Diggapedia

  I often ask who in their right mind would want to be President of the United States.   The stress, the personal attacks, the ungrateful electorate, subjecting the family to the microscope, and the constant second guessing.   Why on earth?   Why on earth would anyone want to seek a second term?   Well Barack Obama has successfully run for president twice and he will lead this nation for the next 4 years.   While expectations were higher in 2009, Monday’s inauguration speech certainly raised the hope of millions Americans.   Of course conservative commentators were quick to criticize and label the President’s speech as nothing more than liberal partisan talking points. But was the President’s inaugural address a liberal or progressive manifesto?   Was it derisive and contemptuous of Conservative ideals?   Did he spike the football?   Did he ignore the real economic problems facing the country?   Was it a laundry list sop t...

Do you swear?   No, but I know all the words.   That is a line from a Three Stooges short where Curly is being sworn in to testify in a courtroom. The Pledge of Allegiance, recited hundreds of millions of times since its creation in 1892, has frequently been the center of controversy.   So how could this little phrase be so controversial: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let’s take a look at the history of the pledge. Did you know that the Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Socialist Baptist Minister? The National Education Association requested the pledge be written to demonstrate the unity of our growing diversity in public schools. A believer in the absolute separation of church and state, it is safe to say that when his ubiquitous pledge was modified in 1954during the Joseph McCarthy l...

Last weekend I took in Zero Dark Thirty. The torture scenes were graphic, though I think the Mr. Blonde ear removal sequence from Reservoir Dogs still takes the cake, and the film quite gripping.   The big controversy pitting the movies producers and director aligned with some ‘unnamed’ sources versus Senators McCain and Boxer and ‘official’ CIA sources about whether ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ a.k.a. torture led to the location of Osama bin Laden.   The movie takes the position that torture opened the door to finding the courier who led the CIA team to the compound in Abbottabad.   It also portrays that a lot of dead ends and wild goose chases came from bogus information derived from the torture sessions. But are we asking the right question?   Instead of asking if torture worked, should we be asking if torture is moral?   Effectiveness versus morality. And it’s the latter that needs to be asked.   Instead we are told throughout the movie an...

  ·          Republican hack John Fund says “The most effective response (to Newtown) would be to let our citizens carry weapons in all public places.”   Really, because Americans have shown to be the most rational, dependable, trustworthy, levelheaded people on the planet. ·          Arizona’s three ring circus continued with Arizona GOP Chairman Tom Morrissey, Gila County Republican Party Chairman Don Ascoli and former Graham County Republican Chairman John D, Rhodes objecting to the certification of President Obama’s 332-206 victory because they believe the President has not produced a “legitimate” birth certificate.   You know you are a RWNJ when even Jan Brewer says you’re wrong. ·          War monger and Fox News contributor John Bolton had this to say about Secretary State Hillary Clinton “You know, every foreign service officer in ev...

Another jobs report, another sign of a tepid recovery.   For two years in a row we have averaged approximately 153k jobs/month.   Unfortunately, that is not enough to truly spur the economy into higher gear.   And while, many people like to look at the unemployment rate as the bell weather indicator of the state of employment in this country, there are other, perhaps more telling, numbers, and the picture is not to good: ·          Participation Rate: 63.6% ·          Long Term Unemployed (unemployed for >27 weeks): 4.8 million ·          Discouraged Workers (Not looking for work because they do not believe there are jobs): 1.1million ·          Not even counted: 3.3million who have not even looked for a job over the past year. ·          Public Sector Emp...

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