Street Corner Society

Pennsylvania is at the top of today’s list of Tipping Point States, according to the site FiveThirtyEight.com. If the election were held today, Pennsylvania would be the single most crucial state to watch. It’s close enough to the margin that the way it tips would have disproportionate influence over who wins in the election.

Nate Silver, […]

Here’s some historical context for the moment we’re passing through now.
After recapping our current situation, with parallels to what was happening in the U.S. before the Civil War, Jim Kunstler wraps up with references that Friends may relate to — slavery then and consumption-driven society today:
Some of the issues yet-to-be-clarified concern the behavior […]

In George Orwell’s book, Homage to Catalonia, one section impressed me more than anything — his argument that the social revolution could win where the conventional war against Franco would not.
A conventional war, reading between the lines, was tied in with the premises of conventional politics in the Spanish Republic. In a conventional war, […]

Okay, I know my approach is rather obscure, but bear with me. I watch the video below and I think of the radical faction in England’s Parliament, 1640-41, who came to office with enormous energy after their experiences in the previous decade or so.

This candidate, Alan Grayson, is talking about what they’re going to do […]

It sounds like the Four Riders of the Apocalypse … Anyway, here’s something I read that sticks in my mind. It seems worth sharing:
Alan Greenspan has finally decided to admit, you know, this may be one of those once-a-century biggies. Well, what makes it fascinating is that I sometimes use the description “seven sharks.” There […]

In a nutshell:
John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters’ opinions of the candidates.
“The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there’s […]