A majority now see Barack Obama as a one-term president and he calls himself the “underdog,” but social networks may be changing the political landscape for 2012 in a way that the new medium of television did during the “youthquake” of the 1960s. What started as a small disorganized rally on Wall Street three weeks ago is spreading to Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere into a movement. “With...

Olle Johansson, Sweden This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Eric Allie, Caglecartoons.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Now that Chris Christie—potential savior of the Republican primaries—is expected to announce in a couple of hours his decision not to seek the presidency, Republicans are left with a slate of candidates they still wish they could improve upon. Among them, Obamacare “prototypist” Mitt Romney; Rick Perry and his Pet Rock; Congressional witch hunt proponent Michele Bachmann; homophobe Rick...

If you’re of a certain age you might remember a time when the U.S. was preeminent among wealthy nation s in a number of respects,including providing educational opportunities for all of its citizens regardless of their ability to pay. The U.S. has already fallen from the top in other respects. It now incarcerates more people on a per capita basis than any country other than China. It has the highest...

When it comes to financial collapse documentaries, the public canon has one well-deserving Oscar Winner, “Inside Job”, and one straight to HBO exercise in ass kissing and name dropping which shall remain nameless. Ironically, just like during the Arab Spring, it is that “dubious” Al Jazeera that shows US media how coverage of various matters, either geopolitical or financial, is done. ~Tyler...

The new millennium has spawned a sibling to the old adage that “You Can’t Fight City Hall” — “You Can’t Fight Wall Street” — a reflection of the hopelessness most of us feel about reforming let alone fighting back against the financial institutions that are a de facto shadow government that is responsible for the ongoing economic downturn. And so I have looked...

As the GOP plods through its revival of last century’s Absurdist masterpiece, “Waiting for Godot,” (Christie, Palin, whoever), there are reminders that Americans have an actual president trying to govern in the real world. In his Weekly Address, Barack Obama says, “It’s been almost three weeks since I sent the American Jobs Act to Congress–three weeks since I sent them a bill that would put people...

Is America’s ‘No Tolerance’ approach to battling crime something for Europe and the rest of the world to emulate? According to Die Zeit columnist Dr. Eva Schweitzer, this may seem counter-intuitive and disturbing to European sensibilities, but cracking down on grand and petty crimes committed primarily by ethnic minorities is the very ‘glue’ that hold America’s multicultural...

WASHINGTON — Why hasn’t there been a tea party on the left? And can President Obama and the American left develop a functional relationship? That those two questions are not asked very often is a sign of how much of the nation’s political energy has been monopolized by the right from the beginning of Obama’s term. This has skewed media coverage of almost every issue, created the...

It’s that time of year again when folks have to try to figure out their health insurance plans for next year. I tell you, the Red Queen made more sense.

I think there is a place for the government to support solar power but supporting supply, as in the case of Solyndra. is not the way to do it.  The government should be encouraging demand.  The most recent Energy Department loan guarantees are a step in the right direction. DOE said Friday it finalized a $1.24 billion loan guarantee to SunPower Corp. to help finance construction of a California photovoltaic...

He is good at selling things, and now Herman Cain is outdoing his Burger King and Godfather Pizza triumphs by getting hungry GOP voters to order him up for the White House. From the bottom of the pack, Cain has surged to third in the national Fox poll at 17 percent, two points behind Rick Perry, after surprisingly eating the Texas governor’s lunch in a Florida straw poll this week. The political noise is all...

Is the United States inching back bit by bit to the 1960s, where demonstrations and counter demonstrations were all the rage (literally and figuratively)? It could be. First came the conservative Tea Party movement with the angry town hall meetings and demonstrations of summer-fall 2010, which impacted the 2010 elections. Now come signs that the country’s left is toying with demonstrations that set up...

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I recently received an e-mail from a dear Republican friend. You know, one of those e-mails that float around cyber space for years—in this case for more than 10 years—and are sent to the world as being fresh off the cyber press and as containing startling new revelations, usually political and politically motivated. Surprisingly, I happen to totally agree with this one as being timely, almost timeless...

Media Distortion: Newspapers Rarely Mention Suicides by Tina Dupuy I asked a reporter at Unnamed Major Metropolitan Newspaper why they don’t cover suicides. Why is it that traditionally in the press there’s a veil of silence draped over taking your own life? He said it’s because they don’t want to encourage the behavior. The concern is if they report on it, others will copy. There’s...

As economic troubles around the world continue to mount there is increasing pressure upon politicians to do something forceful to revive their economies while deflecting criticism from themselves. One traditional method has always been to blame foreigners for one’s domestic troubles. In the 1980s the US blamed Japan and worried that its economic strength would soon lead to a diminished US presence. Today...

Are U.S. Oil and Insurance Companies Dealing in Collusion? by John T. Johnson, III I’ve got a question for the politicians we have elected to protect our best interests. Are major U.S. oil companies and insurance companies involved in collusion? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “collusion” as: a secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose. I was...

It’s been bad enough in Arizona and other parts of the US. Now we find that other countries have turned prisons over to the “detention-industrial complex,” the same companies operating prisons in the US. This is Blackwater behind bars, operating a for-profit, often careless and cruel business that depends to a great extent on the detention of immigrants. As we learned about Blackwater and...

WASHINGTON — Maybe only a really, really rich guy can credibly make the case for why the wealthy should be asked to pay more in taxes. You can’t accuse a big capitalist of “class warfare.” That’s why the right wing despises Warren Buffett and is trying so hard to shut him up. Militant conservatives are effective because they are absolutely shameless. Many of the same people...

Since Rick Perry stepped out of the protective shade provided by the beautiful Texas Live Oak trees onto the harsh, unforgiving light of the national stage, much has been said and written about his obvious unpreparedness—perhaps inability—to face the scrutiny of the national electorate or even of a relatively friendly and forgiving Republican audience. But while some may have been surprised by the...

You’ve Got to Be Kidding! by Robert A. Levine Congressman Eric Cantor is the poster child for everything that’s wrong with Washington. A rigid right-wing ideologue in a Republican leadership role, he considers compromise a dirty word and has made it nearly impossible to get any deals done with the Democrats. Cantor is also the antithesis of the “compassionate conservative” and appears to have a selective...

Paul Krugman’s analysis of the European Debt Crisis, in this morning’s New York Times, should be required reading — not just for the movers and shakers in Europe, but for our own so called wise men. Krugman’s critics on the right accuse him of fiscal hysteria. But his analysis is clear eyed and, therefore, gloomy: Think of it this way: private demand in the debtor countries has...

You may have noticed that I don’t refer to Peak Oil but Peak Cheap Oil. Our economy is dependent on cheap oil for transportation.  Eaun Mearns explains that Peak Oil is more about economics than geology but that the economists don’t get it right either. For a number of years there has been an arid debate between economists and geologists about Peak Oil. The geologists maintain that Peak Oil...