You’ve probably noted the controversy surrounding the Internal Revenue Service’s apparent “profiling” of groups aligned with the Tea Party. A discussion on the issue broke out here at S&R this week, with our colleague Sid Bonesparkle suggesting on our internal e-mail forum that perhaps such action, even if it only involved a couple of “rogue” […]
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Boehner: Oh, so now you’re angry?
I can’t deal with the IRS news coverage right now. In case you haven’t turned on a television, booted up your computer, glanced at a newspaper or listened to a radio in the past few days, the news is all a twitter (and so is Twitter) about the IRS – it just came out that […]
UPDATED: Why do liberals hate science?
Shikha Dalmia at Reason.com had a few things to say about liberals and their penchant for ignoring inconvenient evidence in an article entitled, “The Myth of the Scientific Liberal.” Since part of the subject matter involves climate disruption, I’m sure Brian Angliss would ordinarily have much of weight and merit to contribute, but alas, time […]
The student loan interest rates are too damn high
Like many other twentysomethings, I was watching the Daily Show the other night to see what news Jon Stewart and his crew were mocking/making sense of, and the middle segment hit a little close to home. Obviously, this is meant to be a goof. Education is a wonderful thing, and encouraging people not to go […]
Forced miscarriages, however horrible, should not qualify as “murder”
Yesterday I heard that Ariel Castro was being charged by the prosecutor with several counts of “aggravated murder” for each of the miscarriages he caused Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and/or Gina DeJesus. I don’t have a problem with Castro, assuming he’s found guilty of the various crimes that he’s been charged with, being locked away […]
Goddamned wasteful gummit spending: Who’s the highest (over)paid “public servant” in your state? (WTF?)
A Special Guest Commentary From Randy Wayne Boudreau, Grand Dragon of the Alabama Tea Party All right thinking citizen patriots hate gummit. Wasteful bureaucrats living off hard workers like you and me. Might as well be welfare queens. And now, thanks to the good folks at Deadspin – private, non-union workers, I should note – […]
Showdown looming between the NRA and 3-D printed guns
There’s about to be a really interesting showdown: the NRA versus 3-D printed guns. The NRA had its national convention during the first weekend in May in Houston. NRA Vice-President Wayne LaPierre proclaimed, “We will never back away from our resolve to defend our rights and the rights of all law-abiding American gun owners.” Well, […]
George Lakoff gives conservatives way too much credit
Personal responsibility does not a moral system make. We’re all indebted to the influential linguist George Lakoff for applying his work to politics in recent years. Among his invaluable contributions has been his perspective on framing. For example: It’s a general principle: Unless you frame yourself, others will frame you — the media, your enemies, […]
Emphasis added: the foreign policy week in pieces
As if Iran Isn’t Noticing [Philip Coyle of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation] worries that the overall effect of the White House’s about-face on nuclear weapons policy could prove counterproductive. “We don’t want more nuclear weapons in the world,” he says. “We’re asking North Korea to stop its program. We’re asking Iran to stop […]
Saturday Video Roundup: Natalie Maines, out on her own
Natalie Maines has a new solo CD set to drop Tuesday. It’s entitled Mother, and it’s simply wonderful. If you’d like a preview you can stream it at NPR. I think we can now safely call Maines a former C&W artist. Mother, which is largely a collaboration with Ben Harper and his band, lies solidly to […]
Two-year-old Caroline Sparks killed by five-year-old brother’s rifle. Neglect? Hell yes.
by J. Stephen O’Brien Read that headline again. It doesn’t say, “killed by five-year-old.” That’s so common these days that it almost doesn’t warrant a mention in the local weekly. People leave loaded guns lying around, five-year-olds find them, point them at someone, go “BANG” and pull the trigger, and there’s someone dead or badly […]
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 […]
Lamar Smith wants politics to overrule scientific merit at the National Science Foundation
Lamar Smith (R-TX) wants politics to drive how the National Science Foundation awards funding to research, not scientific merit.
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 […]
The Senate gun control vote reveals our lizard overlords
A few nights ago there was a segment on NPR about the demise of the most recent, tepid gun control legislation. The host had the standard breadth of guests to discuss this issue, and the portion i heard focused on how a relatively innocuous measure like universal background checks could fail. The host pointed out […]
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 […]
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…
