Richmond Gardner

                 
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PN3(Ret), USN, 1991-2001. Done a number of clerical-type jobs. Computer "power user," my desktop is a Windows machine, but my laptop is an Ubuntu Linux.
Articles usually cross-posted at
http://www.prawnblog.blogspot.com
Personal details at MySpace/pn3prawn and Facebook/rlgardner

http://www.prawnworks.net/

OpEdNews Member for 220 week(s) and 1 day(s)

51 Articles, 1 Quick Links, 59 Comments, 35 Diaries, 0 Polls

51 Articles

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Jonathan Chait's case for Obama
(6 comments) Is this really the best that pro-Obama people can do to justify a second term for our President?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
False Equivalence
Of all of the failures of the modern-day press corps, this is probably the most infuriating.

Sunday, July 10, 2011
Iraq's future
Is there any realistic path to any sort of victory in Iraq? Can it be don t al or would it simply require a greater effort than America is willing to put up for it?

Monday, June 13, 2011
About bloody time, it is!
(2 comments) Larry Summers fills his piece with "No $%#@ Sherlock" pearls of wisdom. Very welcome pearls, no doubt about that, but very long-overdue ones.

Saturday, May 28, 2011
A Right-winger Looks at US Policy in the Mideast
Right-wing columnist accuses President Obama of having a "checkered record" as Commander-in-Chief. On close examination, it's not at all clear that Obama has any such thing.

Saturday, November 27, 2010
Reviewing "Decision Points" - G.W. Bush's memoir
(1 comments) A review of Bush's autobiographical book on his presidency and the serious issues it brings up for Americans in general and for the press corps in particular.

Monday, August 9, 2010
What will the next Congress look like?
(4 comments) If, as many fear, the Republicans manage to take over one or both house of Congress? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicates that he's been entirely happy with his strategy to block or at least delay, pretty much everything the Obama Administration has tried to do since January 2009.

Friday, June 18, 2010
We've Gotta Make a Stink about This
(1 comments) The deficit scolds/the "Catfood Commission" is coming to Philadelphia June 26th. We call them that because they'd love to see our senior citizens reduced to eating catfood. Their goal is not to solve true economic problems, but to impoverish everyone who makes less than a quarter of a million a year.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The deficit scolds strike
(3 comments) The hysteria about the deficit is spreading and regular Americans are being trampled in the panic.

Saturday, April 3, 2010
Institutional privilege
(1 comments) On the balancing act between institutional privilege and credibility with the public. Is a "win-win" solution possible or is it a "zero-sum" or "win-loss" kind of "game"?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Political information and how to judge it
How does one best judge political information? Does the partisanship or lack of same constitute an important factor?

Saturday, December 12, 2009
How well is the traditional media doing its job?
(1 comments) Is the traditional media too obsessed with Tiger Woods' romantic difficulties? Is the media paying so much attention to Woods that they're letting other priorities slide?

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Protest against wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan
March in Philly on the 17th of October to protest range of issues, primarily war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, the need for spending on human needs and not corporate greed, wars and repression in Palestine and Latin America and the desperate need for nuclear disarmament.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The "a few bad apples" defense
(3 comments) Does the "a few bad apples" defense apply to ACORN? One of the problems in using that defense is that it's been very badly overused over the past decade.

Saturday, July 25, 2009
Governor Jindals' health care proposal
(3 comments) The Governor's health care proposal is unsatisfactory and is not even a good starting point for discussions.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Is the Iraq War on a path to ending?
(2 comments) After hearing Obama's speech on the Iraq War, we wonder if we're on a path to the ending of that war?

Sunday, February 15, 2009
James Gilligan and the 3rd Presidential Debate
(1 comments) James Gilligan gives his side of the 3rd Presidential Debate at Hofstra University.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Department of Unsurprising News
(1 comments) Whuuh?!?! The warrantless wiretapping program was a dragnet and not a carefully pin-pointed program?!?!? Wow! The attack on Gaza did not wipe out Hamas?!?! President Obama's a smart guy? Rush Limbaugh hates his fellow Americans?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A review of "Expelled," a film by and starring Ben Stein
(2 comments) Does Ben Stein's "expose" the "truth' about evolution theory? Nah, it's propaganda.

Sunday, December 21, 2008
Trustworthiness
Peggy Noonan's pre-election evaluation of G.W. Bush's honesty.

Saturday, December 6, 2008
Juan Cole argues with President Bush
(1 comments) Juan Cole takes exception to a Bush speech that tries to review the recent history of violence in the Mideast.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Review of Weekly Standard Piece on Missile Defense
Does the WS piece supporting the idea of Missile Defense (Star Wars, SDI, etc) give any reason to think that such a project will ever be feasible?

