war ... [Bush] made it pretty clear from day one we were going to war. How come she still pretends that she didn't know he was going to war? It's like she didn't know anything about Bill and his behavior. How many times is she going to be confused by men?"Chris Matthews, on Sen. Hillary Clinton

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-5676535863180808692007-02-12T12:12:00.000-05:002007-02-15T11:28:26.572-05:00

I don't want to make a big deal out of this; people are obviously going to read what they will into my commentary and anyone without a skin thick enough to take criticism shouldn't be putting their ideas out on the internet and asking more popular websites to syndicate them.That being said, I personally think one would have to navigate an extremely circuitous path to come to the impression some

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-55908047129479030282007-02-09T15:17:00.000-05:002007-02-12T14:17:53.132-05:00

There was a time, not too long ago, when Karl Rove was the golden child of the Republican party, the master calculator, President Bush's disembodied, piggly-looking brain. Some may even remember him telling All Things Considered host Robert Siegel -- in a Jonah Goldberg moment -- that in spite of every poll under the sun predicting a Democrat takeover of Congress in November, he was in

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-5866328997372863652007-02-06T10:50:00.000-05:002007-02-15T11:45:17.091-05:00

Some days you wake up and everything just falls into place. Today is one of those days. The train pulled into the station just as I walked through the turnstile, the guy at the deli toasted my bagel just the way I like it, then I pulled up the ol' internets and what do I see?No less than my favorite psychopath, Michael Savage, floating the idea of a run for the Republican nomination for

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-73516000432325433212007-01-29T13:56:00.000-05:002007-01-29T15:31:25.662-05:00

As a lowly grad student at NYU, perhaps I shouldn't be accusing a Harvard Ph. D. of crappy scholarship, but Philip Slater's latest blog on Thomas Paine has offended my ever so delicate Historical sensibilities.Ignoring Slater's mistake that it's Paine's 170th birthday (it'd actually be his 270th), the most absurd posit of Slater's is that Paine was non-violent. Slater doesn't use that exact

Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07225223676713366033noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12345614.post-54279377281376078172007-01-24T15:47:00.000-05:002007-01-24T16:08:42.312-05:00

Republicans still hold Congress!Today's photo on Fox's Hannity and Colmes hub uses a picture from a previous year's State of the Union address; Dennis Hastert is still in the Speaker's chair.Hat tip to JMP on the C&L comment board.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16373590495761864085noreply@blogger.com2