The Senate Finance Committee finally voted 14-9 its sweeping health care bill out of committee Tuesday with the lone Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine on board. Whoopty doo. Now maybe we can get down to business and fix the system. This bill is a massive subsidy to private insurance carriers who are not happy because it falls short of universal coverage which would mean more bucks in their pockets with little...

The Weekly Standard blog links to a BBC article which reports, For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures. Naturally, the Standard reminds us that the BBC is not exactly a “bastion of right-wing extremism.” Fair enough. But the facts are a little more complicated. As I noted back in July, 1998 was an unusually hot year, whereas 1999 was relatively cool. Use...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, who looks at the GOP reaction over Barack Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize so early in his term: The problem for the addlebrained Obama-rejectionists is that the president, as far as they are concerned, couldn’t possibly do anything right, and thus is unworthy of any conceivable recognition. If Obama ended world hunger,...

Charlie Rangel is a charming, engaging fellow. The kind of man you would enjoy having a beer. Most of the journalists who deal with him in Congress like him because he is forthright even when spinning a topic in his favor. A Korean war hero, Rangel’s Harlem voters have elected him to 20 terms, vaunting him to a position of power and by seniority his Democratic comrades have selected him as chairman of...

After being bombarded with spin, stonewalling and lies, it doesn’t take long for a journalist to become a cynic. Skepticism grows along with a thick skin and a demeanor where one needs to ask the tough questions. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. If not the journalist, then whom? In my column yesterday questioning the merit of President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize after only nine months...

Due to a change in my co-host’s schedule, Mid Stream Radio will temporarily be moving to a weekend format, starting today, Saturday Oct. 10, at 1 pm eastern time. On today’s show we’ll be catching up on the fallout from the Nobel Peace Prize, along with some other news that slipped through the cracks during all this media craziness. Stop by and join in our online chat or call in to (646) 595-3963....

We have seen reactions from just about everywhere in the world on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to president Obama. How about from Norway where its Parliament appoints the Nobel Committee that selects the Laureate for the Peace Prize? Yesterday, the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen presented a Norwegian view. In “A Bold Peace Prize,” translated at Watching America (watchingamewrica.com), the...

President Barack Obama being awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize is akin to me winning a Pulitizer Prize in journalism. Neither one of us accomplished enough to earn it. The world’s most prestigious award is diminished to the level of an Academy Award nominee finishing fifth. Hey, Obama talks the talk but has failed so far to walk the walk. The Saturday Night Live spoof that he has accomplished nothing...

Being on the west coast sometimes means you react to news stories a little behind the curve and since others had already posted I thought I’d wait a bit to gather my own thoughts on this issue. I think most people who read my posts know that I did not vote for the President last November and while I agree with him on some subjects I have also expressed my dismay over the growing deficit and other policies...

While many of my colleagues here at TMV have already chimed in on the rather “curious” choice of awarding President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize today, I was already asked to opine on the subject elsewhere. You can find the full rundown in my “special comment” (with a hat tip to MSNBC) at Pajamas Media… Freaky Friday: Obama’s Weird Peace Prize Win. One thing not noted in...

Excuse me, but I have some reservations and a bunch of questions about the various healthcare reform bills both houses of Congress could vote on as early as this month. The biggest concern I have is why we taxpayers are subsidizing the private carriers to insure us. The bills are aimed at guaranteeing growing private insurance profits without regard to improving our health. Oh, there are a few caveats thrown...

Over the past few weeks I have been spending much of my driving time listening to the audiobook of David McCollough’s book on the Johnstown Flood. It is an absolutely fascinating story (and read by Edward Herrmann, who has a perfect voice for such readings). So for anyone looking for an interesting story I highly commend either the audio or print version of the story, which tells not only the story of...

