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James R. Brett, Ph.D. taught Russian History before (and during) a long stint as an academic administrator in faculty research administration. His academic interests are the modern period of Russian History since Peter the Great, Chinese History, the history of science, and the history of ideas, including psychology and consciousness studies. He is retired and living on the Left Coast.
(8 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 2, 2009 Economy v. Ecology
"Rather than ground the economy in a broad set of social institutions and a broad set of values, we let the market economy become unhinged. And it has become unhinged in a way that has now created a worldwide crisis."
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Tell It Like It Is
If this an L-shaped depression we are entering, all bets are off on how long it will take to recover, and moreover, what emerges on the far side is likely to be as different as 1950 was from 1928.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 2, 2009 The End of the Marshall Plan
Yesterday, President Obama announced to the world in London that the United States could no longer be expected to be the sole engine of world economics. In untold ways this was a revolutionary statement, the echos of which will be reverberating for decades.
(21 comments) SHARE Monday, May 18, 2009 Sack Rahm
Every administration makes mistakes. So far the Obama administration's mistakes are beginning to have a "feel," a personality. It is not the personality of Barack Obama. It looks, feels, and smells like Rahm Emanuel.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 16, 2009 Torture and Tortured Reasoning
I do not see how, given the strong case brought in Nuremberg on these grounds that "mere orders or permissions are not exculpatory," that President Obama can justify relieving the CIA of its crimes. It will be seen by many world-wide an act of political cowardice! But there is, perhaps, a supervening context.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Rahm Must Go!
We have a month, perhaps, to save the 2010 "mid-term" elections. If we do not do the obvious, then Democrats will lose big ... and so will Obama. He must fire Rahm Emanuel at once.
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, March 6, 2009 Europe is Failing
The economic news from Europe is not only bad, it is being doctored to seem better than it is.
(8 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 18, 2010 World-wide Attack on the Vatican? Think of it as an Opportunity!
One of the insidious doctrines of Roman Catholicism is that only God can judge the Church and its clergy. We profoundly reject this as tautological nonsense. The Church is a temporal edifice and subject to the laws of mankind.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 21, 2009 Depression Is Inevitable
This is a Capitalist critique. A perfect storm is upon us. The destruction of politics as we know it is but one element of the Change that will occur.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, September 13, 2009 The Paranoid Rightwing
Max Blumenthal's "Republican Gomorrah" has some interesting lessons from Hoffer and Fromm. The sociology of the rightwing is born in hopelessnes and paranoia.
SHARE Tuesday, June 23, 2009 What is an Actuary?
The Public Option for Health Care is hanging in the balance. It is time for Americans to step up and let Congress know that they will be thrown out of office if the Health Care Bill does not have a public option.
SHARE Sunday, November 18, 2007 Governor Rick Perry and Barry Bonds
What's the difference between injecting anabolic steroids and injecting a $1,000,000 worth of illegal campaign funds? Governor Rick Perry will soon find out.
(7 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 4, 2009 Fraud ... Rampant, Pervasive Fraud!
In a sense that is probably the most cutting irony in a hundred years, FDR's statement that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" has now doubled back onto the White House itself where fear has created a public policy, a managerial and class fear that will surely wreak havoc among us and extend this crisis off into the distant future.
(17 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 18, 2010 The Empire Strikes Back
The Pope and the College of Cardinals and the Curia have made a critical and I believe FATAL mistake. The Church will now enter its final stage of slow dissolution and inevitable decay.
(9 comments) SHARE Saturday, November 15, 2008 The Secretary of State
The three top contenders for the Secretary of State each bring unusually valuable and unique strengths to the office. There is one among them that fits best.
(8 comments) SHARE Saturday, August 22, 2009 What a Revolt of the Left Means
Pusillanimous leadership and outright moral and political cowardice characterize the Obama presidency. Liberal Progressives have had it, and the devil take the hindmost!
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Jobs! Can They Not Hear and See?
The honeymoon is definitely over. The Obama Administration has shown its hand and the hand is empty. The country's best columnist agree that something serious is amiss in the West Wing, not just across the breadth and length of our land. Enjoy your Thanksgiving repast, but remember there are millions who cannot!
(5 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 23, 2008 While History Does Not Repeat Itself Economics Seems To
If History does not repeat, and if Economics is at best an inexact science, upon what are we to guide our coming responses to the economic catastrophe? The calculus of Pragmatism requires the solemn practice of Responsibility.
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Public Flogging
A public flogging might seem appropriate, but it would not serve any progressive purpose. Obama knows what he is doing, and he knows we are not in this mess alone.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Dark Energy
In Scientific American Magazine this month (April, 2009) there is a very interesting article about whether there really is dark energy in our universe. The article in instructive about paradigms.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, February 27, 2009 Apocalyptic Republicanism
Contemporary Republicanism only makes rational sense if you posit Palin and a willingness to exploit economic and religious fears.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 11, 2010 Forging a Green Economy
Global warming and the attendant climate change is the greatest challenge we face as a species, not because of the probably dire consequences, but because of who we are.
