That question is being asked again with the arrest of Patrick Sullivan, a 68–year-old retired Colorado country sheriff, on charges that he tried to exchange the powerful stimulant for sex with a man. The short answer is that the methamphetamine high, among other things, frees users from inhibitions and gives them the ability to screw for all day or even longer. Or so I’ve been told. Sullivan was...

There is a little section in the New York Times, published by its editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, that I sometimes overlook — but shouldn’t. For that little section is usually very big on insightful, razor-sharp political commentary. Yesterday’s piece, “Not-Lobbyists in Name Only,” written by David Firestone, was no exception. Firestone discusses the fact that “Washington teems with...

I have never questioned Herman Cain’s intelligence. He’s obviously got a fair amount of gray matter if he was able to graduate from prestigious Morehouse College, worked as a mathematician in ballistics for the U.S. Navy developing fire control systems, and then made millions by building a pizza empire. What has been clear from the outset of Cain’s improbable “campaign,” which...

With the world looking to Berlin to save the euro, Germans may be reevaluating their decades of nearly constant criticism of the way the United States wields its influence. Die Welt columnist Clemens Wergin warns his readers not to expect gratitude from Europeans for saving the common currency, and lays bare the irony of Europe’s growing need for German help – and its fear of German power. For...

After learning that Facebook had settled with the FCC (pdf) for what is basically a slap on the wrist regarding its history of privacy violations, this is what I tweeted Tuesday: Facebook’s settlement with the FTC shows the company cannot be trusted with your personal info: econ.st/vUlr51 Why? From The Economist: On November 29th America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the results of an investigation...

As predicted here in the wake of its 2010 mid-term election gains, support for the Tea Party is falling precipitously and it is dragging down the Republican Party with it only a few weeks before campaigning for the 2012 elections begin in earnest. A Pew Research Center analysis found that the decline is occurring in places not long ago considered Tea Party bastions, while support for the Republican Party has...

The final nail in the Cain campaign’s coffin is a disheartening reminder of how far Americans have come in being vulnerable to figures “telling public lies with the utmost sincerity.” Four years ago, John Edwards gave us a preview of hypocrisy taking a candidate close to the White House, but his mendacity was hidden by six years in the U.S. Senate and a substantive campaign, however undercut by his personal...

The Washington Post reports: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain rebutted charges on Monday that he had a 13-year affair with Ginger White, who he said was just a friend. The charges will air on an Atlanta TV station at 6 p.m Monday evening, and arrive on the heels of four women accusing the former Godfather’s pizza CEO of sexual harassment in the 1990s. “It was pretty simple,” White said....

A little over two weeks ago, we reported on a massive explosion inside an Iranian military base near the capital, Tehran. At the time, the semi-official Fars news agency issued a statement by the Revolutionary Guards which said the blast happened in an arsenal at a base in Bidganeh, inside a Revolutionary Guards weapons depot near the city of Karaj when weapons were being moved. Apparently, a large part of...

A tipping point in the Obama-bashing competition has now cost Mitt Romney endorsement by the only paper that counts in New Hampshire. “Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate,” says the Union Leader, adding “We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear.” This follows last week’s debate, where Ron Paul seemed beside...

No matter what the final outcome about the veracity of these allegations, if you add the news that Syracuse University has fired its respected Assistant Basketball Coach Bernie Fine amid allegations that he molested several boys, college coaches will now be looked at with a bit of suspicion and paranoia. Coming on the heels of the Penn State scandal involving Jerry Sandusky you can just see the extra scrutiny...

If you enjoyed how Ralph Nader put George W. Bush into the White House in 2000, you may love what a group called Americans Elect is trying to do in 2012. The well-financed effort wants a “wide-scale draft movement for presidential candidates,” but it looks more like hammering a “broken” political system and smashing it to smithereens. Americans Elect aims, not to create a new party, but hold a “convention...

John Brown mural in Kansas state capitol News Item: Disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback lands Kansas teen in principal’s office By Suzanne Perez Tobias The Wichita Eagle Published Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, at 6:06 p.m. Updated Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, at 12:49 p.m. … On Tuesday, Sullivan was called to her principal’s office and told that the tweet had been flagged by someone on Brownback’s...

Here are a couple of interesting developments. After announcing last week that he will nationalize Venezuela’s gold industry, Hugo Chavez is now “repatriating” his country’s gold reserves. According to the BBC, Chavez plans to bring home approximately 160 tons of gold, worth more than $ 11 billion, mostly from London where the vast majority of Venezuela’s gold is held. The first shipment of gold bars...

Jerry Sandusky: The ‘great pretender’ — a must read essay at The Week.

WASHINGTON – Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to get itself caught in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what’s happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health care law. Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems...

Hey, we always knew it was a matter of time before pepper spraying really caught on among the general public. I mean, if a policeman can just ‘casually walk down a line of students sitting down and not doing anything violent and pepper spray them — basically spraying them because he didn’t like them – why can’t citizens do the same? How long is it before citizens pepper spray...

A few days ago I posted a piece both at The Moderate Voice and The Huffington Post on the failed attempt by the notorious dentist-lawyer-birther, Orly Taitz, to have president Obama officially removed from the New Hampshire primary ballot. It also mentioned the re-release by the Obama campaign of their limited-edition coffee (or tea) mugs with Obama’s mug shot on one side and a copy of Obama’s official birth...

In Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (a book that you’ve either read or will never read, so there’s no spoiler here) Yank Tyrone Slothrop turns out to have been the infamous (within psychological conditioning circles) Baby Tyrone. Young Baby (as opposed to Old Baby, which would be Toddler) Tyrone is conditioned to a Pavlovian response. And, when the scientists realize that the experiment...

The President pardoned two birds yesterday after Congress went home for the holidays. In the annual White House rite, he acknowledged the other fowl escapees, noting that “some of you may know that recently I’ve been taking a series of executive actions that don’t require Congressional approval. “Well, here’s another one. We can’t wait to pardon these turkeys. Literally. Otherwise they’d end up...

MAY WE LAUGH Dear Brave Souls: For family dinners at holiday season. May we laugh. May we return good to good. May we return good to not-so-hot. May we laugh. May we return kind to kind. May we return kind to cruel. May we laugh. May we return calm to calm. May we return calm to flagrant. May we laugh. May we stay long as we like. May we stay short if need be. May we laugh about how we all belong to a family...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

If you’ve never heard it, today is the perfect time to listen to Stan Freberg’s classic take on Thanksgiving with his famous song “Take an Indian to Lunch.” And if you have heard it, you’ll want to hear it again. Click the arrow below: Pilgrim’s Progress (Take An Indian To Lunch) This is from Volume I of Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America (1961) which can...

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