This story out of Wales. A couple of presumably drunk street thugs saw some drag queens on the street in the town of Swansea and decided that it was their job to go over and take care of the guys they saw as wimps. Well it turns out those guys were a couple of cage fighters. They proceeded to beat the crud out of their attackers. Just goes to show that homophobes shouldn’t be so sure that all gay men are...

About a month ago, I wrote an article about Jonathan Ayers, a Georgia Baptist Pastor who was killed by a plain-clothes undercover narcotics officer during a botched raid. As I mentioned in that article, Ayers was not the target of the investigation, but was shot by one of the narcotics officers as he attempted to drive away. According to the county sheriff, Ayers was shot because he struck one of the officers...

NOTE: I hope to periodically post on pending cases before the Court to give those who don’t follow the law an idea of what is going on. I will try to keep things in English but do need to use some legal language to explain what is going on with cases. I’d appreciate feedback as to whether my writing is too technical or if it is helpful Thanks. The late Justice Hugo Black was known for being absolutist...

I must confess that I have not been a huge fan of Dancing With The Stars, my viewing is usually limited to catching highlights if they happen to have a contestant I find interesting. I’m also not particularly a fan of former Congressman Tom Delay, I found him to be arrogant in his attitude towards his peers and his rivals. However when I heard he was going to be on DWTS this season I was interested enough...

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) spent much of the Bush administration questioning just about everything they did as giving too much power to the Executive branch. Today he called the Obama White House to task for some of the people he has named to act as Czars. Of course he did excuse many of the appointments, something which I doubt he would have done in the Bush years, but at the same time he has been one of...

Gold rose into record territory today. Parsing the reasons it did so could lead one into rather uncomfortable speculations about future inflation, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and even whether the dollar will long remain the world’s leading currency. But Gold’s current surge also tells another story. A tale of utterly stupid government policy in response to an utterly stupid theory of a single...

Shame on the established America media for giving so much air time to convicted former Congressman James Traficant who offers nothing but a populous sound bite and venom to his former colleagues. Since his release from prison last month, Traficant has spent much of his time on the air waves pleading his innocence to a racketeering conviction and vendetta against the Justice Department and the Jewish lobby. He...

Popular Republican Congressman Mike Castle is running for the US Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joseph Biden. This is a big recruiting catch for Senate Republicans and a big downer for House Republicans. Castle’s House seat is now likely to go Democratic in November 2010 but he is at least an even bet, if not a slight favorite to pick up a Senate seat for the GOP. Democrats are waiting to...

For those who are not aware, the first Monday in October is the traditional opening day for the new session of the United States Supreme Court. While not all of the cases are going to be groundbreaking we are likely to see a few major decisions between now and the closing of the session in June or July of 2010. Although Justice Sotomayor is sitting for her first full session it is not likely that this will represent...

With Sunday football back upon us, it’s a good time to ask about the potential for more rules changes being considered currently by the NFL. The rules in the NFL change only at a glacial pace which is generally a good thing. You don’t want to mess too much with a winning formula. But they do change on occasion. Some have been minor tweaks with varying levels of success. A few have been really boneheaded...

Some readers occasionally comment that some of our contributors write or comment more frequently and extensively on events or news items that support their own political views or their own opinions on issues. Without admitting that my colleagues do such, and speaking strictly for myself, I find that this is a natural tendency, but one that I try to “control,” periodically. For example, I believe that way...

While doing some research on the Afghanistan war for another publication, I soon discovered that there is no shortage of opinions—many of them “expert” opinions—on how to conduct and conclude that war. It made me realize how excruciatingly difficult it must be for the president—faced with an overabundance of advisers and advice—to divine the right policy and strategy to bring that...

Wait! Dont jump off the roof because the bestseller lists have turned into books from the Right screaming at books from the Left, and visa versa. Here are some of the silly, interesting, wondrous books, and also a couple Left/ Right books forthcoming yet this year 2009, and in 2010 and one (#21), oddly but probably precipitously planned for 2011 ‘just in time’ for the 2012 elections. These are ones...