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My most recent film, The God Who Wasn't There, is available on DVD at the official site and elsewhere.
Bat Boy: The Musical is currently being staged in productions of various sizes around the world. A movie adaptation directed by John Landis is in development, with no casting announced or shooting date set.
Bill Gates is still dead.
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THIS CATEGORY:
Articles on the "global war on terrorism," terror politics, a Democratic victory in 2004 and other subjects.
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The God Who Wasn't There
HOME
Politics
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Can you do it better than President Bush? (Thanks, Jim.)...
April 14, 2008
"There are two kinds of Republicans: Millionaires and suckers"
People will hate you for calling them suckers. But they will also wonder if they are suckers. Which is the point. Nobody wants to be a sucker....
April 04, 2008
The Daily Show
Get your fix....
November 14, 2007
Ron Paul is batshit crazy
(Just wanted to compare the relative insanity of the emails I will now get from Ron Paul supporters to that of the Christian fundagelical screed-pistles that I generally get. Variety is the spice of life.)...
November 06, 2007
I don't get it
Kevin Drum seems upset about this: Four years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in the midst of a massive budget crisis after promising voters that he would end our "crazy deficit spending." In true Republican fashion, he did this by...
November 06, 2007
The hack crisis threatening American journalism
1. There is no crisis threatening Social Security. 2. Conservative ideologues find it useful for Americans to believe that there is a crisis threatening Social Security. 3. In a straight news story, the Associated Press uses the phrase "the fiscal...
October 31, 2007
You could turn gay at any moment
As usual with Max Blumenthal's reports, I learned a lot....
October 30, 2007
Bigotry
Has a strangely privileged place in the Obama campaign....
October 25, 2007
"Most"
Little-known factabee: Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were named "John Hancock."...
October 23, 2007
Anger management
Totally overrated....
October 02, 2007
"We're going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop"
Bob Somerby makes an excellent point in today's Howler: Liberal elites deserve to get beat up by conservatives. If you're too wimpy to attack, you don't have the right to be outraged when you end up on the ground, bloody...
September 05, 2007
It's going to happen again
A must-read story in Vanity Fair. The 2008 campaign will be no different. Maddeningly idiotic reporters like Katharine Seelye, Ceci Connolly and Frank Bruni will lazily type out a narrative they think they are "discovering" in the campaign but are...
September 04, 2007
America
The beautiful. Good thing the economy's looking up!...
August 16, 2007
We won
"Do you want the United States to win in Iraq?" It already did win. The U.S. armed forces ousted Saddam Hussein's regime and destroyed his army within weeks after the invasion began. The enemy was defeated. Ever since then, it...
August 13, 2007
If you watch this...
...be sure you're near a shower. Likely Matthews would defend himself by saying he was merely complimenting a fellow newscaster on her appearance. But his behavior is flat-out manipulative and creepy -- a powerful man taking advantage of his status...
August 13, 2007
War without end
Not an accident. It's the plan....
August 11, 2007
Excepting, of course, my religious bigotry
"We need to have a person of faith lead the country." vs. "Attacks of religious bigotry have absolutely no place in politics today."...
August 11, 2007
The dumbest people on Earth
Little in our political discourse is quite so annoying as liberal former war supporters who still refuse to acknowledge the consequences of their past stupidity. Look, you were fucking wrong. There was never a good reason to support the war....
August 07, 2007
Class warfare
Shocking: The zip code search engine on FundRace provides concrete evidence of how much more influence the rich exercise than the poor. [...] In Beverly Hills, for example, there have been 543 donations totaling $1,212,014 to 2008 presidential candidates, including...
August 06, 2007
Nuclear power is dangerous
Unlike other forms of energy. Crude oil has no dangers, either. But nuclear power has no chance in the U.S. The dirty hippies are on record in opposition, and, just to make sure the right wing doesn't get too supportive,...
August 06, 2007
Become a Fox Attacker
Fox Attacks is recruiting....
July 31, 2007
I love libertarianism
Until I think about it: But libertarianism I will freely admit I do not understand -- at least, not in any way that libertarians might like -- and I confess I find it hard to credit what I can decipher...
July 23, 2007
I totally disapprove of this illegal behavior
Which is not the same thing as saying the victim didn't have it coming. If you take open pleasure in displaying contempt for community property -- the environment -- the community may just send a message via your personal property....
July 19, 2007
Free
More Moore: As Ehrlichman said to Nixon in "Sicko": "The less care they give 'em, the more money they (the insurance companies) make." THAT'S the only thing we should be talking about. How profit and greed are killing our fellow...
July 17, 2007
Misc
Guess how many Catholic priests have been accused of molestation just in Los Angeles? Yet another serious national-security blunder that President Gore would not have made. President Bush might as well have given North Korea nuclear weapons directly. When will...
July 16, 2007
The most trusted name in pro-pharmaceutical-company disinformation
An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore: 7/14/07 Dear CNN, Well, the week is over -- and still no apology, no retraction, no correction of your glaring mistakes. I bet you thought my dust-up with Wolf Blitzer was just...
July 14, 2007
I love libertarianism
Until I think about it. (And if I'm going to link to the Cato Institute, I may as well link to Reason while I'm at it.) Via Atrios....
July 13, 2007
News flash: Men often use their penises unwisely
The L.A. Times has been reporting nonstop on our mayor's affair as if it actually matters. And now the liberal blogosphere is celebrating the exposure of a senator's extracurricular activities. I really, really don't care. I don't care what these...
July 10, 2007
Another
Fake Rudy campaign ad highlights one of his best qualities....
July 10, 2007
I believe
That children are our future....
June 25, 2007
Hmm...
