Clipmarks | debbyski's 'political' clips

Why Is This Not Political?

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:00:22 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Ok, I do agree with the author of this article that Ellen went through a professional hell when she came out of the closet, and that my friends, is why it can get to be so comfy in there. But people are getting killed and beat up and hurt for what?? For LOVING someone of the same sex. How does that hurt society? How does that threaten society? Why does that seem to bother some people so much?

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

I was pleasantly surprised to see DeGeneres speak out on her show this week about the murder of a 15-year-old gay student named Lawrence King by the classmate he'd hoped would be his Valentine.

"I don't want to be political, this is not political, I'm not a political person, but this is personal to me

[Video]

I applaud Ellen DeGeneres for taking two and a half minutes of her usually-light-and-airy daytime chat show to address this incredibly serious, deeply important issue. Yet I wish she didn't feel the need to qualify doing so with the pretense of being apolitical.

There is a place in daytime TV for a little bit of intelligent engagement, a little bit of politics, sprinkled amid the celebrity worship.

Tags: its, political, believe, me

This Would Be Funny If it Wasn't So Serious

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:00:56 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In America’s darkest hour, Franklin Delano Roosevelt urged the nation not to succumb to “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” But that was then.

Consider, for a moment, the implications of the fact that Rudy Giuliani is taking foreign policy advice from Norman Podhoretz, who wants us to start bombing Iran “as soon as it is logistically possible.”

Do I have to point out that none of this makes a bit of sense?

For one thing, there isn’t actually any such thing as Islamofascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn’t. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.

Tags: fear, political, purpose

The Campaign So Far Quiz

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:53:47 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

1. When Mitt Romney’s son revealed that his dad once drove to Canada with Seamus, the Irish setter, stuck in a crate on the car roof, the Republican presidential candidate explained that he did it because Seamus

2. When Barack Obama was a state senator, most of the power in the Illinois Legislature was controlled by a tiny group of leaders known as the:

3. When she entered college, Hillary Clinton was a “Goldwater Girl” who kept “Conscience of a Conservative” in her bookcase. Which event did she say was the “last straw” that led to her break with the party?

4. According to The Boston Globe, near the end of Mitt Romney’s race for governor in 2002, his campaign ran an ad that was so unpopular it almost cost him the election. The ad was:

5. In the first Democratic debate, former Senator Mike Gravel said he felt as if he was:

Tags: test, your, political, savvy

Against Me!

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:26:50 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: political, punks

New World Order?

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:26:37 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: All right, everyone on Clipmarks knows I despise G.W., but my reasons are because I believe we live in a time of the American Empire. To say that we are the empire of our time is not longer a conspiracy theory or a left-wing claim. I'd like to add that empire is not necessarily about territorial expansion; we probably have no such ambitions. But empire is about the use of superior military and political power to shape the world in one's own interests, and to do so as unilaterally as possible. What does it mean to be a Christian and a citizen of the empire? That's a question central to the Bible and early Christianity. We must not do this--it violates all Christian teachings.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: politics, global, agenda, political, influence, empire

Freedom Of The Press

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:41:38 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.whatquote.com

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

A. J. Liebling More quotes on Politics

Tags: quotes, political, press, freedom

Can any Christian support the GOP?

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 02:34:04 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

Is the Democratic agenda any more compelling to voters with Christian values than the Republican one? The answer is yes; in spite of the fact that many Christians view most Democrats as being on the wrong side of issues like abortion and gay marriage. Those same Christians need to wake up and realize our Republican Congress and President has not passed or even proposed significant legislation on those volatile issues. The Democratic positions on poverty, healthcare, human rights, the environment, minimum wage, torture and equality for all citizens are much more compatible with genuine Christianity than what the GOP offers.

Tags: political

A Judgement on Cheney?

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:46:42 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON, March 6 — In legal terms, the jury has spoken in the Libby case. In political terms, Dick Cheney is still awaiting a judgment.

“The trial has been death by 1,000 cuts for Cheney,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist. “It’s hurt him inside the administration. It’s hurt him with the Congress, and it’s hurt his stature around the world because it has shown a lot of the inner workings of the White House. It peeled the bark right off the way they operate.”

Now, Mr. Cheney faces a civil suit from Mr. Wilson.

“It was clear that what Scooter was doing in the Wilson case was at Dick’s behest,” said Kenneth L. Adelman, a former Reagan administration official who has been close with both men but has broken with Mr. Cheney over the Iraq war. “That was clear. It was clear from Dick’s notes on the Op-Ed piece that he wanted to go get Wilson. And Scooter’s not that type. He’s not a vindictive person.”

Tags: cheney, political, toll

Katrina Fraud past 1Billion

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:30:28 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: apnews.myway.com

WASHINGTON (AP) - The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.

Federal investigators have already determined the Bush administration squandered $1 billion on fraudulent disaster aid to individuals after the 2005 storm. Now they are shifting their attention to the multimillion dollar contracts to politically connected firms that critics have long said are a prime area for abuse.

In January, investigators will release the first of several audits examining more than $12 billion in Katrina contracts. The charges range from political favoritism to limited opportunities for small and minority-owned firms, which initially got only 1.5 percent of the total work.

"Based on their track record, it wouldn't surprise me if we saw another billion more in waste," said Clark Kent Ervin, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general from 2003-2004. "I don't think sufficient progress has been made."

(AP) Acting Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security Richard Skinner testifies before the...
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He called it inexcusable that the Bush administration would still have so many no-bid contracts. Under pressure last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency director David Paulison pledged to rebid many of the agreements, only to backtrack months later and reopen only a portion.

