Race, Democrats, and the Ideological Divide

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 31, 2006 · 10:00 AM PST

2006/10/31 · 10:00

There has been some talk here about disgruntled black Maryland Democrats who feel that their party is ignoring them, and thus have endorsed Michael Steele, the black Republican candidate there. I'm writing this diary in part because of that, but it isn't really about that specifically, but rather the broader issue of the politics of African-American Democrats in the US, and their ideological leanings, and how that compares to the politics of Daily Kos and/or the Democratic Party. What I've found is that there definitely is a divide, and I think we should talk about it. Read More

Anthrax Attack: WaPo Walks It Back

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 25, 2006 · 10:12 AM PDT

2006/09/25 · 10:12

Today, there was a front page story in The Washington Post about new developments in and information about the FBI's investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters. Why is this front page news? It should be front page news just because these developments essentially contradict all of the earlier reporting on this story, including numerous front page stories from The Washington Post. Also, "The bureau has assigned fresh leadership to the case". Hmm... Read More

Fox Hostages Convert to Islam on Video?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 28, 2006 · 10:58 AM PDT

2006/08/28 · 10:58

Fox's newest Islamic journalists?

"My name is Steve, I am American, after I entered Islam I changed my name to Khaled," Fox News Correspondent, Steve Centanni said in the Video.
"My name is Olaf, I am from New Zealand. After I entered the Islam I changed my name became Yaqoub," said Fox News Cameraman, Olaf Wiig.

What's going on here... did they really convert? What was the reaction to this, and how does it compare to other such situations? Read More

Survivor Segregation--Critics Say...

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 25, 2006 · 10:34 AM PDT

2006/08/25 · 10:34

Much fuss has been made already lately by politicians and in the media about the forthcoming Survivor: Cook Islands TV show from CBS, which reportedly will initially divide the 20 contestants into four teams along racial lines. New York City Councilman John Liu painted it as "a battle of the races", and now people are coming out of the woodwork decrying this as a bad idea, to the point of making Nazi comparisons and the like.

Personally, I can't wait. Read More

Armed Militia Groups Should Be Disarmed?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 16, 2006 · 9:36 AM PDT

2006/08/16 · 09:36

So here's a random question, a passing thought: this principle that armed militia groups should be disarmed, because they're a threat to the legitimate government of their own country--does that only apply to Lebanon, or is John Bolton and the US willing to commit to this as a general principle? That is to say, is there a good reason for this distinction, or should we repeal the Second Amendment, or are they just being hypocritical? Read More

John Fund, Pathological Liar.

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday August 15, 2006 · 2:30 PM PDT

2006/08/15 · 14:30

So here I am watching Hardball, and John Fund disputes a fact and urges his opponent to 'look it up'--the fact in question, whether or not we have kept our troop levels constant in Saudi Arabia after 9/11; according to John Fund, we have, and we still have "about 16,000" troops there. So what are the odds that John Fund pulled this number out of his ass, and was just grandstanding to make a point, and force his opponent to back down?

Well, let's follow John Fund's advice: let's look it up. Read More

Debunking The Lamont Vacation Myth

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 11, 2006 · 11:33 PM PDT

2006/08/11 · 23:33

After Ned Lamont won the Democratic primary in Connecticut, he went to Maine with his family for a well-earned vacation. Despite that, Ned Lamont has not been out of contact with the rest of the world--actually, I've seen and heard a fair bit from him during his vacation. Despite that, I've kept hearing Kossacks going nuts about how Ned is doomed because he's disappeared on vacation. So as a public service to allay their fears, let's see what Ned's really been up to: Read More

The GOP Lets Osama bin Laden Run Their Foreign Policy.

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 09, 2006 · 3:31 PM PDT

2006/08/09 · 15:31

Today, Tony Snow told us why we should stay the course:

Now, when the United States walked away, in the opinion of Osama bin Laden in 1991, bin Laden drew from that the conclusion that Americans were weak and wouldn't stay the course, and that led to September 11th.

That's right--because if you don't stay the course in Iraq now, then bin Laden will think that we're weak again, just like--according to Tony Snow--George H. W. Bush was weak in 1991, and we'll have another 9/11. That is to say, stay the course, or the terrorists have already won. Now since when did America let a terrorist dictate our foreign policy? Read More

When Do We Invade China Already?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 07, 2006 · 2:05 PM PDT

2006/08/07 · 14:05

So I was watching the President's latest speechifying today, and the transcript is finally up. One passage in particular struck me, and I'd like to explore the reasoning therein:

And as far as this administration is concerned, we clearly see the problem and we’re going to continue to work to advance stable, free countries. We don’t expect every country to look like the United States, but we do want countries to accept some basic conditions for a vibrant society—human rights, human decency, the power of the people to determine the fate of their governments. And, admittedly, this is hard work because it flies in the face of previous policy, which basically says stability is more important than form of government. And as a result of that policy, anger and resentment bubbled forth with an attack, with a series of attacks, the most dramatic of which was on September the 11th.

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 29, 2006 · 1:03 AM PDT

2006/07/29 · 01:03

Fellow Kossacks, here's what I'm confident the right would call an unhinged pre-9/11 moonbat (to the rest of us, a former American President), and what he had to say about the dangers of partisanship:

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Sounds appropos--revenge and dissension foster a personality cult that rallies around a self-aggrandizing power-hungry leader at the expense of the rest of us... Read More

Is it only terrorism when 'they' do it?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 22, 2006 · 10:56 AM PDT

2006/07/22 · 10:56

There has been a lot of confusion here lately over what does and does not constitute terrorism, and in the way these labels are applied and used. Some people are of the opinion that only non-state actors can be considered terrorist groups, whereas others would argue that 'terrorism is as terrorism does'. The line is further blurred, however, when states are taken to task for having terrorists within their borders or for (knowingly or unknowingly) doing business with them, allowing them to do business with others--just about anything, really. What is needed here is a clear definition of what is or isn't terrorism, followed by a clear policy implementation consistent with this definition.

Fortunately, the United States came up with a definition back in 2001: Read More

The DLC Consensus Solution To Dissent In The Blogosphere

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday July 20, 2006 · 2:15 PM PDT

2006/07/20 · 14:15

My Fellow Bloggers,

Today is an historic occasion here in the Blogosphere. What I am about to publicly reveal has been a closely guarded secret, years in the making. It was recognized, long ago, that we had a problem in our discussion threads, an intolerable problem that all too often made any real, constructive discussion here--and across a whole host of other blogs--virtually impossible. Although not attributable to any one blog, group, or person, it collectively became known as "The Darrell Problem", whereby any discussion thread--no matter how focused--could easily be derailed into pointless squabbling and bickering by only a handful of inflammatory, tangential and offtopic comments, without regard to their informational content. Today, we have the solution to that problem.
Read More

Newer
Older

RSS