While it remains depressingly futile to bang the drum of warning against the dangers posed to the American economy by the new “global economy” there is a piece up at HuffPo this week by Thom Harmann which everyone should read. Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies The reason I find the subject depressing (which, not coincidentally, is also the reason I get beaten up by my hard core conservative cronies on this) is that there are aspects of it which are glaringly...

Ok, the headline is nothing but snark, but for those of us living in the Empire State it might not seem like such a bad idea at this point. I mean, why mess around with yet another governor who might build up our hopes only to dash them on the rocks of scandal? Let’s just put in somebody who is already on the docket for some federal crimes. If you’re wondering exactly what it is that I’m going on about today, reports are circulating that the New York Times is getting ready to unleash...

Now that the hub-hub over the Superbowl is finally fading away, we have time to turn our attention to the more important, but often sadly overlooked sports which make up the American way of life. These include activities such as eight-ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes and Foosball. What is it that makes sports such as these so superior? They are some of the only competitive athletic activities you can engage in while eating chicken wings and consuming copious quantities of alcohol. But even better than...

I suppose I’ve just become too jaded and cynical after these many years following politics and the various actors who commit the act of politicking. That’s why I was immediately dubious when Sarah Palin began screaming for the head of Rahm Emanuel recently over remarks he made last August which included the use of the phrase “f***ing retarded.” I had to fight off a few pangs of guilt at first. I mean, the woman has a developmentally disabled child. That could be a serious...

While it hasn’t garnered much national attention, what with all of the other sexy stories out there, the President recently proposed going back to the drawing board on education issues and taking another look at No Child Left Behind. We could get into another long, drawn out debate here about unfunded mandates, propping up an entrenched and frequently failing public school system or how much control the teacher’s unions have over federal government policy, but none of that is likely to...

Blame it on Scott Brown. Blame it on poll numbers which all seem to be shifting in one direction. Hell, maybe we should blame it on Rio. Whatever the reason, President Obama took the hopefully productive step of visiting with Republican legislators this week. While there were a few tense, testy and factually challenged moments, the conversation seemed engaging and ideas were floated where some common ground might be found between the President’s agenda and the goals of Republicans in a variety...

Hopes (if that’s the right word) for a civilian trial in the Big Apple for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his Club Gitmo pals is fading faster than sunshine in Seattle. Mayor Bloomberg has gone sour on the plan, the Governor doesn’t want it to happen and congressional support is wavering. But this week a new proposal was put forward. The mayor of Newburgh, New York (population roughly 28,000) which lies roughly 90 minutes upstate from New York City, has offered up his town as a site for the...

Today, after an extended holiday break, Mid Stream Radio returns to the airwaves (or would that be… computer waves?) at 1 pm eastern time. (Follow the link to tune in.) Today, my partner in crime and I will be covering a few different topics which include, in the first half hour, President Obama’s visit to the GOP leadership this week, a new proposal to move the KSM terror trials out to the suburbs in New York. In the second half, TMV’s very own Michael Stickings will be joining...

Last night’s State of the Union address was, for the most part, another eloquent display by a President who can really deliver a speech when he’s on his game, though largely lacking in anything shocking or substantial. It did have a few interesting moments, though, and one of them came when he curiously chose once again to go after the Supreme Court over their recent Citizens United decision. A couple of Obama’s comments should have rightly raised the eyebrows of anyone listening. “Last...

The “next big thing” has arrived in the political arena this week, though how “big” it will really turn out to be remains to be seen. President Obama, proving once and for all that he actually is capable of reading poll numbers, is proposing a three year spending freeze on domestic discretionary spending. Before you deficit hawks get too excited, we’re talking about roughly 20% of the budget here, and it is projected to save approximately $250B over ten years at a time...

Maybe we just dreamed the whole thing? Or perhaps I’ve only now awakened from some sort of alternate reality, Twilight Zone style fantasy. Does anyone else remember the election of 2008 when it seemed like every candidate and their mothers had a plan to address the nation’s energy woes and promote domestic security by making us more independent in terms of energy production? Everyone was staking out a position. McCain had the Lexington Project. Obama had a plan. Hillary had a plan. I’m...

For our core, target audience at TMV, I’ll just start your weekend off with something to perk up your spirits. My friend Ed Morrissey at Hot Air makes a disturbing catch of a segment on CNN letting us know just what they think of Independent voters. Apparently, indies are like “feathers in the wind” and are simply starved for attention. Does anyone else find it odd that a “journalist” would make such comments about the voter group which decides pretty much every election,...