It's almost like the news media completely failed in their duty or something. Unless their duty is to steer the American people toward false conclusions useful to the White House. But I'm pretty sure that's not what the Founders had...
June 25, 2007
Doing as they're told
Is the violent occupation of Iraq primarily a fight between the United States and Al Qaeda? Er, no. Not by a long shot. That proposition isn't even arguable. But the Bush Administration has always preferred to cast this ill-conceived adventure...
June 24, 2007
U.S. energy policy: Now slightly less insane
We've decided to consume oil like lunatics with no concern for the future instead of raving lunatics with no concern for the future. I'm so proud of us. Our noble reduction in fuel consumption means we'll have to conquer one...
June 21, 2007
People would like to have a beer with George W. Bush
And shove it down his damn throat. Less popular than Jimmy Carter was at his lowest, and just three points higher than Richard Nixon's worst. If only people had seen Bush for what he is back when it mattered. Eighty...
June 21, 2007
Got something better?
A prosecutor states some facts about the Kennedy assassination: No weapon other than Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle has ever been found and linked to the assassination. No bullet other than the three fired from Oswald's rifle has been found and linked...
June 18, 2007
I heart Mitt Romney
I hope he stays in the race for a good long time. Because Christians should be publicly hashing out the very important spiritual implications of his candidacy: If You Vote for Mitt Romney You are Voting for Satan If you...
June 01, 2007
Protest
Here's an image from South Korea the likes of which you don't see much in the United States. A member of the business-attire-wearing class participating in democracy at the street level: I wonder how differently the road to the Iraq...
June 01, 2007
The president
In a better world, Al Gore is in his second term as president....
May 17, 2007
Republican presidential candidates
1. Look! Mitty put his helmet on all by himself! That's a good little Mitty. Such a smart boy. Yes you are, yes you are. 2. I don't know about you, but when I have the flu, I constantly find...
May 14, 2007
MoveOn.org hearts moms
You can get the Motherhood Manifesto DVD for free, and you don't even have to deny the Holy Spirit or anything: Watch the edgy, factual, and at times funny film that shows where the U.S. really stands on family-friendly policies,...
May 11, 2007
Buyer's remorse, anyone?
The paths not taken. (L.A. Times finally realizes the folly of the current path we're on.)...
May 07, 2007
The importance of insanity
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney believes the following: About 2600 years ago, a tribe of Israelites traveled across the sea and became the first humans to set foot on the Americas. As these humans multiplied, they split into two racial...
May 04, 2007
Occupation
Obviously, the "War on Terror" isn't a "war" in any meaningful sense of that term. George Lakoff points out that the Iraq War isn't a war either....
May 03, 2007
The "six-week war"
They truly had no idea: WASHINGTON, May 1 -- President Bush's made-for-television address tonight on the carrier Abraham Lincoln was a powerful, Reaganesque finale to a six-week war. But beneath the golden images of a president steaming home with his...
May 01, 2007
May 1: President Bush Day
Four years ago tomorrow, President Bush took a joyride in a fighter plane and declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq. The event was hailed at the time as a political triumph but has ended up being an emblem of our leader's...
April 30, 2007
They want to believe
I saw it when I looked into the JFK-assassination conspiracy community, and of course when I investigated Christianity. Even if a contrary fact is right in front of them, fifty feet tall with a klieg light shining on it, some...
April 21, 2007
Links you sent me
"What if God Smoked Cannabis?" Warning: REALLY LOUD. Turn down speakers before clicking. (Thanks, Lexi) "Craig" Warning: Excessive mugging. (Thanks, Maria) Let us not forget what today, Good Friday, is really about: Indulging our bloodlust in a socially acceptable manner:...
April 06, 2007
The litmus test
In 2003, I marched many times alongside several religious and "interfaith" groups who shared my position on the Iraq war but did not share my view that there was no sky god looking down on all of us protesters as...
April 03, 2007
The GOP economy
UPDATE: But don't worry, the rich have it tough as well....
April 01, 2007
What I admire about PETA, and what you don't
I have long been an admirer of PETA's publicity stunts. PETA constantly leverages a small outlay of promotional costs into a bounty of publicity, resulting in exactly what they want: Conversation about animal rights. PETA feels, rightly, that the treatment...
March 28, 2007
Radicalism at work
The lives (and deaths) of a huge number of animals just got a whole lot better. And who is mainly responsible for this substantial reduction in the real suffering of real animals? Those unhinged, rude, bothersome, polarizing radicals at PETA....
March 28, 2007
The fringe
People who claim to understand war protesters should actually attend a war protest or two and talk to the people present. At every protest I attended, there was some tiny fringe group doing something (vandalism, supporting Mumia) that made the...
March 24, 2007
Family values
As usual, Democrats display them, Republicans don't....
March 19, 2007
Talk about it
I'd like to see this happen. But not just "I believe in God," which is so vague that almost anyone can say it by privately defining "God" however they want in their own minds. When it comes to debating religion,...
March 15, 2007
Hillary?
No effing way. UPDATE: She clarifies....
March 14, 2007
Man bites dog
It's currently the most viewed story on latimes.com: "When the Secular Coalition asked me to complete a survey on my religious beliefs, I indicated I am a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being," Stark said. "Like our...
March 13, 2007
More?
The blog Petty Larseny sees more than one non-theist lurking in the Capitol: Toss in Mr. Ellison, of Minnesota's fifth district, and you're now talking about two non-theists in the House, one non-Judeo-Christian monotheist, six more possible non-theists and two...
March 12, 2007
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), nontheist. Apparently.
