Category Archives: Politics

The Girl Effect

Posted on September 22, 2010 by madinpursuit

Watch this video, which premiered yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative. It is from Girl Effect. It’s about the global impact of assisting 12-year-old girls to stay in school. I’m inspired. Decided to give a donation, dedicated to my dad, … Continue reading →

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Read the Declaration of Independence

Posted on July 4, 2010 by madinpursuit

Your homework: Before you make the cole slaw, before you baste the spare ribs, before you pack the lawn chairs for the fireworks display, take a few minutes to read the full text of our Declaration of Independence. Discuss. Like … Continue reading →

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Is The Constitution Our American Bible?

Posted on June 27, 2010 by madinpursuit

With the Elena Kagan hearings starting this week, we’re bound to hear a lot of palaver about how the the courts should or shouldn’t read the U.S. Constitution. Should they treat it as a living document, to be held up … Continue reading →

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Enough with the immigrant hatred

Posted on June 16, 2010 by madinpursuit

I wish people would stop sending my mother hate-filled email “forwards” about immigrants to the U.S. What kills me is that most of these tracts come from her Irish acquaintances who apparently have no appreciation for what our own people … Continue reading →

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Tar Pit Formerly Known As The Gulf Of Mexico

Posted on May 25, 2010 by madinpursuit

Will the oil just keep bubbling up like a deep sea Kilauea? Like a severed femoral artery on an inaccessible battlefield? As ecosystems die off and hurricanes make it rain tar in Chicago, will we finally have our monument to … Continue reading →

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Let’s Get “Healthcare” Done

Posted on March 18, 2010 by madinpursuit

I’ll admit the government is screwed up, but I’m increasingly chilled by the total perversion of the health “insurance” (so-called) industry. I am increasingly chilled by the thought that my insurance company is beholden to its profit-seeking stockholders and not … Continue reading →

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How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

Posted on June 16, 2009 by madinpursuit

I love this kind of stuff! While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down … Continue reading →

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Wearing of the Green for People of Iran

Posted on June 16, 2009 by madinpursuit

I have a million things to do, but I’m sitting here getting swept up into the aftermath of the Iran election and the Twitter phenomenon surrounding it. I read the Cyberwar Guide. Changed the background of my Twitter icon to … Continue reading →

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Hate Talk :: Hate Crime

Posted on June 11, 2009 by madinpursuit

I’m reading Joan Walsh’s column on Salon: “Can Right-Wing Hate Talk Lead To Murder?” In November Americans voted against the paranoid torturing, wire-tapping, chest-thumping darkside. Phew. Sadly, it seems to have unloosed the dark homegrown fringe element we saw during … Continue reading →

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Postscript on Obama & Notre Dame

Posted on May 18, 2009 by madinpursuit

I’m so glad that Obama took the issues head-on at Notre Dame’s commencement. We have to talk about these issues and find some common ground. But one CNN commentator sneered and said the speech was a fine example of “elegant … Continue reading →

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