The Early 21st Century and the Philosophy of Loss

It’s that time of the decade when everyone seems to be doing their end of the decade thinking, and despite my resistance to doing so, I have done so. When I teach my personal recollections of the history of my lifetime I tend to look back on the 80’s as the worst of historical [...]

At Least Spitzer didn’t do THIS

Say what you want about my beloved former governor…. at least he didn’t do THIS.

It sounds better in another language doesn’t it?

I’ve Lost Faith in the Political System

I heard Elliot Spitzer speak for the first time when I was at a teacher’s conference in Albany a couple years ago. I heard him talk about his experience bringing down the monsters in Wall Street. He gave a little lesson in history, and how his hero was Teddy Roosevelt because TR was [...]

Listening to Holocaust Survivors

My second period class is in an ultra-large room divided by a removable wall. Usually it’s a curse because it doesn’t block any sound, but this morning it was one of the greatest blessings I’ve ever received.
My friend Jim teaches Genocide Studies on the other side of the wall, and asked [...]

I Can’t Stay Mad at John Mellencamp

I take back half the bad things I said about John Mellencamp for the jingoistic ditty that ended up on the Chevy commercial, and served as the soundtrack to the jumbotron video of Americans with high tech weapons patrolling the Iraqi landscape to blow up some A/RABs.
Mellencamp’s Jena video is awesome. The [...]

Dick Cheney Was Right

Yes, loyal readers you read the title correctly. You have to see this 1994 Dick Cheney video to believe it.

Please, PLEASE pass this video along to as many people as we can.
and, if you like, here’s another version with an apt soundtrack

COMMENT!
Could he be any bigger a DICK?

Losing Civil Rights in Wartime is Nothing New

President Bush issued an executive order last week that represent a serious threat to our Fifth Amendment protections. The order allows the President to take the property of anyone who the government feels might threaten the stability of Iraq’s government or undermine Iraq reconstruction efforts.
Oh, and if you’re helping anyone do any [...]

Thomas Jefferson, on How to Write a “Dear John” Letter

In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson sought to do two things. First, he wanted to explain to the world why the United States wanted its independence. It essentially explained independence, as well as declared it. Second, he laid the groundwork for the type of government he and his [...]

Going Gangsta in Government

Shortly before the Civil War tension was high in Congress reflected the overall mood of the nation. After fighting broke out in Lawrence, Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces supporters of both sides began having it out in Congress in a war of words. Rhetoric and tempers flared. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist [...]

The Pre-Emptive Strike: Might “Might” Make Right?

With all the controversy surrounding the war in Iraq, the comparisons to Vietnam are numerous, despite the Bush administration’s attempts to deny all connections between the two conflicts. One thing that differentiates Iraq from Vietnam however, is President Bush’s doctrine of the “pre-emptive strike.” The use of the pre-emptive strike goes far back [...]