(5 comments) SHARE Friday, July 23, 2010 Bernanke's Dilemma
The Fed is out of chips, basically, so we need another player. Can Congress stomach the stakes of this very dangerous situation?
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, December 8, 2006 Political Syncretism
Right now there are wars going on within the two major parties for hegemony. Everyone and her brother are fighting for control of the Democratic party or at least a seat at the table. A good understanding of ideology will win out.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, April 10, 2009 G.O.P. in Exile?
Fair political reporting is reporting the activities of responsible and rational and civic-minded people who may agree or disagree with one another, not the rants and orations of lunatics who are pretty obviously bent on destruction of our democracy in favor of a republic of hatred and paranoia.
(13 comments) SHARE Monday, January 25, 2010 How China Thinks
Sergei Brin, Larry Page, and Hillary Clinton have turned a corner in the progress of the global culture we are constructing. China's leaders will be left behind. The very forces of history that have humbled China will free her finally. We call it the Internet.
SHARE Tuesday, March 2, 2010 The Problem in the White House
Smell the smoke! There is a fire under Rahm Emanuel and it is about time. With luck we can rid ourselves of this carbuncle on the Presidency.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 6, 2009 Metaphors on Self-Interest
An article in Scientific American leads to possible false conclusions. Traffic control and economic regulation are different things entirely.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, February 22, 2010 "Starve the Beast"
Paul Krugman does a good job of pinning the GOP slogan to the wall. Now we need to understand the reasons for it ... and it is not all because they don't trust bureaucrats.
(15 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 3, 2009 Paralysis: An Early Stage of Paradigm Shift
Davos and Belem at opposite ends of the political and economic spectrum arrive at similar conclusions. We should not leap for joy quite yet.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, August 9, 2010 Building A Mosque
Amid the pelting of anti-Islamic emails and lectures by anonymous Christian jihadists comes the question about mosques. James Carroll in the "Globe" has a perspective.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, March 9, 2009 The Corporate Death Penalty
Big Pharma has gone astray and the lesson has to be a hard one. We must yank the charter of corporations that have a culture of criminal contempt for the welfare of the people.
SHARE Friday, January 22, 2010 The Supreme Court and Galloping Fascism
This weeks ruling by SCOTUS is a travesty, a dagger in the heart of human democracy. The ruling must be overturned.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, December 14, 2009 "The People Speak"
The History Channel has a winner, but the establishment and the elite don't think so. Should we be surprised? No, we should demand that this theme become part of the curriculum everywhere!
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, April 24, 2009 The Lone Star of the Third World
The Republic of Texas is a historical fact ... historical, not a present day fact, but the Governor of Texas wants to be Sarah Palin's running mate in 2012. Let him!
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 21, 2009 On Being Bad
We are often bad. The problem is that we do not understand how we are bad and what the consequences are. Prejudice, stereotyping, illogical reasoning, demagoguery, and a host of complex factors are currently at play in contemporary society. We need to do something about it.
(8 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 5, 2009 Nagasaki
The anniversary week of the atomic bombs over Japanese cities brings out the perennial, James Carroll, in the Boston Globe, and although he is improving, his take is still strongly flavored by latter-day morality and not historical accuracy.
(14 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 21, 2010 Amazing Oracle at OpEdNews
The Obama presidency is NOT, despite what you might read here, going down the tubes. The sad fact is that some writers cannot keep the big picture in focus.
SHARE Friday, March 27, 2009 Pavlov's Blue Dog
We are unused to the Barack Obama way, and it shows all over the place in columns, articles, essays, and frantic angst, even here. Obama is missing a key adviser on communications.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 11, 2009 The Hundred Year Storm
It ... comes as something of a shock to the country that "once-in-a-generation" and "not-since-the-Great Depression" are now worn out understatements of the mess we are in. The meaning carried on the back of these new dimensions is that we have no experience in modern times dealing with what we have now at hand.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 28, 2009 Holy War
Evangelical Christians have found a goldmine in the armed forces. It is time to understand the peril their beliefs put us in.
(15 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 1, 2007 Obama and Impeachment
Barack Obama misspoke against impeachment. His duty as a Senator is to be an unprejudiced juror. Impeachment itself is up to the House of Representatives.
SHARE Saturday, November 21, 2009 The End of an Era?
The portent for our holiday economy is laden with opportunity for even more unemployment, bankruptcies and business failures.
Do these in turn portend an end to American consumerism. The answer is not "no"; it is "maybe," and that is good!
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 7, 2017 The Resistance and What It isFor
Trump is not the Borg! Resistance is NOT futile. We are the majority and we are stronger than he or his minions. Now we must act and create a progressive nation.
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, March 2, 2009 Nationalize the Banks
The sooner we nationalize the banks the sooner we can denationalize the ones that can survive.
SHARE Saturday, September 26, 2009 Left Behind
"Beyond insanity," is what he called it and he was there and knows. The radical fundamentalist apocalypic Armageddon and Rapture waiting fringe is not to be ignored, but the problem is not them. It's Congress, right and left and we have to fix that first.
