Category Archives: Politics

Show Some Class

Living in Zimbabwe for about a year and a half in two separate stays, one in the early 1990s, one near the end of the same decade, I found that there were a number of basic things about the government … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Politics | 3 Comments

Constitutional

There are really only a small handful of historical cases where constitutions have actually exerted real authority over later generations, have actually organized or channeled social and political conflicts. Mostly modern constitutions are like bad peace accords between fundamentally antagonistic … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Politics | 2 Comments

Timothy the Grouch

I’m going to be a bit of a grumpus about The Ministry of Reshelving. There’s a simple reason to object to this strategy. The simple reason is that some folks on the left simply don’t seem to grasp that any … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 15 Comments

Intelligent Design: A Small Point, a Medium Point and a Big Point

Lots and lots of good responses recently out there about the problem of “intelligent design” and its assault on science, reason and educational standards. I have three contributions to the ongoing discussion. 1) Increasingly advocates for intelligent design who aren’t … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | 35 Comments

Keep On Snitching

The latest and most depressing challenge for anti-violence activists in Philadelphia. Those shirts, following on the infamous Baltimore DVD aimed at witness intimidation, really move me to some irrational feelings of anger. There’s no excuse for walking around with that … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 10 Comments

Mistakes Were Made

The shuttle’s coming back tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on weather, if they have no other problems. Let’s pray that they don’t. After it returns, who knows? Best case scenario, NASA spends a few more millions, fixes the foam problem more … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 21 Comments

Time See What’s Become of Me

Iraq’s future is in the hands of long-time now. There’s no need now to rush to the blog or the column, the talk show or the speech, to mark and masticate the meaning of each and every event. Listening to … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 15 Comments

Theories of People

When I teach my course on the history of consumerism, commodification and advertising, I often like to talk at some point about my favorite paradox about choice and agency in liberal democratic societies. From the last quarter of the 19th … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Popular Culture | 20 Comments

Doing the Math

I’m starting to feel weary and gun-shy about political discussions in the public sphere (among bloggers or otherwise). It feels to me that so few people are stopping to take a deep breath, look at issues from several angles, think … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 60 Comments

Violence and Agency

Caleb McDaniel makes some important observations here and at his own blog, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to respond. These are certainly not the kinds of discussions I had in mind when I asked that we put … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments