Predisposed

Can You Tell Someone Is Conservative Just By Looking At Their Face?

Would you ever in a billion years imagine either of these 2 gentlemen is a liberal?By now, everyone has seen Staten Island Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R-NY) in action at the State of the Union address. You may have missed Sean Hannity though. He was there as a guest of right-wing kook Louie Gohmert (R-TX).

Why It Makes No Sense To Travel With A Conservative, Even A Nice One

When I was 13-- and all my friends were studying for their bar mitzvahs-- I was making my first big hitch-hiking excursion. My grandparents were in South Beach, which was very grandparent-friendly back then, for Easter and I decided to see what hitching would be like. Brooklyn to Florida with $20 and a toothbrush in my pocket. I got as far as the New Jersey Turnpike and got arrested. They made my father come pick me up. He gave me the dough for a Greyhound. But it wasn't about the destination. I wanted to try out hitchhiking.

What Turns A Normal Baby Into A Right Wing Sociopath?

Born in 1911, Ronald Reagan came from a normal working class Illinois home. He was a labor union activist in the 1940s and the president of his union from 1947 until 1952 and again in 1959 but at some point in there he sold out to management and started secretly ratting out other actors to the FBI as "communist sympathizers." He remained a Democrat and even helped California Senator Helen Gahagan Douglas defend herself against the deranged attacks from a sleazy, fascist-oriented political newcomer, Richard Nixon.

Did Nature Bless You With Progressive Predispositions Or Were You Doomed From Birth To Be A Conservative?

Over the weekend, Time Magazine published a mood map-- "an interactive guide to the United States of Attitude." A multinational team based at Cambridge and "using personality test data from over one million people, researchers have identified three distinct personality regions in the country-- "friendly and extroverted," "relaxed and creative" and "temperamental and uninhibited." OK… so West Virginia is the most neurotic state, Utah is the most agreeable and the folks of Wi

Is Republican Opposition To Education Predetermined By Conservatives' DNA? (Plus Bonus: Tonight's Default Vote)

Do you ever wonder why Republicans hate public education? A lot depends on which Republicans you're talking about. The Old Skool Conservatives just don't think wealthy men's taxes should go towards educating poor men's daughters. That kind of defines core conservatism. But the GOP New Skool isn't conservative; it's some kind of sick conglomeration of reactionaries, neo-fascists, racists and nihilists. They fear and oppose modern society in general; it almost makes no sense even discussing issues with them from the perspective of reason.