Let’s Hear it for Civil Disobedience!

Last night President Obama spoke at a fundraiser in LA for Senator Barbara Boxer. In what I see as a very refreshing turn of events, LGBT activists repeatedly heckled a clearly irritated Obama with calls for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Obama tried to calm the hecklers by claiming that both he and [...]

Monday Morning News and Views

Good Morning Conflucians! Today is Patriots’ Day, a holiday in Massachusetts that commemorates the the initial Revolutionary War battles in Lexington and Concord. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere …was sent for by Dr. Joseph Warren and instructed to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching [...]

Yo Barack, how about an EO on this?

From Bilerico via Corrente: Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place–wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still [...]

Podcast alert: Defending the Internet

As you may know, I am a podcast junky. (“I can stop any time I want to.” Then Stop “I don’t want to.”) For the past several months, the monkeys on my back have been This Week in Tech (TWIT) and This Week in Google (TWIG).  The latest episode of TWIG focuses on the battle [...]

Sunday News Roundup

Good Morning Conflucians!! Let’s see what’s brewing in the news. A secret memo from Gates was leaked: U.S Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned in a secret memo to senior White House officials that the United States does not have an effective long-term strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear programme. The three page document, written in [...]

She’s ba-ack!

So I’m reading the Chron for Raider news and I find this: The Raiders likely won’t draft a quarterback in the first round next week, as they added a second former first-rounder to the mix on Thursday in former Cal star Kyle Boller. That’s good news, but farther down in the article I see this: [...]

Should the U.S. have a National Day of Prayer?

Barbara Crabbe, a US District Court judge in Wisconsin, has issued a decision calling the “National Day of Prayer” unconstitutional. The complete ruling is here (PDF). In her decision, Crabbe wrote of the legislation establishing an official U.S. day of prayer: It goes beyond mere “acknowledgment” of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage [...]

Once you learn to fake authenticity, the rest is easy

From the Telegraph article How Barack Obama invented himself containing an interview between Obama biographer David Remnick and Ta-Nehisi Coates: TC Right. How does that play into his political career? I wonder how, again, to the extent that there was a choice to identify as multiracial, not necessarily black. DR It is a huge theme [...]

Kick Ass with Hit Girl

If you were thinking of catching a movie this weekend, consider this one starring a ‘tween killer with a potty mouth: First, let’s be clear. This is a movie for adults. If your kid wants to see it, say no. Hit Girl is a character that I have never seen on screen before. She is [...]

Friday Mid-Morning News and Views

Good Morning Conflucians!! TGIF! And it’s Spring! What more could we wish for? How about a little bit of socialism? The tea party folks decry it, but what do they know? Not much. Check out this story from The Boston Globe on the recent tea party rally in New England, featuring Sarah Palin (via Reclusive [...]