AltWeeklies Wire
Are Liberals Smarter? Ask Some Recent Studiesnew
A widely debated study published in the current issue of the scientific journal Social Psychology Quarterly tries to explain why most of us attach ourselves to broad political concepts like liberalism and conservatism and embrace different social and religious values.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
03-04-2010 |
Commentary
Why Jerusalem Mattersnew
It is not a stretch to say that much, perhaps most, of the vague distemper that arose and exploded around health care this summer can be traced pretty directly to the failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
09-24-2009 |
Commentary
It Looks Like Big Pharma and the Health Insurers Will Win on Health Care ... Againnew
For the past 35 years, whenever Congress has ventured into health-care reform in response to public demand the big winners have almost always been the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and it will almost certainly be that way again. The massive spending against health reform legislation in every media market the past month, on top of the relentless tide of lobbying and campaign expenditures over the decade, guaranteed it.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
08-20-2009 |
Commentary
W.: As Bad as Hoover?new
With six weeks to go before his exit and a longer period after that needed for reflection, it is too early to settle the big academic question of our time: Was George W. Bush as bad as Herbert Hoover?
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
12-11-2008 |
Commentary
Ireland Dispatch: Erin go 'Bamanew
Even in ordinary times, the average sophistication of the Irish on all things American may rival our own. On U.S. politics, Irishmen will be at least as keen as workaday American voters although not nearly as divided. As far as an inquisitive traveler can tell they are all for Barack Obama.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
10-17-2008 |
Commentary
Who is Sarah Palin?new
By the deft use of lies and distortions McCain, Palin and their surrogates turned a blank canvas overnight into a portrait of a stylish Joan of Arc.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
09-11-2008 |
Commentary
The Palin Problemnew
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska beauty queen who had been the governor for 20 months when John McCain tapped her as his running mate, is the living embodiment of McCain's enduring weakness.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
09-05-2008 |
Commentary
John McCain's Image: Too Much Bullnew
McCain enjoys the fine image of a free-thinking, free-talking maverick who took on President Bush on the war, Hurricane Katrina, the profiteers who infested the administration and the economic malefactoring of the Bush years. Most of it is pure malarkey.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
08-22-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: What Price Truth?new
The worst aspect of this race for president is that it bears out John Milton's maxim that truth comes into the world a bastard, heaping ignominy upon those who dare to speak it. Gen. Wesley Clark can attest to that.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
07-11-2008 |
Commentary
The Supreme Court is One Justice Away from Tyrannynew
You can look at the court's decision on Guantanamo this way: We are only one Supreme Court justice away from real tyranny. Sen. John McCain says as president he would appoint justices exactly like Bush's two. Based on his past opposition to torture and Guantanamo, he's probably lying about that, although he joined Bush in denouncing the habeas decision. It is nevertheless a risk worth avoiding.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
06-19-2008 |
Commentary
Obama Has Two Chances to Win, One More Far-Fetched Than the Othernew
He might enlarge his impressive work in the Rocky Mountain states and move four or five of them out of the Republican column to join the fixed big-state Democratic electoral base, or else he can subdue the prejudices of white rural voters across the South and upper Midwest and persuade them to vote their pocketbooks. Even to an old denizen of the Jim Crow South the second looks like the better prospect.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
06-12-2008 |
Commentary
The Most Important Quality in a 2008 VP Candidate: Don't Be Cheneynew
"Anybody but Cheney" in 2008 can be taken symbolically as well as literally. Obama and McCain should not pick people who given the chance would take the country in exactly the opposite direction the people want it to go and that the candidate promised it would go.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
05-30-2008 |
Commentary
Bush's Loser Lap Around the Middle Eastnew
After the debacle of President Bush's Middle East junket, just as a matter of national security the country should consider barring reviled lame-duck leaders from taking loser laps to regions of the world they have degraded.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
05-22-2008 |
Commentary
How Can John McCain Win?new
No candidate for president from either party since Herbert Hoover in 1932 has faced a bleaker situation than McCain, so why is he considered an even bet to win?
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
04-24-2008 |
Commentary
The Tax Man Comethnew
This is Bush's eighth Tax Day and he observes each one in about the same way, calling for lower taxes for those who need it least. He called on Congress to make permanent all his tax cuts, a few of which won't be implemented for another year. They are the last steps in reducing the tax load of the very richest Americans.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
04-17-2008 |
Commentary
