After what I'm sure was a much mourned hiatus, I'm back. And boy, did I miss a lot. Mark Foley, enemy combatant & torture laws, and something about Paris Hilton.

I will say this. The Mark Foley situation is a difficult one for thinking liberals to parse ethically, if they wish to be consistent. As Leah pointed out, is 16 or 17 really young enough ( Read more... )

All right, so it seems I might have goofed on this one. The CCC is an awful organization, but it seems that it's reasonably clear that I misread the picture. So I'll take it down and I appreciate the person who commented for giving me the heads up. The cross-post is also being removed, for those who were forwarded from there ( Read more... )

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This is for anyone who followed the Evanston First Ward aldermanic race between Judy Fiske and Cheryl Wollin. As you may know, Fiske contends that by providing students incentives to register to vote and to vote (not for a particular candidate, but just in general), Northwestern manipulated the election and broke the law. She wants large numbers of ( Read more... )

Let's start with something you probably already know about me. I like to call Indian Americans "macacas." It's a term that refers to macaques, or rhesus monkeys. Comparing Indians to monkeys is a typical racial slur, but I might have also picked it up from its frequent use by European colonial masters in reference to the African peoples whose lands ( Read more... )

The Virginia Senate race between former Secretary of the Navy James Webb (D) and incumbent Senator George Allen (R) is heating up. After Senator Allen referred to a South Asian campaign worker for Webb as "macaca," there has been a backlash against Allen that might be giving Webb just the momentum he needs to stay in the race. But everyone's ( Read more... )

Former Vice President Al Gore recently shifted his statement on a possible 2008 run. Until recently, he has stated that he did not intend to run and did not foresee a situation in which he would reconsider.

Now, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle, Gore says, "I haven't completely ruled out running for president again in the future, but ( Read more... )

After my earlier post on Facebook Foibles, Troy sent a Facebook message to Governor Granholm berating her for her Facebook profile. That message is reproduced below:

Facebook is a great tool to reach out to the all-important youth vote. It's a great opportunity to introduce yourself as a human being, not as yet another tool of today's politics. ( Read more... )

In my comment to Judges Tell Congress: Don't Suspend Habeas Corpus, I retold this interesting story about the origins of today's legal bases for suspending the writ. I basically just regurgitated information from my two sources, but it's a story that isn't told enough. I highly recommend that you go check out the episode of This American Life cited ( Read more... )

Another Daily Kos comment, to the story Gresham's law in America's battle of Bulge. Obesity is a serious issue in the United States and it hasn't been handled well by the government or health care, as a matter of preventative education. I think that personal responsibility is key to any lifestyle change, but the author of the original story also ( Read more... )