A Progressive Blog that Discusses Current Affairs, Politics, Culture, and Global Issues

Our purpose is to carve out a more-factual, less-partisan, niche in the political blogging world. The intention is not to defend a particular political party, ideology, or a particular issue, but to challenge the established narratives that are spread via the corporate media and the interests they represent.

Culture

Rally to Restore Sanity

Posted on by Jake White

On Saturday, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert teamed up for the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” It was an entertaining, and inspirational, rally on the Washington Mall. The rally included Cat Stevens (AKA, Yusuf), Ozzy Osborn, Roots, Sheryl Crow, Karim Abdul Jabbar, and Anderson Cooper’s tight black tee-shirt. (You can watch the entire rally here.) When I compare this rally to the Glen Beck’s recent rally, “Restoring Honor,” the differences could not be greater. Beck’s felt contrived and was nothing more than a propaganda fest focused on Beck’s patriotic greatness. The Stewart/Colbert rally was fun, sincere, and made me proud to be an American. Stewart ended the rally with a sincere, and mostly-serious, speech. His entire concluding speech is included below.

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Culture

John Lennon Shines On

Posted on by Jake White

John Lennon would have turned 70 this month. Over the next couple of months there are several noteworthy, commemorative releases and events, including: all of John Lennon’s solo recordings, re-mastered and released this month; a new documentary called LennonNYC, an independent film called “Nowwhere Boy” that focuses on Lennons teen years, and the annual Imagine Peace Tower lighting in Iceland that Yoko Ono will preside at and present Peace awards.

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Immigration

Immigration Reform, Now!

Posted on by Jake White

Immigrants are proud of their cultural heritage, but they are also proud of being part of the American Dream. The “Papers Please” law that was passed in Arizona earlier this year brought new attention to the immigration debate. Immigration has also come up in discussions about controlling spending and in the healthcare reform debate. In 2005, Senator Dianne Feinstein said, “We know that people come to this country illegally. They come for many different reasons. Some out of fear of persecution, some for work, all for opportunity…About 50% of the agricultural workforce are illegal workers…With respect to agricultural work, I know that it is extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to get Americans to work in agricultural labor.”

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Documentaries

The Cove

Posted on by Jake White

George Clooney said, “this is better than Ocean’s 11, but this is real!”
The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening.

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Obama

Is Obama a Socialist?

Posted on by Jake White

Is Obama a socialist?

This is a question that many are asking. Right-wing pundits, from Hannity and Beck to Palin and Gingrich, are claiming that President Barack Hussain Obama is a socialist. I have actually never heard of a Indonesian Muslim, black liberation theology-believing, socialist (as conservatives are alleging).

As a genuine socialist, Maaass sums up his view of Obama like this: “Barack Obama’s journey from ‘Yes We Can’ to ‘No We Won’t’ has been a bitter disappointment to his supporters” (p.138). “Like Bush before him, Obama’s policy is shaped by the interests of the U.S. corporate and political establishment and expanding American empire around the world” (p.60-61).
What does Obama really think about our free market capitalist system? He has said, “I believe in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don’t work as advertised” (The Audacity of Hope, p. 10). Hardly the words of a socialist. Yet Sean Hannity insists that Obama “sees the world in Marxist, class-warfare terms…every fiber of his being exudes resentment toward the productive, successful, and well-off in society…[he wants to] turn this nation into a full-blown socialist state…[he doesn’t] believe in the inherent fairness or goodness of the capitalist system…he is a leftist to his core…” (p. 68-107).

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Healthcare

Healthcare Reform: Still Confused?

Posted on by Jake White

re you still confused about what is in the new healthcare bill? Join the club.

Are you still confused about what is in the new healthcare bill? Join the club.
This is an excellent short video that explains the new law(i.e., the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)

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Conservatives, Political Theory

The Difference Between a Liberal and a Conservative

Posted on by Jake White

Of all the political theories used to understand our complex political system, one of the most useful is “Social Dominance Theory” (SDT) developed by Sidanius and Pratto. This is a sociological theory that seek to make sense of social hierarchies and how they are formed and maintained. To understand social hierarchies is to understand discrimination, oppression, stereotypes, inequality, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, nationalism, and the like. In short, SDT provides a framework for understanding power and group inequality.

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Policy

Legalized Marijuana is Coming

Posted on by Jake White

Recreational cannabis use may become legal in California this November. That’s right. Whatever you prefer to call it—pot, grass, weed, marijuana—like alcohol, would be legal. Cannabis is already permitted for medical purposes in 14 states. Millions of Americans use it for recreational purposes. Regulating it allows the government to tax it and control how it is used. This is not unlike the prohibition amendment in the early 20th century that led to a massive black market. When substances like alcohol and cannabis are forced underground, you simply feed crime, lose control of age limits, lose out of taxing it, send a lot of otherwise productive citizens to jail, create drug wars in other countries (e.g., Mexico), and make it more attractive to users.

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Documentaries

The Yes Men: Jackass meets Michael Moore

Posted on by Jake White

A new kind of activist journalism has been created. It is humorous Michael Moore “mockumentaries” meets the daring stunts of the show Jackass. These guys are for real! Their latest documentary, “The Yes Men: Fix the World,” is intellectually stimulating and very funny at the same time. (Both of their films are streaming items on […]

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