tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30406880645934951652012-02-07T16:22:05.484-06:00The Uff-da CommonwealMark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.comBlogger1901100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-1637427189595662412011-11-18T09:25:00.018-06:002011-11-18T11:09:11.248-06:00

Spotlight is on fire for a brief moment. Google News had a great "choice" for the lead article on the Occupy Wall Street story this morning. The Reuters headline attracted my attention: Insight: The Wall Street disconnect. Sounded good to me and it didn't disappoint with this named quote near the top:David Mooney, chief executive officer of Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, one of the nation's

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-87945802420210377872011-11-10T11:59:00.014-06:002011-11-10T16:48:39.638-06:00

Independent Press, Iran Are the Ones Telling the Truth. Predictably, the news cycle is moving on from the Iran bomb theme (and implicitly the Bomb Iran theme, too). But in terms of national security, that doesn't matter much. The idea that Iran is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon - and that's the scariest thing in the world - has been hit enough by now that the truth has almost no chance

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-57210116385931548392011-11-08T14:15:00.022-06:002011-11-10T16:01:31.360-06:00

Funny You Should Say That. I listened to M.J. Rosenberg interviewed by the heroic Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio this morning on the way to work. (Love you iPhone!) Rosenberg's latest article[1] has a photo of Bibi Netanyahu captioned: "Israel's threatened attack on Iran may be a ploy to gain further international support." Coincidentally, here is the top Google News story from when I opened my

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-87971950334704616492011-11-04T10:24:00.017-05:002011-11-08T14:19:30.100-06:00

Molehills and Mountains, too. Here's the start of the excellent New York Times article on the Ricin Boys:TOCCOA, Ga. — At the Waffle House here, no one can believe that the gray-haired men who came in almost daily for egg sandwiches and coffee could have been terrorists plotting to blow up government buildings and kill masses of people using poison from a bean plant that people in this rural part

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-42462743294190862462011-11-03T10:00:00.015-05:002011-11-03T15:26:17.133-05:00

Where to start? It's an embarrassment of riches.Ricin expert Crump (source)Crump, who used to perform maintenance services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eventually told the undercover agent he wanted to make 10 pounds of ricin and "put it out in different cities at the same time: Washington, DC, maybe Newark, N.J., Atlanta, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., New Orleans."Distributing

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-71037123481365282912011-11-02T12:49:00.014-05:002011-11-02T15:42:14.274-05:00

I Mean Old: All Are Collecting Social Security. "How's the terror plot coming along sweetheart?" Photo: iStockphoto. While the "tough guys" disseminate the government's press release propaganda, and the lamestream media get yet another headline to justify the homeland security state, this part stood out:From June through November 2011, Thomas and Roberts met with the undercover agent and

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-60355874877668871712011-10-31T15:29:00.015-05:002011-11-09T15:00:40.053-06:00

My Complete Response to Wittes' Entire Email. In case you missed the update to Ben Wittes Contradicts Lord Acton, I got a mention on the Lawfare blog from Ben himself. No real sparks flew: he is a very civil man. The worst I got was that "Norwegian Shooter" is an unfortunate name. Of course, I disagree vehemently with him on that score. It's not about guns - trust me.Well, I happened to have

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-92024653687234146072011-10-28T14:39:00.026-05:002011-10-31T15:08:16.583-05:00

The Bureau Doesn't Have Johnny Utah Anymore. Johnny Utah is Keanu Reeves' character in Point Break. Utah is a typical straight-laced fresh-faced FBI recruit that somehow convinces a gang of Buddhist surfer bank robbers that he's not a fed. Oh, and he gets the girl, too. Anyway, there's nobody in the FBI like him, or his crazy-but-right partner Pappas, played by Gary Busey before people knew he

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-65167941941577780082011-10-26T11:19:00.011-05:002011-10-31T12:43:19.067-05:00

New Study Shows Gangs Are Infiltrating U.S. Military. The FBI does more than promote guns to kids, concoct "terror" plots, lock up little old (Muslim) ladies and harass peace activists. They put out solid research on blue collar crime in the U.S.[1] White collar crime? They don't care so much about that.The latest report, the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, is chock full of useful

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-79898157934740281722011-10-20T09:50:00.024-05:002011-11-01T09:42:16.494-05:00

BIG TIME UPDATE: Welcome Lawfare readers! This post is way too long already, so I'll post a response to all of Ben's text on another entry: The Full Benny. For now, I'll say that I didn't think the first paragraphs directly addressed the questions, and this was getting long, so I snipped his response. Sorry, Ben. Also, Norwegian Shooter is not an unfortunate name. It was my college nickname and

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-2717723713218223372011-10-11T10:23:00.014-05:002011-10-27T11:55:32.932-05:00

Todd Gitlin: "Doubloons?" Nope: "I think it's booty, booty ... booty, that's what it is!"If you don't know the reference, then you're old. Or possibly too young. But in either case a square. (The kids still say that, right?)Yesterday, I tore to shreds Columbia Professor of Journalism Todd Gitlin for his recent New York Times' Sunday Review front page opinion piece. But there is still lots to

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-6058282399917436292011-10-10T15:21:00.022-05:002011-10-13T10:27:16.911-05:00

