As I was driving home from a client meeting today, I was listening to KGO radio and the caller was discussing that, in his opinion, all white people were biased and prejudiced against minorities. Even the host of the show, a pretty hard core liberal, was taken aback at the statement. But the caller refused to yield, citing examples of alleged prejudice where pretty much anything a white person said was deemed biased. Obviously this person is an aberration, indeed most of the calls who followed him...

With thanks to Stitchkingdom.com here are some fireworks from WDW last night. Like em or not, Disney sure can put on an amazing show.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires...

UPDATE: MSNBC is now reporting that sources tell Andrea Mitchell that Palin is out of politics for good. They indicate this is NOT a first step in a 2012 campaign for President but her decision to shift from political candidate to some sort of pundit type. I agree that there certainly seems to be more behind this story that meets the eye, perhaps a new scandal or possibly some personal family issue. ***** While most of us were thinking we might see a Governor resign sometime this week, it turns...

It looks like <insert your own metaphor here> has come to pass and Governor Sanford will very soon become former Governor Sanford. But then you never know what this guy is gonna do……

It’s about an hour till midnight and July 1st but California is now pretty much officially broke. The legislature passed a pseudo budget but it didn’t really fix any of the problems so the Governor vetoed it (something he’d said for some time that he would do) so we now have no budget and thus no money. Most state vendors could start getting IOU’s as the budget crisis continues while state employees could see more furlough days. Basically the problem is the same as always. On...

In one of the quieter news stories of the week Congresswoman Tauscher (D-CA) was confirmed to serve as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Her departure sets up a special election which will occur later this year, probably in the early fall. One of the leading candidates in the race is Lt.  Governor John Garamendi and if he wins that would set up a vacancy in the post of Lt. Governor. Under California law the Governor (Arnold) would nominate a replacement who would...

So with the victory of Al Franken in Minnesota today we now have, at least in theory, absolute one party rule for the first time in more than thirty years. For those who are going to correct me I would point out that by one party rule I mean where one party had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, a 50 plus seat majority in the House and control of the White House. The last time that happened would be 1977-1979 under Jimmy Carter, when the Dems had 61 Senate Seats and about a 2-1 majority...

This doesn’t seem to be a good week for celebrities with word now coming that pitchman Billy Mays has been found dead in his Tampa home at the age of 50. Mays Dies

The coroner has finished the preliminary autopsy on Michael Jackson but has little to say other than there was not any external trauma or signs of foul play. Extra toxicology tests have been ordered which will take 4-6 weeks to complete so we won’t know anything until then. There is a ’security hold’ on the report so not a whole lot of details will be released until the other tests are done. Presumably this means there was no obvious sign of death such as a ruptured blood vessel...

UPDATE: Web Site TMZ.com is now reporting Jackson has died. E! News is also reporting his death. The LA Times is now confirming his death. It seems official enough to confirm, Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. ———- After already getting the news of Ed McMahon passing earlier this week and Farrah Fawcett dying today we now have news that number three may be on the way. Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital with cardiac arrest and was reportedly not breathing and...

A while back I wrote a post in which I discussed the fact that Democrats seem to be unable to keep their financial affairs in order while Republicans seem to be unable to keep it in their pants. Just a few days ago we had Nevada Senator John Ensign admit to an affair, now we have South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitting to an affair. It seems his venture to Argentina was part of that mess. He will resign as chair of the GOP Governors Association but I wouldn’t be shocked if, in time,...

In the past few days I’ve noticed an odd, if perhaps politically understandable, shift in the attitude of the left on the subject of human rights and Iran. For decades the left was dedicated to supporting human rights around the world and they would push the President (regardless of party) to be more proactive in condemning abuses and governments who violated basic principles of freedom. Yet when it comes to Obama and Iran many of the usual voices have been oddly silent, or at least supportive...

