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Category Archives: Lee’s Page
Glimpse of a Better Outcome for Georgia
When it seemed like escalation was the modal reality, outcomes looked bleak for Georgia. Dynamics change. Thus Georgia’s ceasefire in South Ossetia cannot be a bad thing under the circumstances. By putting up an initial fight, they drew the attention … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged 1812, BBC, Georgia, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Media, NATO, opinion, peacekeepers, Russia, South Ossetia, Tbilisi, war, war crimes
4 Comments
The “Serbian” Claim to South Ossetia
The point has been made more than once that the Russian incursion into South Ossetia is ideologically motivated as a retaliatory gesture for Kosovo independence. Wu Wei makes a fine point about why this is not plausible if so: The … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Albania, Albanians, ethnic, Georgia, identity, kings, Kosovo, Macedonia, Milosovic, Ottomans, Russia, Russians, Saakashvili, Serbia, Serbs, South Ossetia, Wu Wei, Yugoslavia
1 Comment
The Conquest of Georgia?
In an unnerving development, the New York Times is reporting that Russia may be preparing for an amphibious assault on Georgia’s Black Sea coastline. Alexander Lomaya, Secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council: “Russia has clearly decided to redraw the borders … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Alexander Lomaya, Black Sea, Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia, war, Washington
2 Comments
160,000 Deaths
At least 160,000 deaths in the suppression of Chechen independence by Russia. Just a reminder for when someone tries to set Russia up as the great defender of South Ossetia’s right of national self-determination. There’s a diplomatic argument for that, … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Chechen, Chechnya, diplomacy, Georgia, independence, nationalism, self-determination, South Ossetia, war
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McCain’s Turks vs. Obama’s Armenians?
Tsitsernakaberd (photo: Adam Lederer) Just when bewilderment at the spectacle of Steve Cohen going absolutely berserk on an Armenian film crew had started to subside (they were trailing him over his opposition to recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide), I … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged 1915, Armenia, Armenian genocide, Armenians, ethnicc, facebook, genocide, liveleak, McCain, nationalist, Obama, Ottoman, social, socnet, Steven Cohen, Turkey, Turks, video, war, war crimes
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Through a Darker Glass
Cernig at Larisa Alexandrovna’s site had me persuaded for two whole paragraphs. Now, having little taste for the fine art of distractions-from-distractions, I tend to roll my eyes at the transparently partisan diversionary tactics one sees all over the web … Continue reading
Posted in Firearms, Lee's Page, Media
Tagged Cheney, conspiracy, Democrats, Georgia, imperialism, John Edwards, Larisa Alexandrovna, Media, oil
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Choosing Sides on South Ossetia
After an ambiguous initial reaction, the State Department appears to have realized that despite whatever Russia contends, it is physically impossible for Georgia to invade its own country: “We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Condoleezza Rice, Georgia, Iraq, Russia, Sergey Lavrov, South Ossetia, State Department, Tbilisi, United States, withdrawal
2 Comments
Appetites of the Empire
(image: Marcelus G. Zalotti)
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Abkhazia, cartoon, eagle, empire, Georgia, graphic, invasion, Russia, South Ossetia, state seal, war
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China’s Olympic Designer to Boycott Olympics
Chinese architectural designer Ai Weiwei, who conceived the now famous “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium design for the Beijing games, will not attend the opening ceremonies in protest against Chinese dictatorship. He has some powerful words of explanation in the Guardian … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Sports
Tagged Ai Weiwei, authoritarian, Autocracy, Beijing, bird's nest, boycott Olympics, China, design, designer, dictatorship, games, government, protest, stadium
2 Comments
Surprise, Central Planning is Still Stupid (Even in China)
(photo: 2 Dogs) Modern China has a curious capacity to make otherwise very sensible capitalists instantly forget every experience they’ve ever had with government central planning. The Western businessman on a trip to Shanghai looks up and sees all those … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized, Urban planning and development
Tagged aesthetic, American, bridge, capitalists, central planning, China, commercial, construction, cruise, disaster, Dongguan, Far Eastern Economic Review, government, Hongko, housing, Houston, international, largest, Los Angeles, planning, project, public works, republic, shipping, shopping mall, skyscapers, Soviet, terminal, urban planning, vessels, Waigaoqiao, Yangpu, yangtze
