The most provocative, over the top, and disturbing take on what has befallen us appears in the latest Rolling Stone. Sometimes the truth is so close we can’t recognize it, and a writer like Matt Taibbi comes along to piece everything together into sharp focus:
The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d’état. They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations. Read More
I usually wield no club in the intensifying mainstream media bashathon. But Todd Gitlin, whose journalism bona fides make his views worth a read, rightly hammers Big-Time Reporters’ coverage of President Obama’s press conference last night.
Petulance born of arrogance is especially repugnant when it leads to stories focusing on style at the expense of substance. We need hard-nosed reporting combined with clear explanations and analyses of what’s really happening around us. Now more than ever.
The bathroom at Mississippi Studios in Portland is the home of succinct political commentary that summarizes the sentiments of many people these days.
A message typed on a sheet of paper taped to the wall above the toilet advises patrons to flush twice. Below the message someone has scrawled an addendum:
It’s a long way to the Republican Head Quarters.
Rarely do I find commentary as incisive and articulate as that of Scott Horton. His “No Comment” blog for Harper’s Magazine illuminates current affairs not with polemics but cohesive facts and analysis. Reading his work I see the fog of he-said-she-said media coverage lift to reveal what looks like truth. Read More
This is akin to shooting fish in a barrel, I suppose. But if you treasure words and how they’re put together, you’ll enjoy Mark Nickolas’ simple but clever idea: use Microsoft Word’s readability tool to compare the language Barack Obama used Monday answering questions at his first presidential press conference versus that of George W. Bush eight years ago. Read More
A story of redemption and grace starts my morning: 48 years after beating a prominent member of the Civil Rights Movement, a former Ku Klux Klan member apologizes in person with a handshake and hug.
“I tried to block it out of my mind. It kept coming back,” says Elwin Wilson, who attacked John Lewis, now a congressman from Georgia, in the “whites only” area of a Greyhound bus station in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Wilson, now 72, has been haunted with guilt for years. What sparked him to apologize, not just to Lewis but black residents in Rock Hill? Barack Obama’s election.
“Socialism is apparently what is created when a president you do not like spends money on things of which you do not approve,” writes Mark Schone of Salon. He zings the Rush Limbaugh crowd of Stimulus Bill opponents by pointing to the infrastructure projects the federal government financed during the Great Depression.
But as he notes, words in this maddening debate are more than plentiful. Read More
How many people are paying attention to President Obama now that the hoopla over his election and inauguration has died down? Not enough. Listen to this video clip (requires a scroll down) of what he said today about our stricken economy. Better yet, read the transcript of his speech after the clip. He understands what needs to be done as painful and distasteful as it is.
Republicans apparently find taxes so detestable they’d rather see millions suffer and the country grind to a halt to get their way. Such is their boundless ideological arrogance. But as the president said today: Read More
This homemade Obama sign in a yard not far from my house seems more appropriate now than during the campaign. Without the new president’s leadership, the economy would indeed end up busted.
Like anyone, I don’t like the prospect of Himalaya-like deficits. But nearly every economist whom I’ve seen quoted says the only way to jump start the economy is through extraordinary government spending. Otherwise, the deficits will seem mild compared to the fiscal ruin we’d face. Read More
I’ve come around to the view that Portland Mayor Sam Adams should not resign for lying about his relationship with another gay man. I say man because that’s how Beau Breedlove describes himself at age seventeen, though both say the sexual side of their brief relationship began when Breedlove turned eighteen.
As awful as Adam’s lies to the public have been, he’s the best person to run the city. Considering the deteriorating economic challenges we face, I’d rather have as mayor someone who’s progressive and pragmatic and proven. The only remaining question: can Adams be effective after all the shame he has brought upon himself. If he’s ineffective and a state investigation of his relationship with Breedlove discloses illegalities, then he can be recalled after his first six months in office. Read More
My day began with champagne and two friends, Benjamin Alexander Clarke and Kelley Burke, at an elbow-to-elbow cafe, Krakow Koffeehouse, where we watched President Obama sworn in. It ended with a neighborhood potluck dinner and never-to-forget, flag-waving march with 40 other people through the streets of Portland. Read More
An email promoted tonight’s showing of vintage film footage from the civil rights movement. The location: a pizza place on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Northeast Portland.
It seemed a fitting way to spend the evening with wife and little boy. So we sat with about fifty people we didn’t know — white, black, Hispanic, and Asian — in the perfect prelude to tomorrow’s presidential inauguration. Read More
My intense bias aside, it’s hard to imagine John McCain providing the depth and quality of leadership that our soon-to-be new president has demonstrated. Clearly Barack Obama’s first priority is leadership, not ideology. That means elevating pragmatism over politics and candidly communicating often with the American people: Read More
