This piece is for the skeptics. Not for skeptical Republicans (I imagine you have your minds made up already), but for all the undecideds and independents, for all the middle-of-the-roadsters, for the person who is right now saying "I would be happy with either candidate as President" or, I suppose, for the one who is saying "I can't stand either of these guys". I've been listening to you, reading your editorials. I know what you're saying. Dare I say, I know what you're not saying too. Obama skeptics: This piece is for you.

by Cody Lyon
Here it is, the second week of September and despite a Congressional Budget Office report saying the United States deficit is projected to rise to $407 billion, along with a continued rash of failing financial institutions, the nightmare of misled war in Iraq, a mere treading of water in the land of the Taliban, Afghanistan, despite the fact that 50 million un-insured, a disappearing middle class, the headlines are filled with talk of pitbulls, swine and lipstick, as if some sort of Animal Farm like fever had stolen the meat from the potato's of reality that politics is meant to address.

Al Gore gave us a momentous challenge this past Thursday by calling upon us to have the same spirit that birthed this nation to address the climate crisis and make no mistake about it, this is just as much an issue of Democracy as it is an economic, environmental, or national security issue.

by Mikhail Lyubansky

This is heresy I know, since most of the White majority likes to pretend that it's colorblind, but race needs to be part of the calculus in the November election for all voters. Of course, it was never not going to be part of the equation. And race is certainly part of the explicit discourse for Black voters, as it always is. My point is that it's high time white folks join in the discussion and acknowledge that it matters. Because it does.

Here's what's at stake in November: For the first time in history, there is a real possibility that "The Man" won't be White. The implications will take years to sort out, but here are some very early thoughts about why the candidate's race is important enough to influence our vote. Because the implications of a Black President are somewhat different for different identity groups, I break it down accordingly. But, and make no mistake about this, all other things being equal, having a Black President would benefit all Americans -- well almost all.

Quote from the award winning best selling book by Nobel Laureate Al Gore, The Assault On Reason:

Islamic fundamentalism undermines the politics and the educational system in Sudan so much so that the people of this country need to start envisioning a New Sudan

Mr. Hannity: "You cannot negotiate with evil...sweet-talk...compromise...give ground to it. You can only defeat it, or it will defeat you." (p. 6)

My response: As a Catholic, I agree wholeheartedly with this principle. In the great cosmic struggle between good and evil in which we are all participants, vigilance and unwavering determination are crucial for those fighting evil. Wishy-washiness in confronting evil allows the devil to take a person over. But Mr. Hannity's book fails to take into account the difference between the unchanging moral law and the application of that law to the political sphere.

"If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We need to go far -- quickly." ~~ Al Gore

No entity in this once-proud nation is more corrupt than its shallow, hubris-infested media. Any pricks of conscience the media may have felt for covering up the treasonous seizure of the 2000 election were swept away in the swirl of terror following the attack on 9-11. The "big story" to confront George Bush when he returned from his month-long vacation in September 2001, his approval numbers tanking, was that Al Gore got more votes than any Democrat in US history -- nearly a half-million more than Bush. It was that five conservative Supreme Court judges stopped the vote count that would prove Gore won because, in their unsigned decision, they wrote such a democratic win would cause "public acceptance," which would "cast a cloud over Bush's legitimacy" and thus harm "democratic stability."

Last Sunday (August 5) I went with my Dad, Mom and sister to see a late afternoon showing of Ratatouille in Columbus. My Mom and I like to sit near the back, but most of the seats were already taken, so we settled into the third row from the front. Several times while I was enjoying the movie, I noticed my sister turn and whisper in excited tones to my Mom. I was too engrossed in the film to pay much attention.

Eight faces that I'm thoroughly sick of.

Ten faces that make me vomit, projectile style.

Now, the man on the stand he wants my vote,

He's a-runnin' for office on the ballot note.

He's out there preachin' in front of the steeple,

Tellin' me he loves all kinds-a people.

