http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:52:22 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:52:22 I was reading Free Republic and preparing one of my irregular "Freepology Today" posts. It was going to be entitled, "Obama's coming! Light the cross!" as that is the tenor of about 1 in 3 posts on FR right now. Reverend Wright? A footnote. It's just pointed out in passing that Obama's church ha... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/38 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:35:07 I mean, did you learn English before they invented punctuation?

You said in the OP that you voted for LBJ, but now, "who I vote for is none of your business that is my civil rights." So why did you bring up who you voted for in the first place if it's your "civil rights" not to have it discussed?... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/37 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:31:22 There was a time when that was a respectful term for people with African heritage.

After a while, it had been used as an epithet too many times and it became disrespectful and a new term came into fashion. Once upon a time, "colored" was a respectful term, until it became a buzzword of segregati... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/36 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:59:21 There is one version of Christianity. The one in the Bible. You can criticize Christians for getting it wrong, but you can't Christianity for their misapprehensions any more that you can criticize cosmology for the fact that they believe the Earth is 6000 years old.

For the record, the sole New... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/35 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:08:55 [div class="excerpt"]Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the pri... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/34 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:04:09 Jim Davis wrote a NewsMax article saying that Obama attended a "hate America" sermon on July 22nd last year. The problem is that Obama was in Miami when the sermon occurred. Now Jim Davis is saying "Oh, it was one of those sermons somewhere in a three-week period."

What else have Jim Davis writ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/33 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:31:13 In the Spring of 1992, I knew very little about this "Bill Clinton" guy who was wowing people with his speeches and rising in stature toward the nomination. Democrats were excited by his enthusiasm, his articulate speeches and his charm. "What a great candidate to topple the lack-luster Bush," I t... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/32 Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:36:17 Grover Cleveland had less than a year as Mayor of Buffalo and two years as Governor of New York.

He was a straight-talking populist who was unwilling to kowtow to the entrenched and corrupt elements of the Democratic status quo. He won an electoral landslide because the country was eager for ref... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/31 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:40:32 I've logged a lot of hours on DU and I've enjoyed most of them, but now it is time to leave this community, maybe for good.

I expect give and take on Internet forums. I expect conflict. I realize that tempers can flare and that even when the moderators do a great job, people get away with sayin... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/30 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:13:07 Recent polling data (end of last week) from SurveyUSA shows Obama winning more electoral votes than Clinton in the general election.
http://expopark.info/du_images/dem_vs_mccain.png

If you look at the underlying data at the site (http://www.surveyusa.com) you will find that Obama wins states by ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/28 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:27:26 As far as punditry goes, this prediction may end up turned on its head like most of the others. We'll see.

I did like the point that Catholics are already accustomed to thinking of women in leadership positions. It always gets under my skin when people bash the Catholic church for excluding wom... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/27 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:37:17 Almost nothing is know of St. Valentine. We know he was an early Roman Christian and that he was reported buried on the Via Flamina on February 14th. His name lived on as a list of early noteworthy Christians that was passed down orally for a the better part of a century until it was documented in... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/26 Sat, 09 Feb 2008 13:04:58 As it turns out my wife it writing a thesis on the effects of Greco-Roman astrology on early Christianity, so this is how she says the Greeks would have called it:

Pluto has entered the constellation of Ophiuchus (Ah-fyoo-kus).

This is a forgotten 13th sign that fills in the partial month tha... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/25 Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:47:22 In another response, I pointed out the desperate need for validation shown by the "New Atheists." The subsequent torrent of incoherent caterwauling indicates that I hit a pretty raw nerve. Methinks they doth protest too much.

One of the most substantive — and I'm being generous here — responses... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/24 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:51:15 There's a lot at stake. Another four years of Republican rule could seriously destroy this country — not in a metaphorical sense, but in a tangible sense.

What if Obama really isn't tough enough to withstand the inevitable Republic slime assault? What if Clinton's negatives really will make her... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/23 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:02:08 "Hillary wins New Hampshire" — that's the headline isn't it? She got 39% of the votes and Barack got 37% of the vote. He came in second, we're told. But...

[font size="+1" color="red"][b]In the context of "delegates won," then Clinton and Obama tied for first place with 9 delegates each.[/b][/... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/22 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:04:48 Last night was a bad night for Freepers. They were excited to see Senator Clinton lose again to Senator Obama and that didn't happen. Instead, Hillary achieved a "stunning victory" (reality check: the two Senators effectively tied for first place).

Freepers also desperately love Fred Thompson... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/21 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:44:09 [h3]Hillary got trounced in Iowa[/h3]Bzzzt. Wrong. She came in third, but delegate-wise, we had Obama with 15, Edwards with 14 and Clinton with 13. That's not a "trouncing" — that's nearly a three-way tie.
[h3]Hillary won New Hampshire[/h3]After the cheap shots that Hillary has taken, particularl... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/20 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:35:27 In the wake of Obama's rising fortunes in the primaries, NewsMax has oozed forward with a revolting smear piece entitled, "[link:http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/Obama_Church_Racism/2008/01/07/62285.html|Barack Obama's Racist Church]."

[link:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949815/posts|Fr... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/19 Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:27:10 In a discussion about Tancredo bashing Huckabee, a Huckabee supporter defended Huckabee's "socialist" leanings as part of his dedication to a life ethic: "Gov. Huckabee's support of in-state tuition for children of illegals is compatible with his Pro-Life position - you don't throw away kids because... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/18 Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:49:35 Greetings fellow Freepologists! Today's excavation has hit a rather stinky pile of Freeper hypocrisy. Dug up from archives nearly eight years old, it is still steaming and rank. Before we examine the artifacts, let's set the context.

By now you've undoubtedly read about Governor Huckabee's "Wi... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/17 Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:20:22 (I'm not famous enough to be a blogger on the Huffington Post, and this essay might violate their editorial policy anyway, so I'm going to post it here on DU. :) )

Dear Alan,

I'm writing to give you some understanding. I mean that in two ways. I can see that you're awfully sore about your wo... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/16 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:31:41 Hey, everyone, did you hear? The surge not only worked, but it was a tremendous humanitarian acheivement! Well, that's what [link:http://www.nypost.com/seven/10022007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/saved_by_the_surge.htm|John Podhoretz says] in his column yesterday. How did he come to this conclusion... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/15 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:49:10 I came across a [link:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1935131&mesg_id=1935131|post in the GD Forum] in which the author contrasts the level of spiritual involvement shown by the Buddhist Monks in Burma with what we have here in the US. I agree... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/14 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:57:29 First of all, I was just kidding around with [b]Goblinmonger's[/b] [link:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=143853&mesg_id=143875|post] (hence the little tongue-out smiley in my post). Secondly, I think that the "whack job, militant, atheist fund... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theredpen/13 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:06:17