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 5, 2009 The Oldest Profession
Assertions that "'registered lobbyists' will be deprived of their right to petition their government" are utter and malicious hogwash. Lobbying is destroying our democracy and it must be strictly and completely controlled.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 28, 2010 The Last Straw in Afghanistan
The Wikileaks prove only one important thing. America is in major DENIAL about the efficacy of war.
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 23, 2009 Obama On Health Care Reform
As the New Republic notes, yesterday President Obama spoke to us as if we're adults. It is essential that health care be wrested from the corrupt hands of the insurance industry ... the biggest scam going.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Hot Seething Anger
Satisfied human beings dislike (even hate) change. Progress is a dirty word to the self-satisfied. For the rest of us Change is necessary for our lives. For others Change requires reconsidering an entire world view. It is painful and that is what we are experiencing now--their pain.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 23, 2009 Good-Bye America!
The reckless brandishing of words and arms of the far right since before the election is the epitome of irony, but that is lost on people whose lives feel uprooted by massive and accelerating change.
SHARE Monday, September 7, 2009 The Future Shock of Change
It is obvious that some among us resist Change because of how disconcerting it is. James Carroll of the Boston Globe personifies a "resistor" of the intellectual variety. It is not a pretty sight. Change is inevitable.
(10 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 15, 2009 An Ideology of Audacity
Barack H. Obama is a pragmatist in the best American tradition, but it is a self-conscious pragmatism born of his experience and his view of the world.
SHARE Friday, November 6, 2009 Talking Our Way Out of the Great Recession
No, we cannot talk our way out of this one, but we do have to know what is going on and why ... and the press sure is not telling us.
SHARE Saturday, May 22, 2010 The End of the Celibacy Rule
A trial balloon or not? In any case celibacy for the Roman Catholic Clergy cannot last.
(8 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Afghanistan's McGenerals
The sacking of the commander sends a message down to the troops in the field that this war must be fought against the real enemy of Afghanistan, not against the Afghans themselves.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 29, 2009 Tipping Points
There is, even among Progressives, a hesitancy to believe the worst, for if all that is said about big corporations is true, then evolving a solution to the current financial crisis is going to be very tricky, indeed. In fact it will be more than tricky; it will be impossible.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 13, 2010 A Fatal Flaw
Charles M. Blow nails the Obama problem. The question is whether Obama has the guts to change.
SHARE Sunday, June 4, 2006 Garcetti v. Ceballos; Alito Kills Whistleblowing
In Garcetti v. Ceballos the Supreme Court has summarily removed the First Amendment from public employees rights. It is another appalling nail in the coffin of democracy and justice! That 50 cycle hum you hear in the background is the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, July 13, 2009 The Boiling Frog
Paul Krugman's Boiling Frog column is the tocsin for our survival. We are simply not doing what we must to save our planet or our economy.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Cheney and Cheneyism
Cheney is just the darkest of his kind.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 12, 2009 The Psychologies of Conservatism and Liberalism
What looks like a simple psychological assessment schema conceals entailments in human behavior that have troubled societies from the beginning. In the U.S. the strain on conservatives is reaching a breaking point.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 7, 2009 Disaster Capitalism
A Post article on bank failures gives the impression that crisis and disaster are just "beginnings." Disaster capitalism is no joke; it is a pernicious ideology that we have to take seriously.
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, February 9, 2009 A Note In A Bottle
The Dow Jones Industrial Average will go south of 5,000 and take much we treasure with it. We are reneging on world leadership and the result will be worldwide political problems for generations. One man could be bold and end the foolishness in Washington, but he won't.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 7, 2009 The Disaster
The damage done to Wall Street and "bankers row" was so substantial that there was neither time nor prudent necessity to reorganize these sectors first. Reorganization is more than inevitable, but it will not happen until the bilge pumps are all on line, the ship stops sinking, and the passengers are all safe, in or near life-vests and life-boats. Obama's strategy is not only reasonable, but obvious.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, June 21, 2010 The Long Hot Dog Days of the Press
Enough of the Obama bashing, Liberals! The problem is your need for instant gratification and a father figure. Grow Up!
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, February 8, 2010 The Internet: Powerful, Yet Fragile
The importance of the Internet cannot be overstated, but the motives for governments and net citizens do not necessarily coincide.
SHARE Wednesday, January 9, 2008 Misogyny and Racism in America: Is it Lethal for Politics?
Race and gender prejudice in America are not fads or lightly held opinions; they are part of the fabric of the nation and arguing otherwise is disingenuous and perhaps a fatal political mistake. Arguing it poorly is even worse, but Slate magazine has done so.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 26, 2009 The Cojones Frame
Long time journalist William Greider has stepped on his shoe-lace with an article about President Obama losing to the "big dogs" on Wall Street.
SHARE Saturday, March 14, 2009 Mimesis on Wall Street
The tipping point between "restoration" and change has not yet been reached. The old order is fighting tooth and nail to stay alive. Only real pain in the economy will disarm them
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 17, 2009 California Dreamin'
California's economy is sound, but their property tax law is utter foolishness and must be changed as a condition of the federal government helping out.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 4, 2009 First Decline, Then Fall
It boils down to the nature of representative government. Either we wait until the central government is brought to its knees by unfolding events that it failed to address in a timely and effective way or we teach government how to act for us.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 13, 2010 Irony! Maybe ...
