Looks like Hugo will pretty much be able to do what he wants. Among the new powers are an ability to rule by decree and the power to ban people from writing anything on the Internet that: “foments anxiety or disturbs public order,” “incites or promotes disobedience of the current legal order,” or “incites or promotes hatred or intolerance.” So pretty much he can ban any critical comments of any kind. Good thing we don’t have that here or TMV would be dead. I...

Since TMV is political I thought a governmental Christmas wish would be fitting The wonderful show Yes Minister offered this brilliant comedy bit for us all. “I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice in government service as we approach the terminal period of the year — calendar, of course, not financial — in fact, not to put too fine a point on it,...

I posted earlier this month about donating to the USO and here is another group well worth your consideration. Hero Box.org helps to send custom boxes to our men and women in the field. Please consider helping out. They’re fighting for you after all.

The last Senate election of 2010 is over as the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against Joe Miller’s challenge to the election of Lisa Murkowski.

Merry Christmas folks !

For most teenagers love means trips to the movies, stolen kisses behind the bleachers and the heartbreak of that first breakup. For Sabrina Parker and Matt Scozzari it means a whole lot more. The two began dating after Matt, in his own words, got up the nerve to ask her out. Over the next three months things seemed perfect to them, but Matt noticed that Sabrina seemed ill. She was tired easily, she sometimes had trouble speaking, she was losing weight. When he asked if she was ok she told him it...

A wonderful combination If you ever have a chance to be at one of the parks for the Candlelight processional it is well worth watching, regardless of your faith.

Offering a Christmas present to the brave men and women who have been forced to lie in order serve our country the Senate has voted by a margin of 65-31 to repeal the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. This is of course not the end of the process, the bill still has to be signed by the President and it will then take some time for the military to change their own rules to comply. But at last we are moving one more step towards truth and integrity in our armed forces. Up until now people have...

Hat tip to the Huffington Post for this one Here is a man who already lost a brother in service, remembering as a teenager seeing his flag draped coffin. Despite that loss and the disrespect of DADT he still chooses to serve. The letter is profoundly moving

Worth reading every year. We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: “Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. “Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. “Papa says ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ “Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus? ...

As a rule I try not to use my postings on TMV to be too preachy. I see this site as a place for us to have good and vigorous political debates but I try not to troll for any of my pet causes. However once in a while rules are made to be broken. We are all in the middle of one the most festive times of the year. Whatever your faith (or lack thereof) we all enjoy this season as an opportunity to be kinder to our fellow men and women and more importantly to gather with our families and loved ones. But...

The deal is done. Two days after the Senate voted 81-19 to pass the President’s compromise bill the House did the same by a margin of 277-148

Earlier this week I was listening to the radio and the topic was the tax cuts and the general attitudes towards wealth/success/etc. The various callers debated whether success was the result of work or opportunity or both. One caller though caught my attention. He was the father of 5, the youngest in her 5th year of college, so you figure he’s around 60ish. He grew up as one of 12 children in a working class family, not abject poverty but very tight money wise. As teens he and his siblings...

The annual show is on Friday night on TNT Some of the performances are always good, some are less so (especially the newer performers) But the ending makes it worth watching

The Senate has voted 81-19 to pass the compromise package that extends both tax cuts and unemployment benefits. Interestingly several core liberals like Mikulski voted for the bill while some conservatives like Sessions voted against it. It will now go to the House where the vote set for Thursday will be close but passage is still very probable.

Today’s Christmas video is a blast from the 80′s past. Facts of Life may have been pretty brain dead but this was a very touching scene.

Not a shock given the very low survival rate of those with torn aorta’s but news just breaking that he passed away. Deepest sympathies to his family. A time to step away from politics

As most obsevers expected, a federal judge in Virginia has ruled that the portion of the health care reform bill that mandates everyone obtain coverage violates the Constitution. Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that Congress does not have the power to compel people to purchase coverage. Supporters had claimed that the Commerce clause of Article One does allow them to do so while opponents disagreed. I am of somewhat mixed views on this. I supported the mandate because I think it is the only fair way...

Anyone who has read TMV for more than a year knows I am a Christmas nut. In the spirit of the holiday season I am going to be doing my own ’12 (or more) days of Christmas’ by posting some holiday videos each day. Our readers will also know I am a big fan of the TV show Glee so it only seemed sensible to put the two together. As always the images and sounds remain the property of Fox and are in no way mine.

It’s been 69 years which means those young brave soldiers and sailors are pushing 90. Won’t be long before they are all gone, so let us remember and honor them now. If you see a veteran, shake his hand and thank him Better yet give him a hug. May we never forget what they did for us.

A very interesting graphic look at the world over the last 200 yrs.

This week we’ve seen all kinds of drama both on Capitol Hill and on the news outlets, internet blogs, etc about the lame duck session and what bills will be passed. Last night we had the dramatic passage of middle class tax cuts by the Democrats and tomorrow we’ll see the Senate do nothing with the bill. Liberals are worried about unemployment benefits while conservatives are concerned about budget deficits. We have people on both sides acting as if the world will end if their plans and...

The US House of Representatives has voted 339-79 to censure Congressman Charles Rangel for ethics violations. This is a rarely used punishment but one that by all accounts Mr. Rangel deserved (though to watch him at his press conference you’d think he never did a thing wrong in his life)

With all the debate on both sides regarding the lame duck session and what the Democrats are wanting to pass and the Republicans saying that they want to focus on a couple priorities, a thought occurred to me. While obviously we disagree from time to time on issues I hold out the hope that the more liberal members of this site (both bloggers and readers) still hold some degree of respect and/or affection for me so I offer this question to them in genuine sincerity. Let us assume that this was December...

While there are lots of rumors circulating it sounds like we may be getting a reasonable compromise to extend all of the tax cuts but only for 2-3 years. The theory presumably being that in a few years that the economy might have recovered to the point that we could look at ending the higher income cuts. Personally I’ve always thought something along those lines made the most sense. While there are a few people on the right (deficit hawks) or left (tax advocates) that disagree, the broad majority...