Big Cynic's Political BlogBig Cynic's Political BlogTearing conservatives a new one from a cynic's point of view 
Articles
Fighting "security superstitution"
2008-06-03 00:00:00 Cory Doctorow uses the term security superstition to describe the belief ? propagated by the government ? that security is so important now that no one can question its effectiveness or even talk about it at all, when in actuality,... More About: Security , Fighting
Misogynistic blue tracks retitled
2008-06-02 00:00:00 Robert Cray's "Strong Persuader" is a modern blues classic, a truly great album ? at least in terms of the musical virtuosity. But it's hard not to notice the schizophrenic attitude toward women that pervades the songs. The first two... More About: Blue , Tracks
Religion ? helping to repress critical-thinking skills for 10,000 years
2008-05-31 00:00:00 Hanna Arendt wrote that the basic prerequisite for becoming a desk murderer ? someone who with genuine dispassion organizes and authorizes murder, torture, and other inhumanities on a mass scale ? is not a cruel nature or even stupidity but... More About: Religion , Years , Skills , Critical thinking , Thinking
How Dubya's grandaddy plotted to overthrow FDR
2008-05-30 00:00:00 You can listen online to "The White House Coup," a BBC radio broadcast about the Business Plot, in which a group of wealthy American industrialists conspired in 1933 to overthrow FDR and install a fascist military regime. The plan fell...
America's Christofascists are jealous of bin Laden
2008-05-29 00:00:00 American Christofascists share a basic belief with Osama bin Laden ?they both believe in persecution on the basis of religion. It's just that Muslims are the only ones who currently have the political power to impose their faith on others. Pop... More About: Bin Laden , Jealous
Hooray, Christmas is official!
2008-05-27 00:00:00 [Here's one that slipped through the cracks a while back ?B.C.] House Resolution 847 resolves that Christmas , a holiday of great significance to Americans, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States . . . [that] Christianity [is] the... More About: Official
Ezekiel 25:17
2008-05-27 00:00:00 Who says an atheist can't have a favorite Bible quote? Here's mine, delivered better than any "real" preacher probably ever has: . . . even if Tarantino did get a little creative in his scripture quoting.
Which way are you going? (Jim Croce double feature)
2008-05-20 00:00:00 Jim Croce 's "Which Way Are You Going?" is a protest song written in the early '70s, but the lyrics absolutely translate to today. Here's a video of the song set to the video of an online role-playing game, with the... More About: Double , Feature
Christians should stop obsessing about how Christ died
2008-05-20 00:00:00 An atheist's in hair-splitting analysis about the significance of their savior's death is probably the last thing a bunch of Christ -worshippers want to hear. So, I say, let the hair-splitting begin! Now, let's see if I get this straight: God... More About: Christians , Stop , Died
If God doesn?t want you to have kids, then DON'T
2008-05-20 00:00:00 Ever notice how those ultra-religious types, whenever someone dies, says that it was God's will, or that God called him home early, or something to that effect?but when the same Christofascist couple has trouble getting pregnant, they turn to science.... More About: Kids
Eco-equity with Van Jones
2008-05-14 00:00:00 Van Jones , founder of Green for All, is an excellent speaker with a powerful message?that the environmental/green movement must be expanded to include poor and lower-middle-class communities, which are sometimes the most polluted parts of the country. And the reason... More About: Equity
Troops, listen to the General: Republicans are bad for the military
2008-05-13 00:00:00 Here's an excerpt from an episode of Bill Maher's "Real Time" where U.S. Army Major General Paul Eaton (retired) made an appearance. The major general had some blunt words for the Republican Party and what it's done to the U.S.... More About: Military , Republicans , Listen , Troops
5 Steps to Peace in the Middle East
2008-05-09 00:00:00 Invade and occupy Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Partition off the Kurdish parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran and combine with independent Kurdistan. Partition off the Shiite areas of already-occupied Iraq and combine with Iran. (For disposition of mixed-ethnicity area, see "Partitioning... More About: Peace , Middle East , The Middle East , East , Middle
Extra, extra! Republican has sex with woman! Read all about it!
