I try not to use this blog as an outlet for re-posts, but this article screams to be shared. In it, The New Yorker‘s Adam Gopnik describes the intense, time-warping agony of life in prison: “It isn’t the horror of the time at hand but the unimaginable sameness of the time ahead that makes prisons unendurable for their inmates. [...]
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Check out the brand-new Wheat and Chaff Podcast. First episode? An interview with convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Click above to play. And of course, let us know what you think. You can also download the podcast here.
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Over the past several days, I’ve been astonished at the response to my arrest at a Mitt Romney event in New Hampshire. Folks from around the country have written with offers of legal assistance, and the incident has sparked intense discussions around civil liberties and campaign tactics across the internet. It’s been tweeted thousands of [...]
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I just sent the following email to press@mittromney.com and info@mittromney.com about my arrest on Monday. I’ll update with any responses I receive. Dear Romney staff, My name is Matt Bieber, and I’m a divinity school student with a keen interest in politics. On Monday, I was removed from Gov. Romney’s event at the Gilchrist Metal [...]
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[For those who've read the previous post, please know that about half of this material is repeated.] On Friday, January 6, I took a bus from my home in Boston to Manchester, NH. I was planning to attend a few Republican primary events, write a few posts for this blog, maybe cross-post them on HuffPo, [...]
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[Update: coverage roundup.] [Update: my letter to the Romney campaign.] [Update: more reflections.] I’d been in New Hampshire for the past several days to follow the campaign and see some of the candidates in-person. Yesterday morning, I was chatting up a Romney campaign staffer before an event at the Gilchrist Manufacturing Company in Hudson, NH, [...]
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The first time that the Gingrich campaign played Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best,” (viz. Karate Kid) I thought, This is going to be all right. After all, that song is boss. This isn’t true of most of the songs you hear at campaign rallies. And there’s a reason for this: songs at campaign events tend [...]
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I was in Manchester, NH for one of Santorum’s “Faith, Family, and Freedom” town hall meetings. As the event was getting underway, I asked Bill Boyd, one of Santorum’s spokesmen, about an event earlier in the day in which college students in Concord had confronted the senator about his views on sexuality. With the country [...]
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