The Imperial Presidency Just Got More Imperial

With the announcement that American citizen Anwar al-Awlak has been assassinated in an American drone attack the power of the president has expanded far beyond anything that Bush and Cheney had attempted. Sure, al-Awlak was a nasty character. It’s not like Obama ordered the assassination of Ron Paul. But that is how precedent is set. Will there be [...]

Read Full Post »

Little Nemo

When I wrote yesterday that Calvin and Hobbes was “perhaps” the best comic strip ever, my friend Maclin Horton said that he would remove the “perhaps”. Another person commented that Krazy Kat wins in that category. I admit that while I have seen Krazy Kat my whole life I don’t recall ever reading the strip. I also [...]

Read Full Post »

Seeing Anew

Since my cataract surgery last week I have been amazed at the fine detail that I had been missing. It’s not that my eyes were terrible before; it is more like everything was slightly faded, or just a little less precise. I don’t have Blue Ray, but I have seen it in the stores, and [...]

Read Full Post »

I Don’t Know About You, But I’m Glad These Guys Are On Our Side

(Thanks to Joseph at Byzantine TX)

Read Full Post »

Indict the Criminals

“Impeach Bush” has morphed into “Indict Bush”. A good idea, even if the chances are small: http://www.impeachbush.org/site/News2/?id=5481

Read Full Post »

Virtue Needs Cheaper Thrills

Calvin and Hobbes was perhaps the best comic strip ever. I sure miss it, but you have to give Bill Watterson credit: not only did he quit before he got stale, he never cashed in on the strip, never got royalties from Calvin and Hobbes junk. Those “Calvins” that you see urinating on Ford logos [...]

Read Full Post »

The Real Problem with the Postal Service

No, it isn’t that hardworking postal employees are overpaid: “The deep hole of debt that is currently facing the U.S. Postal Service is entirely due to the burdensome prepayments for future retiree health care benefits imposed by Congress in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006,” Nader wrote last week in a letter to Senator Joseph [...]

Read Full Post »

Max and the Bogeyman

I am about half way through a book by Max Blumenthal, Republican Gommorah, that I stumbed upon the other day at the library. I had casually opened it and ran across random information that I had never seen before. Did you know that Ted Bundy, before his killing spree, had been active in Republican politics? Or that [...]

Read Full Post »

Fruits of a Culture of Death

“In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago, guards walked a 14-year-old boy, bible tucked under his arm, to the electric chair. At 5′ 1″ and 95 pounds, the straps didn’t fit, and an electrode was too big for his leg. The switch was pulled and the adult sized death mask fell from George Stinney’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Not in it for the Flowers

This story appeared in the second issue of Caelum et Terra, the magazine, in 1991. It was in a letter to the editor from the late Dr John Senior. I have been unable to trace its origin, and indeed cannot find a reference to “St John of the Desert”. For all I know Dr Senior [...]

Read Full Post »