Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

Ocelopotamus header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'Politics'

Ceci N’est Pas Une Vice President

July 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Internet, Politics, Science

The award for the best Cheney post of the past week goes to Bob Harris, hands down. It starts out good: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the last six and a half years would make a lot more sense if the GOP were actually performing a sophisticated Dada art exhibition. This […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Sicko Mini-Roundup: “We Can Do It.”

June 30th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Activism, Culture, Education, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, Media, Politics, TV, Video

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Crooks and Liars has the video of Michael Moore’s appearance on Leno from earlier this week, with some great interview and a clip from the film. Meanwhile, Daily Kos had a diary a few days ago about the more than 15,000 nurses from across the country who have […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Still Life with Salmon Edition

June 28th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Apple, Comics, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, iTunes, LGBT, Macintosh, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Peace, Pets, Politics, Roundup, Science, Tech

POLITICS: The Washington Post brings us the fascinating story of how Cheney’s quest to undermine environmental science for political purposes led to a humongous pile of rotting dead fish. “… Because of Cheney’s intervention, the government reversed itself and let the water flow in time to save the 2002 growing season, declaring that there was […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

The Cheney Presidency

June 28th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Energy, News, Politics

Via Tom Tomorrow, Digby once again displays her talent for perfectly articulating what the rest of us are thinking: I know that I sound like a character in an Oliver Stone movie, (”one pristine bullet? That dog don’t hunt!” ) but I have never been sanguine about the fact that all the big money boyz […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Weekend in Peoria, and a Sign of the Times

June 27th, 2007 · 10 Comments · Books, Culture, Food, Illinois, Journal, Labor, LGBT, Meta, New Wave, Peoria, Photos, Restaurants, The Economy, Stupid, Vegetarian & Vegan

You may have noticed things have been a little slow around the OcPot this week, because I spent the past weekend visiting my parents in scenic Peoria, Illinois. I’m now paying the usual price for taking a couple of days off, with everything I have to do piled up to twice its normal height. It’ll […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Save Internet Radio Campaign Update — Day of Silence Tuesday, June 26

June 25th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Business, Culture, Internet, iTunes, Media, News, Politics, Tech

July 15 is “the day the music dies” — the date that Internet radio will be essentially destroyed by new draconic royalty fees approved by the Copyright Royalties Board if Congress doesn’t take action to fix the situation. The exorbitant new rates force stations to pay a fixed fee for every song they play, regardless […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Quote of the Week

June 24th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Essays, Foreign Policy, History, News, Peace, Politics, Terrorism

From an essay entitled “The Middle of Nowhere,” by Edward N. Luttwak, which appears in the July 2007 issue of Harper’s, reprinted there from the May issue of Prospect: Hardliners keep suggesting that with a bit of well-aimed violence (“the Arabs only understand force”) compliance will be obtained. Yet what happens every time is an […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Irish Sea Eagle Edition

June 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Climate Change, Culture, Feminism, Film, Internet, Law, LGBT, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Politics, Roundup, Science, TV

POLITICS: The Senate Judiciary committee has voted 13-3 to authorize subpoenas for documents related to the NSA warrantless surveillance program. That includes three Republicans on the committee voting in favor of the subpeonas: Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Poland “stuns” other members of the European Union by demanding that […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

The Bush Malaise

June 22nd, 2007 · 8 Comments · Healthcare Crisis, Peace, Politics, Terrorism

George W. Bush’s approval rating (26%) is now officially lower than Jimmy Carter’s was at his nadir of popularity (28%), according to Newsweek. What do you think are the odds that in a couple of decades GWB will be highly regarded as a diplomat, author, nobel peace prize winner, and humanitarian? Other fun facts: The […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Michael Moore’s Sicko: Willing To Be Patient

June 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Michael Moore’s Sicko: Willing To Be Patient · Activism, Culture, Film, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Internet, Media, News, Politics

So there’s lots of news buzz this week about how Michael Moore’s health care industry documentary Sicko has already been pirated to YouTube and other places, two weeks before the film’s original June 29 release date. And as a result the movie will be opening early, with sneak previews in 27 selected markets. I think […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Tiny Four-Eyed Turtle Edition

June 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Tiny Four-Eyed Turtle Edition · Activism, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Education, Health, Human Rights, Internet, iTunes, Labor, Law, LGBT, Music, Nature, News, Pets, Politics, Science, Tech

POLITICS: In “Hillary’s Labor Problem,” Joe Conason points out that Hillary Clinton’s top political strategist, Mark Penn, is the CEO of a union-busting law firm. “Having started in a tiny, two-man polling operation in a New York City mayoral campaign, he is now the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Inc., one of the planet’s largest P.R. shops, […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

The Disappearing Bird Act

June 17th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Disappearing Bird Act · Climate Change, Illinois, Nature, News, Science

The populations of 20 common US birds — including a range of familiar “backyard birds” such as sparrows, chickadees, whippoorwills, and larks — are in decline, according to a new report from The National Audobon Society. The 20 species in question have less than half the populations they did in 1967. A variety of factors […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Return of the Mouse Edition

June 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Activism, Apple, Books, Comics, Culture, Fiction, Food, Hate Crimes, Health, Healthcare Crisis, HIV/AIDS, iTunes, LGBT, Lit, Macintosh, Music, News, Organic Food, Politics, Roundup, Tech, Theater

BOOKS: This week marked the release of Armistead Maupin’s new book Michael Tolliver Lives, which picks up the story of Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, the iconic character from Maupin’s Tales of the City series. Mouse is now in his mid-50s, living with HIV but happily married. Maupin says, “I wanted to tell the story of a […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Stephen Colbert on James Holsinger and His Weird Plumbing Analogies

June 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Stephen Colbert on James Holsinger and His Weird Plumbing Analogies · Comedy, Culture, Health, LGBT, Politics, TV, Video

Stephen Colbert dedicates The Word to Bush’s gay-hating Surgeon General nominee, James Holsinger, and shares some of Holsinger’s amazing insights into what plumbing can teach us about human sexuality.   (h/t After Elton)

[Read more →]

Tags: