Redistricting in Texas Post-publication note: this post contains inaccurate information about the Legislative Redistricting Board’s role in crafting U.S. Congressional districts, but I’m leaving it up to keep the record intact (I only edit grammar or make minor wording changes post-publication). The correction and clarification are here. What is going on now in Texas is […]

Government Information Awareness Inspired by Ashcroft’s TIPS plan to create dossiers on all Americans and to get you to spy on your neighbors, an MIT researcher has created the Government Information Awareness (GIA) program. Here’s the mission statement: To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations […]

The Party of Fiscal Responsibility Potential recallee Gray Davis has a plan to deal with California’s $38 billion deficit by raising taxes by $8b and reducing spending by $18b. In contrast, California Republicans want to deal with the revenue shortfall without raising taxes, preferring to instead cut unnecessary services (like kindergarrten!), increase borrowing, and basically […]

The Bait and Switch Program Seriously, there is a concerted effort to pull a major switcharoo on the American public by appending the word “program” to the phrase “weapons of mass destruction”. The latest example comes from Pat Roberts, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman (R-Kansas), in a CNN.com story titled “Senate intel chairman suggests proof coming […]

The Unemployment Circle is Almost Complete Bush II is inching closer and closer to the unemployment levels that Bush I attained, with unemployment now reaching a level not seen since 1994: Unemployment rose to 6.4 percent from 6.1 percent in May, the Labor Department said. That’s the highest level since April 1994. AB UPDATE: Via […]

Howard Dean Personally, I think the strongest team has John Edwards on top and Wesley Clark on bottom (a scenario now legal even in Texas). But I do enjoy watching Dean; he’s smart and passionate, and he accomplished two impressive feats: (1) raising more than any other candidate did last quarter, and (2) raising a […]

More Orcinus From Dave Neiwert’s latest installment from the soon to be published (in electronic form) essays on Rush, Newspeak, and Fascism: As the War on Terror, instead of combating the rise of fascimentalism, transforms itself into a War on Liberals; as conservatives increasingly identify themselves as the only “true” Americans; as Bush continues to […]

Thou Shall Not Violate the First Amendment in Alabama Earlier, talking about the recent sodomy case and the upcoming Pledge of Allegiance case, I speculated that “if something is constitutionally questionable but it dates back to the American Revolution or thereabouts, then it’s ok. But if it’s constitutionally questionable and originated in the 20th century, […]

Media Scripts It’s pretty tough to add much to Bob Somerby’s incomparable TM media criticism, but I occasionally try (most recently here). Salon’s Eric Boehlert, who often cites Somerby, is another great source for criticism and analysis of the political press corps. Both ask the big question: how could the press mercilessly hound Al Gore […]