It’s turning out to be an eventful weekend, and Cindy and I will be trying to keep pace with it all on Mid Stream Radio today at 1 pm eastern time. Stop by and join in the chat with your own comments or call in to (646) 595-3963 and give us a piece of your mind! (Well… assuming you have enough to spare, that is.) We’ll catch up with the quickly changing NY 23 race and dig into a few more juicy...

The Washington Post breathlessly tells us today that 33 lawmakers are being investigated for questionable conduct that includes defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling. Granted, this is a legitimate story in Washington. But for the rest of the nation, it most likely will produce a collective yawn. “What else is new?” they might ask. The report was prepared in July. It was accidentally leaked...

Try to imagine. It’s 20 years ago. It’s 1989 and you come across the following headline, a headline that actually appeared on today’s New York Times website: “China Helps Build Huge Texas Wind Farm.” In 1989 you probably would have laughed, thinking this headline was totally whacky. So whacky that it must really have been picked up from that year’s equivalent of The Onion....

Although the House has finally come up with a bill for national healthcare it falls short of accomplishing Democrat’s original goal of total healthcare. When the news broke out today it was touted as an $894 billion piece of legislation, but the congressional budget office believes the bill will spend more like $1.05 trillion over the next decade. Republicans fear that the bill will cause a virtual quagmire...

You’ll be seeing many variants of this headline today: “Economy growing, but not jobs.” Like so much of recent economic reporting, it’s deceptive. It suggests a kind of balance between two things of equal weight and importance, one good (economic growth) and one bad (unemployment). Such a deception implies that except for a difficult jobs situation, other key elements of the economy...

Two questions that come up when I write on the subject of our nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, are why it sometimes takes so long for the Medal to be awarded and whether an award can be “upgraded” to the Medal of Honor. (I use that term reluctantly because I don’t want to make awards and decorations for our brave troops sound like a product that can be improved—“upgraded.”) I...

If there was ever any doubt why California is known as la la land, I offer these stories ripped off the wires. 1) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was heckled recently when he crashed a Democratic Party fund raiser, vetoed a bill authored by one of his hecklers and despite the fact the Legislature approved the measure unanimously. Here’s the veto message. Now follow the first letter in the left...

The following is a column by Bob Gorman, a writer for the Watertown Daily Times in New York. He is writing about Dede Scozzafava, the Republican challenger for the 23rd Congressional District in the Empire State left open after John McHugh became Secretary of the Army. While major bloggers have called Scozzafava a “radical leftist,” Gorman presents a view that isn’t so radical. I should...

In the day or two we”ll likely get an official announcement that the recession has ended. If it comes along as expected, it will be based on readings showing that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose in the recently ended third quarter. Economists, a group where unemployment is currently unknown, will hail the report. So, too, will stock analysts whose expectations are invariably exceeded, along with...

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and I have been posting on a Texas criminal justice case that has now become an issue of national interest. It is the now infamous case of Todd Willingham who was executed almost six years ago for the 1991 arson related death of his three children at his home in Corsicana, Texas. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was reviewing the case and hired the noted fire scientist Craig...

For those of you who believe our mission in Afghanistan is a war of futility as I do then this article in today’s Washington Post reaffirms that notion. As you will learn, Matthew Hoh is no peacenik rabblerouser but a seasoned combat Marine, civil engineer and member of an elite Foreign Service team whose resignation shocked the top civilian foreign policy leaders in the Obama administration. “I...

A lyric from an old Blues song goes, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” There’s a similar disconnect when it comes to the relationship of government to small business. Every government says it wants to help this critically important sector of the U.S. economy. But in countless ways, year by year, most governments continue to make it more difficult for such enterprises...

Note: I originally published this post about 6 months ago and hoped that perhaps as time passed it would become outdated. I don’t mean to suggest that anyone in the GOP or conservative movement leadership was going to listen to lil ol me, but that perhaps they’d change their minds after failures. With a decent chance for the GOP to lose two key races in NY and NJ next week I thought it was worth...

by Walter Brasch There’s a cat fight going on in the Miss USA operation—and it isn’t pretty. It began when an openly gay judge asked Miss California, Carrie Prejean, what she thought about same sex marriage. Prejean, a student at San Diego Christian College, said that although she recognizes and accepts that others may believe in same-sex marriage, “I think I believe that marriage should...

Natalie Cole:

Join us again today, Saturday Oct. 24, at 1 pm Eastern time on Mid Stream Radio, where Cindy and I will field questions on the current “ridiculous” constitutionality flap, the special elections in New York and New Jersey, along with anything else that crosses our minds. Call in with your own thoughts at (646) 595-3963, or join in the online chat if you’re registered (for free!) ahead of time...

UPDATED: When I was in dire financial straits and being threatened with eviction last year, donations from my friends here, at Comments from Left Field, and elsewhere in the blogosphere helped me keep my apartment.

Reports from Bratislava, Slovakia, today indicate NATO defense ministers support Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s recommendations to increase counterinsurgency strategy, nation building and additional troops in Afghanistan. Easy for them to say. More than two-thirds of the 28-country NATO forces totalling 104,000 troops are American and far less than those one-third are involved in combat operations. The ministers...

Now it’s time to return to Silverstein Family’s Pledge Cental. Mike Silverstein, how are things going over there? A little slow, Sylvia. And frankly, I’m disappointed. We only ask for financial help from our freinds and neighbors five or six times a year. But the phones are pretty quiet now. Can I interrupt you for a second, Mike? Certainly, Sylvia. As Mike has been saying, we can’t get...

Statistics, the things economists use to justify their professional existences, haven’t always been highly regarded by people who aren’t economists. Mark Twain, for example, once noted that “there are lies, damn lies and statistics,” with the later being the worst lies of all. To test this view, let’s look at the batch of stats that came our way in just today. Leading indicators,...

During the whole dustup over the Olympics the only thing that really caused me to scratch my head was wondering why Obama would spend 9 hours out and 9 hours back flying time to get 2 hours on the ground at the Olympic committee. Today I heard another story that made me wonder. Last night the President was in New York City for a Democratic fundraiser. (Let me make it clear here I’m not debating the whole...

The silly fabricated spat between the Obama Administration and FOX News is just that. For many years, most Americans have understood that Fox was the Republican mouthpiece. The Democrats need to wrestle complete control over NBC, CBS or ABC news and move on with their own dedicated mouthpiece. Some may argue that either MSNBC or PBS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC, but with each having about 1 or...

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday voted 20-9 to remove federal antitrust exemptions the health insurance industry has enjoyed since the 1940s. Majority leader Harry Reid said a companion bill will be voted on soon in the Senate. Finally the Democrats in Congress have showed some spunk. If the final bill is signed by President Barack Obama, the nation’s insurers would be liable for certain antitrust...

The White House must end its fight with Fox News now. Enough already. David Gergen, White House advisor to three former presidents, said it is “risky strategy.” I agree and add it’s stupid and unproductive. While Fox commentators may have succeeded in tweaking President Obama’s massive ego, retaliation from the Oval Office violates a very simple rule: You can’t win a fight when...

I vaguely remember a Canadian politician named Pierre Trudeau. He did some important things for his country, I believe, but I can’t be sure because I’m not much on Canadian history. But one thing I do remember quite well about the man was his campaign song. It was called “Pierre Trudeau: The Poor Man’s Friend.” That has always struck me as a great way to be remembered. By your own...