Who is that mysterious godless congressperson? According to nontheist lobbyist group the Secular Coalition for America, it's Congressman Pete Stark: There is only one member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.),...
March 12, 2007
Yeah, but what kind of Christian?
Atrios is right: Plenty of voters will take into account the religion of the candidate, and plenty of candidates will make an issue of their religion. Which brings us to one of the points I've been trying to make: Therefore...
March 08, 2007
The March 2003 game
Many bloggers have picked up the March 2003 challenge and looked through their archives to see what they were writing then. Atrios nailed it in real time (March 4, 2003): Remember, back in the summer when the Iraq chatter started...
March 08, 2007
And to think, I accused the pro-war side of bad faith
Last week I issued a challenge to bloggers to write an entry called "What I was wrong about in March 2003" -- the month that the United States invaded Iraq, interrupting the ongoing U.N.-sanctioned inspections of that country for weapons...
March 06, 2007
What I was wrong about in March 2003
I just noticed. Today is Brian Flemming's Weblog's fourth anniversary. I've been leading you astray since March 1, 2003. Out of curiosity, I glanced down the list of entries for March 2003, and it's pretty much a record of my...
March 01, 2007
Ah, freedom
I'll bet they're so glad they fought for it....
February 28, 2007
Sphericated or flaticular?
Opinions differ in this ongoing controversy, and it's important to present both sides equally. (Thanks, Danny.)...
February 27, 2007
Overton window
And how to shift it....
February 26, 2007
FoxAttacks.com
Robert Greenwald launches FoxAttacks.com. Fox is not a credible news outlet and needs to be stopped. Foxattacks.com will give you the information and tools you need to hit Fox where it hurts. The current video presents the erroneous and slanted...
February 22, 2007
Democratic Party of Nevada
Apparently run by idiots....
February 22, 2007
Being a Republican terrorist has its benefits
As the GOP defends its political alliance with a terrorist in exchange for cash, Josh Marshall notes one perk of being a Republican terrorist. (UPDATE: Second link fixed. Thanks to Jim.)...
February 21, 2007
If you don't maintain a delusion, how can you lead?
You have to either believe in Poseidon as ruler of the seas, engrams as the source of troubles in your reactive mind, or a 2,000-year-old zombie as your salvation. If you don't believe in something wacky, clearly you aren't qualified...
February 18, 2007
Can't get any lower
No, I'm not gay. I'm worse than gay....
February 16, 2007
The Chicks
Congrats to those three Texans who were ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas. From someone who is ashamed that the president of the United States is from the United States....
February 12, 2007
Another reason to be a liberal
Conservative ideology may interfere with the ability to think....
January 12, 2007
U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
What a banner year for our freedom-loving nation. The founders would be so proud....
December 30, 2006
Shocking
The U.S. government spied on people in the U.S. for political reasons, and then lied about it. But I'm sure this isn't happening any longer....
December 20, 2006
Religion never does any harm
Ever....
November 17, 2006
Republicans cheat
To Republicans, voters are not people to whom they are accountable. They're just people to fool. If the National Republican Congressional Committee had not placed literally millions of deceptive robocalls (the machines called people back over and over, and tricked...
November 14, 2006
The power of myth
There is a popular myth among pundits that Democrats must increase their share of the evangelical vote in order to win. Since the Democrats won, that means they must have won over the evangelicals, right? That was an automatic reaction...
November 11, 2006
Nice day
Who would have thought that the party of fiscal irresponsibility, military incompetence and torture would lose so badly?...
November 07, 2006
Election Day
Just in case you forgot. Find your polling place with this easy tool. Report irregularities....
November 07, 2006
Dear Republicans,
I know I have Republican readers, and this story has made me wonder: Does it bother you that your party is the party of voter suppression? I'm not talking about tough political ads, harsh rhetoric, etc. That certainly happens on...
November 06, 2006
It can't happen here
That's a given. But I wonder what it would look like if fascism were creeping into the United States?...
November 05, 2006
Olbermann
As usual, Olbermann doing the unthinkable: Stating the obvious on television. (Thanks, Rena.)...
November 03, 2006
Shut up and sing
According to Theodore Roosevelt, NBC is "unpatriotic, servile and morally treasonous to the American public." I agree with Teddy. (See comment 2 for explanation.)...
October 27, 2006
Misogyny and fascism
When Dave Neiwert's on, he's on....
October 24, 2006
Batshit crazy
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Donald Rumsfeld: He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country. This statement will not cause a national crisis because: a) Neither Chairman of...
October 20, 2006
Wow
Olbermann....
September 27, 2006
Where are the chicken hawks?
Dear Chicken Hawk, If you are under age 39 and you support the Iraq war you need to enlist now. You once said that even though this war was as justified as World War II, you didn't enlist because the...
August 23, 2006
The President of Iran
Speaks....
August 17, 2006
Stephen Colbert vs. The Star Wars Kid
The Star Wars Kid is probably the most remixed video on the internet. We don't really need another one. But last week on "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert had to go and not only reference the Star Wars Kid, but...
August 15, 2006
How the United States will prevail
We'll outsmart all of the other countries....
August 11, 2006
Goodbye, Joe
Lieberman's toast. If you're a Connecticut Democrat, please remember to vote in the primary election next Tuesday....
August 03, 2006
The War on Everyone
Michael Hirsh on President Bush's pathological desire to create new enemies and stronger enemy alliances: Yes, the war against Al Qaeda called for a stretching and changing of the rules. We had to be ruthless with the maniacs who struck...
July 27, 2006
The American people
We blame Bush, we blame the media, but at some point you have to hold the American people accountable for their utter cluelessness. How many of today's disasters could have been avoided if the U.S. citizenry were accurately informed about...