The Press is at a wit's end. Obama is not what they hoped, a genial user of the press to fashion a better world, a person ready to take meaningless carping in an understanding way. Instead, the press seems ready to carve an effigy of Barack Hussein Obama that he will not soon forget.
SHARE Friday, June 1, 2007 Greek Chorus
The ancient Greeks and Romans have much to teach us, but there is much in their history to be ignored. We have over two bloody millennia of progress to protect, and protect it we must. Yes, the battle is between Empire and Republic, but History only repeats itself in classrooms. In the real world we take responsibility for it.
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 27, 2010 Playing Games While the Planet Warms and Climates Change
Disputing facts about global warming is gaming the ignorance of the public. It would not matter, if after the damage is done we who survive could rid ourselves of those who deny the truth. The problem is one of leadership and that is sorely lacking.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 5, 2009 Manipulating the News
The object of dissent is to change decision-making BEFORE it happens, not AFTER.
SHARE Thursday, February 11, 2010 The Slow Motion Implosion of the EU
Ominous rumblings from the southern tier in Europe are visibly on Germany's plate and silently on ours. In the Navy we would say "stand by for heavy rolls."
(15 comments) SHARE Friday, October 20, 2006 Faith, Relativism, and Liberalism
The philosophical underpinnings of political thought are opaque most of the time. Currently some of these are threadbare. Liberals and Progressives should understand that bad premises lead to incoherent politics.
SHARE Monday, July 20, 2009 War! ... with Switzerland?
The news about conflicts over Swiss bank secrecy law masks a much more serious problem ... the impending collapse of Europe's banking "system."
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, April 16, 2010 Indulgence! No!
New Yorker Magazine's Hendrick Hertzberg gives Pope Benedict's Church a virtual pass. Since when are medieval indulgences a greater evil than raping children!
SHARE Sunday, June 13, 2010 Forgiveness Includes Consequences!
The Pope's plea for forgiveness did not include an admission of personal guilt. Blanket amnesties are not in the cards. There must be consequences.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Theories of Change ... and Now Paralysis
An extension of David Brooks's thoughtful column today on Change. We hate it and we love it. We obviously need it. There are many who have already given up, saying that we are incapable of orderly change.
SHARE Monday, October 5, 2009 Muddling Afghanistan
Finding reasonable and attainable goals for the AfPak war would be difficult enough, but many are playing politics with the issue.
SHARE Friday, November 20, 2009 Reasons Not to Abandon Afghanistan
While looking for reasons to stay in Afghanistan, it would be beneficial to check out some of the assumptions being bandied about these days.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 16, 2010 "The Disease Calling Itself the Cure"
James Carroll in the Boston Globe sees the end of the Roman Catholic Church's problems, and it is a monumental change that must occur.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 10, 2009 Cascading Failures
Cascading failure within an emergent process is hard to understand and more difficult yet to fix, but fix it we must,and this is not the time for compromise.
SHARE Friday, December 18, 2009 The Senate
It is time to change the Senate. We are a mature democracy now, and we don't need the Senate as it currently is provided for in the Constitution or by its own rules!
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 18, 2008 "Socialized Risk" or Corporatism?
Calling the bailouts "socializing risk" obscures the fact that this is just part of American Corporatism ... aka American Fascism!
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, March 10, 2008 The Fairness Doctrine, Truth, and Respect for Evidence
OpEdNews should be for evidence and fact based opinion. The real fairness doctrine says that if 60% of the people are for Obama, that's the way it is.
SHARE Wednesday, February 24, 2010 The "God Gap"?
Religious tolerance is our creed. We respect all religions, but we do not proclaim one above others. That is the American way. Make sure the zealots do not get traction on this issue.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Indistinguishable From Magic
Modernity v. Tradition is a human theme, played out not only in Iran, but in the United States as well.
SHARE Thursday, July 8, 2010 Fanny & Freddy Are F-Words
FannyMae and FreddyMac need a house-cleaning. Their latest ploy is completely counter-productive and begs for new management.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 12, 2007 Voting and Democracy
A New Yorker article raises serious questions about the electorate for which superficial answers are probably as dangerous as the appalling lack of understanding observed among the voters. Education and media are the keys, and both are broken.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 6, 2010 The Problem in Virginia
Radical reactionaries have Richmond and threaten higher education in Virginia.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 17, 2010 China's Motivations
China's monetary policy is not helping the rest of the world emerge from the Great Recession, but it is helping them bootstrap. The question is whether it is precedent for an aggressive China when they become #1.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, September 17, 2007 The Bush Legacy
Bush wants his legacy to include a neutralization of Iran. The question is whether this is warranted and whether we can stop Bush if it is not.
SHARE Saturday, June 5, 2010 Unseen Gaza
Reckless behavior of Israel will eventually isolate that country, even from the goodwill of the United States.
