In doing research for my Linguistics paper on the metaphors used to talk about blogs (wee!), I came across this really interesting article that none other than Berkeley’s own Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the Kos of Daily Kos, wrote for The American Prospect about a year and a half ago. Kos reflects on the time he spent in the army right after high school, and why he switched from being a presinct-captain Republican to a card-carrying Democrat. It struck me as incredibly poignant, especially with an election nearing, as people are evaluating their own beliefs in choosing a candidate to vote for. It’s a short article, so you should definitely check it out!

P.S. How meta is it that in the midst of writing a paper about blogs, I should be compelled to post one of my own? Oh, academia.

Despite any hard evidence, from either before the U.S. entrance into the war in Iraq or in the four years since, Cheney still holds to his assertion of an Iraq - Al Qaeda link. Did he miss the Defense Department Inspector General’s report that found insignificant intelligence to justify an Iraq - Al Qaeda relationship?

• Al Gore and the Oscars:

Colbert counters that Gore is not green.

more »

This story is infuriating:

Shawqi Ahmad Omar is an American citizen who, according to his family, moved to Iraq to help with the reconstruction effort, [but] was detained by U.S. Forces in October of that year on suspicion of having terrorist connections and has been languishing in U.S. military detention ever since. During that time, he has not been charged with any crime and has had no access to a lawyer. In December 2005, Omar’s family filed a habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the legality of his continued detention….While Omar’s habeas petition was pending, the U.S. government notified his family that it planned to transfer him into Iraqi custody—and conveniently out of the reach of the U.S. justice system.

Our federal judiciary is supposed to serve as a check on the power of Congress and the executive branch, ensuring that Americans’ basic rights are protected. But a radical doctrine promulgated by the Bush administration holds that there are virtually no civil liberties which cannot be trampled on if the president claims that doing so is in the interest of national security.

more »

You may have noticed that conservatives like attacking programs such as…free health-care, public education, ending corporate welfare, taxation, and any proactive governance as the evil “Big Government.” The old phrase, “government is the problem, not the solution” is spewed forth like the word of God in an attempt to create so-called freedom through the market.

There’s just one problem with this: conservatives don’t practice it. Neither side does; a large government is far more convenient, something we can’t live without today. What we have now isn’t a battle over whether we should have a small government or a big government, but what KIND of big government we should have. What I see as the political/philosophical debate of our day is if we should have a government which invests in people, or one that invests in bombs.

more »