2008-05-09 00:00:00 In journalism they say that "dog bites man" isn't newsworthy but "man bites dog" is. A politician admitting to an extramarital affair isn't exactly news, so I was wondering why the press was making such a big deal about Vito... More About: Republican , Read , Woman , Extra
Religious fanatics are ALL perverts
2008-05-09 00:00:00 It doesn't matter whether you're talking about pedophilic Mormon cultists, child-molesting Catholic priests, or boy-buggering Muslim mullahs ? all religious fanatics are sexual deviants. All of them. Let's get that out in the open. Sexual perversion isn't an incidental element... More About: Fanatics , Perverts , Religious
The technology-driven atomization of society
2008-05-08 00:00:00 The Cracked article "7 Reasons the 21st Century Is Making You Miserable" isn't intended strictly as comedy ? it rings painfully true. And the social atomization that is at the heart of this modern misery could, in the long run,... More About: Society , Technology
Tribal warriors don't get PTSD because they don't slaughter innocents
2008-05-07 00:00:00 Writing about modern society's denial of humankind's powerful instinctual drive for vengeance, Jared Diamond points out that warriors in tribal societies like those in the present-day New Guinea Highlands never get post-traumatic stress disorder, and that seeking out vengeance personally,... More About: Warriors , Tribal , Slaughter
America's imperialism overseas improves its domestic propaganda skills
2008-05-06 00:00:00 "Imperial aggression overseas erodes democracy at home." Most of use?at least, most of those who don't own a "Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush" action figure?would agree with the above statement. The 9/11 terrorist attacks are the most obvious example?terrorists... More About: Propaganda , Domestic , Skills , Overseas , Imperialism
Vote Republican?they'll screw up the country but keep your taxes low
2008-05-04 00:00:00 Now that they've been discredited in every other form of policy, the the American right is falling back on the most fundamental of strategic strengths ? not social conservatism (which is just a smokescreen, anyway), and not national security, but... More About: Country , Taxes , Republican , Vote , Screw
Vote for McCain ? he was young once
2008-05-03 00:00:00 How bad is the candidate you're trying to get elected president when you have to resort to using 30-year-old pictures of him? Pretty bad, I'd say. More About: Young , Vote
DHS Stooges Episode 126: "The No-Fly Air Marshal"
2008-05-02 18:26:00 Here it is, folks, your latest episode of zaniness from those wacky Bush appointees, the DHS Stooges:[MOE tries to board plane but is stopped at door by CURLY.] CURLY: Where do you think you're goin'? MOE: I'm the air marshal for this flight. CURLY: Says who? MOE: Says me! CURLY: Yeah? Well you ain't getting on this air-o-plane. MOE: Says who? CURLY: Says the no-fly list. Right, Larry? [LARRY walks up to MOE fumbling with a clipboard] LARRY: Uh, yeah. That's right. You're on the no-fly list. MOE: Whatta mean I'm on the no-fly list? I'm the air marshal for this flight, you nitwit! [MOE, sneering menacingly, gets nose-to-nose with CURLY.] CURLY: [backing down] Nyah-ah! Larry! Do somethin'! LARRY: Now wait just a second! MOE: [turning to LARRY] Whatta you want? LARRY: [arrogantly] I'm president of Dewey, Stuffem & Howe Airlines, see, and I say if you're on the no-fly list, then you ain't getting on the air-o-plane. MOE: I'm on the list, eh? LARRY: [def... More About: Episode
The corporate crime?organized crime link
2008-05-02 00:00:00 The upcoming book McMafia: Crime without Frontiers describes the global network of criminal organizations that have proliferated like fast-food joints since the '90s ? and not just Sicilian organizations, but also Balkan cigarette smugglers, Nigerian internet phishers, Russian oligarchs, Chinese... More About: Corporate , Link , Organized Crime
High school student protests conservative bias in his textbooks
2008-04-30 10:32:00 Matthew LaClair, young people like you are about the only reason I have hope for the future of this country. More About: Student , School , Conservative , High School , Bias
Of course the rich are paying more taxes — they're getting richer
2008-04-29 22:38:00 Next time you hear some conservative talking head claim that the rich are actually paying more in taxes than before, remember — of course they're paying more; they're making a whole lot more money than ever before. But their effective tax rate has actually gone down. The top 1% of taxpayers saw their rate decline from 27.5% in 2001 to 23% in 2005. However, that "trickle down" that you feel on your head isn't economic benefit but the rich pissing on us. More About: Taxes , Rich , Richer
Can Iranian nukes save American democracy?
