Archive | November 5, 2012

The perils of self rule

by on November 5, 2012 in Politics, Law & Government, Uncategorized

Either these elections are getting worse or i’m getting more cynical, or maybe both. Look, i can respect opinions other than my own so i can see a healthy republic that isn’t a model of my political views. But there’s nothing to salvage here. The political system is well and truly fucked. We’ve got two […]

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Four more years? Of what? Same old shit, no matter who wins.

by on November 5, 2012 in Crime & Corruption, Politics, Law & Government, United States

I have cast a vote for president every four years for nearly half a century. Doing so is an obligation of citizenship. Each cast ballot has reminded me of those, in other nations, for whom voting is neither easy nor free of fraud or coercion. Sadly, in this election, voting may not be easy for […]

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Tournament of Rock IV: the Phil Collins pod

by on November 5, 2012 in Music & Popular Culture, Tournament of Rock

Somebody better call 911, ’cause Bon Jovi done killed everybody! Yep, in pod #8 we had a comprehensive butt-kicking, with the man who gave rock a bad name running riot on the field. Congrats, Jon, we’ll see you in the Sweet 16. Up next, I can feel it coming in the air tonight, as our […]

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Re: New Jersey electronic voting

by on November 5, 2012 in Internet, Telecom & Social Media, Politics, Law & Government

Right now, the East Coast is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy and the destruction she wrought. New Jersey in particular was hard-hit, forcing boards of elections to think quickly: how can people vote if they’ve been displaced? Answer: They can fax their votes, or vote online. From The Atlantic: “Less than a week after the storm — […]

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A vote, but not for any candidate

by on November 5, 2012 in Politics, Law & Government

Romney vs. Obama. This is the exact matchup I was hoping for a year ago when the Republicans were looking under rocks and tearing up logs to find someone, anyone who wasn’t the former governor of Massachusetts and a Mormon. But at the time, Romney was the reasonable, adult candidate compared to the other candidates […]

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Deciphering those S&R Obama/racism poll results

by on November 5, 2012 in Politics, Law & Government, Race & Gender

Last week, a highly unscientific Scholars & Rogues poll asked our readers this question: What percent of the popular vote do you believe Barack Obama would win in the upcoming election if he were white? The results are in, and I’d like to spend a few moments examining what they reveal. First, the numbers: Less than […]

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Attacking Iran is like setting off nuclear bombs on the ground

by on November 5, 2012 in War & Security

The West may not use nuclear weapons on Iran, but attacking its nuclear enrichment facilities will have a similar effect. As you can tell by the title, this 61-page paper, The Ayatollah’s Nuclear Gamble, is not Tehran-friendly. The report, released in September, is the product of Khosrow B. Semnani, an Iranian-American industrialist and philanthropist with, […]

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Mitt Romney: The rich boy

by on November 5, 2012 in American Culture, Arts & Literature, Politics, Law & Government, Race & Gender, Religion

Begin with an individual and you find that you have created a type; begin with a type and you find that you have created-nothing. That is because we are all queer fish, queerer behind our faces and voices than we want anyone to know and than we know ourselves. – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Rich […]

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