It seems to me that it is in the interest of the public to have a list of all known domestic terrorists and terrorist groups–that is, individuals or minorities who attempt to use fear and terror to accomplish their political goals. Since the other lists I’ve seen are unreliable (I’m told Occupy Wall Street has [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Politics'
Domestic terrorists
December 7th, 2011 · 153 Comments
Tags: Politics
Truisms rot brains; absolute truisms rot brains absolutely
August 9th, 2010 · 96 Comments
Once again I’ve come across the old saw, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Most of us first encountered it in Orwell’s 1984, where it was used to avoid questions the author preferred not to address, but it predates that. I’m not sure, but I think the original form says authority instead of power. But [...]
To Will: Class and anti-racism
March 7th, 2010 · 82 Comments
Inspired by this post.
I haven’t gotten involved in the “anti-racism” discussion, and, really, I’m still not. I am replying to my good friend Will Shetterly’s comments on it, because I am a Red, and we Reds have a tradition of saving our vitriol for those who come closest to agreeing with us. I am doing [...]
By request, the song mentioned in the previous post
December 12th, 2009 · 8 Comments
Not terribly proud of this one, but here it is. I think the formatting is a bit screwy, so the changes don’t actually go where they appear to.
Never Trust A Bureaucrat
E A
Negotiations broke down over benefits and pay.
B7 E
We put it to a vote and went out the sixth [...]
Tags: Music · Politics · Steve
One of the high points of my life
December 12th, 2009 · 17 Comments
I don’t know why I feel like telling this story now, but I do; it’s the story of a moment–an instant–in my life that I look back on with intense pleasure.
It was the winter of 1990, and I had left the Party some years before, but still considered myself a sympathizer. In International Falls, there [...]
Tags: Music · Politics · Steve
SF writer Peter Watts beaten and arrested at US Border
December 11th, 2009 · 17 Comments
You can start your link hunt here if you haven’t seen this yet.
Tags: Media · Politics · Steve
I added my name
December 9th, 2009 · 5 Comments
When Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman both say to sign it, I’m inclined to sign it, so I did.
Tags: Friends · Media · Politics · Steve
On Health Care
October 21st, 2009 · 54 Comments
The Nobel Prize discussion quite reasonably morphed into a health care discussion. So, if anyone wants to continue that, here’s a place to do so. My position is as follows:
For purposes of this discussion, “profit” refers to money that comes from appropriating the labor of others (”exploitation” in the strict economic sense). If a company [...]
Tags: Health · Politics · Steve
The Nobel Peace Prize, forsooth
October 10th, 2009 · 28 Comments
As I mentioned on Twitter, giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize would be like if the 1907 committee had given the Nobel Prize for Medicine to Mary Mallon. It would be interesting to have some documentary filmmaker speak to the Afghan and Pakistani civilians who have lost family members and get their reactions to Obama’s [...]
On Roman Polanski
October 3rd, 2009 · 89 Comments
All right, this is getting to be too much. I ignored it when a friend warned me not to “defend rapists” on her LJ for linking to an article (See sidebar for the link.) Now another friend has signed a petition calling for this 76-year old man to “receive justice.” The cynicism is appalling.
There many [...]