Category Archives: Civil Liberty

The State of the Police State

5/29/2008 – 10:04 am

Tuesday’s New York Times reported an outbreak of corruption among border guards along the U.S.-Mexican border. Although most of the corruption reported involves the smuggling of illegal aliens, similar corruption could introduce drugs, weapons and/or terrorists to the U.S. In short, the corrupt border agents do the opposite of what they were hired to do. […]

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M&M Enterprises

5/22/2008 – 8:35 am

When I was a young man, I read (as every young person should) Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22,” a novel about the absurd bureaucracy of war and the misery it wreaks on those caught within it. The most absurd character in the book is Milo Minderbinder, who – at least initially – runs the mess hall. A […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, September 11th | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Things I Never Learned in School

5/15/2008 – 11:41 am

History question: In what year did an American woman first cast a vote for president? The standard answer is 1920, after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granted suffrage to American women. But it’s wrong. The first presidential ballot was cast by a woman in the election of 1872. The woman, unsurprisingly, […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Electoral Politics | Comments (0)

Symptoms

5/1/2008 – 8:31 am

Forgive me. Accept my apologies. For the first time in 11 years, I missed not one, but two weeks in a row. I was overtaken by events and in the midst of the overtaking, I realized this is a signature symptom, perhaps the signature symptom, of contemporary life. So I’m trying to fight against it, […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Economy | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Smackdown! Hilton vs. Yoo!

4/3/2008 – 9:37 am

Let us now bash Paris Hilton. Why not? She’s a vapid, entitled blemish on the face of American culture. Born to wealth and privilege, Ms. Hilton is “famous for being famous,” attracting America’s attention with “reality” shows in which she and ex-friend Nicole Richie attempt, and fail with “hilarious” results, to live like ordinary Americans. […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, September 11th | Tagged , | Comments (1)

The Price of Certainty

2/14/2008 – 10:58 am

This is an election year. It’s a war year, the fifth, soon to be the sixth. It’s a recession year. If recent trends continue, it will be a year of heat, drought and storms. All of this year’s presidential candidates – the ones that have dropped from the race and the ones still in – […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Economy, Electoral Politics, Peak Oil, September 11th | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

America’s Worst Enemy

2/9/2008 – 9:28 am

In a post Thursday, I expressed concern over what damage George Bush and Dick Cheney might do in the 11 months they have remaining in office. Our worst fears were fulfilled within hours. That day, before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the man who was supposed to be better than Alberto Gonzales, […]

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