August 2009 Archives

Last night I spent an hour watching a documentary that included some footage from the civil rights movement. It offered a short clip of Dr. Martin Luther King saying at what appeared to be a press conference that it was his request that President Kennedy sign an executive order declaring segregation illegal. At the time he made this statement, President Kennedy was under great pressure to advance civil rights without threatening his own chances...

When I was in high school government, our government teacher gave us a ten question test to see where we would land on the political spectrum. I remember thinking that test was bogus back then and that point was rammed home more so when my classmates (and teacher) labeled me as a liberal leaning communist anyway. See, I grew up in Clear Lake and in Clear Lake you are automatically a liberal if you vote...

I've always had a lot of respect for Senator Bob Dole.  He is an honest-to-God WWII hero, with two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with the combat "V" - for his valor in attempting to assist a downed radio man.  In his service as a Congressman and Senator, he was widely regarded as a man able to bridge the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party.  Since his retirement (and loss in the...

The torture-defending spokespersons for the Republican Party were on full display yesterday on the Sunday news shows. First there was Papa Dick Cheney stopping by Fox News Sunday for a softball game with Chris Wallace, what Andrew Sullivan aptly named, A Teenage Girl Interviewing the Jonas Brothers. Then we had daughter Liz on This Week making some incredible claims (even for Liz, and that's saying something) about the Bush Justice Department. Finally, John McCain on...

Those that are calling for secession by Texas, presumably because they've been "treaded on", met at the Texas capitol on Saturday, as reported by Houston Chronicle Blogger R. G. Ratcliffe. A couple of the protestors mention that they were worried about the state's sovereignty.  I searched the google fervently for their objections when President Bush mandated education standards with the No Child Left Behind Act, but I must not be skilled with the google.  I couldn't...

By design or circumstance, the final moments of the Era of the Kennedy Brothers ended privately, out of the public view, as the evening light faded over Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.  As it got darker, vague images of the honor guard, the bugler, the Custis-Lee Mansion were all we could see.  In the darkness, Teddy's grandchildren spoke of their private moments with their grandfather and Splash on the porch of the Kennedy house at...

My oldest son lives in Washington, DC, and shot this video of Ted Kennedy's funeral procession to Arlington National Cemetery....

Proponents of "enhanced interrogation techniques" point to the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as evidence that the methods work.  However, as today's article by the Washington Post explores, the situation is more complicated than just that.Yes, KSM was uncooperative and gave deliberately misleading information immediately after his capture.  Yes, KSM appears to have become a powerful asset for the Intelligence Community after waterboarding and sensory deprivation.  However, we must not make the mistake of assuming...

Senator Edward M. Kennedy 1932-2009...

A couple of stories over the last couple of weeks have highlighted the need for a tutorial on the first amendment. I spend a good amount of time when I teach government over what is protected in free speech and what isn't protected. By now, everyone knows about Glenn Beck's comments on Fox and Friends in late July. This post isn't about those comments because they have been hashed and rehashed. However, there has been...