July 27, 2006
Iraq's normal state
Good thing that the Bush Administration had a well thought-out plan for dealing with the natural conditions in Iraq that created Saddam Hussein: Shiite militiamen rampaged through a Baghdad neighborhood Sunday morning, killing more than 50 people and leaving many...
July 09, 2006
Crimes
A band of U.S.-hating criminals managed to pull off a spectacular act of mass murder, killing thousands. In response, the United States decided it was necessary to alter much of its Constitution. The nation's executive branch, normally subject to laws,...
June 30, 2006
What it takes
Here's a horror film for you. Imagine there's a country where massive numbers of its inhabitants have been driven murderously insane. Rival groups within the country are so completely bonkers that they'll even kill each other for minor disagreements about...
June 21, 2006
Life in Iraq
Sooo much better since we got involved....
June 18, 2006
How they think
PZ Myers wrote a skit....
June 10, 2006
How to steal an election
Reading Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new bombshell Rolling Stone story "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" reminded me of this 1980s statement by the conservative elections strategist Paul Weyrich: direct download...
June 01, 2006
The Ten Commandments
The first few things God wants you to remember: Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent [such] gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in...
June 01, 2006
Paradise Lost: Revelations
CFI-West event this weekend: CFI-West will screen the documentary about three teenagers convicted of murder in what some claim was an atmosphere of "Satanic Panic." After the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were discovered in a shallow creek in deeply...
June 01, 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
It's a great movie. Highly recommended. It's amazing that a documentary about a man giving a slide-show presentation is so gripping from beginning to end. But, then, he does have that whole actual-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it thing going for him. This movie will...
May 28, 2006
Do you know why Carrie Nation carried a hatchet?
Carrie Nation wanted to cut down every apple tree in America. Because apples were used to make hard cider, one of the most popular forms of alcoholic beverage before (and during) Prohibition. To the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, apple trees...
May 26, 2006
Maybe Bush did win Florida in 2000
Greg Palast's article on Peak Oil today is so astoundingly ill-informed that I'd reconsider any conclusion he's reached. He doesn't have even a basic grasp of the issues involved here (say, 10 hours of research), and yet he makes sweeping...
May 23, 2006
Blue nation
If only the U.S. had realized then what they realize now....
May 18, 2006
Taxes, moral values
Which party do Americans trust more on issues such as taxes and moral values -- Republicans or Democrats? It's not even close....
May 10, 2006
Orrin Hatch wants to blow up your computer
That's why he should be fired....
May 04, 2006
Ten Amendments Day
American Atheists and Beltway Atheists write: Ten Amendments Day: Sunday May 7th Counter to the Religious Right effort to attack and undermine Separation of Church and State and the Constitution & 10 Commandments Day What it’s all about: American Atheists...
April 28, 2006
The party of Lincoln should have listened to Lincoln
Arthur Schlesinger Jr.: The issue of preventive war as a presidential prerogative is hardly new. In February 1848 Rep. Abraham Lincoln explained his opposition to the Mexican War: "Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem...
April 24, 2006
"Net neutrality"
If you use the internet, it matters to you. Watch the 2-minute video....
April 21, 2006
How to win on conservative talk radio
When I go on conservative talk radio shows, I know the odds are stacked against me. The main obstacle to fair argument is that the host will always--always--interrupt as soon as I start making a good point. If I try...
April 12, 2006
The War on Easter
The War on Easter is here....
April 10, 2006
Yet another myth I believed
I grew up believing that Social Security was always one step from bankruptcy. It may work for a few more years, went the standard line, but it will never be there for you. Just about everyone I talk to has...
April 03, 2006
Kevin Phillips
He was a key GOP analyst who wrote what Newsweek called the "political bible of the Nixon Era." And he's worried: Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George...
April 02, 2006
Cheerleader recants
How do these people keep their jobs? (Via Atrios)...
March 31, 2006
Dang
Too many facts! Too many facts! Quick! Show some scary brown people on TV!...
March 28, 2006
What happened
1. The Bush Administration was determined to go to war in Iraq. 2. The Administration claimed that Saddam's possession of WMD was the reason for the war, because the public wouldn't have supported a war otherwise. 3. The Administration staged...
March 27, 2006
Smart Cars in U.S.
If every driver in the U.S. switched to one of these, I wonder how many people would actually run into problems doing the things they want to do in a given day? 10%? 20%? In Holland, seeing all the bikes...
March 22, 2006
Signs
Greenwald lays out just a few of the red flags: That's what the world of Bush followers looks like. Reporters should be thrown into prison. Citizens should be removed from political events for wearing political t-shirts. The President has the...
March 16, 2006
The new math
Voting for a Christian = hostility to Christianity PZ Meyers rips the whiny Christian Left. Sometimes I really think these people check their brains at the door. What's the subject? Religion? Great, let me remove this pesky thing, won't be...
March 13, 2006
I called
Have you?...
March 13, 2006
Isolationism?
Apparently it has a new definition: Before George W. Bush took office, zero American presidents launched wars against countries that posed no threat to the United States for the purposes of transforming an entrenched dictatorship into a democracy. After Bush...
March 13, 2006
Frist supports impeachment of the President
Republican Senator Bill Frist made this remarkable statement: I will have no part in the creation of a constitutional double-standard to benefit the President. He is not above the law. If an ordinary citizen committed these crimes, he would go...
March 12, 2006
Corruption
Fact vs. faith....
March 09, 2006
Shorter Amy Sullivan
The way to defeat the religious right is to become more like them: Amy Sullivan is not one of the people I want advising the Democratic party…unless, that is, I suddenly decided I wanted to be a Republican, and was...