SHARE Friday, March 2, 2007 Phoney War
A nuclear attack on Iran is optional. It is not inevitable. It is within the power and responsibility of the Congress to see to it that it never happens.
SHARE Sunday, December 20, 2009 Disappointment and Defection
The Greek chorus is getting louder and louder. The emperor's clothes are falling away. His base is eroding. His goodwill is full of holes. Barack Obama has only a few months in which to make up the difference, or he will be facing a very hostile Congress in 2011 and probable defeat in 2012.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, November 30, 2009 Open Letter to Iran
Dear Citizens of Iran,
Here's some friendly advice.
Yours truly,
the rest of the world (mostly ...)
SHARE Friday, May 11, 2007 The Retrovirus
The Rove Project for a Republican 21st Century, like HIV and other retroviruses, would kill our democracy.
SHARE Monday, May 10, 2010 "The Low Road is Bumper to Bumper"
Social criticism is a tradition in America, says James Carroll, and he is correct, but what comes of it all. Aren't we basically deaf to the essential problem?
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 27, 2008 An Open Letter to Clinton Fans
The Clinton Campaign is based on carefully cultured illusions, the most damning of which is that the Clintons are far outside the traditions and beliefs of the Democratic Party.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 25, 2006 "... And the Wisdom to Know the Difference"
American politics is dominated by unexamined assumptions and myths. The pervasive lack of critical thinking skills perpetuates this problem. The ideas of "American world hegemony" and "market fundamentalism" are now joined in what will turn out to be a catastrophe of epic proportions.
SHARE Wednesday, January 20, 2010 Listen Up, Obama!
You have just witnessed righteous and seething anger. Massachusetts is telling Washington how it feels. It feels betrayed and dismayed and angry as hell! Obama has 30 days at best to take a different path with different people. If he doesn't the Democrats are going to be trounced in November. But, there is good news: the Progressive Movement now knows that it must be free of the corruption and lethargy in the Democratic Party.
SHARE Saturday, August 29, 2009 Now -- Onward!
Liberalism flourishes in America because there are so many liberals, people whose self-discipline gives them an appreciation of the needs and welfare of others. Ted Kennedy's passing is the loss of an exemplar, but because of him liberalism and the progressive spirit are strong.
SHARE Thursday, November 12, 2009 The Illusions of Arrogance
Neil Gabler's essay on American exceptionalism is excellent and points out that our hubris will certainly bring us down ... way down. It does not matter, exactly, why this mythos was created, even if for the best of intentions. It is a rope around our necks and we must free ourselves from it.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 6, 2009 The Far Side of Prudence
For all its promise, where change has been necessary, Obama has not changed. He is weak, deluded with a fantasy of inclusiveness, and soon to lose the battle we elected him to win.
SHARE Monday, June 28, 2010 The Paradox of Economic Stress Disorder
Toronto may be the turning point, but we don't yet know whether we have turned toward recovery or toward irrationalism and a long double-dip into economic (and psychological) depression.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Capitalism and Its Discontents
The alarm over the trouble in the economy both points to and obscures the reality that "free-market capitalism" has become "corporatist military capitalism." It is literally out of control, and the prognosis for restoring democracy is not good.
(9 comments) SHARE Friday, September 15, 2006 Terrorism and Islam and Our Response
Islam is a major world religion and should not be maligned for harboring violent malcontents by a culture full of them. There is another way to fight terrorist than by warfare. We should try it.
(9 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 5, 2007 Bomb Them Into Submission
There is a framing and emotion of conservative frustration, and it is a golden opportunity for liberals to turn the tide of debate and win votes.
SHARE Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Granularity
The consequences of inflation and deflation are different, no matter what you hear from the conservatives.
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, January 26, 2009 Understanding Our Crises
Nationalizing the banks is in the wind, and it will certainly happen when things get worse, as they are sure to do as the world economy slows and the domestic economy sputters ineffectually. It is not socialism, and in any case we should not fear it.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 22, 2009 No Mulligans!
We do not want a return to that gilded lie of an economy. We want a new economy with social and economic justice incorporated in every cell and fiber.
SHARE Friday, January 5, 2007 Branches of Republicanism
Democrats should understand that Republicans are a house divided, a coalition perhaps more diverse than the Democratic coalition, a party of seething discontent.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 5, 2008 "Conventional Wisdom"
There is no question that the news media in this country have gone astray. Some of the problem is that we are living in one epoch after another of rapid, disorienting change, and we need help figuring out how to land on our feet, but we are too gullible and insufficiently vigilant. Corporate media want to turn the coming election to their own purposes and even the "trusted voices" are looking suspect.
SHARE Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Do You See What I See?
Human perception is a mixed bag, as this little experiment begins to show. The implications for democracy are interesting. It may be that only with a broad consensus are we getting the full picture. It also may be that we should listen more carefully to minority opinion.
SHARE Tuesday, July 6, 2010 Revolution Both Sides of the Border
There is more to the immigration paralysis than the MSM is willing to chatter about. Mexico is a failed state, but U.S. interests are that it not become a revolutionary hotbed. Much better to be a stable narcokleptocracy, don't you think!
