Out Of Tune Quartet by Marc Pascal The Governors of South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas have decided to reject some of the federal stimulus funds, particularly those geared towards increasing unemployment compensation and the numbers of people who are eligible. In Arizona, the Republican Governor and the Republican-controlled legislature have maintained their sanity and will push for all the federal...

This Guest Voice is by Joel S. Hirschhorn who is highly critical of both political parties. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily represent the opinion of TMV or its writers. Senator Feingold Has Constitutional Opportunity by Joel S. Hirschhorn Like others promoting constitutional amendments, Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat, Wisconsin, apparently is unaware of the refusal by Congress to obey Article V of the...

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was run earlier but didn’t have the byline or author’s bio. We are redating it and putting it on top of TMV. Newer posts are underneath it so after reading it, please keep scrolling. strong>Clinton Administration and Republican Congress, Unindicted Co-Conspirators by Douglas Wolf 9 years ago the New York Times reported the changing of the rules regarding mortgage qualifying...

Calling Obama And Washington Back To Reality by Marc Pascal Now that the sky is literally falling, what are you going to do? I realize that less than 100 days into any administration is too soon to expect immediate results. Considering this mess is so large, complicated, interconnected, and global, it will not be completely resolved for several years. However, the U.S. economy and all Americans expect some...

So what would things be like if Arizona Sen. John McCain had won and then-Sen. Barack Obama had been defeated in the 2008 Presidential race? How you answer that depends on who you supported and, in the case of McCain, how the sometimes complex Arizona Senator is perceived by the given partisan or independent voter. Here’s one view from frequent Guest Voice writer Marc Pascal. And we’re sure some...

By SHAUN MULLEN GUEST VOICE The two biggest lies being told by opponents of President Obama’s health-care reform plan is that it will be financed entirely on the backs of the rich and that the depths of a protracted recession is no time to go forward with such a bold and expensive initiative. If you believe, as I and a majority of Americans do, that health care is a right and not a privilege, then the...

The Key To Our Healthcare Need is “Quality” by Jim Bell When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Acton August 14, 1935, the national focus on taking care of its citizens began with a simple idea to create a mandatory annuity with payroll deductions which, had they gone to an insurance policy, would have paid a much greater dividend in the end than what citizens can...

Bye American by Will Durst Can we stop with the waving of the sharp instruments for a minute and speak rationally to this whole ugly recession mess we find ourselves currently mired in? C’mon. You know what recession mess I’m talking about. You’re packing a bag lunch and taking mass transit to visit the public library to use their ancient computer to check out the job classifieds on Craigslist for crum’s...

Daylight Savings Time: Arizona Got This One Right by Marc Pascal The state that was the third to last to be admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912 (followed by Alaska and Hawaii in 1959) was a backwater place until the late 1960s. Suddenly both old and young and everyone in-between began to move here for the year-round warm sunny weather, spectacular scenery, laid-back lifestyle, and cheap air-conditioned...

We’ve run some posts and editorial cartoons from the United States and Canada that have been highly critical of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. But not everyone agrees with them. Here’s another viewpoint from talk show host Michael Reagan. This Tiger Is Not Dead by Michael Reagan There’s an old adage that explains that one does not shoot arrows at dead tigers. If there is a fusillade...

The End Is near: Starbucks Is Struggling! by Doug Bursch Starbucks is struggling financially and this has me a bit unnerved. I’m not an end times expert, but a Starbucks downturn might be one of the signs of the Apocalypse. I think Revelations states before the four horsemen arrive, we are greeted by a large angry mermaid. Come to think of it, that might be from Jason and the Argonauts. Regardless, Starbucks...

The S-word and the F-word by Cathy Young My column on the brouhaha about Obama as a “socialist” appears on RealClearPolitics.com (and on Reason.com) this week. Short answer: Yes, Obama’s proposals advance and enhance the welfare state and government involvement in the economy (and yes, I think this is a bad thing); no, this is not any sort of radical departure from the existing system (as my Reason...

