Rants and Ruminations

Bailout: Contact your reps in Congress now

by Jim Fuller • 9/21/08 • There are at least three urgent reasons to contact your senators and representatives in Congress now. This week. No later than Wednesday. MORE »

One nation, under surveillance

By James Clay Fuller, 3/24/08
by James Clay Fuller, 3/24/08 • More than a year ago, my wife gave me a tee shirt that shows a pair of obviously hostile eyes over a line of type that says, “One Nation Under Surveillance.” I wear it now and then in hot weather, and inevitably it draws looks and a rather surprising preponderance of knowing nods of agreement. The truth of that tee shirt observation grows ever more obvious. MORE »

The real reason Nader shouldn't run

By James Clay Fuller
by James Clay Fuller, 3/5/08 • It is a bit of a shame that Ralph Nader has declared again for the presidency of the United States. That is true, I think, not for any of the reasons corporate liberals and reliable members and backers of the Democratic National Committee are bleating about, but for another reason that I've yet to see anyone else mention: MORE »

Senate Democrats roll over again

By James Clay Fuller, 2/12/08
by James Clay Fuller, 2/12/08 • Rants & Ruminations • We should work like mad to elect more Democrats to Congress, and especially to the Senate. That's the message, repeated frequently in party mailers and online pitches. OK. I have just one question. Why? Why should we make a major effort in that direction? MORE »

Pay-as-you-spy phone tap follies

By James Clay Fuller
Now and then, there is a news story so revealing that it should be shouted for days from every yammering television station and printed and prominently analyzed by every newspaper. Why, there's one now that may be more important than a hot yarn about a pathetic 23-year-old no-talent pop singer getting drunk and vomiting on Greta Garbo's star on Hollywood Boulevard. Generally speaking, however, most of the people who pass themselves off as news reporters and analysts these days miss the significance of such stories entirely. MORE »

Iowa ... It don't mean a thing

By James Clay Fuller
I trust your hearts are palpitating and your breath is short. You no doubt are having trouble concentrating on the mundane stuff of life.
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'Condemnation' shows need for second party

By James Clay Fuller
The phony flap over MoveOn's “General Betray Us” ad demonstrates clearly how desperately this poor country needs a second major political party – if it isn't already too late. MORE »

Ironies big and small

By James Clay Fuller
Irony – one definition: “the incongruity of this.” Random House Webster's College Dictionary The big one: The Los Angeles Times, among other news outfits, reported Saturday (Sept. 22, 2007) that George Bush, “after smothering efforts by war critics in Congress to drastically cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq,” plans to ask Congress this week to approve a “massive spending measure – totaling nearly $200 billion” to fund the Iraq war next year. That will make 2008 the most expensive year of that war. So far. MORE »

Deadly missiles: not as sexy as Britney

By James Clay Fuller
Have we ever before seen a major news event disappear from public view so completely and so quickly? Or a story with such potential significance so widely ignored and minimized? And what do we make of that? I'm talking about the supposedly mistaken transport of either five or six missiles carrying nuclear warheads from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. The Air Force said the warheads were being shipped for “decommissioning.” MORE »

Many say attack on Iran coming soon

By James Clay Fuller
The American corporate news outfits are largely ignoring the likelihood of a Cheney/Bush attack on Iran, even while they provide all the time and space the White House desires for pre-attack demonizing of Iraq's neighbor. MORE »