2008-04-28 20:01:00 Go ahead, call me a traitor — that is, if your definition of a traitor is someone who doesn’t go along with whatever our politicians tell us. If that's the case, you can go fuck yourself anyway. Otherwise hear me out. If, at the end of this post, you still think I’m a traitor, then you can still go fuck yourself. Now, before I discuss the link between Iranian nuclear weapons and American democracy, I have to say a bit about the incompatibility of democracy and imperialism. No country in human history has ever had both democracy and empire at the same time for very long. The ancient Romans gave up their democracy to keep their empire. Julius Caesar proved himself so skilled at invading other lands and sending home slaves and treasure that the Roman Senate — the richest Romans, who also needed slaves to work their estates — decided to turn over the entire country to him. Caesar was killed as a tyrant, but it was too late — representative government was out for good, a... More About: Democracy , Save , Nukes
Obama = Mac, Hillary = PC
2008-04-27 00:00:00 Noam Cohen writes in the NY Times that Obama is like a Mac and Hillary is like a PC. The tag line for the article is: "The Mac may be the cooler computer, but aren't there more PC users in...
Bear bites man. And that's surprising . . . why?
2008-04-24 00:00:00 You know the old joke about the definition of what's news and what isn't. Dog bites man isn't news, but Man bites dog is. So why the hell are people so surprised when a carnivorous animal kills a human being?... More About: Bear
Guess why the Millennial Generation is so engaged in politics? If you guess
2008-04-22 00:00:00 Yesterday the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about the massive influence being wielded in the presidential race by the "Millennial Generation " ? young'uns born between 1982 and 2003. They are "the largest and most diverse generation in American history,"... More About: Politics , Engaged , Guess
Nukes, the amazingly environmentally friendly weapon of mass destruction
2008-04-22 00:00:00 Fox News picked up a story about how well the ecosystem around Bikini Atol has bounced back from the devastation wrought by nuke tests in the 1950s. Fox's underlying message in running this story is, Let's not get too worked... More About: Destruction , Friendly , Mass , Weapon , Nukes
Hey rich Republicans, support the troops: pay your taxes!
More articles from this author:2008-04-18 23:07:00 Browse any business magazine, and one of the glaring hypocrisies you'll notice is between the general attitudes toward war and taxes: They like the war in Iraq — although they'll backslide by saying it's been "poorly managed" (which is like saying that the problem with the Mafia is that it's poorly managed) — but they don't like taxes. For instance Forbes — the mouthpiece of a guy who endorsed Rudy "Bomb 'Em All and Let God Sort 'Em Out" Giuliani — has stories about the world's top tax havens, about rich people who got in trouble by cheating on their taxes (and how you can avoid the same mistakes!), how generally to avoid paying taxes, and how horrible it is to pay those taxes you can't get out of. That, in essence, is the Republican Party's real base — greedy rich bastards who don't want to pay their taxes. But, I ask, with all these rich people voting for whoever will give them the deepest tax cuts, and with corporations paying less than... More About: Republicans , Taxes , Rich , Support , Troops 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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