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Life Under Stalinism
Video clip of victims of the Terror recounting their experiences at the hands of the secret police. The levity that many exhibit in revisiting the systematic decimation of human dignity they experienced, is the ageless strength of Russia as a … Continue reading
Posted in History, Lee's Page
Tagged documentary, Eric Bogosian, Great Terror, History, secret police, Soviet Union, Stalin, stalinism, victims, video, youtube, Zareh Tjeknavorian
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The Virtues of Celebrity Foreign Policy
(Photo: Alice E. Backer | blog) Andrew Galasetti at Lyved is an extremely devoted admirer of Obama. While fanatical devotion can blind — Galasetti thinks for instance that the McCain celebrity charge backfired, when the polls suggest a different picture … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Asia, campaign, celebrity, election, Europe, foreign policy, George W. Bush, Johnson, leadership, lyved, McCain, Nixon, Obama, Rasmussen, world
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Two Voters
David Gergen is the latest to detect hidden racist messages in McCain advertising. I’d say that there’s two types of voters on this issue. The sort who sighs at an “obvious” effort to invent an artificial racism for McCain, and … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged advertising, David Gergen, McCain, Obama, Race, racism
6 Comments
China & Russia: Models and Modalities
Francis Fukuyama chats with Robert Kagan on a number of interesting things: Flash | WMV | MP3 (via: The American Interest). Of immediate interest is Kagan’s notion that the the emergence of global multipolarity induces an imperfect, baseline bipolarity of … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged authoritarianism, bipolarity, Burma, Calvin Coolidge, China, China Model, Cuban Revolution, diplomacy, eastern, flash, Francis Fukuyama, imperial, internationalism, Kremlin, Lenin, Mao, Moscow, mp3, multipoliarity, nationalism, Nikolai Bukharin, oligarchy, power, revolution, Robert Kagan, Russia, russocentrism, sinocentrism, Soviet, Soviet Union, Stalin, tibet, Trotsky, Tsarist, unification, vassal states, video, western, Zimbabwe
3 Comments
Dissonance Control in Political Paranoia
(photo: companyink) After writing about the Ronpaulist fear mongering of Jordan Page, and then reading Lance’s splendid post on the latest contheorist pandering of Glenn Greenwald, a common insight has reoccurred to me: the absurd amount of cognitive dissonance conditional … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Domestic Politics, Glenn Greenwald's Carnival of Fisking, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
Tagged ammunition, car bomb, Christopher Hitchens, cognitive dissonance, compartmentalism, contheorist, cynicism, Daniel Dennett, Four Horsemen, Glenn Greenwald, government, improbable politics, intelligence, Jordan Page, NSA, paranoia, realism, resistance, Richard Dawkins, Ronpaulism, Sam Harris, Twinkies, underground, video, youtube
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A New Libertarianism of Paranoid Revolt
Jordan Page (who is a kind of Ronpaulist Joan Baez) reflects on the “Revolution March,” a July 12th Ron Paul protest rally in Washington DC, in part organized by Adam Kokesh (who of late believes the Washington police are involved … Continue reading
Posted in Lee's Page, Libertarianism
Tagged Austrian Schoo, Chicago, Congo, conspiracy, corporate, Czeslaw Milosz, Dissent, fascism, huffington post, imperialism, Joan Baez, Jordan Page, Libertarianism, Marxist, Milton Friedman, Mises, Naomi Wolf, rights, Ronpaulism, Trotsky, United States, war
24 Comments
Colombia’s Capitalist Communes
Colombian flower farms (photo: Mike Freedman-Schnapp) Colombia’s flower farm workers have for some time been benefiting mightily from industrial support communities, which practice heavy nongovernmental social investment in workforce collectives. Many of the workers in these communities outside Bogota and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Bogota, business, CFTA, Colombia, Colombia Free Trade Agreement, community, daycare, Fausta, Felipe Arango, flowers, free trade, government, labor, Medellin, MG Farm, rights, Shapiro, Sherrod Brown, social investing, trade, USA, worker rights, workers
2 Comments
Weekend Gun Lust
Apparently TDI has produced a civilian legal semi-automatic version of their KRISS 45 Carbine. Quite a futuristic looking firearm, which supposedly reduces muzzle climb by 95% for the .45 ACP cartridge. You’ll recognize that as quite a feat if you’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Firearms, Lee's Page
Tagged 1911, 45, civilian, Firearms, futuristic, guns, KRISS, semi-automatic, SMG, TDI, Thompson
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How Supermarkets Can End Poverty
