They spent money on this?? http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/01/18/133027236/tailgating-drives-sports-fans-to-drunkenness?sc=fb&cc=fp

I am glad he was made to apologize (or sort of apologize) but I can’t help reflecting what would have happened if a Republican had made similar remarks. He says he was not calling the GOP Nazis but he compares them to Goebbels ? Just sayin….

This story is just beyond disturbing.

Looks like the day for retirements. This one is harder to read than the North Dakota retirement. With Dorgan stepping down, a Democratic seat becomes a likely GOP takeover. By no means a lock but the GOP is stronger in ND and it is likely to be a good GOP year. Connecticut is harder to analyze, however. On the surface it is a blue state and 2012 is likely to be a good year for the Democrats in the state with President Obama at the top of the ticket. The Democrats also have a deeper bench (including...

The head of the 2012 Democratic Senate Campaign Committee just got a new headache. Of course it is a long time between now and next November and the Democrats do have a history of success in North Dakota Senate races. However this is not what they needed as they were already in trouble when it came to the 2012 landscape. In addition the leading Democratic prospect, former Congressman Earl Pomeroy seemed to rule out a 2012 campaign. If the GOP can unite behind one candidate we could see a replay of...

We’ve all dealt with delays during travel, the plane that won’t take off on time. Usually we are upset, annoyed and irritated but I have to think for one plane the delay resulted in none of those sentiments. The story begins with tragedy, a woman and her husband learned that their three year old grandson had been murdered by his mother’s live in boyfriend. He was on life support and would be taken off in a matter of hours, with his organs donated to over 25 people. The major issue...

Today is a day for celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King and so I thought I’d share one of my favorite stories about his impact on our society. It’s being reported a lot today but is well worth hearing. Star Trek was on the air in the late 1960s and one of the performers on the show was Nichelle Nichols AKA Lt. Uhura. Nichols liked the part well enough but was planning to leave at the end of the 1st season. She felt that the character had limited potential (hailing frequencies...

Not really surprising that they were the key to the fall of a brutal dictator. Might be causing some other dictators to wonder about their own army and just how far they can be pushed.

I’m not sure if this will work but I thought it might be an interesting way to have some debate without getting too emotional by using a theoretical situation. Some background: In the series they have a symbiotic life form. The symbiote is joined with a ‘human’ host and this creates, in essence, a new being which shares the memories and personalities of both beings. When the human host dies, the symbiote is moved to a new host and the process continues, this time with the new being...

Another of the many ‘balance the budget’ programs, this time from the NYT I’ll be curious to see how folks tackle this. I presume some will do nothing but spending cuts while others will focus mostly on tax hikes and cutting the military. But it’s a fun exercise

As most of my readers will know I am a big fan of the Fox series Glee and I am over the moon with Chris Colfer winning the Golden Globe for best supporting actor. The sincerity of his shocked reaction to winning and his emotional acceptance speech were wonderful but even more touching was the fact that he dedicated the award to bullied kids. For those who do not know the series, Colfer plays an openly gay teen and they have been doing a very good plotline about him being bullied because of his sexuality. After...

Having just watched the memorial I have to say I think it struck just the right tone. I know some were put off by the applause and cheering since this was in part a memorial service. But it was more than that, it was a national coming together kind of moment and one that honored the bravery exhibited on Saturday. I liked the fact that all of the speakers avoided politics, focusing instead on the national unity theme and the need to support those who were lost, help those who were injured and join...

Just a little reminder of why debates like ours can happen

We need a little light-heartedness

Just a bit of numerical trivia. Tuesday is 1-11-11 Only happens twice a century.

Given the events of the weekend I thought a bit of unity was in order. An absolutely stunning performance

NEW UPDATE: There are now conflicting reports on whether or not she has passed away, obviously we hope that the earlier reports were wrong. UPDATE: CNN is now confirming that Congresswoman Giffords is dead. Fox and MSNBC are also confirming the death and reporting up to six other fatalities. I am sure this is one event where everyone agrees that our thoughts and prayers should be with the victims and their families. The White House has not issued any official reports or statements but Ed Henry on...

This is just too funny not to watch Thanks to Comedy Central and Hot Air

Final Tally Boehner: 241 Pelosi: 173: Not Pelosi: 19 Not Voting: 2 The House is currently voting on election of a Speaker and while the election of Boehner is a foregone conclusion there is a bit of a Democratic revolt going on. At least 19 votes have been cast for other or present (mostly for conservative Democrat Heath Shuler). This is all symbolic of course but it does show a level of discontent with her leadership. You can watch it live at CSPAN.

Mark Twain once defined a classic as a book people praise but don’t read. It seems that his truism is still quite accurate. In another of the sadly ironic PC events of the day there will be a new version of Tom Sawyer which will remove ‘offensive words’. The word nigger (my sincere apologies to those who are offended by the use of this word but it would be sort of hypocritical to condemn censorship by censoring) will be replaced with slave while the world Injun will be removed entirely...

Always good for a few laughs. Dave Barry on 2010

While I’m not going to try and speak for all of TMV I can certainly make this post on my own behalf. What would you like to see from my postings in 2011 ? Are there any topics you’d like to see covered in more detail ? Are there topics you’d like to see go away ? I’ll even entertain suggestions on changing my viewpoint on some issues but I won’t make promises there . In short as a quasi member of the media I’d like to see what i can do to make my readers happier.

I always like looking for good stories to post for Christmas and this one is perfect. A couple in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City started getting letters addressed to Santa. They had no real idea why they were getting the letters, they live on 22nd street and so there did not seem to be any logical reason for them to get the letters. Reporters have tried to track the story down and have come up with some possible reasons but it still remains unclear. However the reaction of these two big...

Remember that as we celebrate with our families they are standing guard

With Christmas Eve upon us I thought I’d offer my annual post on the origins of the Christmas Star (per astronomy) and thus offering thoughts on when he was really born. Most of us know that Christ was not really born in December or the year zero. A number of people have tried to look first to the Bible for clues about what the star did and when, then they went outside the Bible to find events fitting those clues (one of the best studies can be found here) Looking to the text of the Bible we...