In The Daily Howler series I linked to in a recent post, Bob Somerby writes about how liberals have failed to hold the professoriat to account, or alternatively, how the professoriat has failed liberals. (His writings could be summarized as how liberals have failed. And how the media has failed. He's a liberal who writes about the media, by the way.) And what did I find when I looked at the

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-78211688655346703462011-10-05T13:40:00.010-05:002011-10-26T14:16:37.741-05:00

Tools of the Trade. Link. Click to embiggen. Link. Click to embiggen.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-84425939741697234622011-09-30T15:00:00.016-05:002011-10-31T15:07:13.699-05:00

Peter King Proclaims His Idiocy In response to the recent due-process-free killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, the following statement was produced by Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee: The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki is a great success in our fight against al-Qaeda and its affiliates. For the past several years, al-Awlaki has been more dangerous even

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-79948395362864947152011-09-29T13:39:00.014-05:002011-11-06T21:19:38.287-06:00

Liberals Are Too Taxed to Do Anything About It. Militant conservatives are effective because they are absolutely shameless. [my emphasis - NS] So says Villager E.J. Dionne Jr. Yesterday was a good day for him, because he got some stuff right. But the lazy logic overwhelms: Militant conservatives are absolutely shameless. ??? Militant conservatives are effective. What's phase two? Dionne doesn't

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-2607613728738121292011-09-28T11:18:00.024-05:002011-10-10T16:04:30.974-05:00

Can Identity Politics Continue to Divide Liberals? I don't know. I'm just a white guy. Everybody's talking at Melissa Harris-Perry about her article in The Nation, Black President, Double Standard: Why White Liberals Are Abandoning Obama. Now, Harris-Perry isn't a white liberal, she's a black liberal who writes a column called Sister Citizen for the high-profile card-carrying liberal magazine.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-31438604530203202142011-09-27T11:19:00.014-05:002011-09-29T11:55:56.476-05:00

U.S. Suffers By Comparison. Here's a post I started in mid-December of last year. I wanted to show that while Iran's treatment of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal was .... What's a word that is two steps away from "evil"?[1] Because my point is that U.S. treatment of innocent prisoners[2] is only one step away. Besides being so close to each other on the evil scale, there are many other similarities

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-54088421011043710602011-09-26T09:59:00.022-05:002011-09-29T23:32:46.391-05:00

National Security Elites Chuckle at Covert Bombs. John Brennan spoke at Harvard Law School on September 16 as part of the kickoff of a new branch of the national security state apparatus called the Harvard Law School Brookings Project on Law and Security. Brennan, who is the Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (as well as an Assistant to the President),

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-60352074432928971042011-09-19T10:30:00.013-05:002011-09-21T13:41:37.738-05:00

Very next sentence: His plan, which has little chance of getting through Congress in one piece, sets up the congressional and presidential elections as an ideological battle over taxes and spending. With opinion polls showing most Americans disillusioned with his economic leadership, winning re-election may hinge on his success in painting Republicans as the party of the rich.Not a comment (by me

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-37890261292271395662011-09-16T15:46:00.017-05:002011-09-19T14:00:05.807-05:00

And now I'm done with Mike Lofgren. Um, the decor looks ... historical? Richard A. BloomStop the press - somebody actually committed journalism! A National Journal cub reporter called up Mike Lofgren and asked him some questions. Congratulations Lara Seligman! You might have a lower-paying but integrity-preserving future in the media if you can keep it up. Even the hed is good, The Quiet

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-21388028615907621992011-09-15T14:40:00.049-05:002011-09-21T10:56:44.652-05:00

Letting the Public Down Since... While there has been plenty of blog traffic highlighting my current obsession, Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult by Mike Lofgren, it seems like the buzz does not extend to the lamestream media.[1] However, I was alerted to two LSM sources by a post I found with a Google Blog search for "Mike Lofgren." The first is still a blog

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-30340522835054793002011-09-14T17:51:00.011-05:002011-10-26T14:44:38.106-05:00

An Ordinary Gentlemen Is Far from Ordinary. I found another person who is right on the internet. Again, defined as agreeing with me. Tod Kelly is a non-front-pager at The League of Ordinary Gentleman, an eclectic blog to say the least. I actually can't say anything more, because that's all I know about it. Kelly's post looked great right away, as the title, Michael Lofgren, The GOP “Cult,” and

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-14402734387637729372011-09-12T17:31:00.029-05:002011-09-14T14:26:23.576-05:00

Conservatives Are Gullible Too. Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in. One of the most read blogs in the world is The Dish, Andrew Sullivan, prop. He's a conservative Obama supporter who thinks today's GOP is nasty, so he is the perfect target audience for Mike Lofgren's article. In fact, he has written a post that says he didn't respond right away because the piece was so

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-63784430773485096772011-09-12T11:47:00.011-05:002011-10-26T14:47:04.474-05:00

The Defining Image. Courtesy of The Daily Mail, the British tabloid. (h/t Glenn Greenwald) Guys with machine guns in public places will be around for a long time, maybe always, but there are a lot of subway entrances across the nation to guard. And even if he's standing there, what can he do to somebody with something deadly in a backpack? Besides this, that is.I heard a good line today: "If they

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-5400155428739935672011-09-11T09:00:00.012-05:002011-09-21T13:15:24.415-05:00

The State of Exception. That's what hero Mark Danner labels the current era of American history. An era everyone well knows started on September 11, 2001. Read Danner's essay published in the New York Review. I doubt there will be a more precise and insightful look back at the last ten years.Although, if there is, it might be found in an article linked below. I haven't read most of these at this

