Category: Politics

A liberal’s long journey away from Barack Obama and the Democratic party   By Michael Pellegrini About seven and a half years ago following the 2008 elections, I wrote a blog post titled America: Disgraced then reborn.     I absolutely gushed about how happy I was at the election of Barack Obama. I was dead certain he…

From a Muslim perspective, this whole “war on terror” has to look a whole lot like a “war on Muslims.” We’ve invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Innocent civilian deaths in the Iraq war – and that’s just innocent civilian deaths by themselves – run overall between an estimated 110,000 to over 600,000 lives. Can there be…

The thing that disturbs me the most about this methanol/LNG mess is not the methanol or LNG per se.   Rather it’s that these issues bring home the hard, cold fact that while we were sleeping, there’s been a coup.   Our city’s been taken over by hostile forces. Tacoma and the United States are…

This current presidential election will be perhaps the single most important event the United States has faced in a hundred or more years.  Never before has there been such a wide range and disparity between the different candidates.  Never before has there been so much at stake. This is where we decide if we’re a…

It’s 1984 in 2013 – Welcome to Oceania! “…Americans have learned that the National Security Agency has been spying on Americans without judicial approval. We learned about this not from the Administration, but from the New York Times and USA Today. Every time a revelation came out, President Bush refused to answer questions from Congress……

I was surprised when I saw that the AFL-CIO was backing SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act sponsored by the RIAA and MPAA.  I was able to find out the name of the AFL-CIO official, Paul Almeida,  testifying for the bill, and I sent him and email.  Below follows that exchange. To: Paul Almeida From:…

There are some things you just never expect to see. Shrimp ice cream. World peace. An openly gay republican president. Or, workers in the United States facing the loss of their collective bargaining rights. “The right to bargain collectively is at the bottom of social justice for the worker, as well as the sensible conduct…

One of the most asinine initiatives in Washington state this election has got to be 1082 – the initiative to privatize the state worker’s compensation system. The primary sponsor is the Building Industry Association of Washington – Dino Rossi’s erstwhile masters – and the large insurance companies. (Rossi is pictured at the right, with his…

Spokane, WA (AP) – Perennial candidate for big business, Dino Rossi (R – Spokane), seen at right with his head up his ass, as usual, is off and running again, this time for the US Senate. Foiled in his two recent attempts to claim the governorship of Washington state, Rossi decided to attempt to capture…

Des Moines, IA (AP) – In a bold, audacious move, the Republican party today announced their dream ticket for the 2012 presidential elections – Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell. Governor Palin, the failed vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 elections was elated. “I can see the capitol from my house,” she was heard saying. In a…