President Obama did what president’s are asked to do in these kinds of situations; to transcend politics and speak to the larger spiritual and community issues that while not political per se, inform our politics. He exceeded all expecations tonight. This was a speech on a subject that has been begging to be given...
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The plea will go up among many of those guilty of these incitements that, "No reasonable person would ever have taken our rhetoric seriously." And they are right. Reasonable people don't take anything most of these people say seriously. They are fundamentally unserious (pun intentional). But reasonable people don't...
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So, my wish this Christmas is simple: Everyone cut the crap. If you want to call yourself a Christian, start acting like one. If you already do, blessed be. Because my New Year's Resolution is to start brining down the wrath of God on the fakes and poseurs.
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Back in October, I railed against sore-looserism as well as the fabulously misinformed conception of how our democracy works from “conservatives” in their bid to reject three Iowa Supreme Court judges for retention. It is a truism that you will rarely lose money betting on the American voter to be simpleminded and selfish. True...
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Forget all the fooferaw about whether Julian Assange is a traitor, (He isn’t even American, so if words actually have meanings, he’s not.) or whether the latest WikiLeaks dump of diplomatic cables will seriously damage the U.S. (It won’t. The people to whom this would actually matter — other world leaders and diplomats —...
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My father didn’t give me much. He wasn’t much of a father. A drunken ne’er do well, and abuser of my mother, he left me next to nothing. But he did bounce my on his knee of a Sunday and teach me the wonders of football; Redskins, football. My lifelong love for the Washington...
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This complicated person is largely responsible for both the fundamentals of modern of guerrilla warfare as we see it practiced everywhere today and the shape of the Middle East. And in a sense, the Sykes-Picot agreement, which split up the Ottoman Empire, originally between the French, the British and the Russians, is the...
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From the Des Moines Register Politics Blog: Well, it took me a couple of days to climb out of the bottle that I crawled into on the night of the 2nd. Then I had to get caught back up at work. Now that I’ve had a week or so to get my head around...
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From the Des Moines Register Politics Blog: “Carthage Must Be Destroyed.” During the Third Punic War, the Roman statesman, Cato the Elder, was said to have inserted this phrase into every public speech he gave, regardless of whether he was speaking of the war with Carthage. Thus, the Latin phrase, Carthago Delenda Est has...
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From and Economist poll: Prejudice does not stop being prejudice despite being popular or widely held. And constitutional rights do not loose their force even if they are applied to people, beliefs and behaviors that make many other people squeamish. That’s really the entire point of the bloody thing. Fundamental rights are not subject...
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