Last night while listening to some news channels and talk shows on XM Radio, there were some analysts who said Tea Party members in Congress were almost giddy over stopping the payroll tax plan bipartisan Senate compromise. They feel it’ll also be good for them politically. But that isn’t the view of most independent Republican analysts, even those who are now trying to go on attack against the Democrats...

I’ve come to view late fall bird feeder activity as an indication of the severity of the coming winter and it looks like this winter will be . . . um, average. The average snowfall at the mountain retreat is about 50 inches a year and there already was a freak one-foot snowfall in late October, so the average is likely to be topped if the pattern of January and February snows holds. But it also has been...

Parker, Florida Today This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

WASHINGTON – Secy. Clinton gave a speech at George Washington University yesterday on Women, Peace and Security. It was a tremendous speech and a very important one. Secy. Clinton also announced an Executive Order launching the first-ever U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, for which Pres. Obama deserves credit. I tweeted many of her best sound bites, but there were so many. Of...

It continues to be ugly out there — out there, as in Congress. The reason: partisan gridlock. The increasingly likely victims: those who received payroll-tax cuts and unemployment benefits. Middle income Americans. But — hey — it’s great grist f or the 24/7 partisan wars. Your tax dollars at non-work: The Republican-led House today rejected a Senate-passed bill that extends a payroll...

There’s a book available on Amazon.com Everything Obama Knows About The Economy (Blank Inside) [Paperback]. It has 200 blank pages. A big seller: temporarily out of stock.

In recent weeks everyone from bloggers on the net to pundits on the networks have been discussing the issues of partisanship versus unity. Some have argued that it is more important for us to work together and to put partisan topics aside while others argue just as strongly that voters elect people to office to fight for the issues they believe in and thus it is necessary to be partisan. As the title of this...

After running so many posts today about Newt Gingrich going down in more polls than a class of phone company trainees, here is news about a poll he has WON: Newt Gingrich might have dropped to third in Iowa — and he and Romney might be neck-and-neck in the latest CNN poll, but, among thousands of Tea Party activists from across the country, Gingrich retains a clear lead. Tea Party Patriots — the nation’s...

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” Tom Paine, Common Sense The government of the United States is being held hostage by extreme elements in America’s two political parties, whose members refuse to compromise on matters of critical importance to the nation.(The grudging year-end passage of some legislation is inconsequential.)...

I enjoy Disneyland. Disneyland is square footage within a well fortified boundary. Within the boundary is magic; outside the boundary is Southern California. Southern California is less magical. My family and I regularly travel to Southern California for the purpose of abiding within the fortified boundaries, within the magic. There are six in our family so the journey is costly. Multiples of six define...

Robert Samuelson asks that question — and gives his answer — in this morning’s Washington Post: Governments have ceded power to bond markets by decades of shortsighted behavior. The political bias is to favor short-term stimulus (by lowering taxes and raising spending), which is popular, and to ignore long-term deficits (by cutting spending and raising taxes), which is unpopular. Debt has...

No, this lady has not yet sung but a new Public Policy Polling poll in Iowa suggest that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is now “imploding”: their poll shows him on the descent, with Rep. Ron Paul in the lead and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney coming in second: Newt Gingrich’s campaign is rapidly imploding, and Ron Paul has now taken the lead in Iowa. He’s at 23% to 20% for...

Egypt is caught in yet another round of violence as protesters refuse to leave Tahrir Square. This time around the revolution square is dominated by secular youth. Those same people that took to the streets in Egypt a year ago, demanding freedom and democracy, are now filled with all round despair. A year ago, the secular crowd demanded Mubarak step down from his 30 years rein. Using social media as their weapon,...

The planet has gone around the sun six times since my blog, Kiko’s House, baby-walked onto the scene, and the inexhaustible supply of rich material keeps coming in torrents, making practically every day an adventure in bathos, pathos, mythos and . . . uh, hathos. Herewith some posts from the past 12 months, many of which were cross-posted at The Moderate Voice, in which I stuck my neck out. And as events...

Before doing his present number with a Payroll Tax extension, Eric Cantor, the Tea Party’s man in Congress, almost brought about a government default in support of the same underlying issue: Taxes are off the table. Period. We can thus easily visualize him doing this karaoke in the style of Frank Sinatra… They’ll Do It My Way And now, though crises loom, I hold one steadfast notion; It’s...

This morning, I — probably along with millions of other Americans — received this short e-mail from President Obama: Early this morning, the last of our troops left Iraq. As we honor and reflect on the sacrifices that millions of men and women made for this war, I wanted to make sure you heard the news. Bringing this war to a responsible end was a cause that sparked many Americans to get involved...

WASHINGTON – Never once did I buy into the notion of a Newt nomination. As a writer on politics going back into the ’90s, although I thought he’d have his moment, Mr. Gingrich simply isn’t what he pretended to be. Thanks to Ron Paul, but especially Michele Bachmann’s political vivisection of his record, the plummet is now in full swing. But it was George Will’s “Newt...

How Can Israel Please the American Government, Media, and “Experts”? It Can’t by Barry Rubin There is a constant effort—especially by the anti-Israel left–to portray those who express mainstream Israeli public opinion and the views of professional analysts as “right-wing” or “Likudnik.” This leads me to wonder what one would have to say to please these people. What would be the equivalent...

A sweet Christmas video, and thankfully some of our brave troops are coming home

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star A Predator Drone in the USA Could be Spying On You by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown Americans are familiar with unmanned spy drones providing surveillance of Iranian nuclear complexes and Taliban armed militants combating American troops along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now the Obama administration has quietly authorized Predator Drone use by law enforcement...

Occupy Chanukah and Christmas by Michael Lerner Chanukah was the first recorded national liberation struggle against Greek imperialism, and Christmas celebrates the birth of a hoped-for messiah to free the Jewish people from Roman imperialism. The symbolism of a homeless couple giving birth in a manger surrounded by animals because the more comfortable people have not been able to make room for them inside...

In other western countries, austerity measures include taxing the rich along with taking benefits for others. In this country, the ruling powers have decided that… The Rich Have Suffered Long Enough The rich have suffered long enough, They’ve known great taxing sorrows; It’s time class warfare laws to doff, They’ve earned their bright tomorrows. Unlike the poor or middle class, Top earners’ rates...

The deal averting a government shutdown: Who achieved what? A guide HERE.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s national and Iowa polls are sliding but the question is whether he is still high enough up there so that the impact will not be significant: Newt Gingrich’s support in the race for the Republican nomination fallen quickly since national Gallup polls of Republican and GOP-leaning independent voters in early December. And as Republican contenders hit the final...

A missing chapter in the history of U.S. military aviation On the eve of this most recent Veterans Day, I had the privilege of accompanying World War II veteran John Tschirhart to a reception hosted by the Texas Veterans Land Board at the Capitol Visitors Center, in Austin, Texas. Tschirhart, a B-17 bombardier with 35 bombing missions over Nazi occupied Europe under his belt, is now 91 and every time I hear...