The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Considerable Further Effort’

“Though many call it the ‘Fourth Of July,’ July 4 is properly known as Independence Day. It celebrates the independence of the United States from Great Britain — or, more accurately, the declaration of that independence, which required considerable further effort before it was actually accomplished.” — Glenn Reynolds, “Three things you can do for […]

Michele Bachmann, Neo-Confederate?

Here’s an unexpected bonus of yesterday’s post about Michelle Goldberg’s rant against Mark Halperin: If you’ll watch video of Goldberg’s Democracy Now interview — Donald Douglas posted the video yesterday — she makes reference to Bachmann’s law school mentor John Eidsmoe, who was highlighted in a June 14 Daily Beast article Goldberg wrote: Bachmann honed […]

The Very, Very Bad President

It is nowadays said by many that Barack Obama is the worst president in American history. If this is so, President Obama will have eclipsed a mark that most observers believed would stand unchallenged until the final trumpet: The abysmal record of James Earl “Jimmy” Carter. One of the reasons, I believe, that so many […]

Whatever Happened to AuH2O?

“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.” — Edmund Burke, 1790 In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater (a) voted against the Civil Rights Act, and (b) was the Republican nominee for president. Goldwater’s argument against the Civil Right Act was that it constituted an infringement of property rights. Ron […]

Once in a Lifetime: Military Policy Edition

by Smitty Just a few days ago, I sketched what I think are the major points in the last century that have marked our national course to ruin. Among the major inputs to the whole dog’s breakfast we face is military policy. Now, I grew up a Navy brat, enlisted in the Navy, took a […]

Matthew Yglesias, Neo-Confederate?

Reporting the findings of a recent academic analysis, our “progressive” (nudge, nudge) friend concludes: The basic story here would be something like northern manufacturing interests wanted to keep the southern client base behind the US tariff wall in order to maintain privileged access to the market rather than compete on a level playing field with […]

A History Lesson for Janelle Harris

“It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles, and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. . . . I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look […]

‘Avenge the Patriotic Gore That Flecked the Streets of Baltimore’

The state song, “Maryland, My Maryland” (sung to the tune of “O Tannenbaum”) is actually a pro-Confederate anthem written in 1861. The “patriotic gore” was shed by 12 secessionist civilians shot dead by Union troops in Baltimore on April 19 of that year. And as for the song’s lyrics in the ninth verse — “Huzza! […]

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