The Fortnightly Rant

The Fortnightly Rant for December 31, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 7, posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011. Nothing lasts forever — including, mercifully, the year 2010. A single dismal occurrence can well represent a whole host of others that would be too depressing to list: Last January, our First Congressional District seat was occupied by the best Representative it has had in living memory. A few days from now, that post will be filled by a man who was already under an ethical cloud even before he won the Republican primary election. A more abrupt descent from the sublime to …

Read moreDemocracy’s Death Knell?

The Fortnightly Rant for December 17, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 6, posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011. Recently President Obama struck a tentative deal with leading Republicans to resolve, for now, the contentious issues of tax cuts and unemployment benefits. At mid-week, the final depravities were still being negotiated. In broad terms, it appears that the Republicans will get most of what they wanted, namely, two years worth of tax cuts for everybody, according to their proper station in life, of course: big tax cuts for those with big incomes, and small tax cuts for those with small incomes. Republicans …

Read moreSuch a Deal

The Fortnightly Rant for December 3, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 5, posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011. Minutes after a Texas jury convicted him of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, former Republican Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay granted an audience for television news cameras. With the first words out of his mouth he tried to establish that not even the prospect of life behind bars could shake his faith. “I praise the Lord for what’s going on here, Number One,” he said. DeLay no doubt expects people to believe that it is his Lord in whom …

Read moreThe Hammer Gets The Hammer

The Fortnightly Rant for November 19, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 4, posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011. Having won a resounding victory over a confused and demoralized Democratic Party, leaders of the GOP will now take on an adversary that could prove to be far more challenging: reality. Their most obvious handicap in the looming struggle will be their nearly-complete lack of familiarity with the subject. Republicans can hardly be blamed for their habitual avoidance of reality. Grappling with the basic building blocks of human existence has always been a fairly grim business; and the more success the Republicans have …

Read moreAssault on Reality

The Fortnightly Rant for November 5, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 3, posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011. A core principle of American democracy is that we choose our representatives in free and fair elections. Calling the 2010 mid-terms free, though, after four billion dollars were spent on them, seems to require an awfully narrow definition of that term. And since much of that money came from anonymous sources and was spent disseminating lies, it’s a stretch to say they were fair. Under these circumstances it’s no surprise that many Americans feel our campaign funding practices betray a level of hypocrisy …

Read moreIf Money is Speech and Corporations are People, Is Democracy a Business?

The Fortnightly Rant for October 22, 2010, from The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 255, No. 2, posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011. In eleven days Americans will elect the first Congress to be chosen under the Supreme Court’s new post-Citizens United campaign rules: 1) money is speech, 2) humans are prohibited from discriminating against corporations, 3) lies and the truth are equal in the eyes of the law, and 4) citizens have no right under the Constitution to know who is paying to spread lies about a candidate. If the conventional wisdom is right, the House will go Republican; but the Democrats will retain control …

Read moreEven After It’s Over, It Won’t Be Over