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Category archive: Politics

Okay if we do it, awful if they do it

There's something I see a lot in political discussions. It may just be human nature or something, but it always... (More...)

Tempest and Ellison

(This is another one of those entries that will probably make no sense to people not involved in the speculative-fiction... (More...)

Speaking self-interest to power

Another interesting article from TIME: "Inside Bush and Cheney's Final Days," By Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf. But the specific... (More...)

Some interesting abortion articles

The other day, happened across an interesting article in TIME: "Finding Common Ground on an Abortion Bill," by Amy Sullivan.... (More...)

Video roundup

Some more unthemed videos for your delectation and amusement: The South Pasadena Unified Grade "A" Jug Band, consisting of students... (More...)

More on Iran

A couple more items regarding Iran: Marc Ambinder talks about being careful in analyzing info. Nice infographic-y video from several... (More...)

Best Trekfic EVER: litcrit slash

I wasn't going to post any more tonight, but this is way too good not to share: The idea of... (More...)

The Iran situation

In case anyone who's interested doesn't already know this, Andrew Sullivan has been posting lots and lots of info about... (More...)

California ballot measures

Been meaning to post about this for weeks, haven't managed the time/energy to gather all the articles together and link... (More...)

Items: Video roundup

My backup system makes my computer unusably slow if I have too many Safari windows open that contain videos, even... (More...)

Waterboarding, torture, and Reagan

Two worthwhile pieces about torture: Former FBI agent Ali Soufan speaks up about the ineffectiveness of waterboarding and other related... (More...)

Items: assorted videos

Some videos with no connecting theme: Drawdio: Turn Almost Anything Into a Theremin. Make electronic music by drawing on a... (More...)

Post-election unity

There's a remarkable set of photos at from 52 to 48 | 48 to 52 with love. People who voted... (More...)

Two kids and an Obama sign

Lovely little sequence of four photos at TPM, showing two kids and an Obama sign.... (More...)

Propositions

I had been thinking about writing up my thoughts about California's ballot propositions, but didn't manage to go through them... (More...)

Fafblog FTW

Maybe it's just the end-of-Daylight-Saving-induced punchiness (I meant to be asleep an hour ago), but Fafblog Interviews: JOHN MCCAIN made... (More...)

Chasing away the agents of intolerance

I had been kind of annoyed the past few days to hear various people respond to the "Obama is an... (More...)

Fey vs Palin

The opening segment of Palin's appearance on Saturday Night Live last night, featuring both Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, is... (More...)

McCain and Obama are funny

I'm not normally a fan of roasts--they tend to get nastier than I enjoy--but the McCain and Obama comedy speeches/roasts... (More...)

Dicewars vs US electoral map

I think I'm not really entirely awake today. I was just looking at the electoral map at the top right... (More...)

Fake Presidents unite!

It all started with McCain's ad a couple months ago accusing Obama of being a celebrity like Paris Hilton. As... (More...)

Underestimating Palin

There seems to be a general sense among liberals, and even among some conservatives since the Couric interview, that Gov.... (More...)

Palin/Couric sketch on SNL

Most of you who care have presumably seen the segment of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin in which Palin... (More...)

To veep or not to veep

It's possible that I'm being ridiculously naive, but it seems to me that the press is overinterpreting whatever Clinton says... (More...)

Clinton, Obama, sexism, feminism, etc

Fascinating piece at Salon from a couple days ago: "Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!", by Rebecca Traister. The article... (More...)

Yes, We Can videos

Obama's "Yes, We Can" concession speech in New Hampshire last month (transcript) was yet another inspiring piece of oratory, especially... (More...)

Who to nominate?

I'm gonna be out of town on the 5th, so I have to complete and mail in my absentee ballot... (More...)

Obama at Google

On Wednesday, Barack Obama came to Google. (Link is to the video.) The room was completely packed. I showed up... (More...)

Obama speech

Just saw the Obama speech that the press has been talking about, the one from Saturday's Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des... (More...)

Clinton video

The press and the other candidates have been in an uproar this week over Hillary Clinton's alleged playing of the... (More...)

Mukasey confirmation hearings

I listened to NPR on the way home from Mary Anne's tonight, and there was a segment about retired judge... (More...)

