As the Presidential candidates poke their heads out of their holes to check the political weather, the exploratory campaigns are looking to report early fund-raising goals met to intimidate the other hopefuls. Today I got a call from John McCain’s exploratory campaign; the reason, I imagine, is that I gave McCain a substantial donation during … Read more

Link: Letter Proposing Minority Bill of Rights by Republicans. The House Minority (GOP) leadership transmitted a letter to Pelosi requesting minority protections that Pelosi requested herself in 2002 (and were completely ignored, of course). What is so incredibly wrong here is that there is not one word of acknowledgment of how the GOP majority systematically … Read more

Link: Kolbe: GOP on wrong path. I was gratified and impressed by some of Kolbe’s candor upon retirement. I found myself strongly in agreement on his views on the theocrats’ misguided culture war and his realization that the Iraq war must be ended. Why is it that Republicans seem only to be able to tell … Read more

Happy New Year! (Well, almost…) As 2007, the penultimate year of the Bush Debacle, creeps up on us, Liberals will be gathering at the Shanty on 4th Avenue this Thursday evening starting at 6pm to begin the process of drinking away the memories of Auld Lang Syne. This week, in the tradition of Time Magazine, … Read more

Link: The Chronicle: 4/2/2004: A Fascist Philosopher Helps Us Understand Contemporary Politics. An interesting look at Nazi intellectual Carl Schmitt’s political philosophy and how it lives and breathes in today’s movement Conservatism. At base, Schmitt saw politics as a no-holds-barred struggle to define who is a friend and who is an enemy – an art … Read more

It is once again time for liberals to gather in good cheer and fellowship at the Shanty on 4th Avenue starting at 6pm this Thursday. This week our special guest really is May George. No mistake about it this time. May is a Fulbright scholar from Baghdad, Iraq. She has been here in the States … Read more