Category Archives: Politics

The Social Media Minimums

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Timothy Burke

Grizzled old Internet hands like me, we like to think we’ve seen it all. We were using our modems and marvelling at the strange intimacy of having threaded text conversations about science fiction or politics or woodworking with people you’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Humanities, Politics | Comments Off on The Social Media Minimums

A Point Everyone Has Already Made

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I try not to restate the trending applause lines that are cresting like giant waves through Twitter and similar online spaces, but there are reasons why some short sentiments find such a warm welcome at so many handles. In some … Continue reading →

Posted in Oh Not Again He's Going to Tell Us It's a Complex System, Politics | 16 Comments

Culture Fears

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I’m completely in agreement with Claire Potter, writing at her blog Tenured Radical, that mocking Governor Rick Perry for his college grades and using them to explain Perry’s policies on education is a bad idea on several levels. As Potter … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 2 Comments

Do I Really Look Like a Guy With a Plan?

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I can’t really let this whole mess go, much as I want to turn my attention to a couple of other issues and ideas that are on my radar screen. Much as I did before the Iraq war started, I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

An Analogy

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I mentioned this analogy in my Twitter feed and was asked to explain it in a bit more detail: that Obama’s Presidency is increasingly resembling James Buchanan’s Presidency. Buchanan was the 15th President, holding office just before Abraham Lincoln and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments

A Bedtime Story

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Timothy Burke

My own Congressman has a heart-warming analogy on his website about why a Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget is our most important national priority right now. Yes, he’s one of those who is against raising the debt ceiling, even … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

A Crude and Simplifying Metaphor

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Timothy Burke

Russell Arben Fox replies in comments to my rant on the politics of good-enough with a very appropriate challenge: isn’t that project itself something that calls for extraordinarily difficult and challenging kinds of tactical and strategic work, mobilizing and mass … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

Towards an Opt-Out Button in Left-Liberal Debates

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Timothy Burke

I’ve recently had a couple of interesting exchanges with valued folks about formal electoral politics and their connection to the question of what progressive politics ought to be in the United States. In terms of the debt ceiling issue in … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Life, Politics | 7 Comments

Reform or Schadenfreude? Reading the Fall of the House of Murdoch

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Timothy Burke

Of all the distressing things about this global moment, the most distressing of all is the seeming resignation of national, local and world publics about the parade of woes confronting them. I’m not offering this as the stereotypical complaint of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 4 Comments

To a Medical Center in Fresno

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Timothy Burke

My trip to California took a bit of a downward turn a bit more than a week ago when I began to develop a fever and associated symptoms (headache, dizziness, fatigue, sleeplessness) while in the southern Sierra Nevada. After a … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment