Rudy Ruiz, guest commentating at CNN, has some thoughts: Why has it become so difficult to even consider changing our minds about important issues? Here's my diagnosis. Increasingly, the willingness to change one's position on political issues has been misread as a mark of weakness rather than a product of attentive listening and careful deliberation. Three factors exacerbate this paralysis … Read More
The Latest Rightwing Freakout
On September 8, President Obama will speak to schoolchildren throughout the country. He's going to convey a rather standard message. In an August 26 letter to principals, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan described Obama's September 8 speech as being about "the importance of education" and "persisting and succeeding in school." Duncan also offered K-12 "classroom activities" to "engage students and … Read More
Pat Buchanan Goes Full Blown Nazi-Supporting Stupid
His latest — a pro-Nazi apologia entitled "Did Hitler Want War?": But if Hitler was out to conquer the world — Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, South America, India, Asia, Australia — why did he spend three years building that hugely expensive Siegfried Line to protect Germany from France? Why did he start the war with no … Read More
Bloody Sock To Replace Liberal Lion?
Just because he's got he had a decent split-finger fastball doesn't mean he'll be a good political leader: Can a Republican fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts? Among the list of possible GOP candidates is Curt Schilling. The former right-handed starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox is not ruling out a possible run. "I've got a lot on … Read More
Trumbo
Here's the sum total of what I knew about Dalton Trumbo before yesterday: He wrote "Johnny Got His Gun", which was one of the first grown-up books I ever read. He was one of the "Hollywood Ten" who got blacklisted because he refused to name names. He wrote the screenplays to "Spartacus" and "Papillon". Last night on PBS, the American … Read More
“Any Rebroadcast, Retransmission, or Account of this Game, without the Express Written Consent of Major League Baseball, is Prohibited.”
A blogger wanted to tell his friend Tyler about the Diamondbacks-Astros game (on August 23), so, aware of the warnings, he decided to call MLB: The next morning I shot off an e-mail to MLB with my request and heard back within hours from Valerie Vieira, from the business development department in MLB Advanced Media. She asked me to call her. I … Read More
Health Care Alteration Leads To A Guy’s Finger Getting Bitten Off
The guy who lost his pinky was opposed to health care reform. He had verbally assaulted a woman, then started physically assaulting a pro-health care supporter. The latter fought back. That's according to this eyewitness account, which adds: Don’t be fooled by reports ginning up sympathy for that 65-year old guy or worse yet, reports characterizing him as a senior citizen. … Read More