March 06, 2006
"President Bush can no longer manage the government effectively"
This is the opinion of those left-wing lunatics otherwise known as 59% of the nation....
March 02, 2006
Right-wing bloggers concede
That media storylines favor the right....
February 20, 2006
"What's Up, Dick?"
(Via email. Thanks, JL.)...
February 18, 2006
Chappaquiddick vs. Cheney shooting
In July 1969, Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy drove a car off a bridge and into a river. He survived, but his passenger, Mary Joe Kopechne, drowned. Sen. Kennedy was seen drinking in the hours before the accident, but a reliable...
February 16, 2006
Neo-Darwinism
Now that intelligent design advocates have suffered a decisive loss, the next strategy is apparently to insist that while ID may not be science, science isn't science either. That "theory of natural selection"? It's actually a left-wing philosophy called "Neo-Darwinism"!...
February 15, 2006
Why did Cheney refuse to see the police for 14 hours?
Why the mainstream media apparently considers this obvious angle off limits is beyond me: This belongs completely in the realm of speculation, but it is speculation based on my own experiences as a criminal lawyer. Why would a media-savvy...
February 15, 2006
Rank has its privileges
A man who in the past has been twice convicted of driving while intoxicated is involved in a hunting accident. This twice-DUI-convicted man shot one of his companions while engaging in a clearly unsafe action--wheeling around 180 degrees with his...
February 13, 2006
True colors
A TPM Cafe commenter on Cheney's failure to take responsibility for his shot: I've been hunting for over 25 years and one thing I've never even heard of is a hunter who clipped somebody in his party and wasn't man...
February 13, 2006
The church of conservatism
Some truly insightful writing recently by Glenn Greenwald, who looks at Bush supporters--who many, including I, might unthinkingly label the "conservative movement"--as a cult devoted to a leader, not a group held together by shared ideas about government. It's a...
February 13, 2006
Mouths of babes
Yesterday morning Beyond Belief Media had a guest visiting the office, a 13-year-old from France. While she was here, I opened a package that had just arrived in the mail, a review copy of the book When News Lies: Media...
February 11, 2006
They need these stinking badges
Arthur Silber says to the right-wing warbloggers: It's hard to take you seriously about freedom of the press now, when you took the opposite position less than a year ago. How quickly they forget. Still, in the warbloggers' defense, their...
February 09, 2006
Dan Savage on America
At the Onion A.V. Club: DS: It's a terribly perilous moment. Like I said, we can't be Pollyanna, we have to be vigilant, and we have to have a divided government again, so there's some limit on the powers of...
February 07, 2006
"The President has a pre-1776 world view"
Sen. Feingold: This administration reacts to anyone who questions this illegal program by saying that those of us who demand the truth and stand up for our rights and freedoms somehow has a pre-9/11 world view. In fact, the President...
February 07, 2006
Matt Welch
Makes good. Congrats, Matt....
January 24, 2006
Osama: Republican or Democrat?
Well, if they're going to bring it up....
January 24, 2006
Dear Republicans
Does it bother you that leaders in your party are engaging in this kind of rhetoric? What are you doing about it?...
January 23, 2006
Hey, rubes!
The Bush Administration answers Gore with a misleading assertion that, in order to work, depends on the ignorance of the American people about the facts. But who can blame them for trying this tactic? It works....
January 17, 2006
"A government of laws and not men"
Al Gore knew that the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2000 that handed the Presidency to Bush was wrong. He knew that the decision was politically motivated and based on extremely tortured logic. And obviously he didn't like it. Yet...
January 16, 2006
Zogby poll
The question: "If President Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment?" Guess what percentage said "I agree." (Via Eschaton.)...
January 15, 2006
Poll questions I'd like to see
1. Do you feel that the President should be allowed to wiretap your phone without a warrant? 2. Suppose the President suspects you of making contacts with a terrorist group. Would you now feel that the President should be allowed...
January 11, 2006
Two criminal presidents
December 29, 2005
Ford: We now love gay people
Even more than Christian bigots: Thank you for writing. At Ford we value diversity among all of our constituents and pride ourselves on strong and clear values – respect for our customers, communities, employees, suppliers and dealers; acceptance of our...
December 23, 2005
What is a dictator if not this?
Imagine it's 9-12-01. President Bush makes a speech to the nation in which he demands for himself: 1) The right to torture. 2) The right to wiretap anyone he wants without a warrant. Even on 9-12-01, with the nation in...
December 19, 2005
AFA vs GLBT
The victor: GLBT....
December 14, 2005
Support the war? Enlist
Dear supporter of the Iraq war, It's long past time for you to back up your enthusiasm for this war by enlisting in one of the armed forces. Now. Because this is who is fighting the war for you: While...
December 09, 2005
Myths
So many myths, so little time....
December 08, 2005
Dig it
An Atheist Manifesto by Sam Harris at the new site truthdig.com....
December 07, 2005
Watching America
They're watching: WatchingAmerica reflects global opinion about the United States, helping Americans and non-Americans alike understand what the world thinks of current issues that involve the U.S. This is done by providing news and views about the United States published...
November 15, 2005
Meet the Liar
Crooks and Liars has a clip of Senator Tom Coburn on Tim Russert's Meet The Press claiming to be a human polygraph machine. Slumdance Laboratories analyzed this clip. Here are the results......
November 06, 2005
War
Martin Foreman on a study out of Vancouver: Did you know that the world has become a much safer place? There are fewer wars and fewer people are being killed in battle. According to the Human Security Report 2005, from...
November 02, 2005
Fuck yeah!
A great day for America....