Namibian supermarket selection (photo: Olivier Peyre) One of great inequities in the modern world is that in relative terms, food in poor and starving countries often costs far more than in the wealthy developed world. That’s because industrial countries tend … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Africa, agriculture, Ashok Gulati, Asia, chains, consumers, developing, Economics, fdi, food, food prices, foreign direct investment, household, Hugo Chavez, India, inequity, International Food Policy Research Institute, Latin America, liberalization, nepal, poverty, revolution, scale, spending, supermarket, Thomas Reardon, United States, vegetables, Wal-Mart, world
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Running Against the New York Times
Perhaps Mr. Riley’s allegation in Newsday that the McCain “Celeb” ad exposed some sort of crypto-racist subterfuge, is more widely shared among Obama’s media advocates than one might have assumed. For the queen of that kingdom evidently shares the sentiment: … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged advertising, editorial, harold ford, John Riley, Low-Road Express, marketing, McCain, Media, New York Timews, Obama, Race, racism, racist, slogan, subterfuge
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The Origin of Messages
(photo: photosan0) Yesterday I suggested that it was unwise for Obama to have titled and predicated a video on a line from a rather slanted New York Times editorial, given the growing public perception of media bias in his favor. … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged arena, bias, lovers, Low-Road Express, McCain, Media, Mick Stockinger, microsite, New York Times, Obama, urban
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The Art of Trying too Hard
(photo: dgeuzen) John Riley at Newsday is criticizing John McCain’s “Celeb” ad on the grounds that “anyone knows” Britney Spears and Paris Hilton just aren’t celebrity enough. Points for novelty at least. To reinforce his argument, he cites the Forbes … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged America, Blake Hounshell, Britney Spears, campaign, celeb, celebrity, Forbes, foreign policy, Friedrich Nietzsche, gender, John McCain, John Riley, Newsday, Nietzsche, Paris Hilton, racial, sexual
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Touring the Low Road
The Obama campaign has a new video response to McCain. It’s an interesting approach. The heart of the ad is the beginning, in which quotes from major pro-Obama media editorials are superimposed over McCain, calling his (unspecified) criticism “baseless,” “baloney,” … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged McCain, New York Times, Obama, polls, response, video
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The Muffin Mogul
The power of capitalism in a lovely little ad by Nexus Productions for the Royal Bank of Canada: Quicktime Video via Motionographer. ||
Posted in Economics, Lee's Page
Tagged capitalism, muffin, Nexus Productions, quicktime, Royal Bank of Canada, video
2 Comments
Investing at Home in Africa
(photo: William Bedzrah) One of the traditional problems of economic development in sub-Saharan Africa is that internal African investment dollars tend to be spent outside the continent. Thus it’s interesting to see Nigerian investment in Ghana has now reached $580 … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
Tagged Africa, Chile, commerce, George Kumi, ghana, inflation, investment, monetary policy, Nigeria, profits, Russia, Switzerland, trade
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Landham Returns
Taking fecklessness to new levels of embarrassment, the Libertarian Party of Kentucky is now considering rescinding its unanimous de-endorsement of genocidal fantasist Sonny Landham, and formally renominating him as its candidate for US Senate. “We’re really stuck,” said Libertarian Party … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Lee's Page, Libertarianism, Uncategorized
Tagged Ken Moellman, kentucky, Libertarian Party, libertarians
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Russia Speaks to the American Electorate
Sober, secular and educated new residents to New Mexico can often be found painting the frames of their doors and windows a vivid bright blue. Having seen the habit practiced on the homes of locals, the newcomers invariably assume it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged authoritarianism, Black Sabbath, Catholic, Cold War, desert, Dmitry Medvedev, election, foreign policy, Ivan Krastev, McCain, New Mexico, Obama, Perestroika, Robert Amsterdam, Russia, secular, Soviet, United States, USSR, virgin, witchcraft
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The Tidal Empires of War
(photo: Charles Roffey – Charles & Fred) Someone once said that in Damascus you truly can get a little bit pregnant. It’s a good aphorism, because if you asked the foreign minister of almost any state in the Middle East … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
Tagged 1990s, army, Bashar al-Assad, Beirut, capitalism, Cedar Revolution, Charles Roffey, communism, Damascus, Eisenhower, Eisenhower Doctrine, Fenwick, Frederic Bastiat, free trade, globalization, imperialism, investment, Israel, Jihad Yazigi, Lebanon, Lenin, Leonard Wibberley, London, markets, Mediterranean, Michael Shermer, Middle East, military, nationalism, occupation, pacifism, Pat Buchanan, pregnant, secular, Shukri al-Kuwatli, Syria, Syrian, Tzipi Livni, United States, war, World War II
