Political Theatre category archive

Joseph Margulies reflects on the place of religious belief in the Civil Rights Movement and the contradictions between the God of Love and the God of Shove. A nugget:

Likewise, today’s celebration of the civil rights era should not blind us to the reality of the times, when civil rights workers were threatened, beaten and killed by those who understood America’s civil religion in far darker terms. Chambers found himself on the receiving end of this violence; his home, office and car were all firebombed.

America’s civil religion will be with us always, but we must listen to the form it takes. Today, tens of millions of Americans merge an angry God with a chest-thumping nationalism to justify endless misadventures in the war on terror, thereby giving political cover for the apparently limitless expansion of the national security state.

Below the fold, because it autoplays.

But watch it. It’s delicious.

Read more »

Reg Henry thinks that Reine Pribus may be overlooking the benefits to the Republican Party of reducing the number of 2016 Republican debates.

That (possible TV films about Hillary Clinton*–ed.) has the Republican Party calling foul, always one of its strengths. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus threatens to have the GOP boycott candidate debates hosted by CNN and NBC if they go ahead with their plans to run shows assumed to be flattering to Mrs. Clinton.

This strikes me as a good idea. The world would be a better place — nay, the party itself would be a better place — if Republican debates were kept to a minimum.

________________

*Is anyone else besides me suffering Clinton fatigue?

The UK version; may be easily adapted for US use:

Via Mr. Feastingonroadkill.

Florida twits.

Speaking of Florida, has God averted His face therefrom?

Some would say, “Yea, verily.”

Moved below the fold because it autoplays.

Aside: Oddly enough, it did not autoplay on my workhorse laptop, which runs Slackware. the distro of iron. It is a well-behaved laptop.

Read more »

The rumor that there’s only one fruitcake . . . .

Via The Daily Banter.

Zandar on Rand gestures.

It’s all too much–hype, that is.

Via Atrios.

Daniel Ruth points out that, when it comes to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, “J. D.” most definitely does not mean Juris Doctor (emphasis added):

Most of the nation’s Republican governors, even those who adamantly oppose Obamacare, have cautioned Rubio, Cruz and the Gang of Kaztenjammers that shutting down the federal government would have a catastrophic impact on their state economies.

But Rubio and Cruz have never had to manage a business or a bureaucracy. Threatening to shut down the country because you didn’t get your way is not statesmanship. It’s juvenile delinquency.

I used to pass the wind farm in Somerset County, Pa., several times a year.

Give me graceful wind machines over smoking stacks and cooling towers any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Picture via The GreemMiles, which adds commentary.

Frankly, I think the primary reason that Hilary Clinton is receiving so much attention as a possible candidate is 2016 is name recognition, but, really, now folks, it’s a long time until then.

In the meantime, Chris Matthews considers the current Republican assault on Clinton and what it says about Republicans.

It’s both comic and pathetic that the Republican Party is reduced to attempting to censor television network programming.

Warning: Language

Afterthought:

One of his stories was the subject of an editorial in today’s Inky.

He’s baaaaaaack!

And he’s still a one-note samba.

Dick Polman:

And Santorum is serious about being up there. Word is, he’s mapping another run with his loyal inner circle, and he’s heading back to Iowa this month, presumably without his sweater vest. Plus, he used his Meet the Press appearance to play some politics – insisting that the current terrorist “chatter,” and the resulting embassy closures, have happened only because President Obama is a wimp.

Politicizing terror? Gee, I never saw that one coming.

novaSlim sticks his tongue firmly in his cheek and writes a prescription for ending racism, to be implemented by its targets.

Via Contradict Me.

If you’ve been noticing the story of San Diego Mayor “All Hands on Deck” Filner, there’s nothing new here, but this is still a hoot.

Below the fold, because, on one of my computers, it autoplays.

Read more »

Collateral Damage:

This week, instead of being in the Caribbean as part of a planned four-month humanitarian mission to South and Central America, a skeleton crew gave hundreds of students a tour of the (the hospital ship USS Comfort–ed.) vessel’s empty hospital wards, describing for them what the waterborne, state-of-the-art medical facility is capable of doing, given the chance.

Scott Maxwell looks at Florida’s “school reform” efforts, most recent marked by the resignation of the Florida Commissioner of Education for cheating.

A nugget:

Honest brokers would admit the current, test-obsessed system isn’t working.

But the reformers actually claimed the higher failure rates were fine and dandy — simply the result of higher standards.

It’s a fascinating little world these reformers have created for themselves — one where they claim success when scores rise or fall.

That’s why I neither celebrate nor lament Bennett’s resignation Thursday. He wasn’t our main problem. He was merely a figurehead for it — a high-profile cog in a machine hellbent on undermining public schools.

He’s right, you know.

The schools have not been “reformed.” They’ve been deformed.