“He thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush, and, eight years later, I think people realize that Ralph did not know what he was talking about.” - Barack Obama

See Also: Cartoon via Washington Post, Nader Again: A Snare and a Delusion, Ralph Nader Announcement, My Only Post on Ralph Nader, Lebanese Nader Calls Obama Pro-”Palestinian”, Nader Talks About Palestine and Impeachment, The Audacity Of Complacency In The System, and RALPH NADER ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, ralph nader, republican, change and experience, barack obama, corporatism, corruption, democracy, independent, green party, democrats, liberal, political cartoon

From the reports of a February 21st Rasmussen Poll:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Virginia voters found Democrat Mark Warner still holding a significant lead over Republican Jim Gilmore in the race for the U.S. Senate. Warner leads Gilmore by twenty percentage points, 57% to 37%.

More interestingly, Warner has significant back from conservatives:

Warner earns high levels of support from liberals (88%) and moderates (70%) and even a third of conservative voters (34%). Gilmore attracts 60% of conservatives and 24% of moderate voters.

Is this the ripple down effect we can expect in the 2008 elections from 8 years of the Bush Administration?

From Yahoo News:

“More than seven-in-ten among the U.S. public, including large majorities of both blacks and whites, offer a negative assessment of rap music, with 71% of blacks and 74% of whites agreeing that rap’s societal impact is bad. Fewer Hispanics, however, hold this view (48%). Among whites, men are much more likely than women to say hip hop and rap have a bad influence on society. Among blacks, however, the gender relationship tilts in the opposite direction ? women are more likely than men to say this form of music is having a bad influence. Younger blacks and whites (ages 18-34) are far less likely than older respondents to see a negative societal impact of [tag]hip hop[tag] and rap music. No difference is seen in the percentage of young whites and young blacks saying this. Of all the race and gender groups in the survey, black men are most likely to give a positive rating to hip hop (18%) and rap music (11%). But these levels of positive rating are still quite modest.”

In a new play at the National Theater in London, 27 actors perform for 90 minutes without uttering a word. The attraction is “The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other[t/ag],” by the Austrian playwright [tag]Peter Handke. The script has 60 pages of stage directions and no dialogue, although there are bangs, crashes, screams and laughter, The Independent of London reported. Mr. Handke said that the idea came to him in the 1980s when he found dramatic meaning in the comings and goings in a town square near Trieste, Italy. “Is there much to discover in it?” he said of his play. “I don’t know.”

Technorati Tags: humanity, amazing picture, evolution of humans, progression, sex, war, modern conflict

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine, a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile) and found that the regimes had 14 things in common.

The 14 characteristics are:

1.. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

abjure – v. to renounce a claim, a belief, or cause

Build your vocab with PBH!

On June 16, 1918, Eugene Debs made a speech in Canton, Ohio in opposition to World War I and was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was convicted, sentenced to serve ten years in prison and disenfranchised for life. Debs appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. In its ruling on Debs v. United States, the court examined several statements Debs had made regarding World War I. While Debs had carefully guarded his speeches in an attempt to comply with the Espionage Act, the Court found he still had the intention and effect of obstructing the draft and recruitment for the war. Below is the excerpt from his speech detailing his opposition to World War 1:

#1. Novelty Boxer Shorts

Unless the woman you’re trying to seduce has a fantasy about fucking a clown, there’s no reason to ever be wearing underwear covered in images of Snoopy and Charlie Brown. “But it’s a holiday theme!” Terrific, but that doesn’t change the fact that the girl I’m undressing in front of is now trying to decide whether to fuck me or read me a Bernstein Bears story.

#2. Whatever “For Dummies” book pertains to the career I’m actively pursuing

INTRODUCTION

1. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster
for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of
those of us who live in “advanced” countries, but they have
destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected
human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological
suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have
inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued
development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly
subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage
on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social
disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased
physical suffering even in “advanced” countries.

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