With all the other huge news stories this past week, from the devastation in Haiti to Scott Brown’s election, it could have been easy to miss one other item on the news feed. Air America, announced in 2004 as the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh, closed its doors once and for all and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. For all the sound and fury surround the launch, not to mention the huge amounts of money – both real and imaginary – which swirled in a tempest around the enterprise,...

The battle lines were immediately drawn following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down certain restrictions on corporate spending in political campaigns. Many conservatives, particularly Republicans, cheered the decision as a victory for free speech. More liberal observers, as echoed by the President, decried the ruling as a “stampede of special interest money in our politics.” I’ve always been of two minds on this subject, finding it far less clear cut than my more partisan friends...

Have you caught the FEVAH?!? It’s sweeping the nation right now, and in an explosive fashion if my Twitter feed and e-mail inbox are even remotely reliable indicators. I’m speaking, of course, of Scott Brown Fever. He’s the darling of the dance, the belle of the ball and the newest rock star on the national GOP stage all rolled into one. He’s the David who slew Goliath on his home turf. And I’m already seeing some fever swamp rumblings surrounding him. These range from...

Unlike the flurry of confetti tossing which has been flooding my twitter feed for days now, I remain unconvinced that the Senate race in Massachusetts is a done deal at this point. Yes, I’ve seen the flurry of polls, some from new upstarts and some from better known entities which show Scott Brown with a growing lead outside the margins. But I also keep an eye on Nate Silver, who still rates it as a toss-up. Nate may be a shameless Democratic cheerleader, but he’s still one of the smartest...

This is one of those personal stories which touches on a subject which, unfortunately, we too often forget except on Veterans Day. Yesterday I wound up on a fourteen hour road trip to a couple of campaign events for this year’s congressional race taking place in two towns along the Hudson Valley in New York. We were meeting with a number of state and county Republican Party leaders as well as a number of supporters. One of the topics of discussion for the day was management of federal and state...

A titillating idea, though one offered in jest. Conservative Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio of Florida engaged in a rather dark moment of humor on CNBC this week while being interviewed on the subject of high unemployment and what to do about it. (Video and recap available at TrogloPundit.) Well the problem is the people in Washington don’t understand what’s causing it. They think that Presidents and Senators are job creators and they’re not. The job creators are people who have...

Covered at Hot Air. Begging the question, of course, does this preclude a 2012 presidential run? I guess so. I mean, we know she’d never walk out on a job with time left on the commitment.

The recent focus on terrorism concerns and national security casts a rather odd light on a little reported story playing out in Saugerties, New York, a little hamlet along the Hudson River in the state’s 22nd congressional district. There we find Emilio Maya, an immigrant from Argentina, along with his sister, his wife and their small child embroiled in a battle with the ICE. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) As the linked article tells the story, Emilio is a hard working man who runs...

Good Lord, you just have to LOVE New York City! I know I do. The Health Department is always looking out for the needs of their citizens, most recently by issuing a pamphlet teaching you the proper way to be a junkie. I’m sure that many of you, like me, could be very confused about how to mainline smack, should you try to do so. What am I… a doctor? Never fear… this helpful guide will walk you through the process and start you on your way to a safe, happy career path as a heroin...

I’d hate to have to work at the TSA these days. A thankless job on the best of days and responsible for horrific disaster when you fail. Some of their rules make sense, while others are just plain silly. We take a bit of a more light hearted look at the TSA today in my latest column at Pajamas Media. Please enjoy and share you own suggestions here as to how they could do things better.

Perhaps the “teens” will be known as the Scrimmage Decade. One of the chief characteristics of the 2008 election – aside from the primary battles, of course – was a rather unified front among the bloggers, the talking heads on television and the politicians themselves. There were sporadic exceptions, of course, such as the never ending, quixotic campaigning of Ron Paul’s minions and Hillary’s PUMAs, but for the most part it was a big love festival among the R’s...

When governors give their annual State of the State address, much like the president’s State of the Union, it’s generally an occasion for self-indulgent praise and swelling the ranks of mutual admiration societies. Not so in New York this year, where Governor David Paterson took to the podium to scold the state legislature – both houses of which are controlled by his own Democratic Party – for the way they have spent their way to the precipice of disaster. We can debate the...

Picked this up via Twitter from several people (H/T Ed Morrissey) but it seems that Michael Yon, independent photojournalist who has done a ton of work in Iraq and Afghanistan, was detained and handcuffed at Seattle airport for not answering pressing national security questions such as… how much money he earns? When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei,...