(9 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 21, 2006 Nancy Pelosi
The Minority Leader knows perfectly well what she is doing.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, February 2, 2007 Market Fundamentalism
The irrational belief in markets as the cure all for our civilization is now beginning to infect the Democratic Party as Libertarians gravitate away from religious fundamentalists and neocon radicalism, but bringing their dogmatic "market fundamentalism" with them.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 10, 2009 White Water Statecraft
We are on a perilous journey in a partly swamped boat. The pundits continually forget how dangerous and complicated the situation is. We should have more pulling together, don't you think!
(11 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 26, 2008 Moyers on Wright
Moyers 55 minute chat with Jeremiah Wright was not enough. The problem is too deep, the ignorance too trenchant, the myth too addictive.
SHARE Monday, January 18, 2010 Law of the Jungle
The democracy of the world wide web requires informed and responsible citizenship, just as our nation's democracy does. Loose Lips Sink Ships and flawed browsers like MSIE are no different. It is time for a change YOU can make.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 11, 2008 Granularity
They say that all politics is local. It's true! It is what we are going to learn how to do ... starting now!
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 28, 2009 The Case For Doing Nothing
DoNothing, disaster capitalism is willing to destroy countless millions of human lives to "prove" that FreeMarket capitalism is not a cult. They are utterly wrong, and we absolutely need a new Marshall Plan to recover from a quarter century of their madness.
SHARE Monday, December 7, 2009 Divergent Views on Copenhagen
The politics of Global Warming will not suffice. We need a Marshall Plan, a concerted effort, an intelligent plan of coordinated action.
SHARE Monday, June 2, 2008 War Crimes
Tom Brokaw thinks that all wars begin with massive feats of propaganda. He only weakly acknowledges that the press must be in cahoots with the war party to pull off the sort of propaganda campaign of which he speaks.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, February 9, 2007 The Rule of Law (and the DCCC)
The Constitution is not optional. It is based on the Rule of Law and that means individuals must bow to the imperatives written into the text of the document. This includes Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. Let's send her a message about Impeachment!
SHARE Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Yes, It WAS A Screw-Up and the Lesson Has Not Yet Been Learned
The demise of the Daschle nomination is not only good news, but the opportunity for a good lesson in politics and responsibility. We don't need another hero, we need a really good medical professional and a manager who know something about politics.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 18, 2007 National Intelligence Estimate
The NIE is first and foremost a political document designed to frighten Congress and Congress's constituents into prolonging a disasterous war in Iraq.
SHARE Monday, May 3, 2010 Net Neutrality in Trouble
Net Neutrality is ESSENTIAL in a democracy increasingly involved and dependent on fairness on the internet. The FCC must regulate internet service providers.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, July 24, 2009 On Health Care Reform
David Brooks and Paul Krugman write today in the NYT about health care reform. Both graze the core problem. The problem is that medicine is currently not self-governing, with the AMA and APA having already forfeited their best opportunities for integrity.
SHARE Monday, May 17, 2010 Nationalism and Egalitarianism: Not Dead Yet!
We see the world through eyes accustomed to our own habits of mind. The "truth" is elusive, to be sure, but there are realities, and we can grope towards them.
SHARE Sunday, August 12, 2007 The Guns of August
The long hot summer is a time for letting down one's guard and getting some well-deserved relaxation. Sorry, Cheney and Bush are not going to let you relax, or if you do, there is a strong likelihood that you will regret it. Think of the I-words.
(6 comments) SHARE Monday, July 9, 2007 Speaker Pelosi, You Are Part of the Problem
Speaker Pelosi has but a few days in which to reverse her illegal and unconstitutional act. It is not her Constitution to interpret. It is OURS and impeachment is OUR remedy for an Executive gone over the edge into lying, law breaking, and massive obstruction of justice!
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Mother Jones Bares Hillary Clinton's Cross
A MJ article reveals the secret religious side of Hillary. For me her candidacy is now completely unacceptable and, if she gets the nomination, I will vote Green.
SHARE Sunday, March 7, 2010 High Hopes Strangled in Their Cradle
The etiology of malfunctioning politics is very likely an "emergent property," one which emanates from the essential parts working (or actually not working) together effectively.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, January 12, 2007 Persistence is Futile
Bush is not the Borg, nor is his psychology relevant. He is not alone. He is supported by millions. We have to stop analyzing George and begin removing him from office.
SHARE Wednesday, July 29, 2009 The Misery Curve
As the NYT graph shows, the business cycle spends more time in the red than in the black. The social cost is enormous and, in fact, we do not break even. The business cycle needs immediate and profound repair.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 2, 2009 The Afghan Conundrum
The basic story is that Cheney-Bush really screwed this up and now we have to find a solution that does not actually invite terrorism. Tuesday's speech and decisions are nothing but temporizing measures to provide time to clean of eight years worth of Republican Neocon arrogance and stupidity.