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A Retreating Periphery
(photo: Mani Babbar) After 9/11 widened Al Qaeda’s ambitious war against most of the world, Osama bin Laden described his own axis-o-evil as being composed of “Crusaders, Zionists and Hindus.” But at some point, without anyone much noticing, that seems … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
Tagged 9/11, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Europe, geostrategy, Hindus, India, Iraq, Jammu, Jhelum River, Kashmir, Middle East, Muslim, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, propaganda, religion, Terrorism, Tigris River, United States, war
2 Comments
The Initial Command
(photo: Department of Defense) The Obama campaign has categorically rejected John McCain’s proposal for a joint trip to Iraq, calling it a “publicity stunt.” Publicity stunt it most certainly is, but why is it automatically assumed that the publicity would … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Lee's Page
Tagged condescension, Democrats, Domestic Politics, election, immaturity, Iraq, joint trip, Kevlar, McCain, Media, national security, Obama, poll, progress, publicity, tour, war
6 Comments
Dreams of Restoration…
..don’t quite work: photo: Alan Chan
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged autograph, Bill Clinton, Book, dreams, Hillary Clinton, image, photo, pic, replacement, restoration
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Enchanted Elections
source image: heartcores I’m posting the news rather late because…well, because I’m writing from New Mexico. It should come as no surprise to the election observer, that the Land of Enchantment is once again rather late in declaring a winner … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged 2004, ballot, Bush, California, caucuses, Clinton, conspiracies, democratic, Edwards, election, Hillary, Kerry, New Mexico, Ohio, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, recount, vote
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Conflict on Campus in Colorado
photo: Michael Buck The sole finalist for the new president of the University of Colorado system, is a Republican oil executive with only a bachelor’s degree. You can imagine where this is going: Campus observers have fiercely protested the selection, … Continue reading
Posted in Lee's Page
Tagged Benson, boulder, colorado, conservative, CU, government, oil, president, Republican, right-wing, student, university
1 Comment
Obama in the General Election
photo: Tim Kelley After getting obliterated in the Potomac primaries, new polling shows that Barack is beating Hillary Clinton in next week’s Wisconsin vote too. In light of becoming the frontrunner, Obama now appears to be further orienting himself toward … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged Bob Dole, Clinton, Dick Morris, McCain, Obama, poll, Potomac, speech, Straight Talk Express, Wisconsin
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McCain Speaks to Europe
photo: Chris Dunn Spiegel has a typically aggressive (and aggressively European) interview with John McCain today. In many ways it’s an interesting yet disappointing exercise, due to its focus on the perceived past sins of the Bush administration. While much … Continue reading
Posted in Election 2008, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged Afghanistan, Bush, Clinton, Europe, foreign policy, Germany, global warming, interview, Iraq, John McCain, Kyoto, McCain, multilateralism, negotiation, Obama, unilateralism, war
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Into the Fair Tax Black Market
photo: Simón Pais-Thomas Toronto police recently seized shipments of 10,320,000 counterfeit cigarettes from China (PRC authorities themselves intercepted nine billion in 2007). Chinese made counterfeits bearing fake American branding such as Marlboro, are produced “in underground operations, caves and old … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Tagged black market, Canada, China, Chinese, cigarettes, counterfeit, crime, fair tax, Huckabee, illegal, Marlboro, retail, sales tax, smoking, tax, utopian
3 Comments
Death by Fairness
photo: Simón Pais-Thomas Mick at Uncorrelated has another lovely post on the essentially vile character and politics of Mike Huckabee. Toward the end of his remarks he briefly hits Huckabee’s proposed Fair Tax: …and politically DOA policy planks like the … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lee's Page
Tagged black market, Canada, cigarettes, conservative, consumption tax, economy, fair tax, Huckabee, IRS, libertarian, Mexico, Mike Gravel, Neal Boortz, Ron Paul, smuggling, socialism, taxation, trade, Wal-Mart
16 Comments
Visit the People’s Paradise
Communist documents promoting North Korea, which were seized from Cuban personnel during the invasion of Grenada in 1983. Not your ordinary tourist brochures. Click to enlarge: photo: Department of Defense
Posted in History, Lee's Page
Tagged 1983, brochures, communism, communist, Cuba, Grenada, North Korea, paradise, propaganda, tourist
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Unfortnately He Has One
Via The Las Vegas Sun.