November 01, 2005
"Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"
It's coming, and Wal-Mart is afraid. Very afraid. Robert Greenwald writes: It has been a wild couple of weeks as the release of our Wal-Mart film gets closer, and Wal-Mart gets angrier. We really touched a nerve in Bentonville when...
November 01, 2005
Consequences of a corrupt press
Scheer: The most intriguing revelation of Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's news conference last week was his assertion that he would have presented his indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a year ago if not for the intransigence of reporters...
November 01, 2005
Alito
Petition....
October 31, 2005
Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man
Jim Gilliam writes: Robert Greenwald's (Outfoxed) new documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" will premiere in NYC & LA theaters on Nov. 4th and will expand wide on November 13th to over 3,000 screenings nationwide in churches, colleges,...
October 16, 2005
Al Gore
Speech: I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels...
October 06, 2005
August 6, 2001
On August 6, 2001, President Bush was warned that Osama Bin Laden wanted to attack within the United States. Previously, the White House has refused to describe what the President said to his briefer and others at the time he...
October 04, 2005
Religion + Nukes = ?
On the one hand: --Many literalist Christians believe that watching their enemies burn in a lake of fire is one of the key attractions on Christianity's glorious path to the Kingdom of Heaven. --Literalist Christians are gaining increasing amounts of...
September 23, 2005
The president's drinking problem
Has President Bush, a recovering alcoholic, fallen off the wagon? Suddenly the most popular page at this blog is my monumental, in-depth, investigative article, What's Bush Drinking? Ah, the memories. Seems to be prompted by a National Enquirer story. One...
September 22, 2005
"Under God" has served its purpose
The United States is the only Western nation that forces its children to participate in a daily indoctrination ritual. The Pledge of Allegiance ritual is obviously more suited to a small, shaky dictatorship than a confident, free country such as...
September 16, 2005
End of the Bush myth?
Sidney Blumenthal: Bush's America is gone with the wind. It lasted just short of four years, from Sept. 11, 2001, to Aug. 29, 2005. The devastation of New Orleans was the watery equivalent of a dirty bomb, but Hurricane Katrina...
September 15, 2005
I guess I struck a nerve or something
According to the really angry emails in response to my last post, when conservatives set out to destroy government, it actually isn't conservatives who are responsible for this behavior. So who is accountable for the direct effects of the conservative...
September 05, 2005
Dear America
You put in power a conservative movement whose attitude toward government was expressed as: "To get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." You voted for President Bush, who approvingly quoted Reagan's phrase, "The...
September 02, 2005
How Bush thinks
Which is to say, he doesn't: In 2001, for instance, Bush met with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, and the two hit it off. As Bush later told Peggy Noonan, Putin recounted to him a story involving a cross given...
August 05, 2005
Not crying for Judy
Sure, Judith Miller is in jail. But, as Arianna Huffington points out, 1785 of the soldiers whom Miller helped send off to fight a war are dead. Considering that Miller helped spread the lies that led to war, and the...
July 28, 2005
I'm in the majority
At last....
July 26, 2005
Payback
On a hunch, I used the Amazon search-inside-the-book feature, searching for "John G. Roberts" within Jeffrey Toobin's account of the 2000 Florida fiasco, Too Close To Call. What a surprise....
July 21, 2005
American Taliban
Markos has two compelling posts on the American Taliban wished for by the likes of James Dobson versus the Al Qaeda version. Turns out there's not much difference. Dobson's world is really just Al Qaeda without the long beards. How...
July 05, 2005
O Canada
O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free! From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep...
June 28, 2005
Arnold ad
Apparently the Arnold Schwarzenegger site has taken down its innovative commercial featuring product placement for Pepsi and others. (I wrote about it here.) Here it is, in case you're interested in preserving it for posterity: Arnold Cafeteria Ad 5 MB...
June 22, 2005
Just when you thought Arnold couldn't get any more shameless
As anyone who has worked on a commercial shoot knows, every single prop and piece of scenery that is seen in a commercial gets placed there carefully and purposefully...
May 29, 2005
Does Verizon need to hear from you?
Drop the Hammer: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is widely regarded as the most powerful member of Congress. DeLay's abuse of this power has encircled him in a web of scandal. He has already been admonished three times by the...
April 08, 2005
The reforminator
California governor Gray Davis was a cash-obsessed politician who raised over $40,000 a day while in office. Then the reform-minded governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came along--and upped that amount to $80,000 a day....
March 17, 2005
Arnold Schwarzenegger bobblehead doll
...gets an article in The Hill. Go, Governor GirlieMan!...
March 01, 2005
Chris Rock, not bashing Bush
Best non-Bush-bashing ever: "A lot of people like to bash Bush. I'm not gonna bash Bush here tonight. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11, I think Bush is a genius. I thought Bush did some things this year, you, nobody in this...
February 27, 2005
Robert Greenwald has a blog
Robert Greenwald is the man behind Unprecedented, Uncovered, Outfoxed and other fine docs. And now he has a blog....
February 24, 2005
Our Noble Liar in Chief
It is very difficult to imagine that the release of tapes showing a prominent Democratic politician talking about drug use would not result in an explosion of self-righteous commentary in the right-wing blogosphere. But I have noticed hardly a peep...
February 21, 2005
"Uniquely American"
Turnspit Daily on Bush's unique view of America....
February 09, 2005
"Defined benefit" vs. "defined contribution"
The president wants to end Social Security and replace it with a new system--a system that is in a different category and works in a fundamentally different way. That this is a fact, not an opinion, is demonstrated in this...
February 05, 2005
Is it possible to be more wrong?