SHARE Monday, July 27, 2009 Cancel the "Beer Summit"
Obama should just back out of the "Beer Summit." He and his office will obscure the legal remedies available to Professor Gates. The "teaching moment" is Gates's to pursue ... or not.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 3, 2009 Scaling Back
President Obama's forthcoming address to a joint-session of Congress is too little, too late, and all the more insulting to Liberals and Progressives because he intends to gut the health care reforms, rather than sticking by our guns.
SHARE Friday, July 2, 2010 The Funny Bone of Economic Politics
We are headed over a cliff. Unemployment is represented to be 9.5% but where it counts, 12%, with 50% of Americans directly affected by lowered income, hours, or complete loss of jobs. As this crisis continues to deepen, we have to keep our wits and understand the reasons we are outraged.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, March 31, 2008 Paulson and the Regulators
Treasury Secretary Paulson ideas for regulating Wall Street are very much a free-marketer joke.
SHARE Sunday, December 9, 2007 Review: The Golden CompassThe Golden Compass is a good fun movie, inventive, exciting, "Brytish" and therefore akin to Harry Potter, so when Roman Catholics complain they are proving the point.
(7 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 6, 2006 Libertarian Democrats?
A major battle for the soul of the Democratic Party has begun in earnest. As the candidates assemble you will see some strange hybrids, but the idea of Libertarian Democrats defies all logic and common sense.
(5 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 29, 2008 Olbermann Talks Back
Olbermann stubbornly refuses to see his mistake as a reporter of news and critic of public figures.
SHARE Friday, March 9, 2007 Princess of the Flies
Ann Coulter is only half the problem. The other half is her audience, a willing Republican Party, harboring fear and hatred.
SHARE Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Mortgages
Millions of foreclosures is everybody's problem. It has to stop! A mortgage foreclosure holiday is what our economy needs.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, February 19, 2007 Human Nature
The Conservative view of "human nature" is based in a negative view of life. Columnist David Brooks does not understand the implications of science and misjudges the fate of New Society programs. Human beings are not one thing or the other, but in fact a mix of competitiveness and compassion.
SHARE Monday, February 16, 2009 Bridge Over Troubled Waters
The Washington Post errs again! A once great newspaper needs to changes its course and get with the program!
(5 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 13, 2008 Obama and The Bitterness in America
Like it or not Barack Obama has tapped into the motherlode of American discontent, and he should use it, not apologize for it.
SHARE Friday, March 23, 2007 Playing With War
The Democrats are playing with war for political gain. This is going to bite them on their backside in 2008. We told them to have courage in the last election and they have demonstrated the opposite!
SHARE Thursday, January 21, 2010 Unacceptable Failure in Washington
Coakley ran without help. DSCC, DNC, and the White House all dropped the ball. It is time to look at the top and see the cause. Obama, Emanuel, and Axelrod all failed! At least Emanuel should lose his head for it!
SHARE Wednesday, July 16, 2008 "Wall Street Socialism"
Huffingtons Borosage writes of Wall Stree Socialism, but it's really corporatism at its finest, Benito would be proud!
SHARE Tuesday, October 9, 2007 Health Care
Basic Health Care for all is a national necessity and transcends the question of socialism as does a national defense.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Farewell Al Gore
Al Gore's decision to shut down the draft Gore movement signals the end of Al Gore as a viable prospect for public office in our country. It is a shame that he cannot muster the energy and courage to take on this campaign, but we will survive!
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Faith-Based Initiatives
Barack Obama's decision to involve faith-based groups' infrastructure and manpower is pure Obama. The most obvious issue is not the main issue.
SHARE Sunday, May 7, 2006 Compromise and Coöptation
The middle ground between Corporatism and incipient Fascism on the one hand and Socialism on the other was Liberalism, but it was coopted and the result is our present Plutocracy.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 10, 2006 What a Democrat Is
The new array of Democrats in Congress suggests the need for a new definition of the Party. Progressives and Liberals must devise a plan of action that understands the new environment.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, October 16, 2006 People
Three hundred million Americans! It is a big number and the consequences may be more than our present culture can deal with. Already there are signs.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 3, 2006 Boiled Down It Comes to This
Voters should have made up their minds by now. The reasons to vote for Democrats are obvious, but some voters might need a mantra to get them past all the confusion that will surely be thrown their way. Republican election fraud we will deal with afterward, but now it is important to cast those votes!
SHARE Thursday, October 25, 2007 Putinshchina
What Russian President Vladimir Putin will do when he reaches the constitutional limit on his presidency is not just anyone's guess. The guess by Leon Aron in the 10/25 edition of the NYT is not satisfying nor does it seem to understand the basic situation in Russia.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, October 27, 2006 Changing Course
Our poorly prepared President is incapable of making rational course corrections. The errors are piling up to mythical proportions. We are headed for an epic disaster.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, December 22, 2006 Free Trade is Not Free!
It is time to rethink our global position and the assumptions upon which the impending economic catastrophe is predicated. The first step is to abandon Clintonism.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, April 6, 2007 Contempt
Cheney and Bush and their enablers and underlings are contemptuous of our traditional American institutions of government. Should we report their activities as if they were following the rules and honoring their oaths of office, or should we be done with this charade and toss this sorry lot into the dustbin of history? It's a no-brainer!
