The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: politics

  • The Impact of Tears

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    mongreldogs
    in

    OK, so today during a campaign stop Hilary Clinton apparently teared up and allowed emotion into her voice. (See here for more if you need to.) And then John Edwards replied , “I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the…

  • Review: Charlie Wilson’s War

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    mongreldogs
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    Charlie Wilson’s War screenplay by Aaron Sorkin starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman InstaRating: 5+ stars out of 5 It took less than five minutes for this film to remind me why I miss Aaron Sorkin on TV.

  • Everyone else is doing it…

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    mongreldogs
    in

    …. so I guess I’m obligated to post on the Iowa caucuses. This is straight political opinion, so bail out if you don’t want to hear me blather. At the moment I’m writing it looks like Obama has pulled off a significant first-place tally with Clinton and Edwards more or less tying for second. I…

  • Real Leadership

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    mongreldogs
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    “Leadership” is a word tossed around a lot today, especially by those who evidence none of it. But today, in the United States Senate, Christopher Dodd (D-CT) stood up for the rule of law and demonstrated the sort of leadership that once made this nation great. Faced with Harry Reid’s inexplicable kowtowing to the forces…

  • What better summary of the past seven years…

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    mongreldogs
    in

    … than the following quote? If at the top, the message that’s sent is, “We’re going to bend the rules to our advantage,” the message is clearly understood and creates a culture of attempting to avoid the rules. — Steven L. Schooner, a procurement law expert at George Washington University Law School Mr. Schooner (quoted…

  • Health of the Republic: Down 3% to 12%

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    mongreldogs
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    Calling Orwell…. Calling George Orwell… Or maybe Kafka is a better target. US military prosecutors have asked for — and now have been granted — a blanket order preventing the defense counsel of a Gitmo detainee from discussing the identity of any prosecution witness with anyone, the defendant included. The defense argues (correctly!) that this…

  • Proud of My Congressman

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    mongreldogs
    in

    How often do you get to write a headline like that these days? I happen to be served by Rush Holt (Democrat and former nuclear physicist), and Congressman Holt has been — unlike almost all of his peers — quite active in protecting the rights and the security of all Americans. To be colloquial, Rush…

  • Worthy of note

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    mongreldogs
    in

    Just another “me-too” blog post 🙁 but I saw this at Talking Points Memo and thought it worthy of being flagged. My God, has there ever been a worse administration? What we know makes them as the worst ever, and now we see, there’s a whole lot they’re trying to make sure we never know…

  • Dishonest or just dumb?

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    mongreldogs
    in ,

    An article in today’s NY Times caught my eye: “FCC Planning Rules to Open Cable Market” says that the FCC has laid the legal groundwork to re-regulate the cable industry. It struck me because this is quite atypical for the FCC and for the Bush administration in general. Apparently, in the Cable Communications Act of…

  • Recycled: What’s So Wrong About Military Tribunals, Anyway?

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    mongreldogs
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    Another piece written some time ago (circa 2002 January) that reads chillingly a propos today. This was written before the series of judicial rebukes to the President’s overreaching constitutional “doctrine” of unlimited executive power. Sadly, those rebukes have not rendered the points raised moot.