Category Archives: Politics

The Gathering Storm

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Tom Garrett

There will be no shortage of constitutional “experts” in this country come June. The decisions in the Affordable Care Act cases are two months away, but the massive narrative-generation apparatus has already begun to shimmy and whir as it churns … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Politics | Tagged Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Best in the World, Bush v. Gore, Commentary, Conservatism, Griswold v. Connecticut, Judicial Activism, Law, Law School, Lawrence v. Texas, Liberalism, Lochner v. New York, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Politics, Supreme Court, The Supreme Court of the United States, True Believers | 5 Comments

Presidented Without Comment

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Tom Garrett

I was watching the most recent non-rerun edition of Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago when it dawned on me that the venerable late-night sketch comedy show hadn’t told a joke adverse to President Obama for three consecutive episodes. … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Politics, Television | Tagged Al Gore, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Commentary, George Bush, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, John McCain, Politics, Ronald Reagan, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Television, Terrible Puns, The Presidency | Leave a comment

The Need to be Needed

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Tom Garrett

Bill Maher made a compelling case for a National Day of No Outrage on last week’s Real Time. After glancing at ESPN.com over the weekend and realizing that three of the front page headlines were about apologies for various types … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Politics, Television, Videos | Tagged Bill Maher, George Zimmerman, National Day of No Outrage, Navel-Gazing, Politics, Racism?, Real Time, Television, Trayvon Martin | 11 Comments

Intellectual Honesty in the Age of Unreason

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Tom Garrett

I hate to interrupt a string of lighthearted cultural observations, sports references, and stories about awkward moments in the annals of entertainment history with something more serious—but here goes. A fascinating journal article came to my attention a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Politics | Tagged Abortion, Alberto Giubilini, Best in the World, Civility, Commentary, Conservatism, Fox News, Francesca Minerva, Gawker, Hyperbole, Intellectual Honesty, Journal of Medical Ethics, Liberalism, MSNBC, Politics, Reasonableness, Rhetoric, Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke, Ultrasound, Virginia, War on Women | 16 Comments

The Take-home Message from the SOPA Debate

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Tom Garrett

Tracking the political discourse regarding SOPA proved to be quite instructive in ways I hadn’t anticipated. My own view on the proposed bill was that, while the aims weren’t entirely bad, some of the presumptions in the law overreached in … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Gaming, General Culture and News, Movies, Music, Politics, Television | Tagged Commentary, Crysis 2, Gaming, General Culture and News, Intellectual Property, Internet, Internet Piracy, Movies, Music, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, SOPA, Television, Torrents | 4 Comments

Six Open Questions About Tim Tebow

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Tom Garrett

If you can’t stand Tim Tebow, here’s the good news: This will be the last Tebow-related piece I write until at least August, barring some unforeseen incident involving a trade or the Rapture. The bad news is that it’s going … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Politics, Sports | Tagged Commentary, Denver Broncos, Focus on the Family, General Culture and News, John Elway, NFL, Politics, Pro Football, Religion, Sexuality, Shahid Khan, Sports, Tebow, Tebowmania, Tim Tebow | 10 Comments

Awkward Moments in Entertainment History: One, Two…Uh…

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Tom Garrett

This may not technically be “entertainment,” but what it lacks in that area it more than makes up for in the “awkward” department. This is just excruciating to watch. Best of luck in your future endeavors, Rick Perry. “Oops.”

Posted in Politics, Videos | Tagged Awkwardness, Debate, GOP, Politics, Republicans, Rick Perry, Videos | 2 Comments

Occupy Wall Street’s Deman-ifesto (Translated Version)

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Our previously-vague, sometimes-confusing comrades friends at Occupy Wall Street finally released a long-awaited proposed list of demands a couple of days ago. And, yes, the group has since pointed out that this demani-festo is merely the work of one supporter, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Politics | Tagged Commentary, Demands, Demanifesto, General Culture and News, Humor, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, Politics, Satire | 4 Comments

Justice, Injustice, and the Unfortunate Case of Troy Davis

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Tom Garrett

The trouble with justice is that it’s a subjective concept that we allege to be purely objective when applied properly. Blindfold and scales and all that. Yet, an individual’s point of view determines so much of the makeup of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Politics, Sports | Tagged Bias, Byron Hanspard, Callous Indifference, College Football, Danny Weurffel, Heisman Trophy, Injustice, Justice, Politics, Southern Bias, Sports, Too Soon, Troy Davis | 1 Comment

Talking Points FTW

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Opposition leader Edward Miliband of the UK Labour Party does us the favor of breaking off a little piece of what sometimes makes modern politics so depressing (comical?). Here are his responses to a series of questions in the wake … Continue reading →