Political poll graphs

The Political Arithmetik blog has a steady stream of fascinating and well-presented graphs having to do with various political polls.... (More...)

Privatization vs. government control

Feel free to use the following cogent and unanswerable argument whenever this topic comes up. (More...)

Edwards at Google

John Edwards spoke at Google on Wednesday afternoon; the video is now available on YouTube. I’ve posted a link to... (More...)

Richardson at Google

New Mexico Governor and Presidential candidate Bill Richardson spoke at Google the other day; the video is now available on... (More...)

Presidential candidates at Google

Two presidential candidates have spoken at Google recently; the videos of their talks are now available on YouTube: Hillary Clinton... (More...)

Jane Addams and Hull-House

At the end of Kriti, there was a music concert next door; I walked over with Mary Anne, but when... (More...)

Obama is in

As you probably all know by now, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President today. I just watched the announcement... (More...)

Unrecognized countries

I got curious about various things about official recognition of national sovereignty, which quickly led me to Wikipedia's List of... (More...)

Safeword: "Palomino"

Saturday Night Live did a sketch recently showing a message from "Nancy Pelosi" (played by Kristin Wiig), about "San Francisco... (More...)

Book-shifting day, plus the Chicago Seven trial

This morning, I went over to Pam & Arthur's to help them move furniture and books; they're rearranging a bunch... (More...)

Some voting resources

Before I go to sleep, here are some websites that might be helpful in researching stuff on ballots, primarily in... (More...)

Measure A

I received five glossy full-color flyers in favor of Santa Clara County's Measure A, a land-use initiative that puts limits... (More...)

California bond measures

The San Francisco Chronicle recommends voting yes on all the bond measures. Excerpt: The governor backs the bonds, and so... (More...)

Video roundup, part 1

It's been a while since I've posted a collection of videos, and the links keep rolling in. So here's a... (More...)

Don't forget to vote

Several states are having primary elections today; some of the ballots also feature state and local measures, as usual. If... (More...)

Moderating journal comments?

Every two or three weeks, I get a comment on an old entry in this journal, from someone who's just... (More...)

Complexification

Not unexpectedly, I only made it to one panel yesterday, and only about 15 minutes of that. It was a... (More...)

Patriotic fiction

I am not a patriot in the usual sense of the term. Humanity and the world are generally more important... (More...)

Fighting words

Something Vardibidian said about this whole cartoon-inspired violence mess reminded me of something--although the below is at best a side... (More...)

Lockpick Pornography: The Novel

I've posted a couple of times in the past year about Joey Comeau's short novel Lockpick Pornography--first when I first... (More...)

Curses

Luke H. just pointed to a New Yorker humor piece from mid-2004, "New Details Surface," by Paul Simms, that made... (More...)

Austrian political "porn" billboards

The Times Online reports that the Austrian government is sponsoring an art project featuring sexually explicit political posters: specifically, there's... (More...)

Torture

I'm having a hard time following all the recent developments in US politics surrounding Guantanamo Bay and torture. Maybe you... (More...)

One more election note

Remember to go vote today! If you live in an area that's having an election, I mean. If you need... (More...)

Ballot measure drinking game

I started this as a postscript to the previous entry, but I got a little carried away and decided to... (More...)

Other ballot measures

Other propositions, considered much more briefly. (More...)

Propositioning for drugs

Much-too-long discussion of two California ballot propositions about prescription-drug discount programs. (More...)

Proposition 73

I'm mostly trying to avoid posting about contentious political issues here at the moment, because I'm being even more conflict-averse... (More...)

Various notes

Long and tiring day today, mostly spent couch-shopping. The saleswoman at Ethan Allen continued to be clever; for example, as... (More...)

Lobster in a pot, or not?

(I wrote most of the following a couple weeks ago, but was feeling too conflicted and stressed about politics to... (More...)

SF mayoral runoff

For those who missed it, San Francisco held a mayoral election earlier this month. The results: Democratic candidate Gavin Newsom... (More...)

More political links

Not much commentary from me this time. Too sleepy. The Guardian says: US central command in Qatar today revealed it... (More...)