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-58992801171657615442011-09-10T14:14:00.053-05:002011-09-14T10:56:22.296-05:00

Yet Another Misled Tribe of Liberals. This is not as significant to me as Scott Horton, but it's just as embarrassing. Truthdig.com, which I regularly read, has made Mike Lofgren the Truthdigger of the Week. Vomit! The award post does contain another fact: Lofgren "worked for 16 of those years with Republicans on the House and Senate budget committees." So that means he worked 12 years somewhere

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-65180132989054348622011-09-09T11:08:00.027-05:002011-09-19T16:52:33.616-05:00

A Maestro Joins the Tribe. Hero Scott Horton (lawyer) has fallen for Mike Lofgren's spiel, with his own post titled, Good-bye to All That.[1] Comparing Lofgren to former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) - another hero - Horton states that Lofgren has said "something profound and honest about the environment in which he work[ed]." Nooooooooo! Another example of the wise

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-56001947237368674522011-09-07T14:35:00.025-05:002011-09-19T16:54:33.484-05:00

Evaluating Mike Lofgren's Insights. Yesterday I argued that Mike Lofgren is not who Truthout says he is. I'm still waiting for somebody to acknowledge what a great post it was. Instead, the liberal blogosphere is not only buying that identity lie, but also the entirety of what Lofgren has to say. He picked up a major endorsement from Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone and the article has been bruited

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-3416355130995285492011-09-06T16:38:00.097-05:002011-09-14T15:03:43.298-05:00

The Man with Two Faces. Barbara Stanwyck: "We're both rotten!" Fred MacMurray: "Yeah - only you're a little more rotten." -"Double Indemnity" (1944) Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. So begins Mike Lofgren in a widely-linked article at Truthout.org, Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-67887521616947555052011-09-02T10:14:00.029-05:002011-09-09T13:30:18.735-05:00

Not Exactly About the Other Shooter. I'm afraid I have uutviklede testikler for providing more analysis on Anders Behring Breivik. However, I do have another good source for information about the attacks on 22 July. Views and News from Norway was created when the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten stopped its English companion website in 2008. The editor of that service, American expat Nina Berglund

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-14750694526735617642011-08-31T11:13:00.006-05:002011-09-01T10:23:38.651-05:00

Permanent Webstand VIII. The Webstand in the right sidebar is a list of articles that I recommend to read. You can get a complete listing of all news quote posts on the original Permanent Webstand post. Resolved: Fix the Filibuster, Walter Mondale, New York Times, January 1, 2011.Reducing the number of votes to end a filibuster, perhaps to 55, is one option. Requiring a filibustering senator to

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-35747484895717432362011-08-30T13:11:00.022-05:002011-09-16T10:40:39.706-05:00

Greenwald Does Have a Blind Spot. I wrote in the previous post draft that Glenn Greenwald seemed to be always right - defined as agreeing with me. I eventually edited it out, but just the thought traveled the ether to Brazil and gave the bad mojo to him nonetheless; the very next day he was wrong. On the internet. The horror!His blind spot turned out to be economics related. Imagine that. The

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-18325544886394738262011-08-24T22:47:00.015-05:002011-09-01T10:46:18.448-05:00

Usual Suspect Glenn Greenwald on Obama's Libya. No, I didn't leave off a word on the sub-hed. President Obama owns Libya now via Colin Powell's Pottery Barn rule. Good luck with that. I could highlight good analysis from Glennzilla almost every post he writes. I'm sure lots of amateur blogs do. What caught my eye and prompted a post today was the subject of ignoring laws generally, and Bush43'

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-88948198700585484542011-08-19T10:20:00.006-05:002011-09-01T10:30:42.334-05:00

Permanent Webstand VII. The Webstand in the right sidebar is a list of articles that I recommend to read. You can get a complete listing of all news quote posts on the original Permanent Webstand post. Return of the Great Triangulator, Robert Scheer, Truthdig.com, December 15, 2010. The sight of Bill Clinton back on the White House podium defending tax cuts for the super-rich was more a sick

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-54519900085308163882011-08-17T14:34:00.035-05:002011-09-01T10:48:35.594-05:00

Most Blogged About Stories at NYT. While I thought my title, Win the Nows, was original (and it was), the article it quoted was blogged by everybody and their sister. It was the #2 most blogged about story in the last seven days1 from the New York Times when this was posted. The left dimension of the blogosphere rightly ridiculed it, with one prominent blogger, Marcy Wheeler, basically writing

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-16354278238598816982011-08-16T11:47:00.021-05:002011-10-08T21:23:53.633-05:00

Scott Horton (Harper's) and Scott Horton (AntiWar Radio) Gotta stay positive, so I'll submit another installment of my heroes series.Scott Horton (Harper's) writes the No Comment blog for Harper's website. I've had it in my Top Shelf blog roll since its start. He is one impressive dude. Don't let the tortoise-shell frames fool you, he's the international law version of Indiana Jones. While a

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-6769022416335543402011-08-15T08:48:00.015-05:002011-09-01T10:51:47.236-05:00

"Because the Future is Just a Whole String of Nows!" That's a quote from a very wise man I learned long ago. Words to live by. I hope you put these two statements together and realized I'm going to criticize President Obama and the vapid slogan "Win the Future." Actually, vapid isn't harsh enough. Pernicious, maybe? No, that implies that the administration realizes their strategy is harmful. I'm

