There is a debate on citizenship that conservatives want to have.  There is another debate on citizenship that some progressives are trying to have--so far, typically, without much success.  There are arguments to be made, both good and bad, in both debates.  I say we should have… Read full post »

I may have to give up on commenting on American politics.

I mean, really, what's the point?  Things have descended to the level where a major party is running a senatorial candidate who is incapable of distinguishing getting busy with a copy of Hustler from having an affair--and… Read full post »

For awhile, over the weekend, it looked like we had our guy back.  By ‘we’ I mean those who had supported the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. 'Our guy' had come out strongly and passionately in defense of Cordoba House/Park 51, the proposed Islamic community center and place… Read full post »

^{My most signature memory of working as a Dean Campaign volunteer in 2004 is certainly that of watching broadcast and network news outlets manufacture the infamous "Dean Scream" in a room where Dean himself could barely be heard.  But second to that is the recollection of being forced by Democrat… Read full post »}

The decision to award The Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama says an awful lot about the Nobel Prize Committee and about The President.  The domestic reaction to the announcement says a great deal more about American Society.

The reaction from the political Right is utterly predictable,… Read full post »

I was just interested enough in the "Statgate Universe" series opener to watch it on Hulu--if not sufficiently interested to stay home for it on a Friday night.

Basically, this is "Star Trek Voyager" imported into the "Stargate: SG-1" universe with stylistic infusions from "Battlestar Galactica" (the… Read full post »

It is perhaps time to ask what, exactly, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, et. al. are really hoping for when they advocate the failure of Barack Obama's presidency--particularly when their anti-advocacy has managed to gin up the most virulent right-wing paranoia and hysteria this country has seen since The… Read full post »

 In honor of Van Jones'  forced resignation, I've decided to reprint my recent contribution to a local alternative bi-monthly I write for, as well as provide a link to the earlier article (from 2007) the piece references.

For those of you joining this program in progress, Van Jones is an Ob… Read full post »

The President was both right and within his rights to describe the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates as "stupid" behavior on the part of the Cambridge Police Department.  By all accounts, Professor Gate's "crime" consisted of nothing more than trying to gain entry to a home that a wo… Read full post »

Newsweek has reported that Attorney General Eric Holder 'may' go against the White House's stated preferences and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Bush-Era abuses of power--in particular, the increasingly difficult to ignore allegations of officially-sanctioned torture of those detained by/…

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Fact, Fiction, and the New Era of Computing

The most controversial product in Information Technology is one that doesn't even exist... yet.

On Tuesday July 7th, Google announced its long-suspected intention to develop an operating system product. The announcement was relatively short on specifics, simp…

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Sarah Palin is probably the single most polarizing figure in American political theater presently, and possibly the most polarizing such figure since the Civil War.  It isn't just that people either completely love her or completely hate her... it's that their reasons for loving or hating her ar… Read full post »

At this point the condition of the fictional vehicle 'Battlestar Galactica'--falling apart, patched together with magical Cylon goo-- is a pretty good metaphor for the series itself.  Last night's fourth from final episode was also a pretty good metaphor for the series' final season-- an initial… Read full post »