Tag Archives: democracy

Whips Used to Break-Up Pussy Riot Protest of Vladimir Putin at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Those wielding the whips are Cossack militia. These are some brave women activists: ___________

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In Light of Kiev, Will Vladimir Putin Be Tightening the Screws Even Further on Russian Dissidents?

Julia Ioffe, at The New Republic, thinks so: Moscow’s liberals are watching Kiev with a mix of horror, envy, and admiration: they’re just like us, but look at what they’ve been able to do against a president they didn’t like. … Continue reading

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Crowd Effects

The below video gives fresh meaning to Karl Marx’s amusing phrase, “the idiocy of rural life.”

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Obama Surfs the Demographic Wave, But Through Target Marketing (the Use of Big Data), Not Reason

Jonathan Alter’s new book, The Center Holds, on President Obama and the 2012 election, was recently reviewed in The New York Times, and there are some revelations in it: [Alter] thinks the United States “dodged a bullet in 2012,” and … Continue reading

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Don’t Tread on Me (Epistemically)

This falls into the category of Stop the epistemic power-plays! It comes from a recent article in Scientific American written by Shawn Lawrence Otto: The Founding Fathers were science enthusiasts. Thomas Jefferson, a lawyer and scientist, built the primary justification for … Continue reading

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Mike Bost Speaks Truth to Power

I don’t know if Mike Bost, an Illinois state legislator, is a Republican or a Democrat, but I’m impressed with his lucidity in the midst of strong emotion. His complaint: a giant bill has come to him without sufficient time … Continue reading

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Chris Hedges the Prophet: Liberal Democracy Headed for Breakdown

Chris Hedges thinks the writing is on the wall, Nebuchadnezzar. In his most recent essay at Truthdig (“The Globalization of Hollow Politics”), he writes the following: A breakdown of liberal democracy [in the United States], which seems to be where we … Continue reading

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Negotiation of the Detour: The Pervert’s Guide to the Origin of Rhetoric

Accompanied by a black and white dog, a huntress, not young, steps from a blue grove into the dawn light. It’s spring; we are outside of Athens in 508 BC. Pericles will not be born for another 13 years. The … Continue reading

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A Better Angel of Our Nature: Democracy and the Way of Bees

If alpha-male behavior (dominating, hierarchical, authoritarian) is, at some level, natural, it’s also possible that democracy too is natural. These contending impulses—the authoritarian personality and the democratic personality—may be competing evolutionary strategies that, in fact, take up habitation in different … Continue reading

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When the Western Atlas Shrugs: The Economic Consequences of the Islamic Brotherhood Ruling Egypt

The majority of Egyptians are on the verge of getting their wish—a theocratic state—but they may rue the day that they did. The following quote comes from Middle East analyst Theodore May, and appeared as part of an opinion piece … Continue reading

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Antichrist Elimination Watch: President Obama Agrees That Jesus Christ is the Lord

The recent AP video clip embedded below seems to strike President Barack Obama off the potential list of people living today who might be the Antichrist. In the clip, a heckler does a righteous prophet freak-out on President Obama, calling him “Antichrist.” President Obama handles … Continue reading

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In the United States, has “that government of the people, by the people, and for the people” perished from the Earth?

When my four and seven year-old daughters reach the age where they can understand, what should I tell them is the kind of government that we live under? In the United States, has “that government of the people, by the … Continue reading

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Debating the Future of Islam in Egypt

The birth pangs of a new Egypt: a Hitler-like religious fanatic (living in London!) argues with an Enlightenment influenced liberal over the future of Egypt: Hat tip: Concerned Christian.

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Mohamed ElBaradei Demonization Watch: Anne Bayefsky Links ElBaradei to Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Regarding American right-wing paranoia over the street protesters in Cairo (Glenn Beck calls them “rioters”), Jonathan Chait of the New Republic nails it: [W]hat’s fascinating is the emergence [among the right] of a strain of paranoid anti-Islamism that lumps together Iran, Mohammed … Continue reading

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Mohamed ElBaradei’s Democratic Revolution in Egypt v. George Bush’s in Iraq

Fox Noisers seem to be directing a lot of cynicism and vehemence toward Egypt’s democracy movement leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, and when I first noticed it, I was a bit stunned. Mohamed ElBaradei, after all, is not an Islamist, but a secular … Continue reading

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California’s Governor, Jerry Brown, Gives a Great Speech

California Governor Jerry Brown gave an extraordinary State of the State speech yesterday. He anchored it in democratic principle and didn’t in any way evade the budget issues facing the state. It reminds me of why I voted for him: And … Continue reading

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Handel’s Messiah in the Mall: Totalitarian Creepiness or Just a Song for the Holiday Season?

Even though I’m an agnostic, I love Christmas music and Christmas movies. I must, for example, have upward of 300 Christmas songs on my iPod. And every year my family and I watch Alastair Sim as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and … Continue reading

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Why Read Literature or Watch Good Films? Martha Nussbaum on the Role of the Imagination in the Cultivation of Empathy

Here’s a great quote from Martha Nussbaum’s new book, From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law  (Oxford 2010, xvii): That ‘terrified’ gay teenager needs, and deserves, equal respect, and a sphere of liberty equal to that enjoyed by … Continue reading

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This is what democracy looks like?

In the video below, the guy at the mike falls off message and says that Nevada Republican, Sharon Angle, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will make herself available for questions. Oops! You see, Sharon Angle doesn’t take questions from … Continue reading

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Steven Novella, the Ambivalent Blasphemer

At SkepticBlog this past week, Steven Novella endorses blasphemy as social protest (sort of):  There are those, for example, who champion blasphemy as a form of social protest. PZ, Penn and Teller, Christopher Hitchens and others argue that nothing should … Continue reading

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