I’d never own a handgun to protect myself from the government. Protesting myself my armed fellow Americans who are terrified of the government, on the other hand….
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GOP works overtime to Block the Vote
A few months back I wrote about how Republicans were trying to keep college students from voting – they removed voting booths from campuses, they tried to knock kids off the voter rolls for using their dorm addresses, tried to institute photo ID laws, plus a dozen other nasty tricks to keep young Americans from […]
Boston Marathon bombing investigation reveals security state’s hypocrisy toward photographers (shooters, know your rights)
It’s become a little too common a story: police thugs beating the hell out of a citizen (who may or may not have done anything) citizen with camera takes pictures or video of police abuse police arrest photographer because apparently it’s illegal to record police brutality The new trend is to make photographing the police […]
What would you ban?
I’m gonna go a little bit out on a limb and ask about taboos with a little compare and contrast. And no, even though I start this out with an example about gun control, the point isn’t about that. It’s about taboo and how that might apply to other rights, their expression, and the rationale […]
Marathon Monday investigation rolls on: the irony of being a privacy advocate in an NCIS world
Ah, yes. The advantages of living in a security state. Authorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings carrying black bags at each explosion site and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public’s help in identifying the men, according to an official briefed […]
The Tech Curmudgeon – Google’s CEO Schmidt clueless
So Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt thinks that government regulation is required to protect privacy from a rising tide of civilian drones. The Tech Curmudgeon agrees, at least in principle, because civilian drones and things like passenger aircraft should be kept well separated. Yet this is the man apparently doesn’t see a problem with Google Glass, […]
Gay marriage is a matter of church and state
It’s unlikely that the Supreme Court will side with common human decency and allow homosexuals to marry. My colleague is correct that we have more important issues to deal with and that support for the right to marry is growing, or perhaps more precisely opposition to it is also dying. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is […]
Prediction: Supreme Court will strike down gay marriage bans, and it won’t be close
Gay marriage will finally get its day before the Supreme Court. The issues are legally and culturally complex and the outcome uncertain in the eyes of many observers. I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I think I know what might happen here. I expect that the Court’s left-leaning justices will vote to strike down gay marriage […]
Dumb jock? Hardly: Scott Fujita absolutely nails it on gay marriage (and civil rights generally)
If you only read one thing today, make it this. Scott Fujita of the Cleveland Browns reflects on what it means in a society when some people are regarded as “less than” others. A snip: I support marriage equality for so many reasons: my father’s experience in an internment camp and the racial intolerance his […]
Pew study: Newspapers’ hard times continue
Shocked! Shocked we should be! But the latest report on the State of the Media by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism comes as no surprise. The bottom line: Fewer resources equals compromised journalism. From a PEJ press release summarizing the 2013 report‘s overview: The report pinpoints multiple signs of shrinking reporting […]
Ten years ago this week the Dixie Chicks controversy erupted: I’m still not ready to back down
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ― Theodore Roosevelt On March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theatre in London, Natalie Maines stepped to […]
Google Glass: Welcome to the end of privacy
If you haven’t yet seen Mark Hurst’s piece on Google Glass over at Creative Good, you need to. You really, really need to. A lot of times cool new gadget and service roll-outs mainly just affect the manufacturers and the people with the cash to buy them. Sure, there can be collateral damage – World of […]
Inconceivable: civil gun control debate – does gibberish trump reality?
In response to my recent post, President Obama expresses optimism: now in super-sized gibberish, my friend, mentor, fellow Scrogue (and Executive Editor), and all around swell guy, Sam Smith, had this to say: Come on, Frank. Sometimes we simply misspeak. You’re going to let that, in a case where you know the man knows what […]
President Obama expresses optimism: now in super-sized gibberish
”…when it’s that easy to get these high clip magazines that can fire off hundreds of shots in a few minutes…” *blink* In a nutshell, this is why I remain opposed to gun control at this time. When the political leaders that advocate for it cannot even address the subject intelligibly, this is not the […]
Defending slavery with the Second Amendment
The pivotal question of why the Bill of Rights includes the Second Amendment is one of those fun, Constitutional arguments that anyone can interpret. We most often get treated to an armed population being the last defense against tyranny as the sound, and forward looking theory behind the amendment. This argument presupposes certain aspects of […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
- Saturday Video Roundup: “Imagine the Band,” by John Lennon and Wings
- The Rest is Noise (6)—Descent into the Maelstrom
- I hate handguns, but I have still considered owning one
- Redneck jokes are racist
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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wufnik: Thanks Jim. I haven't read the Danto book, but I s…
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Lex: I'm glad i'm not a Progressive, because not being …
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Jim Booth: Wonderful piece, Wufnik. I'm currently reading Art…
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Fnay: Having recently put three kids through college (tw…
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satanicpanic: I've thought about this myself. Other than needin…
