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FridayTalkingPoints Article Archive

Friday Talking Points [156] -- Fighting On Several Fronts

[ Posted Friday, February 25th, 2011 – 17:20 UTC ]

We've got so much to cover this week, we're going to have to move pretty quickly here. In international news, North Africa and the Middle East are still seething. The American news media, however, are (I actually heard this phrase being used by someone with a blowdried haircut the other night on television) experiencing "revolution fatigue." Seriously. They're bored with the whole storyline. Another dictator fell? Crowds of unarmed people being machine-gunned? Yawn. Don't we have an Oscars story we could run, instead?

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Friday Talking Points [155] -- Class Warfare Indeed

[ Posted Friday, February 18th, 2011 – 16:53 UTC ]

Before I even begin here, I'd like to address what my critics will respond with, when they hear what I have to say. They're going to call these ideas "class warfare." You know what? They're right. I am calling on the middle class and the working class and all the other classes that make up over 19 out of every 20 Americans to start fighting back. Note that, please -- fighting back. Because there has indeed been class warfare waged in America in recent decades, and our class is losing -- and losing badly. The wealthiest of the wealthy -- the modern-day robber barons among us -- have been successfully waging class warfare on the rest of us for so long now that I am sick of it and I think it's time the rest of us fought back, rather than meekly submitting to the whims of the moneyed class. So, before my critics even have a chance to respond, I will save them the trouble -- you are damn right that there is class warfare happening in America. By admitting this, I'm urging the people who have borne the brunt of the situation to wake up and begin to stand up for what is right.

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Friday Talking Points [154] -- Egypt Rising

[ Posted Friday, February 11th, 2011 – 17:37 UTC ]

The stunning news today of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak stepping down has all but eclipsed the other political news of the week. Who would have thought, a month ago, that a government that had oppressed its own people for over three decades would fall simply because a bunch of people marched in the streets and refused to give up?

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Friday Talking Points [153] -- SOTU-palooza

[ Posted Friday, January 28th, 2011 – 12:38 UTC ]

But for now, let's take a quick look back at the week that was, and then spend the rest of the column examining the "narrative" of Obama's speech.

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Friday Talking Points [152] -- A Palin-Free Month?

[ Posted Friday, January 21st, 2011 – 17:48 UTC ]

With some regularity, this column excoriates the mainstream news media for all sorts of continued idiocy in the way it conducts its business. But every once in a while, we have to applaud them when they get something right. This week, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post deserves mentioning, for pledging to stay Palin-free for the month of February. Details on this in a moment.

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Friday Talking Points [151] -- Obama's Speech

[ Posted Friday, January 14th, 2011 – 17:11 UTC ]

To honor the fallen this week, we're going to refrain from our usual heated political rhetoric here for a change. It's only fitting, really, after such an emotional week for America. So, just to warn everyone up front, we're not going to be heaping our usual amounts of scorn on Republicans this week. Instead, we're going to (briefly) heap some scorn on the mainstream media, and then after a foreshortened awards section, we are going to reprint the text of President Obama's moving speech in Tucson this Wednesday, for those of you who haven't had the chance to view it or read it.

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Friday Talking Points [150] -- A Fortean Week

[ Posted Friday, January 7th, 2011 – 18:18 UTC ]

Sometimes it is hard to come up with a metaphor to describe the week that was. This was not one of those weeks.

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Friday Talking Points [149] -- Making Holiday Sausage

[ Posted Friday, December 10th, 2010 – 17:46 UTC ]

The holidays are just around the corner, and the preparatory legislative sausage-making on Capitol Hill is in full swing. What a happy, happy time of year!

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Friday Talking Points [148] -- Aliens Landing?

[ Posted Friday, December 3rd, 2010 – 17:42 UTC ]

So the good news this week was apparently that giant mutant space monsters are not, in fact, about to arrive and (assumably) enslave humankind and eat our children for snacks.

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Friday Talking Points [147] -- Democrats Fighting The Good Fight

[ Posted Friday, November 19th, 2010 – 17:24 UTC ]

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that was a pretty good week for Democrats.

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