“The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow…You Can Bet Your Bottom Billion….” by Marc Pascal On a recent Saturday, I bicycled with my family to the Arizona Biltmore Resort, as it is only a few miles from our rented condominium in Phoenix. As part of this architecturally-significant and very attractive art deco 5-star hotel is a conference center. In this venue was being conducted a day-long public auction of...

Dheeraj Chand has worked in Democratic polling since 2007, prior to which he was a political journalist, high school debate coach, and field operative for Democratic campaigns. His views do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TMV’s editorial board or writers. _______________________________________________ By Dheeraj Chand I’m a little late to the fight between Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg...

A Rational And Affordable Process To Solve The Nation’s Banking Crisis by Marc Pascal Today all economic and financial experts are essentially baffled on how to proceed in cleaning up the remnants of the Gambling Casino that was once the U.S. banking and financial system. We have zombie banks (BoA, Citigroup, etc.) and a U.S.-owned insurance giant (AIG) that have turned into black holes for taxpayer...

Editor’s Note: The Rush Limbaugh controversy continues to rage with lots of stories in the mainstream media, continued blog posts and major coverage on cable news channels and talk shows of the left and right. The following is an email release from veteran conservative Richard Viguerie. We’re posting it in full here as a Guest Voice due to the interest in this story and because it represents a different...

Arizona: It’s Time to grow up and get our act together by Marc Pascal Arizona’s state and local governments are rapidly disappearing into the desert’s financial quicksand. The state budget for 2010-11 is being drafted by Republicans who for years repeated their empty mantras of “more cut taxes” and “reduce government spending” in response to every situation. Faced with a billion-dollar fiscal...

Mr ‘Total Conservative’ — Interview With Mike Huckabee by Bill Steigerwald Since Mike Huckabee finished third in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, the former governor of Arkansas, author and ordained Southern Baptist minister seems to have found a new career in television and radio. “Huckabee,” his hour-long show on Fox News Channel on Saturdays at 8 p.m. (repeated at 11 p.m.),...

By Jon Powers Jon Powers is the Veterans Program Director for The Eleison Group, LLC, where he is working on developing the outreach efforts of the progressive community to veterans and military families. He is an Iraq War veteran, a former congressional candidate in New York’s 26th district, and a fellow with the Truman National Security Project. ********** When President Obama announced his decision to send...

By SHAUN MULLEN GUEST VOICE It was a wonderful sight: Barack Obama, widely flogged during the presidential campaign for being a foreign policy lightweight and cut-and-run coward, announcing to an auditorium full of cheering Marines that most U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by August 2010 and all of the rest a year later. The choice of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was no accident. President Bush spoke there...

Zombie Politicians and Zombie Pundits by Marc Pascal Banks that have essentially failed but are provided ongoing capital from public bailouts are referred to as “Zombie Banks.” They are dead but still walk the earth. While we have some of these staggering around in the U.S. right now, over the next year the Administration will eventually put them out of their misery and reorganize them into extinction....

So This Is Socialism? by Marc Pascal The Wall Street Journal laments that “high-wage earners, Wall Street hedge-fund managers, oil-and-gas investors, corporate executives, well-to-do seniors and Washington lobbyists all take hits in President Barack Obama’s budget plan.” Instead, the “budget winners include middle-class families, low-wage workers, lower-income retirees, veterans, preschoolers, college...

Obama: Enabler of the Irresponsible by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown In his inaugural address, President Obama heralded the arrival of a “new era of responsibility.” Apparently, this was a slip of the tongue, really meaning an “era of irresponsibility.” By his actions, Obama is pushing irresponsibility by picking winners and losers, punishing those who have worked hard and saved, while rewarding those who...

By SHAUN MULLEN GUEST VOICE Fear has been the Republican Party’s greatest weapon, and notably so during the Age of Bush: Fear of people with funny names and skin colors. Fear of people who do not worship a Christian God. Fear of people who are not red-blooded Americans. Fear of people who don’t spout patriotic slogans or wear American flag lapel pins. But now the screw has turned and fear has become...

The Truman National Security Project bills itself as “the nation’s only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of progressives across America to lead on national security.” The following essay (the first in a series for TMV) is from Robin Walker, a Project fellow. As with other “guest voice” posts, this and future contributions from the Truman Project...