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-69862294802018367492011-08-12T14:36:00.011-05:002011-08-15T14:09:18.209-05:00

It's Bad for Rich People, Too. Glenn Greenwald is on vacation right now, so he found a few guest bloggers to fill in for him this week. In general, it hasn't been any great shakes, but today a really good post came from Yves Smith. She writes for the naked capitalism blog and has written a book called ECONned. I'm stealing the whole post, Income inequality is bad for rich people too, it's that

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-37079318135746030352011-08-10T16:01:00.014-05:002011-09-19T17:01:07.558-05:00

No, I don't know anyone in prison named "Thought" who deserves to be freed. I'm talking about the Free Thought movement. I just learned two new things regarding it.P.Z. Myers, the most famous atheist outside of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the prolific content provider for one of the most trafficked individual blogs on the web, has changed platforms. He's leaving ScienceBlogs.com and

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-40851974284930613762011-08-08T10:56:00.004-05:002011-08-15T15:20:41.384-05:00

The Most Sensible Thing I've Heard. It just so happens to agree with my thoughts on the issue. Purely a coincidence. The backdrop of the sensible statement is an article discussing the State of Minnesota's coming request to be exempted from the No Child Left Behind law. "Brooklyn Center Superintendent Keith Lester said that the law, while passed with good intentions, has proved 'cumbersome,

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-81806148237540125232011-08-07T11:24:00.007-05:002011-08-09T13:44:20.504-05:00

But is it Gone Away for Good? Well, the traffic explosion from Googling "Norwegian Shooter" has ended. I'm still above the previous norm of single-digit daily visits, but that might not last too long. I feel conflicted about not taking advantage of this coincidence by posting several articles on Anders Behring Breivik and the attacks in Norway. I suppose I could have loaded up on his name and

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-29754411273286213332011-08-06T11:41:00.008-05:002011-08-10T14:42:19.064-05:00

Permanent Webstand VI. The Webstand in the right sidebar is a list of articles I recommend to read. This is the sixth time I've taken the oldest chunk and archived them with selected quotes. For whatever reason, I dated the first five archives in March of 2010. I'll start just regularly dating them from now on. You can get a complete listing of all news quote pages on the original Permanent

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-8873329275047933942011-08-04T09:47:00.012-05:002011-08-10T14:50:58.621-05:00

He Claims Obama Won't Face Primary Because He's Black. The full quote, which is the first paragraph of his column, Why Obama won't face a primary challenge: President Obama is faring poorly these days, but he can console himself with the fact that he’ll probably be spared the fate of previous presidents who fell on hard times: a primary challenge. Those groups within the Democratic Party that

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-83141074150423137722011-08-03T10:28:00.017-05:002011-08-09T01:36:12.983-05:00

Imagine That, Escalation Didn't Work. I swapped my "War" logo link at right from Rethink Afghanistan to the Afghanistan Study Group. I actually don't subscribe to Rethink's blog, which I've now added to the "Best Value" blogroll at right below, while I do subscribe to the ASG Blog. What prompted the switch right now is a post from Monday: Looking for a Way to Cut the Budget; How about Afghanistan

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-67856964873939911262011-08-01T16:12:00.011-05:002011-09-01T10:54:26.869-05:00

How I Continue to Exploit the Norwegian Tragedy for Clicks. Actually, the subhead is not true and a poor attempt at humor, even around the gallows. But I'm trying to insert a little levity before I admit a mistake. My first substantive post on the attacks of Anders Behring Breivik included an endorsement of a terrible Chris Hedges article, "Fundamentalism Kills." Hedges has produced many

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-17703632417876489492011-07-28T10:09:00.027-05:002011-08-16T15:26:51.990-05:00

I Mean That Literally. WHEREAS, The church has addressed this issue throughout her history, yet orthodox Christians have affirmed consistently and resoundingly the reality of a literal Hell; The Southern Baptist Convention has adopted a resolution, titled "On The Reality Of Hell," stating that Hell is a literal (but not physical?) place of eternal damnation for all unbelievers. The first "

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-38933849172514478462011-07-26T13:49:00.024-05:002011-09-02T11:51:47.668-05:00

Readings for Understanding Norway's Tragedy. I left town Friday and went without a computer for four days, but I was able to post a disclaimer and keep reading throughout that time. What follows are some good sources to read to cover the news of Anders Behring Breivik's terrorist attack. First, some basics:Breivik is a terrorist. While that term is now defined subjectively (based on who the

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-52182783798805896212011-07-23T18:43:00.008-05:002011-07-28T16:39:12.363-05:00

I'm a Norwegian-American guy, but that's the closest I get to the Norwegian shooter in the news. I'm not a Christian or a fascist, and the one time I shot a gun - at a deer - I panicked and missed by a country mile. I'm currently away from a computer, so this is all I have right now, but I thought it important to get that out to anyone here by mistake.UPDATE: There is no such thing as bad

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-85572887809759686822011-07-13T10:56:00.022-05:002011-07-26T15:52:53.850-05:00

Unfortunately, the News Keeps Coming. FDIC Chairman Shelia Bair testifies before the House Financial Services Committee's Financial Institution and Consumer Credit Subcommittee on Capitol Hill on May 26, 2011. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Different day, different topic, same shit. This time it's the foreclosure crisis - remember that one? ProPublica (an actual bright spot in today's media) has