Investigators are now examining whether some of the agreements - which in some cases were extended without warning rather than rebid - are still unfairly benefiting large firms.

"It's a combination of laziness, ineptitude and it may well be nefarious," Ervin said.

Tags: government, bush, political, favoritism, fraud

The Choice: A longer life or more stuff?

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:27:28 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The average cost of a family insurance plan that Americans get through their jobs has risen another 7.7 percent this year, to $11,500, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In only seven years, the cost has doubled, while incomes and company revenue, which pay for health insurance, haven’t risen nearly as much.

Mr. Wagoner’s argument has become the accepted wisdom about the crisis: the solution lies in restraining costs. Yet it’s wrong. Living in a society that spends a lot of money on medical care creates real problems, but it also has something in common with getting old. It’s better than the alternative.

Instead, a baby born in the United States this year will live to age 78 on average, a decade longer than the average baby born in 1950. People who have already made it to their 40’s can now expect to reach age 80. These gains are probably bigger than the ones the British experienced in the entire millennium leading up to 1800. If you think about this as the return on the investments in medicine, the payoff has been fabulous: Would you prefer spending an extra $5,500 on health care every year — or losing 10 years off your lifespan?

Tags: medical, political

Displease a lobbyist, get fired

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 14:42:29 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: E-mails show Jack Abramoff's ability to influence White House staffing decisions through his highly placed friends.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

WASHINGTON — For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.

Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist's ability to pull the levers of power in Washington. The latest revelations provide more detail than the Bush administration has acknowledged about how Abramoff and his team reached into high levels of the White House, not just Capitol Hill, which has been the main focus of the influence-peddling investigation.

Tags: political, scanda, politicsl

Kim Has Case of 'Malign Narcissism,' Expert Says

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:23:15 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: An interesting article inside the mind of Kim Jong II

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Kim Jong Il is neither insane nor stupid.

From the CIA's psychological profilers to his many biographers, experts who have studied the North Korean leader believe that beneath the glaring eccentricities — the bouffant hairdo and the oddball Mao suits — there is a shrewd operator at work.

If the announced test is confirmed, one of the world's poorest and most dysfunctional countries will have become an unlikely gate crasher in the exclusive club of nuclear powers.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

"Kim Jong Il didn't care if he bankrupted the rest of the country. He saw the missiles and nuclear weapons as the only way to maintain power," Kim Dok-hong, former deputy director of the Juche Institute, a Pyongyang think tank devoted to North Korean ideology, said in a July interview.

Tags: political

North Korea and the bomb

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:47:39 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: We need flexibility, vision, and strong leadership to reduce tensions.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Let us all agree: North Korea’s government is too erratic, too brutal, and too willing to sell what it has built to have a nuclear bomb. There is also no military solution, not least because intelligence experts haven’t a clue where Pyongyang has hidden its weapons labs or its stock of plutonium.

The administration has indulged in its own denial and temporizing. Last year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed the North’s declaration that it had nuclear weapons as a bid for attention. “I do think the North Koreans have been, frankly, a little bit disappointed that people are not jumping up and down and running around with their hair on fire,” she told The Wall Street Journal.

Since then, United States policy has whipsawed between negotiations and posturing, incentives and sanctions. It has been months since negotiators even sat down at the table. Administration hawks suggested last week that perhaps the best thing would be for the North to test, so the world would know exactly what it was dealing with. The hawks appear to have gotten their way. So why don’t we feel safer?

Tags: political, opinion

Too Important for the private sector

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 19:33:39 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Excerpted from Thom Hartmann's newest book, Screwed; The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class -- And What We Can Do About It

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

Some aspects of government are just too important to hand over to the private sector.

Among these are the government's role in protecting life and liberty. Even the cons will say that the government has a role in defending citizens. But they just can't seem to help themselves. Since Ronald Reagan, the cons have been busy privatizing the most basic features of our government, including the military, the prisons, and our electoral system itself.

The cons ascribe to a religion of privatization. "Anything government can do, we can do better," they say. Even though corporations have to skim money off the top to pay dividends to their shareholders, pay their CEOs' huge salaries, and pay for the corporate jets, fancy headquarters, golden bathroom fixtures, and advertising and marketing, somehow the cons think corporations can do things more efficiently than a government that has to pay only civil servants. It defies logic, but they keep repeating this fundamental article of faith-based economics.

Tags: political, opinion

Class Warfare with taxes

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:49:41 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

No legislative choice in recent years has so clearly pitted the super-rich against the suburban middle class. Most of benefits of the House's proposed extension of the dividend and capital gains tax cuts would go to the top one percent of taxpayers, with average annual incomes of more than $1 million. Most of the benefits of the Senate's cut in the AMT would go to households earning between $75,000 and $100,000 a year, who would otherwise get slammed.

The underlying question is, who ends up paying for Iraq, the Katrina cleanup, the Medicare drug benefit, homeland security, everything else? If the House has its way, it won't be the super-rich, who will get their capital gains and dividend tax cuts extended. If the Senate gets its way, it won't be the middle class, who would otherwise be hit by the AMT. If the House and Senate compromise by giving both groups what they want, there's only one group left.

That group is the poor and near-poor. Cut more taxes on the super-rich and the middle class, and the only way Congress can say it's grappling with the soaring budget deficit is to cut more programs for the poor. That means fewer food stamps, less Medicaid and vanishing housing assistance.

Of course, this won't be nearly enough to shrink the deficit. So in order to extend the tax breaks for the rich and to avoid the AMT, America will have to rely even more on foreigners-from whom we're already borrowing more than $2 billion a day.

Tags: political