Steve Ersinghaus

Much of the talk at Congress over the past couple of days has been about numbers and, I must contend, vague expression about this or that strategy. Some argue that al-Maliki has to do honest business with Sunni Arabs and that Saudi Arabia must keep speaking to Iran and vice versa, another Sunni/Shiite issue (to [...]

Since we’re on the subject of reality, here’s a way of putting it together. From Juan Cole:
I personally find the controversy about Iraq in Washington to be bizarre. Are they really arguing about whether the situation is improving? I mean, you have the Night of the Living Dead over there. People lack potable water, [...]

My thoughts on borders come from my experience growing up in the US/Mexico region. The facts are that neither Ciudad Juarez nor El Paso could flourish without each other; they’re linked territory where the idea of “country” and “state” has always been blurred. This doesn’t mean that people aren’t aware of difference, boundary, and [...]

The title of this writing is the alternative title of the recent FISA update, which redraws the terms of surveillance to fit the needs of the curent “administration.” Definitions, rather than logic, form the bricks of rhetoric. Logic isn’t necessarily required to convince a reader or listener that an action is or is not sound, [...]

This post by Dean Baker goes to the notion of assessment.
Neither the Post nor NYT articles on the new $286 billion 5-year farm bill (approximately 1.8 percent of spending or $190 per person per year) passed by the House would provide readers any basis for answering this question. Both articles notes some of the largest [...]

The Veracifier video of Gonzales testimony here is just outrageous.
Josh Marshall is right on here, too:
Without going into all the specifics, I think we are now moving into a situation where the White House, on various fronts, is openly ignoring the constitution, acting as though not just the law but the constitution itself, which is [...]

Citations of Contempt.
I need more categories.

Bizzaro World i a pretty well known concept, especially by fans of superman.
Anyway, the unbelievable events of the past week have shown the worst of political commentary and news programming. I’ve seen administration supporters just stammering like fools. Unbelievable.

Spazeboy has published his Guide to Political Video Blogging.
There are a few reasons why I undertook this project:
* Videoblogging is a powerful way to document local government
Take, for example, MattW’s video of a recent Energy Policy Forum featuring State Representative Steve Fontana. Not everyone could [...]

These days it seems that politicians must choose a narrative and stick to it. I don’t think they want to do this, but, then again, they may. Here’s Sam Brownbeck explaining himself
The heart of the issue is that we cannot drive a wedge between faith and reason. I believe wholeheartedly that there cannot be any [...]

I have not and will not be following any of the debates for so-called president, but I read that three grown men didn’t get the memo on evolution.
Three of the candidates indicated that they did not believe in it.
None is a front-runner but even so there will be American scientists who will feel [...]

I’m an advocate of open borders. I’d like to see gates and walls come down and any plan to maintain and build structures along the US Mexico border cease. This is, of course, a position of hypothesis that asks: what would happen if border gates, walls, and barriers were removed? And why would a particular [...]

Emily Gertz has this to say about future investment in clean tech, which bring back to mind Connecticut’s plans for the future.
Are clean technologies the investment opportunity of the 21st century? That was the breathless question at the panel I went to on Thursday, the second day of the “Advancing Sustainable Prosperity” conference in Boston. [...]

It’s good to have Bill Moyers back online at PBS after some pretty crude political shenanigans and yet another example of cultural conservativist hypocrisy about the “marketplace” of ideas. Nice interviews too with Josh Marshall and Jon Stewart. Moyers’ MO has always been to provide space for people to speak, a kind of media space [...]

“The last thing we need is more tax increases,” said House GOP leader Lawrence Cafero of Norwalk. “We have a realistic, responsible budget. I didn’t want to stand up here and talk just in terms of charts, rhetoric and one-liners.”
This sort of statement is pretty point blank. It sounds good. But it’s meaningless. We can [...]