Back when I was protesting the Bush Administration's war on Iraq, I got into a lot of arguments with the pro-war side. And I remember noting that many of our arguments were about facts. I'm not a pacifist, so we...
January 29, 2005
Fascism
To throw around reckless accusations of "Fascism!" just because you don't like somebody's politics dilutes the meaning of the term and actually makes it harder to identify fascism and oppose it as it grows in strength. Of course, if it's...
January 27, 2005
Rathergate vs. Saddam's WMD
Not much time to blog lately. But check this out....
January 13, 2005
Action
Sinclairaction.com...
December 15, 2004
WTF?
November 22, 2004
Gay man to head RNC?
Imagine if the Democratic National Committee chose as its leader an unmarried man who refused to say whether he was gay or straight? Would the wingnuts claim it indicated the "values" of the Democratic Party or would they just stay...
November 16, 2004
One good blog
onegoodmove. Good blog. Haven't linked to it in awhile....
November 08, 2004
What if it was rigged?
What if Florida and/or Ohio results were rigged? In Florida, some counties with heavily Democratic voter registration nonetheless overwhelmingly voted for Bush. This fact on its own proves nothing, but it qualifies as being worth further investigation. And here's what...
November 08, 2004
Red state ignorance
My first response to the election result was: There's no getting around it--a majority of people in this country are just plain stupid. But Jane Smiley has it right. Ignorant is a better term: Here is how ignorance works: First,...
November 05, 2004
Telling it like it is
Got this last night in an email, from a source who wishes to remain anonymous....
November 04, 2004
How can we make this happen?
Of course, this would leave all the red states without the welfare that the blue states supply to them. (via Matthew Yglesias) UPDATE: My mother, a Canadian citizen, says the new country should be called the United Provinces of...
November 03, 2004
The theocratic agenda
What if this Kos diarist is not wrong?...
November 03, 2004
"This is the test"
Josh Marshall, as usual, has some compelling thoughts. An excerpt: For the Democrats, what I fear most (and what I've privately worried about for months) is this: Energy cools after an election. That's inevitable. But organization and institutions can survive....
November 03, 2004
Not my country
About fifty nine million people voted for Bush. Just over 51% of the nation. Eleven of eleven states voted to deny gay people the same rights as straight people. When asked if they supported a new doctrine of unprovoked unilateral...
November 03, 2004
I wonder what the Ohio numbers would look like...
...if you took Republican voter-suppression activities out of the picture. Hard to believe it wouldn't be a clear Kerry win. I don't care if it gets ugly. These bastards deserve a fight....
November 03, 2004
Kerry is winning
Early exit polls indicate Kerry is substantially ahead. But the Republicans are still planning to cheat by using trumped-up legal challenges. A landslide for Kerry would go along way toward nipping those plans in the bud. GOTV...
November 02, 2004
Michael Moore
Has a message: Friends, In addition to your local MoveOn/ACT/Dem Party HQ still needing help at this hour, to make calls and go door to door (call them now or just leave the house and go down to their office...
November 02, 2004
The candidate
As Kos says: Kerry faced $200m in negative attack ads, a hostile mainstream media, an administration that uses "terror" as a political tool and the combined might of the Rightwing Noise Machine. Yet Kerry entered election day in a strong...
November 02, 2004
What we're up against
Flyer in Ohio: God I hate these fucking bastards. Just set my alarm for an hour earlier so I can make more calls tomorrow. Vote. And GOTV. Their strategy is to cheat. We need to turn out....
November 02, 2004
Calling for Kerry
A word about making these calls, in response to some questions on the post below. It's not hard to sign up. And it's not like telemarketing. At all. The people you talk to are happy to hear from you. They...
November 01, 2004
What you can do
I don't do a lot of pushy activism here on my blog. I know that you know there are other blogs like Daily Kos for that. But if you're feeling a last-minute urge to do something to get out the...
November 01, 2004
Judges to Republicans: Voter intimidation not allowed at polls
Two good decisions in Ohio. Good for democracy, bad for the GOP. If there's any justice, people will do jail time for what they're trying to get away with in Ohio and elsewhere. And the Republican Party should now be...
November 01, 2004
Wow
Read this....
October 31, 2004
Mosh
Here are some images from the Eminem "Mosh" video.
October 30, 2004
Blatant
Here's how the scam works: Let's say I want to reduce votes from Republicans in my state in the next election. So I choose a heavily Republican region with a lot of new voter registrations. Using the public voter registration...
October 29, 2004
Watching the watchers
From Common Cause: WASHINGTON – Common Cause, the national non-partisan advocacy organization, announced today that it will provide information, updated throughout Election Day, on voting trouble spots in key states, based on its voter alert line, 1-866-MYVOTE1 and on-the-ground monitoring....
October 29, 2004
Videotaping voter suppression
Vidvote.org has the right idea. It's much, much harder to be a rat bastard in public nowadays, and some old-school Republican thugs could be in for a rude awakening. It may not just be rumors and text reports about their...
October 28, 2004
The party of Lincoln
The Rove M.O. GOP Voter Suppression in Ohio Anyone headed from L.A. to a swing state this weekend?...
October 28, 2004
Values
Every dramatist knows it: If you want to reveal who a character really is, you make him desperate. A person will claim to have all sorts of values, but when extreme pressure forces a decision, that's when his real values...
October 27, 2004
GOTV efforts
From the mailbag: MyPollingSite.com "The website's goal is to help voters find their polling place. Our database of online poll locators has been slowly growing. We now can get 63% of the US population the exact location of their polling...
October 25, 2004
Wired: Bush fired; Tired: Bush wired
What Dan Gillmor said: If he was wired and is lying about it now, then he flat-out broke the rules to which he agreed, and that would be shameful. Again, however, I'm totally unconvinced -- and remain unconvinced even after...