He's eatin' bagels

He's eatin' pizza

He's eatin' chitlins

He's eatin' bullshit!

Bob Dylan "I Shall Be Free"

I knew this would happen when they started campaigning for the 2008 election five minutes after the 2006 mid terms. I felt it coming, like the feeling I get when I eat a giant sausage sandwich with peppers and onions at midnight, I know that indigestion is in my immediate future.

I'm sick of politics, thoroughly, fed up, to the gills.... Urp!

I know, I know, being sick of politics is like being tired of living, OK so what what what do you do about it? Shut up? Quit bitching? Take up residence in the nearest hermitage? Find a cuckoo's nest and commit to it?

By Tyler LePard

 

Today the House of Representatives will vote on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, sponsored by reproductive health advocates' good buddy - Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).  This is the act that would require women seeking abortions be offered anesthesia for fetuses of 20 weeks or more and told that there is substantial evidence of fetal pain at that stage.  Rev. Haffner discusses this latest attempt to mandate bad information and Marcy Bloom examines the science and politics behind this issue.  And that's exactly what's going on - politics.

This is just another example of abortion counseling requirements that are medically inaccurate.  Fetal pain legislation is a common tactic used by abortion opponents to try to force women to continue their pregnancies.  In fact, five states already include counseling materials on fetal pain, despite credible scientific evidence that fetal pain is unlikely before the third trimester.  (And third trimester abortions are illegal - in fact, so called "late-term" abortions occur in the second trimester and "partial-birth" is not even a real medical term... but now we're getting off-topic.)

This bill puts politics in the doctor's office, without regard to sound science - so why isn't this bigger news?

Following the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, mainstream media repeatedly characterized the nearly even split of votes between Republican and Democratic candidates as evidence that the nation had become "polarized." This assumed that the parties were greatly different and that voters passionately supported one or the other, assumptions that conlicted with ground truth. Nevertheless, the "polarization" theory persisted, confusing voters who otherwise might have found common ground in breaking the two-party stranglehold on the political process.

Year after year, large numbers of callers to CSPAN radio, including registered Republicans and Democrats as well as independent voters,  have complained that the parties are frustratingly similar and neither represents voter interests.  Polls, too, show that, year after year, voters have a low opinion of Congress.

The Aristotelian Mean, or "moderation in all things," that is found in the Nicomachean Ethics is defined as the middle ground between excess and deficiency.  Granted Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is viewed by many as an attempt to provide a teological explanation of Nature, that is to say Nature works toward an end goal.  In the modern scientific age we live in, this is known to be erroneous.  Nature is non-moral and completly bereft of "goals."  Thank you for demonstrating that to us, Mr. Darwin.

But the Nicomachean Ethic does contain that golden nugget of an idea "The Golden Mean of Behavior," more completely presented yet loosely restated as moderation in all things, excess in none.  That idea does not mean (yet is frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood to mean) that a person can take all things (particularly in re health) with moderation; therefore reasoning that a moderate amount of a bad thing can be indulged.  Wrong!

Here's how my idea of the Aristotelian Moderate Democrats and the philosphy for which they stand is correctly understood.

Isn't George W. supposed to be the President, not the Press-ident?  

PAUW

UWANT2BFAMOUS

For a guy who's getting paid to run a country but who has a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, a war in the making in Iran, and a war in the making in North Korea - you'd think he'd have something better to do than flying across the country trying to save a sure loss in the polls.

 

There's a fantastic article on Alternet right now called "Reflections from a Former Anti-Abortion Activist" - a must-read for those on both sides of the abortion debate. The article, written by the intelligent, thoughtful, and truly pro-life Elizabeth Wardle, is an excerpt from the recently published Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice. If this article is any indication, the book may not be a bad investment, especially for those who believe that the best way to move forward amidst the current political deadlock on abortion is to broaden, rather than narrow, the conversation.