A number of independent news sources and commentators have noted that many of the healthcare reform provisions in the proposed Congressional legislation might not become effective until 2013. If true, that would be extremely strange, illogical and politically dangerous for Democrats. Republicans and other opponents of healthcare reforms have succeeded this year in frightening many in the voting public with...

Saturday Night Live skewered President Barack Obama last night. Satire is often a barometer of emerging conventional wisdom — so Obama & Co should not view this one as welcome news:

There have been numerous studies confirming the sad fact that we have a 2-tier justice system in the U.S. where the wealthy and powerful are often treated noticeably better than the poor and weak. The Roman Polanski affair bears some comment in light of this reality. For most Western Cultures over the past 100 years, the rape of a 13-year-old girl by a man in his 40’s by means of drugs and alcohol has been...

The President, the First Lady, and the Obama Administration did not lose anything by making a direct personal appeal to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The President of Brazil and the top leaders of Japan and Spain were also there making the same promotional efforts. At best each city had only a 25% chance of winning. The President did not...

This is what happens when you cut over $100 billion from an economic stimulus bill — including $40 billion to help revenue-starved states — for no reason better than wanting the numbers to be smaller:

A new Gallup poll reveals that Pres. Obama’s Jewish support is the strongest of any other non-Hispanic white religious grouping:

I’ve been off the network for almost two weeks now, while my wife and I were in the process of moving into our new home in Northwest DC. This move will mark the end of an era. I’ve packed up and moved almost every 12 months since graduating from college ten years ago. Now, I’ve found a place where I hope to live for ten or twenty years or longer. For the moment, it still feels like we’re...

On my way back from a trip abroad, I generally try to pick up the best honey for my close relations. During the past decade I have been hearing that the supply of honey may become scarce with the bees vanishing at an alarming rate. It’s a question that has baffled the worlds of agriculture and science – what is it that has caused the mysterious deaths of honey bees all over the world in the last five...

Many economic measures for September have been released the last two days and they are all worse than August. Manufacturing activity still expanded slightly but at a slower rate than August. [Note: it says fell but that means the number went down. It was still above 50, signaling expansion. I hate their terminology as it was saying it "rose" six months ago when it went from 40 to 42.] However, factory orders...

Here’s Part 1 and Part II of Fox News video now up on You Tube of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama making their pitch to the Olympic committee for Chicago as the 2016 Olympics city: Here’s the text of Obama’s comments. Here’s the text of Michelle Obama’s comments. FOOTNOTE: My satellite radio (the device that lets me escape regular talk radio) was on the blink...

Today – October 2 – is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s (or Mahatma Gandhi’s) birth anniversary . Gandhi once said that if we are not careful then seven “deadly sins” will destroy us. They are: a) “Wealth Without Work”; b) “Pleasure Without Conscience”; c) “Knowledge Without Character; d) Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics); e) Science...

Daniel Engber: Being fat can make you poor, and being poor can make you sick, which means that being fat can make you sick irrespective of any weight-related diseases. Fatness (or the lifestyle associated with obesity) also creates its own health problems, regardless of how much money you have—and health problems tend to make people poor, through hospital bills and missed days of work. So fat can be impoverishing...

I always admired Prof John K. Galbraith, the US ambassador to India, for his remarkable insight, professionalism and warmth. His son, Peter W. Galbraith, until recently the top American in the UN mission in Afghanistan, appears to have inherited the same wonderful qualities of his no-nonsense dad. Peter Galbraith was fired yesterday after refusing to take part in what he called “a cover-up” of...

EDITOR’s NOTE: This column was put on a timer. Due to a technical glitch the PROPER byline that was set up did NOT appear when this first went on the site for the first 90 minutes. Although this does say “Guest Voice” on top, it did NOT show the byline of Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr. It is now fixed. TMV regrets the error. WASHINGTON — The strangest aspect of the debate...

My last post took note of American arms sellers camping in New Delhi (see here). This post is about the increasing number of expats/professionals (including Americans) who are making India their home, and feel more than welcome here. Dave Prager and Jenny Steeves (photo above), who arrived in New Delhi from Brooklyn in 2007, say: “Unlike most countries in the world, Indians love Americans.” Their...

Last week, 44 employees of the company that publishes Congressional Quarterly and Roll Call were given pink slips. Today, the newsroom editor, Brian Nutting, was fired for an email he sent to top management demanding to know the reason for the layoffs. Or, to be more precise, he was fired for refusing to apologize for sending the email. Nutting worked at CQ-Roll Call for 27 years, and was very highly regarded...

Australian town of Bundanoon has become the first in the world to ban commercially-bottled water. The ban, which is supported by local shopkeepers, means water in plastic bottles can no longer be bought in the town in the Southern Highlands, two hours from Sydney. Instead, reusable bottles have gone on sale, which can be refilled for free at new drinking fountains (photo above), reports The Independent. “Bottled...

It must be a bittersweet experience for my mother-in-law and hundreds of cannery workers being honored today for their contributions to a city’s industry that was snuffed a generation ago. The San Diego Unified Port District spent a half-million dollars to erect a bronze sculpture and commemorate the site honoring tuna and albacore fishing and cannery workers at the waterfront. The story in the San Diego...

Despite all the dysfunctional attributes of the U.S. healthcare and health insurance industries, we do provide some people with the world’s best medical care as a result of cutting-edge technology and procedures provided by the world’s most talented physicians at some of our top institutions. People with real life-threatening diseases come from around the world to many American medical centers to get care...

As the cartoon above says, War is Big Business. This major issue is discussed, if at all, in passing by the mainstream media. Newspapers in India’s capital city had to borrow a news story from The Washington Post that “major US arms suppliers are wooing Indian defence agents and officials.” Emily Wax of The Washington Post continues: Almost every weekend, there are cocktails and closed-door...

By now, most of the stories behind the dazzling rise and ignominious demise of a proud, magnificent bird, the F-22 Raptor, have been told. Stories about the brilliant design and cutting edge manufacturing and assembly technology. A technology that has been described as “the only thing more complex than the human body.” (I was fortunate to visit the “mile-long” Lockheed Martin F-16 assembly line;...

I have never been a believer in the value of flexible spending accounts. The Baucus Bill calls for setting a $2,500 annual limit on what people can set aside in an FSA, among other restrictions. Ron Leiber reports that “a not-quite grass-roots effort has sprung up, led by companies that administer flexible spending accounts,” to advocate for them. I’ve fought with one of those companies,...

… and Sen. Stabenow replied, “I think your mom probably did.”

From time to time in my work I come across a new level of bizarre behavior on the part of lenders. I have previously written about how it never made sense to me that banks with mortgages or credit card companies would not work with their customers to try and work something out. It always seemed to be more logical for the bank/credit card company to get a deal which would give them some money rather than none. But...

First of all, I want to say I’m very glad that unemployment benefits are being (temporarily) extended yet again. I was afraid that with that the recession being “over,” there would be political pressure (or laziness) not to, and this bill helps hundreds of thousands of people who were about to see their income dry up. It is crazy to think that many people are about to run out on a minimum 79...