Frankly, my dear, I didn’t give a damn about ACORN’s community organizing for the impoverished until I saw the videos on You Tube obtained by a self-described nerd who is more of an icon-shattering crusader than staunch conservative as some would have us believe. That caught me attention. In case you missed it the edited snippets show low-level ACORN representatives telling the filmmakers how to...

For a long time I’ve been confused about what passes for economic reporting these days. The reports of late have all been saying the recession has ended. Yet they all invariably add that most Americans (sometimes referred to collectively as “Main Street”) will not see any personal improvement for many months or even years. Indeed, it seems to most on Main Street that things are actually getting...

Congratulations to Americans Against Food Taxes for producing a political issues ad that is accurate. The group opposes a one-cent per-ounce tax on sugary soft drinks that Congress is eyeballing to generate more revenue. The ads claim the regressive tax would hit those who least can afford it the most. On the flip side, sugar tax advocates say the products they are targeting pose a significant contributor to...

This is the best news I’ve heard all day.

The House has followed the example of the Senate in denying funding to ACORN because of the recent scandal involving then seeming to aid people in tax fraud and importing sex slaves. The Senate vote was 83-7 while the House vote was 345-75. In both cases the 82 members who voted to keep funding ACORN were from the liberal wing of the Democratic party. In both cases the vote will not take effect until the bills...

A couple of months ago, President Obama announced that he would be awarding the Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, who was killed by enemy fire on June 21, 2006, while trying to rescue wounded comrades in the mountains of Afghanistan. This afternoon, the President performing what probably is one of his most solemn duties as president and commander-in-chief, presented the Medal of Honor posthumously...

If a country just has an election is that democracy? And, if it isn’t what kind of dilemmas does this pose for foreign policy decision makers? In a must-read article on RealClearWorld, Dominique Moisi, a visiting professor at Harvard University and the author of “The Geopolitics of Emotion,” looks at the issue. Here’s the intro: Elections stolen in Iran, disputed in Afghanistan and...

Henry Gibson, who was born James Bateman in Germantown, PA, served in the USAF and later took Henry Gibson as his stage name… a play on the name of the great playright Henrik Ibsen, who wrote amongst others, the play Hedda Gabler, which you may remember was about a willful soul who raced her father’s horses while standing on the seat of the coach, yet married a dry academic who dried her soul to...

Hamas Seeks New Doctrine after Gaza War Failures by Jonathan Spyer Hamas has undertaken a major process of examination and investigation into its deeply flawed performance in the course of Operation Cast Lead, sources say. The review process is aimed at developing a new doctrine for Hamas to enable it to achieve its ambition of rivaling Hizbullah in its abilities. It remains to be seen if the reforms will deliver...

There comes a time in history when an adult enters the fray of uncivil discourse, shakes America by her broad shoulders, and admonishes everyone that enough is enough. I’m uncertain whether former President Jimmy Carter is that heroic adult. Carter in an interview Tuesday and later in an address to his own forum said Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie” outburst to President Barack Obama during...

Obviously at this point with the need to reconcile the various proposals we do not know what the final form will be for the Baucus proposal (America’s Healthy Future Act). But from the details contained in his announcement and outlined in this press release my preliminary reaction is positive. It looks to be a balanced approach which works to solve the current problems without creating a massive new program. For...

For those of you who thought American politics now looks like professional wrestling, your belief may soon get a bit of validation and closure: Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. has quit her post to devote her time a campaign aimed at getting the Republican nomination and running against Democratic Senator Chris Dodd: Linda McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment...

In April of this year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended several military budgetary cuts, including for the production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet to stop at 187 aircraft, which means that only four more F-22s will be produced. It was a move that drew a firestorm of criticism from Congress, the military, the military aerospace industry and the military aerospace community. The move, however, wasn’t...

I am and have been in favor of publicly honoring our fallen heroes when they touch American soil for the last time at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. My personal motto is “Nothing to hide here. Everything to Honor.” A lot of controversy and apprehension had surrounded this issue. Finally, on February 26, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced a policy consistent with what we presently have at Arlington...

When I tell friends that the next major tax debate should focus on parking tickets, the response is almost always the same. They tell me about how they were recently screwed by an overly aggressive ticket-slinger, then relate tales of similar abuse experienced by other people they know.  Sure, they finally acknowledge, parking metering and ticketing is a stealth tax. A curb tax. But a major taxing issue? Nah....

Hard to say if Joe Wilson is another Joe McCarthy. He did call the President of the United States a lair as Obama spoke to an official joint session of Congress, which is certainly a McCarthy thing to do. Don’t debate the issue, attack the individual. McCarthy, a Republican senator from Wisconsin in the early 1950s, did it by claiming the target individual, whoever it happened to be, was “a Communist.” His...

I want to take a breather for a couple of minutes from bashing Joe Wilson and other stupid Republican claims about our health care legislation and discuss a condition that has bothered me the past several months. For no apparent reason my brain insists I sleep 10 to 12 hours a day. Anything short of that, I feel like I’m hungover but I don’t drink booze. Furthermore, less than that amount of sleep...

No, calling the President a liar is not the same thing as beating a fellow Senator to a pulp with a cane. But there was something intriguing about the response to the Joe Wilson outburst that reminded me of the infamous 1856 caning of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner by South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks. Consider a bit of the background to that incident. The Democrats passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act...

In an attempt to regain control of the health care debate if not his presidency, President Barack Obama crafted a speech a fifth grader could grasp and Congress could follow allowing all Americans to receive affordable medical services. What struck me was all the goals and specifics outlined by the president seem reasonable enough for Congress to adopt with all sides of the equation giving up some of their hallowed...

This morning, Mid Stream Radio will be back on the air picking through the aftermath of Obama’s health care speech. Cindy and I will be joined by Rick Moran, of Right Wing Nuthouse, to replay a few of the highlights and lowlights and see what it all means. You can listen live at the show’s web site, join in our comments section (if you have done your free registration at the BTR home page) or call...

There is a new consortium of media entities who propose to replace the venerable Nielsen ratings with a new, high tech viewership tracking service. There’s no question that Nielsen’s numbers are fraught with problems. College students living away from home between the ages of 18 to 24 remain virtually uncounted. Minorities in urban areas are consistently over-represented, and the sweeps period ratings...

I watched the speech earlier but for me it came right around dinnertime so I decided to eat and take some time to gather a few thoughts before posting. As always I thought his speech was quite good on style, there is no doubting that the man can give a superb speech. His skills are such that even if you disagree with what he is saying you can’t help but to be charmed by him anyway. I also felt that Congressman...

Now I can understand that perhaps Mr. Friedman doesn’t like what he sees as corporate influence over our government, I think most of us don’t like it. While I would strongly disagree with him, I could even understand if he wanted to ban anyone more conservative that Ted Kennedy from being allowed to participate in politics. But looking to CHINA as an example of good government ?? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html?_r=2 Reasonably...

, , We have been so absorbed by issues such as what health care reform will do to our national character and what the President of the United States will say to our kids (and I am not minimizing the importance of these concerns), that other issues and stories have tended to go completely off the public’s radar screen. One such story is the never-ending personal tragedy of David Goldman, the New Jersey...

Shortly after President Obama took office I wrote that if he were wise he would look to Eisenhower rather than Nixon when it came to dealing with overseas wars. Given the discussions in the news lately I thought it was worth reposting my thoughts for your consideration In my post, I pointed out that both Ike and Nixon faced wars when they came into office and that along with Obama they were the only ones to...