Everything I know about politics I learned from Monty Python

From Life of Brian, the best political documentary ever made: And so it goes…

Overnight open thread

I wanted an excuse to front page this piece by Ed Koch: I predict a Republican victory of tsunami proportions on November 2nd. [...] Why would intelligent voters leave the Democratic Party that they endorsed so heavily two years ago in the 2008 presidential election? The reason is obvious – deep, deep disappointment in the [...]

Flyover Country

Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun And you might meet ‘em both if you show up here not welcome son Our necks are burnt, our roads are dirt and our trucks ain’t clean The dogs run lose, we smoke, we chew and fry everything Out here, way out here We [...]

Sexism? What sexism?

The picture above is NOT A PARODY, it is the actual cover of Mother Jones magazine, a periodical named for a feminist icon: Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930), born in Cork, Ireland, was a prominent American labor and community organizer, who helped co-ordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial [...]

October 26, 2010: Happy Birthday, Hillary!

Remember Maya Angelou’s poem for Hillary: State Package for Hillary Clinton You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits’ end, but she [...]

This is what a liberal looks like

Eight years ago today, Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and three five other people were killed in a plane crash. Three years ago, Ezra Klein (in his pre-Kool-aid days) wrote a moving tribute: Wellstone’s populism was not an affectation, or a political posture. It was laced into the fabric of his personality. It’s what [...]

Bill-Bashing

Scary-smart Anglachel: Which leads me to that last little snark of Mr. Marshall’s. Since I’ve got at least ten years on the guy and my background is political science (specifically, political theory – the study of systems, idea and ideologies), I figure I have both experience and subject matter knowledge on him, though I’m smart [...]

Monday Morning News and Views

Good Morning Conflucians!!! Voting day is just about a week away. Here in Massachusetts, we have a closely contested Governor’s race and two close races for two house seats long held by Democrats. The latest polls show the Democrats leading for now. Governor Deval Patrick leads his two opponents in the race for governor but [...]

Weak tea

I was reading this article by Dave Weigel at Slate and I realized that “What the fuck?” month is still going on. It starts with this: We sit down and we’re given the full details for the conference: “Fractures, Alliances, and Mobilizations: Emerging Analyses of the Tea Party Movement.” It’s the first event of its [...]

Sunday News Roundup

Good Morning Conflucians!! Right off the bat we congratulate the SF Giants for their big win last night. They beat the Philadelphia Phillies in game 6, and are headed to the World Series on Wednesday. If they win it will be the first time since they moved to San Francisco: The Giants continued their inspired [...]