In writing this post I am trying to be very careful because while it does address a real issue it deals with some very touchy issues. I am speaking of the current illnesses of Senators Kennedy and Byrd. Obviously with regard to Senator Kennedy I have nothing but the deepest sympathy for his condition and with regard to Senator Byrd I recognize the serious problems that come with age. However according to a media report today, Senator Byrd has been in the hospital since May 15th and it seems likely...

This is a post that I have been planning for some time but the recent events in Iran prompted me to delay it so I could see how things would develop. After pondering it for a while I decided that I should go ahead and publish it because regardless of what happens with the Iranian government the thoughts and suggestions would remain the same. To begin with it should be remembered that the current protests  in Iran are not calling for anything close to a Western style democracy. The people are not,...

A little history — and hopefully a future for Iran.

As we look to the amazing scenes coming out of Iran the minds of many go back to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and speculation as to whether history is repeating itself. Certainly almost every major event of today and tomorrow can be compared to an event from the past, but I am growing increasingly convinced we are looking not thirty years into the past but only twenty. For those who remember the events of 1979 in Iran or 1989 in Tiananmen Square the events in Tehran are strikingly similar. In each...

I am not often moved to tears by a story in the news but this one comes pretty darn close to making even the most stoic of readers a little emotional. It seems a 10 year old girl was getting close to the end of her long battle with cancer. She had previously seen the Pixar film Monsters vs. Aliens and had enjoyed it but she was really looking forward to the new movie Up, which is out in theaters now. Unfortunately her cancer had progressed to the point that she would not be able to leave her house...

In the last few days Keith Olbermann over at MSNBC has been attacking Fox news for being biased against President Obama and his administration. Now I am not a big fan of Fox, and I certainly would agree they have a bias to the right when it comes to most issues. But if memory serves there was one network that was equally biased against the last administration (and equally incapable of finding wrong in the current one). On that particular network there was one commentator who seemed to be particularly...

Every time I think they can’t get nuttier….. “We support compassion for the even the smallest animals,” says Bruce Friedrich, VP for Policy at PETA. “We support giving insects the benefit of the doubt.” Friedrich says PETA supports “brushing flies away rather than killing them” and was disappointed that the President had gone ahead and squashed the pesky fly.

Once in a while we at TMV like to toss out an intellectual question to our readers and I thought I’d give it a shot. If nothing else it will give my less devoted readers a chance to poke a little fun at me. The issue is one that has been around since the beginnings of representative democracy. When you send someone to Sacramento or Washington (or wherever) how should they decide which way to vote on bills ? Should they follow the views of the voters or should they vote the way they think they...

According to a new poll from MSNBC the public is getting increasingly concerned about the amount of debt that is being incurred by the administration. As mentioned in the MSNBC article this may be a sign we are moving past the honeymoon phase to where the public starts to split between how they feel about the person and how they feel about the policies. It’s actually pretty common for a President to be personally popular even if his policies are not and Obama  may be dealing with that now....

So the news has come out that we have another Senator who had an affair. I am certainly not going to try to excuse his actions. He’s a slimeball and deserves to be called one. However I do think that we have some double standards on both sides of the political fence coming out. To make it clear, I never approve of slimeballs who have affairs, but I think that we need to draw some lines when it comes to how we react. To begin with, I really think that unless you are a constituent that your ability...

The year was 1987. Ronald Reagan was President, Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man were tops at the video arcade, Michael Jackson was only slightly odd and NASA launched the Buck Rogers on the last of America’s deep space probes (well maybe not that last one). However one other thing that happened that year was the California legislature failed to pass a budget on time and they have repeated that failure every single year since. For the last 22 years they have missed the deadline and in a matter of hours...

When the whole Letterman/Palin controversy first erupted I published a post in which I was critical of his comments which I found to be crude and insensitive, and I still think that they were. I still think Letterman is quite biased in his attitude and that he is largely intolerant of those with whom he disagrees. He shows little respect for those on the right and gives wide berth to those on the left. However, having said all of that I think the calls for Letterman to be fired are ridiculous. If...