[ Posted Monday, June 24th, 2013 – 16:46 UTC ]
This is an article about Paula Deen, racism, and the upcoming gay marriage decisions from the Supreme Court. But mostly it's an article about the long, slow road to true changes in American society. The beginning of this road always starts with the prevailing casual acceptance of bigotry and prejudice in everyday life, and the road doesn't end until society as a whole reaches the point of near-universal condemnation of a way of thinking which used to be widespread and unremarkable.
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[ Posted Thursday, June 13th, 2013 – 17:10 UTC ]
Frank Luntz, celebrated spinmeister, has taken on a new task, it seems. He'll be in charge of figuring out a way to convince the public that a blatantly racist major sports team's name is really nothing to get upset about.
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[ Posted Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 – 18:28 UTC ]
Last night, on a primetime television show, a character had an abortion. Does this shock you? It might, if only for the fact that such a plotline is so incredibly rare on American television. In less than two weeks, the Supreme Court decision in the landmark Roe v. Wade case will be forty years old. Four decades later, the debate over abortion still rages. But it is a debate which is largely silent on the small screen. Even last night, abortion did not really dare to speak its name.
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[ Posted Friday, March 30th, 2012 – 17:11 UTC ]
This week, the punditocracy had no Republican primary contest to distract their attention ("The upcoming primary/caucus in some state I've never traveled through because it's a flyover state could be the crucial turning point in the entire race... details at 11:00..."), and so the political pontificators and prognosticators had nothing else to talk about (one would think) except the serious business before the Supreme Court this week -- Obamacare.
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[ Posted Monday, May 2nd, 2011 – 17:00 UTC ]
"Turn on your television... to any channel."
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[ Posted Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 – 16:58 UTC ]
The Tea Party movement could possibly be generalized as a group of people who are proud of (and sometimes revel in) being impossible to generalize. This, of course, doesn't stop the media from trying. In today's sad state of American journalism, everything's got to have a simplistic narrative that fits within a 15-second soundbite, at the very maximum. Nuances and subtleties are out. Strong statements beginning with phrases like: "The Tea Partiers are..." (or "...believe...", or "....as a group...") are what is in. But even given this reduction in critical thinking, what's amazing is how wrong the media has gotten the Tea Partiers (or, at the least, a goodly portion of them).
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[ Posted Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 – 17:25 UTC ]
I'm going to start off today's column with a chart. I'm doing this for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's a really good chart. It is simple, easy to read, and involves very little mathematics (meaning it is accessible to a very wide spectrum of the American public). And it is a very effective way of presenting the facts, free of media spin. The chart comes from the White House, and shows the monthly number of jobs lost for approximately the past two years. It also uses color very well, to separate George W. Bush's term in office from Barack Obama's. Without further introduction, here is the chart:
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[ Posted Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 – 16:30 UTC ]
President Obama has recently announced a health reform summit, to take place across the street from the White House, with the C-SPAN cameras rolling. He's invited Democratic and Republican leaders from Congress to this summit. Many cynics have dismissed the effort already, either pronouncing it less than worthless, or calling it some form of political Kabuki theater which will do no good. I think these pronunciations (especially the latter one) are a bit premature, to say the least. Because either on a substantive level or a political level, I think there actually is a chance for some limited success for Obama in this exercise.
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[ Posted Thursday, January 21st, 2010 – 17:30 UTC ]
It's about time to start fighting for the little guy and against the fat cats. It's about time to start fighting, when it comes right down to it.
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[ Posted Monday, December 14th, 2009 – 18:27 UTC ]
So I throw it open to everyone. If you could write a bill for Congress to consider, on a mundane or commonsense issue to citizens everywhere, what would you propose? No idea too small... no idea too silly... just toss it out there for discussion.
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