(Photo by schooner guest [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons) By John Kaufman Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled Assembly is assembling two bills aimed at achieving less freedom for the unemployed and people on food stamps. Thus the party of “freedom” and “faith” is displaying… Read More ›
(Photo by U.S Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010. Photo taken at the State Department, in Washington, D.C.) By John Kaufman Though famed for its politically progressive tradition, Wisconsin does produce some notorious conservatives,… Read More ›
(Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckl [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons) By John Kaufman Earth (our home) called Gov. W. to chat about Earth Day. Though Earth tried to identify itself, the governor assumed the… Read More ›
(Cartoon by Udo J. Keppler (a.k.a. Joseph Keppler, Jr.; 1872-1956), cartoonist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. “Wall Street bubbles – Always the same.” American financier J. P. Morgan is depicted as a bull, blowing soap bubbles for eager investors. (See… Read More ›
[Photo by EPA, Public Domain] By Homer Coldfield (fictional farm & rural columnist *) I’ve been itching to get my turn at this digital soapbox to give you all a little perspective, especially you Wisconsin urban-ites driving around with “America’s… Read More ›
[Photo by Underwood & Underwood (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons] By Riverboat Sam As the “technical specialist” of this electrical rag, I am not supposed to butt in with my own political pontificating, but my residence in this here Wisconsin… Read More ›
By Khalil Bendib via OtherWords.com (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/)
(Photo by By Jonathan McIntosh [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons) By John Kaufman We in Wisconsin owe a great debt of gratitude to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency without which we would likely be facing the prospect of a… Read More ›
[Editor’s Note: Satire Warning!!! T.S. Swanky is an imaginary conservative columnist who, in the spirit of the First Amendment, is tolerated at The Pacific. Swanky’s opinions are, of course, all his own and do not represent the general liberal enlightenment of… Read More ›
By Rumple Oxbridge (imaginary rhymer-in-residence) Without a witty lover sex is just a spasm, a reflex too clinical and brief, the climax prelude to a sleep or flight . . . This no wit in bed denies: a deft tongue… Read More ›
“We used to pay for education But it don’t pay to graduate A thinker now. No jobs, anyhow. When you think of us you think Of watching football on TV. A national brand. A marching band. A hundred thousand people… Read More ›
By Rumple Oxbridge (The Pacific’s purely imaginary in-house rhymer) Breasting Men To get it off their chests some women bare their breasts. But looking so arresting can get them arrested because it’s men they’re breasting. [A verb form of breast means to oppose or… Read More ›
According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 51% of Americans approve of the CIA’s “harsh interrogation” of prisoners, while 28% disapprove and 20% aren’t sure. Most striking and appalling is that 45% of Americans, says the poll, think it’s fine… Read More ›
Today’s post comes to you via Guernica magazine and Indian poet, writer & scholar Manash Bhattacharjee. In his short essay, Bhattacharjee explains why Sartre was wrong to claim that only prose can properly address and provoke political improvement. Here’s a brief excerpt: “Poetry… Read More ›
Torture and war are intimately related. Torture is a subset of war: brutality directed at an individual and justified in the name of “defense.” What was the justification across the Bush administration for the CIA’s recently revealed program of brutal “enhanced interrogation”?… Read More ›
(Here’s a link to a printed copy of Whittier’s poem, published in a newspaper called the Signal of Liberty in 1842.) Most days I am of two minds, a state of being I’m sure I share with many other people: should… Read More ›
The Pacific 