Category Archives: Freedom/Privacy

Saturday Video Roundup: “This is the guilt I’ll live with for the rest of my life…monsters aren’t born, monsters are created…”

As noted a couple weeks ago, the S&R team hooked up with the crew from Zero Coordinate and Eccentric Production at the DNC in Denver. In addition to their invaluable help in shooting the Lee Camp interview, we also worked together in covering the Returned Soldiers/Rage Against the Machine/Tent State march on the DNC. Natalie Ashodian and her team have

Read more

Stop lying to the public: some notes on the faux-ethics of the press

CountyFair had an important and much-needed lesson in journalistic ethics for us this morning. The key points: First: it should never, ever be considered acceptable to quote a candidate or official making a false claim without noting its falsity. Reporters do this all the time, justifying it by saying they’re just presenting both sides, or that they aren’t making the

Read more

The S&R interview: Lee Camp, pt. 1

On February 23, comedian Lee Camp appeared on FOX News, where he proceeded to sound off on the hosts and their audience. “What is Fox News?” asks comedian and activist Lee Camp on the air. “It’s just a parade of propaganda, isn’t it? It’s just a…festival of ignorance.” Obviously Camp is a man with some political convictions. He’s also a

Read more

How do you feel about free speech, Mr. Candidate?

Our friends over at Colorado Independent have a great new analysis up on free speech zones graveyards at the upcoming DNC. As Constitutional attorney John Whitehead explains, the Dems will be the only party this summer building a fence around open expression. Protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver in late August will be corralled into caged

Read more

WordsDay: the art of the possible

In case you’ve been off-planet, the dumpster fire that is Election Season 2008 is in full swing. While this can be entertaining if you’re cynical enough, it’s a process that can exert a warping effect on the perspectives of even the best among us. In times like these, it’s often helpful to turn to the wisdom of the ages. Today,

Read more

Don’t mourn Jesse’s death – mourn that his legacy lives

On his outstanding Prodigal Son CD, North Carolina folk and blugrass legend Mike Cross presents us with a high-stepping little ditty called “Bill is in His Grave.” Bill, it turns out, was a scoundrel of the first order, and he’d been recently deceased. The narrator is asked to say a few words at the funeral, a task that proves daunting

Read more

Let’s kill a child … for Jesus!

In our most recent S&R poll, readers were asked the following: Two children of a family belonging to the Followers of Christ Church have now died after “faith-healing” was chosen over medical treatment. What do you believe authorities should do? The results looked like this: Pursue appropriate criminal sanctions. Religion is no defense for child endangerment. (75%, 101 Votes) Nothing.

Read more

A progressive for our times

Let’s say this guy was running for president on a third-party ticket: proven track record for getting country out of wars strong foreign policy diplomat who forged stronger relationships with powerful developing (and enemy) nations implemented the first significant federal affirmative action program dramatically increased spending on federal employee salaries organized a daily press event and daily message for the

Read more

Mark Udall helps hold the Constitution down while Bush and his corporate buddies drive the bus over it

Yesterday we here in Colorado learned a little more about our Democratic candidate for Senate, Congressman Mark Udall. And what we learned wasn’t pretty. Udall, along with 104 other collaborationist Dems, voted in favor of Bush’s latest Constitution-gutting initiative, a FISA “compromise” that makes all our talk about freedom in the US ring even hollower than it did already. Russ

Read more

Jesus, McCain and the GOP: a former Republican ponders the future of the party

Most folks don’t realize it – even people who know me fairly well – but I used to be a Republican. Back when I was younger and, one supposes, more naïve about the relevance of certain kinds of economic theory, I was a pretty mouthy GOPper. I voted for Reagan twice and Bush the Elder once, and while I can

Read more

George Will can’t stop lying!

I now know why Elvis shot that TV set. If you missed it, Stephen Colbert’s special guest last night was conservative pundit George Will. I almost typed “addle-headed pathological liar George Will,” but didn’t because I think a cursory look at what he actually said will make that clear enough. Show, don’t tell, as I always instruct my writing students.

Read more
« Older Entries Recent Entries »