Joe Six-Pack, the Man Who Was Not There
I have spent the past weeks trying to find Joe Six-Pack, AKA Joe Average, AKA the real American, a political heavyweight with more aliases than the average Wu Tang Clan member. I'm in a pretty...
Category: North America
Canadian Election: in the shadow of the eagle
On Sunday, September 7th 2008, Canada’s 39th Parliament was dissolved, and on October 14th Canada held an election. Many Americans were ignorant of these developments, despite the fact that we are...
Final presidential debate: will the real Joe the Plumber please stand up?
The mystery is over: Joe has spoken. And according to some, he’s not even registered to vote. John McCain’s latest attempt at a game-changer hit the same sour note as his last attempts. No matter...
Fight-or-Flight: the American electorate and the politics of fear
"Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still...
Running Away Screaming from the GOP
Why is the election so ugly right now? Why have McCain rallies recently seemed reminiscent of a Skrewdriver concert? I gained some insight the other night while sitting on a dirty couch eating...
If an ethics probe falls In the Alaskan forest, does anyone care?
It's official. Sarah Palin was found to have abused her authority in the firing of a public official who would not fire her state trooper ex-brother-in-law, according to the probe released Friday....
The “gal” who’d be VP
The Sarah I have in mind is quite different from the “glamorous nymph” that Bob Dylan sings about as I write. She is a xenophobic paysanne with a plain accent; a powerful and until recently...
The McCain campaign: lipstick and lynch mobs
As the McCain campaign's desperate attempts to paint Barack Obama as all but a "domestic terrorist" have elicited cries of "kill him!" from the lynch mo... *cough* the adoring crowd, McCain's own...
The Second Presidential Debate: Obama Wins On Healthcare
The second presidential debate didn’t explore much new territory, with the candidates repeating talking points over and over. Yet the strongest line of the night went to Barack Obama, when the...
Sarah Palin’s gay best friend
One of the most wonderful things about humanity is that we are social beings. Interaction with each other is absolutely essential to us. In a desire to avoid isolation we spend our lives building...