BY ELAINE MAGLIARO
Since posting the story about Chevron going after Pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore yesterday, I’ve been watching more of Fiore’s videos. I thought some of you would enjoy the following video he made of Antonin Scalia singing a parody of “Those Were the Days”–the song Archie and Edith Bunker sang during the opening credits of the 1970’s sitcom All in the Family.
BY ELAINE MAGLIARO
Lindsay Abrams posted an interesting article about the Chevron Corporation at Salon yesterday. According to Abrams, one of the world’s largest oil companies is “desperate” to avoid paying billions of dollars in damages for the contamination in Ecuador’s rain forest caused by Texaco—which was absorbed by California-based Chevron in 2001. She said Chevron is SO desperate, in fact, that it is even going after a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist named Mark Fiore. Fiore claims that the oil company “has filed court documents over a satirical video he made in conjunction with the environmental nonprofit Amazon Watch.”
BY ELAINE MAGLIARO
Scott Raab has been doing a series of posts about Chris Christie on Charlie Pierce’s Politics Blog at Esquire. He posted the fifth installment—titled Why No One Is Sticking Up for Chris Christie—today. In his piece, Raab explains why Republicans like Rudy Guiliani and Mitt Romney aren’t going on record as character witnesses for the portly politician from New Jersey. He claims that while they don’t want to be the first to turn on the governor publicly…they aren’t about to defend a man who has some skeletons in his closet.
Romney’s people vetted Christie as a possible running mate for Mitt in 2012. Evidently, they found some things that lessened his appeal as a political partner. According to Double Down: Game Change 2012—a book written by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann—Christie was among Mitt’s top choices…until his people began digging into Christie’s background.
Trust is a valuable thing. It is neither given nor taken lightly. When I invited the authors posting to Flowers for Socrates to participate in this forum, I did so because I consider them friends and I trust them with not only creating content for this growing blog but with the power and responsibility of being full editors on this site. It was (and is) trust well placed.
After a recent bout of the flu waylaid some of the authors here (including me), the FFS family stepped up admirably to help fill the content void. Everyone who participates here knows this. What everyone might not know is that almost to the day of my recovery from said flu, I was blindsided by a family crisis that has been monopolizing my time for the last week and promises to do so for the near future. The result of which has been I have had little (read: no) time to actively participate or create content for our fledgling forum.
While not abandoning this project by a long shot, I think that recognition is due to the FFS family for again stepping up and helping to keep this forum alive (and growing) in my partial absence. To the authors, I say, “Thank you for everything and your belief in this project.”
To our commentors, I also say thank you for making this the kind of forum I knew it could be and your continuing support.
I’ll be providing content and participating as time allows, but thank you all for keeping this forum vibrant while life’s unexpected duties keep me otherwise occupied.
Gene Howington, Editor-in-Chief
By ELAINE MAGLIARO
Millions of people have heard of the famous “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial that was written in response to a letter a young girl wrote to the editor of New York’s Sun back in 1897. In her letter, little Virginia O’Hanlon asked the editor if there really was a Santa Claus:
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
The unsigned editorial response to Virginia was the work of a veteran newsman named Francis Pharcellus Church. According to the Newseum, the editorial has “become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.”
By CHARLTON STANELY
The mental health community has devoted considerable attention to the effect of deployment(s) on members of the military service. Not enough attention has been given to the effects of deployment on other family members.
The California Department of Education conducts an annual study called the California Health Kids Survey. The study attempts to monitor youth risk, behavior and resilience to stress. There is an optional military module in the study protocol. This module attempts to compare similarities and differences between students from military and nonmilitary families. The latest analysis focused on a sample of 14,512 students in grades 7, 9 and 11 who attend schools in six military-connected school districts in Southern California.
By MIKE APPLETON
When Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers gave the more or less “official” Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address last night, I was expecting her to present a sort of Republican policy talk for mature adults, something that would provide a striking contrast to not only the President’s speech, but to the Tea Party trio who followed her. Instead, I heard an ode to farm life and agrarian values, woven into another I-did-it-and-you-can-too sermon with a higher sugar content than her family’s apple orchards. Continue reading
Flowers for Socrates is pleased to (belatedly – mea cupla!) announce the addition of Charlton Stanley to our fine group of authors. Whether you know him as “Otteray Scribe” from elsewhere on the Web or simply as Chuck, he always brings great perspective, insight and nuance to his columns no matter the subject. Òlamaid deoch-slàinte!
By GENE HOWINGTON
Since the inception of the Edward Snowden affair, one thing has been manifest. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress. Many have found this behavior unacceptable and have expressed ideas along the lines that Clapper should not only be fired but brought up on charges. While not going so far as to suggest charges, it appears that on Monday politics made for strange bedfellows indeed when Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ted Poe (R-TX), Paul Broun (R-GA), Doug Collins (R-GA), Walter Jones (R-NC) and Alan Grayson (D-FL) sent an open letter to President Obama saying (among other things) that “[t]he continued role of James Clapper as Director of National Intelligence is incompatible with the goal of restoring trust in our security programs and ensuring the highest level of transparency. Director Clapper continues to hold his position despite lying to Congress, under oath, about the existence of bulk data collection programs in March 2013. Asking Director Clapper, and other federal intelligence officials who misrepresented programs to Congress and the courts, to report to you on needed reforms and the future role of government surveillance is not a credible solution.” Also citing Judge Richard Leon’s ruling in Klayman v. Obama which found the NSA’s bulk data collection practices at odds with the 4th Amendment, the Representatives called the program “Orwellian”, heavily criticized the use of National Security Letters and noted the President failed in his speech of January 17th to address the issue of governmental “exploitation of the Internet through circumvention of encryption.”
Is this kind of open letter a substantive step in forcing real reform of the NSA? Or is it just politically expedient theater? What do you think?
Source(s): threatpost.com, Slate, Klayman v. Obama, news.cnet.com
By ELAINE MAGLIARO
I came across the following Tim Wise video on the “concept of whiteness” today. I thought I’d post it in hopes of getting a discussion going.
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