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-45764357514701239192011-07-12T10:11:00.010-05:002011-07-20T00:21:03.080-05:00

The outrage meter was busted long ago - all I have left is sadness. Which makes it easy to just say, "read it and weep." The WaPo article, linked from the picture, states: President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-84431961701399396122011-07-01T09:22:00.005-05:002011-07-26T15:49:08.500-05:00

Torture crimes officially, permanently shielded. By Glenn Greenwald In August, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder -- under continuous, aggressive prodding by the Obama White House -- announced that three categories of individuals responsible for Bush-era torture crimes would be fully immunized from any form of criminal investigation and prosecution:  (1) Bush officials who ordered the torture (

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-31589324030673709202011-06-28T15:27:00.019-05:002011-08-02T16:09:06.386-05:00

The Land of the Midnight Sun Leaving Operation Odyssey Dawn. A Norwegian F-16 fighter jet taking off from Souda Air Base on Crete, bound for an attack on Libyan targets.Forsvaret/Lars Magne HovtunUpdating my previous post on Norway's supposed peacefulness, it will end it's participation in bombing Libya in August. The Norwegian opposition party, which supported the mission at its start - probably

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-80129690004746465182011-06-27T11:20:00.007-05:002011-07-26T15:55:12.543-05:00

Chris Hedges responds to the haters. There was typical blowback to Cornel West's truth about power quotes published from an interview with Chris Hedges. Unfortunately, some of it was about a fairly innocuous passage that wasn't at all the focus of the piece.“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says. “It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-22327732394269871352011-05-16T12:55:00.013-05:002011-09-28T14:32:48.113-05:00

Chris Hedges interviews Cornel West about Barack Obama The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic. The open: The moral philosopher Cornel West, if Barack Obama’s ascent to power was a morality play, would be the voice of conscience. Rahm Emanuel, a cynical product of the Chicago political machine, would be Satan. Emanuel in the first scene of the play would dangle power, privilege, fame

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-5025589256113736992011-05-13T14:06:00.011-05:002011-07-20T00:23:18.109-05:00

Osama Porn News Osama Porn News! I am not above exploiting this for some possible hits. The Onion strikes again:Other Guy Named Osama Bin Laden Can Finally RelaxBTW, I'm officially agnostic about whether the porn story is true or not. Some perspective: "Did Bin Laden Borrow His Porn Stash From Manuel Noriega?"

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-16161203934994098302011-05-13T12:07:00.007-05:002011-07-20T00:26:05.464-05:00

Eugene Robinson, the 2009 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is usually pretty good. Nothing outstanding, but very solid. However, today he is off in la-la land: "Now that he’s dead, let’s end bin Laden’s grip on us." Great sentiment - not gonna happen. The open: Years from now, I believe, we will look back and say the elimination of Osama bin Laden changed everything. To borrow

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-14668979666338940892011-05-02T09:12:00.003-05:002011-05-02T09:17:06.561-05:00

In other news, Osama bin Laden dead Top Google News headline at 9:07 CDT, Monday, May 2, 2011.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-15321474387515086512011-03-25T16:39:00.015-05:002011-03-31T16:15:07.153-05:00

I'm not so sure Josh Rogin has produced a table showing all the countries that joined the most recent major international military interventions spear-headed by the US. He shows that the no-fly zone in Libya is the smallest coalition in decades. (h/t Daniel Larison) Try to guess the seven countries that have participated in all six interventions, which are Iraq I, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan,

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-62982027870437944732011-02-15T18:22:00.007-06:002011-07-20T00:29:52.582-05:00

Had to post this. From the amazing Andy Worthington, George W. Bush, War Criminal, Is Not Welcome in Europe. If we don't know our past, we are doomed to repeat it.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-44610028798682040432011-02-11T09:55:00.003-06:002011-02-11T10:01:08.648-06:00

So I'll Blog It A Tale of Two GDPs from the Afghanistan Study Group: Since 2002 the United States has “stimulated” the Afghan economy to the tune of roughly $56 billion in foreign aid. In the coming year alone, the U.S. will spend over $18.7 billion on reconstruction in a country whose government is projected to collect only $1.7 billion in revenues and whose entire (legitimate) economy was

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-54362867027412339422011-01-17T14:30:00.032-06:002011-01-21T19:58:09.627-06:00

Martin Luther King Day is perfect to revive my once-a-year series on Martin Luther King, Jr. This entry will discuss King's liberal Christianity. I first starting thinking about this after reading an essay in uuworld.org, "Why Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't a UU" by Rosemary Bray McNatt. The piece quotes Coretta Scott King: Oh, I went to Unitarian churches for years, even before I met Martin. And

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-29680233419731565022011-01-09T10:33:00.006-06:002011-01-09T11:07:29.362-06:00

Tony Judt died on August 6, 2010. He was a historian specializing in French, European and Eastern European modern history. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2008 and was paralyzed from the neck down in late 2009. In January 2010, starting with an announcement of his condition, he started to publish a series of memoirs and essays in the New York Review of Books. I started subscribing to the NYR at that

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-6179217720621418492011-01-07T10:17:00.005-06:002011-01-07T10:29:36.137-06:00