Friday, November 14, 2008
Moral responsbility for innocent Guantanamo prisoners
How to deal with the moral abomination of Guantanamo while preserving the safety of Americans?

Friday, October 31, 2008
After the election?
(3 comments) What are the chances Obama & McCain will sit down after the election and peacefully and productively discuss the future direction of the country? Yeah, that's what I think too.

Thursday, October 16, 2008
VETS & Labor "Greet" Sarah Palin in Philly
(3 comments) Veterans and Labor greet Alaska Governor and John McCain running mate Sarah Palin in Philly.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The bail-out plan
A look at where the current economic crisis came from and the solution that were offered for it.

Sunday, September 14, 2008
Pro-life beliefs
(2 comments) What does it really mean to be "pro-life"? Can the concept be limited to women's reproductive choices and still have any serious meaning?

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Fight for survival or the fight of the chickenhawks?
What IS Bill Kristol trying to say? Is the US engaged in a fight for survival or in a not-so-important struggle?

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Calendar vs Conditions
(1 comments) Should the US leave Iraq based on a calendar or based on conditions? McCain is flummoxed by the question.

Friday, July 11, 2008
The death knell for the Fourth Amendment
(1 comments) There was a national debate over FISA? Really? When? The blogs certainly paid the issue a lot of attention, but the traditional media just yawned.

Monday, June 23, 2008
McCain, Obama & the press corps
(3 comments) The press corps displays some very highly selective news coverage when it comes to covering McCain & Obama.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Senate Phase 2 report on misuse of available intel on Iraqi WMD
(1 comments) The Senate Intelligence Committee releases a long-awaited report on the intelligence information that went into the selling of the Iraq War. An especially hard look at how our local paper covered the report.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The value of mea culpas (Not much)
Admissions of erroneous and sloppy reporting are all very fine and well, but not if they don't lead to actual changes in reporting.

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Bush Administration and the art of diplomacy
(1 comments) Bush Administration seems to have major problems conducting any sort of diplomacy. Some thoughts as to why.

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Obama, McCain and Bush mix it up!
Obama insists on being a non-doormat Democrat. Republicans not sure how to respond.

Monday, May 12, 2008
Santorum's word choices
(2 comments) Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum makes some interesting word choices.

Monday, May 5, 2008
More scary stories on Iran from the NY Times
(6 comments) More scary, but uncorroborated, unverified reports lacking any hint of critical scrutiny from the NY Times.

Monday, April 28, 2008
Accomplishments?
So just what exactly DID either the Bush Administration or the press corps accomplish over the past 7+ years?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Armed Liberal's flawed argument
(3 comments) Argument from a libertarian examined. Is "counterinsurgency" as he defines it compatible with democracy?

Friday, April 18, 2008
The 16 April Obama-Clinton debate
The left blogosphere is in agreement, the debate was terrible, with far too many "gotcha" questions and far too few questions of substance.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
John McCain and foreign policy expertise
Does John McCain really have anything "in the bank" when it comes to foreign policy experience?

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Douglas Feith coming out with book
(4 comments) Douglas Feith, "The [effing] stupidest guy on the planet" attempts to set us all straight on who lost Iraq. Hint: President Bush comes across as wisely and heroically struggling to make it all work.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Bush Administration on warrantless wiretapping
(1 comments) Bush Administration explains why they'd like to stomp all over your rights as a citizen. Why we shouldn't let them.

Saturday, February 23, 2008
The "Maverick" John McCain
(1 comments) Please don't anyone be under the impression that John McCain is a liberal at heart. He isn't.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Answer to D'Souza's defense of Bush's 935 lies
Dinesh D'Souza proves how masterfully heroic he is by tackling straw man

Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Voter fraud: How big an issue?
(2 comments) Voter fraud seems from a liberal / Democratic perspective to be a non-issue, but right-wingers seem to be pretty upset about it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Liberal blog demonstrates muscle
Looks like Daily Kos was able to exercise some muscle in the Michigan presidential primary!

Sunday, January 6, 2008
March on Joe Sestak's office
A march to our Congressman's office, with some surprises.

Thursday, December 20, 2007
Proper punishments
How to punish lawbreaking telecom companies without disrupting the larger economy?

Friday, December 7, 2007
Response to Rick Santorum's proposal to spark revolution in Iran
Rick Santorum resurrects a really bad idea from the Reagan Administration, the notion that revolutions can be created at will.

Sunday, December 2, 2007
Why does the left blogosphere exist? Reasons #2,143,657 thru #2,143,659
(4 comments) In which I argue that the left blogosphere exists because the traditional media is simply not doing its job. What America needs is a still stronger, larger and better blogosphere.