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Gonzales the Liar
Gonzales is Pelosi's last chance to vindicate her Speakership. If she fails to act Constitutionally, she must be turned out of office. Californians understand the process of RECALL.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 10, 2008 The Calculus of Confrontation
The Clinton campaign has gone too far. Playing the race card threatens the Party and the November election. The Democratic Primaries have gone on long enough. We have a candidate!
SHARE Friday, January 26, 2007 The Purple Testament of Bleeding War
The war aims of Bush and Cheney were revealed by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)this week. Did you notice? This Neocon nightmare will continue until someone notices that Bush and Cheney cannot be trusted to carry out the national security interests of our country.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, March 30, 2007 Beginning of the End Game
Bush's fragile psyche is showing. His bearing is cracking and his speech impediments are back. He is all alone and, given his born-again self-righteousness, he is very, very dangerous.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 27, 2008 Geneva Conventions
The U.S. Department of Justice is playing puerile games with the law. Their objective is transparent. They are trying to avoid the deserved prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and others. There is no way, however.
SHARE Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Brontosaurus Democraticus
The Democratic Party is a coalition, not a collection of old bones, some belonging to other beasts, some invented to fill an imagined role. It is a time for courage of our convictions, a call to progressive liberalism and our best ideals.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 25, 2008 Jacoby Can't Handle the Truth
Jeff Jacoby of the Globe misses the point again and contributes even more bitter violence into the campaigns.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, July 20, 2007 Stonewalling Plame
Federal Judge Bates erred and erred grievously--criminally--in his decision to dismiss the Valerie Plame lawsuit against Cheney et al.
SHARE Friday, July 10, 2009 All In The Family
Private individual responses to economic stimuli fall nevertheless into patterns that appear to be "quorum sensing" behaviors. Currently the result is that fewer households are being formed and this has negative consequences for the economy ... and for the people around them.
SHARE Friday, December 15, 2006 A Bad Week
As politicians scurry for cover, hoping the winds of war will cover their tracks, the problem of disengagement is complicated by the fact that the public does not really know why we are in Iraq.
SHARE Monday, August 27, 2007 Gonzo Gone
Gonzales departure makes impeachment of him and Cheney and Bush all the more difficult. It sets up an interesting situation in the White House, where the absence of Rove and Gonzales is irrelevant to the long-hatching plan to transmute the unsatisfactory situation in Iraq into a hot war with Iran.
SHARE Thursday, December 6, 2007 The Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Sitting quietly at home wondering whether it is useful to call Bush and Cheney liars one more time ... and basically saying to myself that everyone knows and no one cares ... when all of a sudden some bastard in Omaha guns down a bunch of people to "go out in style." I could not help thinking of Cheney and Bush going out in style. It raises many questions, but there are better ways to spend a pre-holiday Thursday.
SHARE Monday, August 21, 2006 The Ceremony of Innocence
Bloggists and pundits are being crushed in an avalanche of lies and fabrications. It is fraudulent to accept a lie to promote a smaller truth.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, April 13, 2007 Congress Must Fix DoJ
The ever-expanding problems of the U.S. Department of Justice, including the FBI, and including contamination of local police, clearly require immediate attention and a permanent fix. Gonzo must go and the sooner the better. Democrats have no excuse in this matter for inaction.
SHARE Friday, December 1, 2006 The Iraq Civil War: A Neocon Surprise
Ask yourself, What is the mission that Bush keeps referring to? The mission is the Neocon plan to remodel the middle east, nothing less.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 21, 2008 Working With Obama
Some advice for Hillary and Barack and the media, including us.
SHARE Saturday, November 4, 2006 What's at Stake
Next week's election can be the beginning of a solution to impending climate change and tragedy for the human species. If the election goes badly, you can expect rampant corporatism to soon extinguish the last rays of hope.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 2, 2007 The End of the World
Bush's veto is the last straw. His delusions about this war now border on insanity and he must be removed from office before he does any more damage. The issue is the Constitution and our way of life. Civilian control of over the military is our tradition and belief. Americans have expressed their opinion, and Bush and Cheney's disdaining of our wish to be done with Iraq is unacceptable! They must be removed now!
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 10, 2007 20,000 Troops and the Speech
Bush's Speech Wednesday evening was a remarkable retreat, admitting mistakes, he may have pulled his thumb from the dike. His new strategy is to find others to blame.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 17, 2006 A Bridge Too Far?
"Off the Table" does not mean "out of sight." Nancy Pelosi knows what she is doing. The next months could be very, very interesting
SHARE Sunday, April 23, 2006 Corruption
Someone said "corruption is an equal opportunity employer" and, although this is probably true, we must not lose hope. Our Republic was founded on the notion that human beings are fallible. We must keep faith with the entailment of that idea. ...There is nothing at stake but our democracy, for there is no question that Republicans are little interested in it.
SHARE Wednesday, December 27, 2006 Horsefeathers!
And I'm not talking about Pegasus! The Washington Post is doing its best to guide the Democrats, but Liberals and Progressives deserve better advice than we're getting.