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Humor, Lee's Page
Tagged cartoon, Huckabee, McCain, Romney
3 Comments
Home & Land Defense
There’s a moment in Mark Steyn’s book America Alone, where he relates the truism that we’ve all experienced conversations with a mild-mannered, educated and seemingly rational person from the Arab world, where quite unexpectedly they say something nutty in the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Firearms, Lee's Page, Society
Tagged .223, .22lr, 9-11, 9mm, America Alone, Americans, Arab, Beretta, burglary, crime, Culture, culture-shock, EOTech, European, Firearms, gun rights, guns, Heckler & Koch, HK33, HWS, Kip Payne, Law, Mark Steyn, Media, Model 597, ratlesnake, Remington, rural, second ammendment, self-defense, shotgun, Tony Martin, United Kingdom, urban, Vector Arms
7 Comments
M16s for Iraqis
Photo: Atlantic Firearms Upgrades for Iraq’s Presidential Brigade. They’ve purchased M16 rifles to replace their AKs: The Iraqi Army’s Presidential Brigade turned over their older AK-47 model rifles for newer and more accurate M-16s at Besmaya Range Complex in Iraq … Continue reading
Posted in Firearms, Lee's Page, Military Matters
Tagged AK47, Firearms, guns, Iraq, Iraqi Army, Kalishnikov, M16, M4, marksmanship, Presidential Brigade, rifle
2 Comments
Utah Against Huckabee
Photo: Wolfgang Staudt Ken at Oblogatory Anecdotes, along with many other Mormon Romney supporters, is naturally very disappointed about Mitt’s withdrawal from the Republican race. Like many Mormons Ken is convinced Romney was defeated “for the most part because of … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged campaign, Democrat, Huckabee, Mormon, Mormonism, primary, Republican, Romney, theocrat, Utah, vp
3 Comments
Delegating it to the Superdelegates
Steven Taylor takes a look at Paul Kane‘s conclusion that it is now mathematically impossible for either Obama or Clinton to win the nomination with pledged delegates, and notes that a super-delegate decided nominee represents an enormous political problem for … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged caucus, Clinton, convention, delegates, Democrats, DNC, Gore, Obama, political, president, primary, superdelegates, vice president
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The New Media Zombie Apocalypse
image: Dead Central (see alternate posters at ZNN) George Romero is evidently taking on the dynamics of social networking and new media culture, in his latest apocalyptic zombie film Diary of the Dead. George, in an interview for the AP: … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Culture, Lee's Page, Media
Tagged Blogs, Diary of the Dead, entertainment, film, George Romero, Hitler, horror, Michael Moore, movie, myspace, new media, social networking, undead, youtube, zombies
2 Comments
I Have No Mouth Yet I Must Scream
Michael Goldfarb denounced Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives as “disgraceful” today, for their open criticism of John McCain’s record and views. He labels it the result of a psychological condition he and other McCain apologists call “McCain Derangement Syndrome”: I … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged Bill Kristol, conservative, criticism, democracy, GOP, Harriet Miers, liberal, McCain, Michel Goldfarb, Rush Limbaugh, silence, Weekly Standard
18 Comments
The Ecumenical Reform Coalition Strikes Back
With Romney’s odds of winning the nomination now highly improbable, and the press directly asking Huckabee if he wants to be Vice President, the McCain-Huckabee alliance many of us have longed feared is now quite visible on the horizon. Even … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lee's Page
Tagged , Abadgaran, Alabama, capitalism, Christian, Georgia, Huckabee, McCain, Missouri, Oklahoma, Romney, West Virginia
5 Comments