Tag: Conservatism
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Pepper Spray Incident Shows Why OWS Has Less “Staying Power” Than Vietnam War Protests
I have very little use for "Occupy Wall Street," but even so I found the pepper-spray image somewhat disturbing. Then I mentally shrugged. It may have been excessive, but no matter how the police break up a demonstration, they will be criticized for the inevitable injuries and indignities.
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Does Perry Even WANT to be President?
On paper, the idea of a Perry candidacy was compelling — long-time governor of our second largest state, etc. But on paper, Gov. Sarah Palin with her executive experience was more qualified for the presidency in 2008 than was Barack Obama, and we know how that turned out.
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In Which Your Humble Scribe Encounters Law & Order in Action
The sergeant told me I have the right to contest the summons, and showed me the relevant court date on the ticket. Hm… should I try to take it to court, given that I’m, like, obviously guilty and stuff?
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Cleveland Land Bank: A Model for Public-Private Partnership
Two things about this warm my capitalist heart. Instead of the aimless juvenile antics of the Occupy Wall Street crowd, the land bank program enlists the banks that helped create the mess in the effort to clean it up. And in the process, construction workers are employed who otherwise might be idle.
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Another Body Blow to the “Tea Party Is Racist” Meme
Fiendishly clever, these Tea Partyers. You can almost hear the wheels turning in their twisted little minds. "What’s the most effective way to camouflage my deep-seated racism? Ha! I’ll vote for the black guy!"
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In the Budget Battle, GOP Should Not Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good
If purists force a government shutdown in August to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling, each side will of course point fingers at the other. But Republicans have seen this movie before. In 1995, Bill Clinton triggered a government shutdown by vetoing budget bills — yet Republicans ended up shouldering the blame, and Clinton was re-elected.
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Processing bin Laden’s Death in a Spiritual Context
The Rev. Bernard Poppe, my priest and friend, is more liberal than I am. (Ditto for 98% of his flock in the deep blue town of Maplewood, NJ.) So when Bernie started his sermon on Sunday by indicating he had mixed feelings about the death of Osama bin Laden, I was prepared to sit politely in silent disagreement.
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A Brief History of Presidential Betrayal, Through the Prism of Andrew Sulllivan
If Obama has lost Andrew Sullivan, has he lost the Left, the Right or the Center? For reasons that will become clear, I’ve been watching off and on to see what might happen when Obama does something that Sullivan perceives as a betrayal. The time may have come with Obama’s shocking decision to intervene in […]
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Shooter’s Derangement Points to Need for More Civility in Politics
Sarah Palin and everyone associated with her political action committee are, no doubt, regretting the boneheaded decision to superimpose crosshairs on the districts of Gabrielle Giffords and other House members Palin was “targeting” in the 2010 campaign. But it’s easy to make too much of the ad, and there was support for Palin from an […]
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DADT: Some Days It’s Not Easy Being a Socially Liberal Republican
For national security and economic reasons I generally vote Republican, but I’m quite liberal on social issues. For example, my support for same-sex marriage equality puts me to the left of Barack “marriage-is-between-a-man-and-a-woman” Obama. This occasionally leads to cognitive dissonance, when people I otherwise admire take positions I find offensive. I voted for Jon Corzine […]