October 23, 2004
P2P Politics
"We built this peer-to-peer site to enable people to send personalized messages with links to video clips about this election."...
October 23, 2004
Pressure on Sinclair working
A Maine TV station loses three advertisers. Josh Marshall says sources tell him Sinclair has been surprised by the extent of the backlash. Here's the list. The easy way: Take thirty seconds and pressure all of Sinclair's advertisers right now....
October 15, 2004
Mystery solved
It's an iBulge: (via Cult of Mac)...
October 15, 2004
The Regular
New Slashdot-style site from the Downhill Battle folks....
October 14, 2004
Bush vs. Bush
From the final debate: KERRY: Six months after [Bush] said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where's Osama bin Laden." He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much....
October 13, 2004
The carrot: Reverse boycott
If punishing advertisers for supporting Sinclair Broadcast Group is a good idea--and it is--then doesn't it make sense to reward advertisers for pulling out of Sinclair? How to reward these businesses of conscience? Free advertising. I use the Google AdWords...
October 12, 2004
Sinclair Broadcast Group advertiser boycott
See here and here for why it's important to pressure Sinclair Broadcast Group right now and very hard. If you are not in one of their regional markets (I'm not), you can go here to send a polite email to...
October 12, 2004
"Will the highways on the internet become more few?”
Yes, but there will be more internets, so it will all balance out. Bushisms is now on DVD. (Also at Amazon.)...
October 12, 2004
Audiogate builds steam
It's almost certainly false, but the theory just won't go away. New sites: MysteryBulge.com Bush Wired Both sites have links to the supposedly incriminating Fox News video of a press conference in France. Check it out. It's really, really obvious...
October 12, 2004
Rose-colored glasses
A reader asks me about this: ST. LOUIS - John Kerry's campaign finally found a catchy symbol to counter the beach flip-flops that President Bush's campaign has used to great effect to mock the Massachusetts senator for shifting positions. In...
October 09, 2004
The "mystery bulge"
Salon's top story today? The "mystery bulge." Mystery? How about "kevlar vest"? Or a back brace. The Bush camp has issued a denial. UPDATE: The New York Times says the Bush campaign and the White House have ruled out the...
October 08, 2004
Earpiece theory not going away
Speaking of conspiracy theories flourishing on the internet. Personally, I think it's bullshit....
October 07, 2004
Cheney checked
Fact: I own the domain factcheck.info, for reasons I can't remember. I don't have time to do anything with it, or any ideas really. But if you do, and your idea is malicious, contact me and I'll give the factcheck.info domain to you.
October 06, 2004
20,000 dead people...
...wish the New York Times had written this editorial when it mattered: Of all the justifications that President Bush gave for invading Iraq, the most terrifying was that Saddam Hussein was on the brink of developing a nuclear bomb that...
October 05, 2004
President Bush wore an earpiece at the debate?
Man, this story is almost as infuriating as that rumor about the President's nose job that some jerk on one of the internets started. For background, see the website Is Bush Wired? or the Salon article. My thoughts... Arguments against:...
October 04, 2004
And that's why he's smiling
Before the debate, I was confused by this odd sentence in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Kerry and Bush campaigns: At the start of the debate, the moderator shall declare, "But they say it's really what you do with...
October 01, 2004
Debate #1
I thought Kerry was prepared, confident and well-spoken. He looked like a commander in chief. On the other hand, Bush looked alternately scared out of his mind and irritated that he was being held accountable for his presidency. He came...
October 01, 2004
Bush Goggles
Click for bigger. UPDATE: Here is a printable PDF at 300 dpi. (4.4 MB. PC: Right-click to download. MAC: Option-click to download.) To counter Drudge's making fun of Kerry's tan today, do remember that President Bush has had a...
September 28, 2004
'Put Away Your Hankies'
Good letter from Michael Moore: Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit...
September 24, 2004
My speech finishes
Finally, I said...
June 03, 2004
The tree bears fruit
My, Al Gore's, criticism of President Bush continues.
June 02, 2004
My speech gets even better
Yep, my new brass balls are clangin' away in this speech.
June 01, 2004
My speech continues
More from Gore.
May 31, 2004
More from my speech
One of the clearest indications of the impending loss of intimacy with one's soul is the failure to recognize the existence of a soul in those over whom power is exercised, especially if the helpless come to be treated as animals, and degraded.
May 29, 2004
It's great to be here
I want to thank Brian Flemming for allowing me this opportunity to be a guest writer here at Brian Flemming's Interblog. I read it several times a day, and I often crib from it for my occasional speeches. I hope Brian doesn't mind! LOL ("laughing out loud")
May 28, 2004
President Gore* speech
Recommended.
May 26, 2004
Survey discovers owners have no influence on the businesses they own
The owners' views and desires are so completely irrelevant to the operation of their businesses that Pew doesn't even bother to mention them in this survey.
May 24, 2004
"Do we have something to fear?"
"George sees this as a religious war," one family member told us. "He doesn't have a PC view of this war. His view is that they are trying to kill the Christians. And we the Christians will strike back with more force and more ferocity than they will ever know."
May 20, 2004
Debunking theories about the Nick Berg video
That theory that the video is faked is currently a popular obsession in the the left blogosphere. I spent a small amount of time looking into it (including watching the video, which I was avoiding) and have become embarrassed for many of those who are advancing the notion.
May 19, 2004
"Agreement": The Rumsfeld-Saddam handshake remixed.
May 16, 2004
New Yorker: Rumsfeld approved Abu Ghraib treatment
The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq.
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