To get back to posting, I'll highlight three items in my RSS feed about Spain: The unemployment rate in Spain is 20%. A renowned theatre actor, clown, and social activist has created a replica of Bethlehem in Spain and gives a improvised performance that presents an "historical and political perspective of what is happening in the occupied West Bank, through Bethlehem." In a single year, Spain

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-14780847496798253282010-12-26T19:29:00.011-06:002010-12-26T21:20:31.244-06:00

At least for me, after I read this list It comes from the incomparable Daily Howler, which I recently added to my blogroll. The Howler has some of the best lamestream media criticism out there. Even better, it frames its criticism with regard to class, the issue that is not to be mentioned in polite company, rather than ideology. It comes at the end of two multi-post series that converge at the

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-36081004916933535742010-12-21T10:32:00.006-06:002010-12-21T15:48:08.492-06:00

Two Stories About Institutionalizing New Programs I picked up an old New Yorker in a waiting room yesterday. It was a 2009 issue that included an article by Jane Mayer, The Secret History, about the CIA after the transition of power. I saw it at the time, but it was good to read it again. I also read another article, Don't Shoot, about a new crime prevention effort targeted at gangs that was

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-89469153265171423052010-12-16T10:09:00.030-06:002010-12-21T13:19:58.938-06:00

Blue Ribbon Commission Comes Back with Recommendation Surprise - it's "stay the course." Overview of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Annual Review.I always expected to fight President Obama on the Afghan War. My first Afghanistan post was "Less Bad War Still Bad." (That short post holds up well, I think, and the comments had a very good discussion. Ryan, where are you? Anyone feel free to still

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-31513966945312497862010-12-10T16:09:00.013-06:002011-09-09T14:39:37.677-05:00

Checking out Bernie Sanders' filibuster led to more opinions about the tax deal. More obviously smart people are agreeing with me - David Latt, Democrats Have to Save Obama from Himself:How lame-brained can Obama be? (Can a Progressive Democrat like myself say that about a president I chanted for and believed in?) In capitulating to right-wing pressures that he extend Bush-era tax cuts, he chose

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-52055123590077903012010-12-08T10:01:00.019-06:002011-08-16T15:36:36.486-05:00

Why Would Obama Make a Deal with 42% of the Country? The fact that under President Obama's deal with the GOP, the top 2% of incomes will continue to receive a tax cut, while the bottom incomes will see their taxes raised,1 makes me sick. It's immoral. There is plenty of commentary on how the particulars of the deal are a complete capitulation to the Republicans, so I won't repeat that here.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-25828127753627505542010-12-05T23:50:00.022-06:002010-12-13T09:17:59.010-06:00

Not Bush43 this Time, But the Audience Bush43 was interviewed by Michael Barone at the Miami Book Fair International. CSPAN's BookTV filmed it and I watched it this weekend. I was surprised that Barone asked very substantive questions, although in no way was he adversarial. He barely asked any follow up questions, mainly allowing the former President to expound on each topic and then move on.

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-90108684042589974442010-12-04T12:34:00.008-06:002010-12-06T14:22:10.789-06:00

I seldom surf Talking Points Memo, but in general like what I see. And Josh Marshall, the founder, is a smart guy and in general I like what I hear from him on the teevee. In researching a new post, I came across two posts of his from one week in August 2003 that are dead on. Not just good analysis of the current situation, but of future trends in one post in particular. From August 23, just five

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-13310515085189439842010-12-02T13:53:00.018-06:002011-08-16T15:40:49.176-05:00

And All Recent U.S. Governments Break the Law Everyone knows that I.F. Stone's saying, "All governments lie," is true.1 So on that superficial level, there is indeed "nothing new" in the WikiLeaks release of U.S. State Department cables. [Updated URL due to U.S. domain name censor] It is not surprising then, that many members of the lamestream media have downplayed the significance of the leaked

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-89666166196087508822010-11-29T09:42:00.014-06:002010-12-06T22:27:03.130-06:00

A Reply to Jack Goldsmith There is a grand tradition of claiming some sort of gap exists between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War. Missiles, tanks, satellites, and mine shafts. Somehow the U.S. is always the one behind. Now that the commies have left the stage as enemies and the Axis of Evil didn't quite work out, stateless terrorists are Public Enemy No. 1. Unfortunately for national

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-15136754327219504322010-11-23T09:32:00.010-06:002011-08-16T15:42:55.867-05:00

Two weeks after the election, Warren Buffett wrote a note to say thank you to Uncle Sam. Besides the inane conceit of writing as a grateful nephew, Buffett's missive is maddening. "Pretty Good for Government Work" perfectly captures the sophomoric - but corrosive - attitude towards government Buffett peddles in his public pronouncements. He leads with this: "My mother told me to send thank-you

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-29820792953807699142010-11-22T13:57:00.004-06:002010-11-22T21:07:44.627-06:00

Recent political news is very depressing. So I'll go positive with two anti-torture heroes, Antonio Taguba and Alberto Mora.Alberto Mora was appointed General Counsel of the Navy in 2001. He learned of physical abuse and degrading treatment of Guantanamo detainees in December of 2002. He immediately fought to repudiate the legal analysis that justified the abuse, including the "Torture Memo"

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-14118838163208156752010-11-19T13:40:00.019-06:002010-11-24T23:46:30.796-06:00

