Thursday Afternoon: I see a story about the stray shots at the Capitol Building. Realizing that anyone who thinks they can seriously harm congress by doing a drive-by on one of the most heavily guarded buildings on the face of the Earth is not exactly a criminal mastermind, I (correctly) assess that no congressmen/women were…
Category: Larger Editorials
In Syria, Let’s Do What We Do Domestically: Nothing
Let’s not bomb Syria. Wouldn’t that be great? What if——and I know this will sound so radically crazy it will be hard to comprehend at first—–the United States did nothing in Syria? What if we didn’t take the bait every time? What if we remembered that we’ve been involved in a war for 217 out of our 237…
Live-Blogging the “Real Time” Season Finale @realtime #realtime
All year long, I’ve been struggling with a case of political fatigue. I just can’t get too excited about the same issues as last year (Republican’s blocking Obama, drone attacks, the endless debate about the economy) without the stakes of an imminent election. That’s why most of the articles this year have been geared more…
Larger Editorial: Why, Sadly, George Zimmerman is a Symbol of Our Times
By now, everyone and their brother has weighed in on the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman “incident” (or hate crime, depending on your perspective) and I wrote more than a couple articles about it all those months ago when it was just getting started. Since then, Zimmerman has been officially acquitted, the stand your ground law isn’t…
Larger Editorial: The GOP’s New War On…Overtime Pay?
One of the big issues people aren’t even aware of (it’s not entirely their fault, it’s not getting nearly enough media coverage) is the GOP’s plan to radically change the way you receive Overtime Pay. They’ve proposed a bill that would give employees a choice (and anytime they want employees to have a choice…it’s between a…
Why It’s a Mistake for MSNBC to Deep-Six Ed Shultz
Tonight, will be Ed Shultz’s last show in his 8 p.m. eastern weeknight time slot. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Ed is fired, as he’s moving to weekends in April, but there’s no question it’s a step down. Sure, Ed has framed it as a positive thing, and even said he volunteered for it. [I think the…
Alabama Liberal’s 2nd Birthday
The site was started on February 7th, 2011, and I’m a proud father again today as we enter the third year. I won’t get overly nostalgic, but it is worth pointing out. Honestly, it’s survived a lot longer than most blogs, and two full years is especially unusual for small, independent political blogs. Small political…
Dumping on Lance Armstrong Reveals America’s Real Favorite Sport: Feeling Superior to Others
I know the Lance Armstrong story was really more last week’s top news moment, and that’s okay because this is really more about the reaction to that story than anything Lance did or didn’t do. See, watching him crucified, vilified, and thoroughly raked over the coals made me wonder just what the outrage was about. Yes, he lied…
The First Black President Sworn in on Martin Luther King Jr. Day #inauguration
The subtitle of this article could easily be “And Rush Limbaugh’s head explodes.” I’ve been watching some of the coverage and watching the first black president get re-sworn in on Martin Luther King Jr. day to a…perhaps majority black crowd and this could easily be seen as the worst day of the Tea Party’s life….
It’s Christmas Damnit…Counting Down Some of the Gifts Given to Us this Year
Right off the bat question: “Will these be the type of imaginary ‘gifts’ Mitt Romney accused Obama of giving voters?” Nope, this will be real things to be grateful for. And if it bears a striking resemblance to my Thanksgiving list, well…I can’t help coincidences… 5. The Gift that AMC (the TV network) Split Breaking…
Larger Editorial: What Obama’s Acceptance Means to Interracial Couples
What’s left to say about the 44th President of the United States that hasn’t already been said? The man won re-election last month by a larger margin that anyone (but Nate Silver) would have predicted. He was recently named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year (a title he also won in 2008). And there’s the…
Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” Should Be…The Marijuana User
Time Magazine will reveal their “Person of the Year” next week, but has already let their readers weigh in on who should be selected with an online poll. Out of some, in my opinion, weak selection choices (Chris Christie? really? for doing what exactly? standing on the outer edges of a hurricane?), their readers chose…Kim…
Larger Editorial: With Jim DeMint’s Resignation, is the Tea Party Officially Over or Just Changing Shape?
Big news in the political world today, and just when you thought the elections were officially over and you could go a few weeks only caring about Christmas. But no, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said he’s resigning today, only a mere two years into his current term and four before he would have to run for…