The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: politics

  • Why We’re In the Mess We’re In

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in

    Matthew Dowd, an adviser to President Bush, today said in an interview that he was disappointed by the President’s stand on the war, on the will of the public, and, well, just about everything. It’s clear that Mr. Dowd is conflicted in taking this public stance. Said Mr. Dowd: I really like him, which is…

  • Firing US Attorneys: Why This Matters

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in

    I don’t have a lot of time to write, but luckily Josh Marshall has written a nice summary over at Talking Points Memo. I’d suggest taking a look if you’ve been wondering why the dismissal of 8 U.S. attorneys is such a big deal.

  • Framing the furor

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in

    Just a quick break from my Lunacon doodlings to note an excellent post “The 5 Words Bush Wants Americans to Repeat” from a blog called Frameshop. Apparently, Frameshop focuses on how people frame the debate in political circles. This particular post parses the President’s performance (ahh, alliteration!) for the key concepts he wants to use…

  • Health of the Republic down, 4% to 25%

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    The Health of the Republic bar has dropped another 4% in recent weeks. This is largely due to the unfolding three scandals at the Department of Justice: The blatantly-political firing of eight US prosecutors The new revelations about presidential interference in the internal DOJ audit of the warrantless wiretapping program The rampant abuse of National…

  • Review: Echelon

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    Echelon a novel by Josh Conviser InstaRating: 2 out of 5 This book\’s title caught my interest because I keep up with surveillance tech and its social implications, and ECHELON — the alleged US NSA electronic sifting program — is the monster of all surveillance programs. Although I knew this was a spy thriller, I…

  • Health of the Republic down, 1% to 29%

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in ,

    The Health of the Republic bar has shifted downward another percentage point. This follows the promulgation of a presidential decree that gives the White House a greater say over the issuance of policy guidelines by agencies. Previously most such documents were crafted by civil servants but now, they must pass through a politically-appointed gatekeeper (a…

  • The true America-haters

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in

    I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time, but it turns out that Cenk Uygur got there first and said it well: The people in power, who wrap themselves in the flag, don’t really love America. They don’t even understand America — and so, not understanding it, they hate it. They hate it…

  • Where’s Our Rosie?

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    For no particular good reason, I was trawling on the Net about Rosie the Riveter, an icon from World War II. If you don’t know about Rosie, you really should check out the Wikipedia article. Another good page on Rosie can be found at the eponymous website. I’ve always liked Rosie because she represented not…

  • Cross-comment: Does the Left “Hate” America?

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in

    Through the Daou Report, I wandered (against my better judgment) over to Dr. Sanity to read the post “Go Wide Mr. President“. Then I read the comments and I was shocked to see something I actually agreed with, posted by someone named GnuCarSmell replying to someone named Garry: You have it exactly right. It is…

  • Health of the Republic down 3.3%, to 30%

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    by

    mongreldogs
    in ,

    After hearing that the President of the United States has asserted his untrammeled power to read even physical mail, without warrant or other legal constraint, I have decided to move the Health of the Republic bar to 30%. It’s only a 3% shift because in the end this is only slightly more outrageous than the…