That is the last thing I would have thought to charge Barack Obama with in 2008. But that is the conclusion that has forced itself on me. I've started negative posts about him several times over the past couple of months. No fight in him, standard centrist Democrat, go along to get along politician, et al. Like Velma Hart (who just got laid off) at Obama's town hall meeting, I just don't have the

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-66838906232970070952010-11-18T11:24:00.013-06:002010-11-19T16:16:35.036-06:00

Robert Reich:America’s long-term unemployed — an estimated 4 million or more — constitute the single newest and biggest social problem facing America.Now their unemployment benefits are about to run out, and the lame-duck Congress may not have the votes to extend them. (You can forget about the next Congress.)The long-term unemployed can’t get work because there are still five people needing work

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-75115104868464318942010-11-11T16:11:00.010-06:002010-11-12T12:12:11.908-06:00

A UAW leader resigning from a labor-business roundtable nails it: I believe leaders of the business community, with few exceptions, have chosen to wage a one-sided class war today in this country—a war against working people, the unemployed, the poor, the minorities, the very young and the very old, and even many in the middle class of our society. The leaders of industry, commerce and finance in

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-72127031672983858492010-11-09T20:03:00.007-06:002010-11-10T13:26:16.311-06:00

Lawfare: Hard National Security Choices is a blog featuring Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney and Jack Goldsmith. I emailed a response to Wittes with some thoughts on his post written with Chesney, Comments on Salahi. I've been following Salahi's case for a couple of years and I thought they were over-emphasizing some legal aspects and missing the factual findings and shortcomings of the ruling by

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-63590532106788285312010-11-03T13:12:00.015-05:002010-11-06T18:06:53.575-05:00

What do you mean 'we' Kemo Sabe? Hat-tip on the title to The Daily Show's live show last night. As for the sub-title, that's all me, but the idea behind it is out there on the Professional Left. The short story goes like this: People want to punish those in power because they are afraid because the economy sucks because of foreclosures and lack of jobs Up until this point, the narrative fits both

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-15499292538669475452010-11-02T10:36:00.008-05:002010-11-03T22:06:29.438-05:00

Today is the only day that this might be remotely interesting to most people, so I'm jumping on it. There are two electoral reform issues that I fully support: Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) and the National Popular Vote (NPV). Ranked Choice Voting is a new term for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Voters mark ballots with 1, 2, 3, etc. instead of checking one box. If no candidate receives over 50

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-7400337005395214552010-10-30T21:02:00.026-05:002011-08-16T15:46:30.856-05:00

A small group of acquaintances meeting to talk, not act. Sarah Robinson is one of a number of bloggers and websites which focus on reporting about the extreme Right wing. I've linked to her work before in my post about the Hutaree. I first started reading her after randomly finding her posts last August titled "Fascist America." Are We There Yet? was the first of three parts. In the series, she

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-79958589497924304452010-10-29T10:07:00.013-05:002010-10-29T11:41:34.556-05:00

I'm sure Steven Johnson is very smart, but I mean brilliant in the English sense: magnificent, glorious, superb, splendid. Brilliant just sounds better. Click the image at right and then the "Look It Up" button to explore a visual thesaurus, which links words together through visual maps like this one. Visual mapping itself is brilliant. Johnson's new book, Where Good Ideas Come From, is about

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-68462014131083341942010-10-28T12:52:00.012-05:002010-10-28T13:47:26.487-05:00

Katrina Plotz, activist targeted in raidsI can't be 100% negative, so I'm posting an example of very good reporting on the FBI raids a month ago. James Walsh of the Star Tribune should be credited for just writing about it, but he does a great job of highlighting the relevant issues and building the story around the quotes. And yes, even the hed is good: Does terror law protect us or stifle free

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-73207506824201362692010-10-27T15:21:00.006-05:002010-10-27T17:01:23.028-05:00

The non-empirical right, which is seemingly the majority of conservatives, is at it again. Destroying ACORN and de-legitimizing voter registration efforts wasn't enough. Now they are focusing on directly suppressing votes for next Tuesday's election:In Milwaukee last week, several community groups protested the posting of large billboards throughout the city that show pictures of people behind

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-32880721240491531382010-10-21T14:38:00.022-05:002011-09-27T11:59:30.603-05:00

It's Better to be Detained by Iran READ THIS DISCLAIMER: Iran's government is brutally repressive and unjust. I am not apologizing for the regime or trying to soften the hard edges of its repression. To be an Iranian dissident is to risk your life, while U.S. citizens can burn the President in effigy or call him Hitler. My point is that the United States' policy of detaining foreigners is worse

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-4292191893124176832010-10-20T05:44:00.005-05:002011-08-16T15:48:03.634-05:00

Which makes him twice as right as Bill Kristol. Ba-boom tssshh. Thanks, I'll be here as long as the internet exists. Make sure you tip your server. Get it? In case you hadn't heard, a guy named Todd Seavey dished on his ex-girlfriend Helen Rittelmeyer in front of her and the BookTV cameras recently. Who? Good question. Just some right-wingers who wrote essays for Jonah Goldberg's latest project,

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-86984803583876149222010-10-19T08:53:00.008-05:002011-08-16T15:49:35.158-05:00

One reason "teacher improvement" doesn't get more attention is because researchers don't know that much about how teachers get better. Typical professional development programs, in which teachers go to a workshop for a day or two, aren't effective. Even programs that provide longer-term training don't seem to work very well. Two experimental studies by the U.S. Department of Education showed that

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-80663870065399030032010-10-14T11:27:00.015-05:002010-10-15T10:35:34.119-05:00

Marijuana and torture, respectively Glenn Greenwald has an excellent - and short - post today about the similarity between the Wars on Drugs and Terror. The ending paragraph is so awesome it needs no comment: It's the perfect deceit. [The Wars on Drugs and Terror], in an endless loop, sustain and strengthen the very menaces which, in turn, justify their continuous escalation. These wars

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-39166531845231928132010-10-11T22:12:00.022-05:002010-10-18T15:08:04.303-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cMoment of Zen - Sanchez Taserwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorRally to Restore SanityI'm posting this somewhat so I can include the video of Rick Sanchez getting tasered. Jon Stewart has shown this clip umpteen million times on The Daily Show. It just never gets old. So that's what Sanchez was thinking about, not his

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-63965245923643431272010-10-11T10:29:00.013-05:002010-11-09T21:45:50.798-06:00

No, this won't be a recurring series to brighten the first day of the work week. I've learned not to over-promise blogging output. I just couldn't figure out a good headline for this post. It highlights three items that I didn't want to relegate to the Webstand, but I don't have too much to add myself.The first is an USA Today op-ed by Jerry Coyne, "Science and Religion aren't friends." As Coyne

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-65151714667746377262010-10-08T13:19:00.015-05:002010-10-11T12:19:00.060-05:00

I'm not a news junkie. I was a newspaper junkie, then a webnews junkie and now I'm a blog junkie. Maybe that will change in the next few years, who knows. But I'm not a news junkie. The reason is I hate TV news and don't like radio news. It's somewhat due to quality, but mostly due to control. If there is a segment that I'm not interested in, I can't skip to the next segment. I have to sit there

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-89529275338685628512010-10-06T14:02:00.028-05:002010-10-26T09:39:40.474-05:00

Please Shut Up, a post by Balloon Juice founder John Cole, deserves the classic come back, "I am rubber and you are glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!" The topic is Walter Mondale's recent complaint that President Obama should turn off the teleprompters and really connect with voters. Cole was driven moonbat by this innocuous comment because the GOP has also said it: Some

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-41644737510697123152010-10-05T16:26:00.009-05:002010-10-05T23:33:27.191-05:00

Europe According to the USA: From alphadesigner via Strange Maps. There are lots of other versions, and lots of commentary, but nothing according to Norway. Guess which countries describe Norway as:Here it rains way too muchArctic imperialistsPeople who love cold weatherRefrigeratorHyperboreaA land far, far awayFilthy rich heathen tribesGently boringSelfish fisherman landAnswers after the

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-80779409200843482512010-10-04T10:12:00.005-05:002010-10-04T10:21:58.125-05:00

From the One Nation Working Together rally on October 2, 2010. (h/t Democracy Now, + 3rd link)

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-4778250207632612372010-09-28T09:17:00.042-05:002011-08-16T15:53:43.201-05:00

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up my browser this morning and saw the Google News headlines. The number one story was about how atheists and agnostics know more about the Bible than any other group of people in the U.S. Not that it surprised me; rather that it was the number one story on Google News. Of course, I didn't take a screen shot of it, and as soon as I went back to the News

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-18585640049412187012010-09-26T10:42:00.021-05:002010-09-27T16:00:45.872-05:00

'This isn't America, we don't waterboard here' Those words were spoken to Roxana Saberi by her Iranian captors while she was being detained in 2009. Think about that. While it might not be accurate, it is a fact that Iran treats its foreign detainees accused of hostile acts better than we do. Yes, the Iranians extracted a coerced confession from Saberi. But the coercion, while reprehensible, did

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-11335995907493466202010-09-17T09:59:00.012-05:002010-09-17T16:09:53.900-05:00

Okay, I really watched MSNBC last night, no excuses. I had to wind down from a BookTV.org discussion between Lawrence Wilkerson and COIN superstar David Kilcullen. Very informative, but disturbing. I expected this out of Kilcullen, but Wilkerson's lack of pressing questions and nonchalance was surprising.Anyway, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow fit the bill - I knew the Christine O'Donnell

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-53612109421957879022010-09-16T15:22:00.015-05:002010-09-17T09:54:12.663-05:00

GOP Primary Story Stars a Democratic AntagonistBy Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 14, 2007 They mock her proposals, utter her name with a sneer and win standing ovations by ridiculing her ideas as un-American, even socialistic. She has become the one thing the Republican candidates for president can agree on.Hillary Clinton. (h/t Glennzilla) "[U]n-American, even

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-82818716729603409792010-09-14T09:48:00.027-05:002011-07-15T15:21:18.291-05:00

Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. is the coolest person in the world. (Stephen Colbert is pretty cool, too.) I've had the idea to write a post about him since I started this blog. What finally prompted me to actually do it was last night's episode. The intro word was "Heterosapien" and he urged the Colbert Nation to change their Facebook status to "

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3040688064593495165.post-68946009220170150252010-09-11T15:50:00.008-05:002011-08-16T15:55:34.553-05:00

The Prophet of September 12th: No, not Glenn Beck or Dick Armey, but Hunter S. Thompson writing on September 12, 2001. (h/t Glennzilla)We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or

Mark Ericksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12604074895219791713noreply@blogger.com0