Peter Broelman, Australia This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibitied.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, still painting Barack Obama as a mere “community organizer” and suggesting Obama is unworthy of Amnerican troops, delivered a speech that galvanized many at the 2012 CPAC convention. She pushed all the hot buttons she does so well: resentments, a warning to the GOP elites to listen to the Tea Party and give them more power within the party, layers of snark and sarcasm aimed at Obama and few (if any) specific policy suggestions . But it shows why Palin...

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Obama Does What? by Peter Funt We know President Obama did something Friday related to rules covering contraception and health insurance for employees of religious organizations. But how do you characterize his action in a short headline? What’s the appropriate verb to follow “Obama…”? Saturday’s front pages went in many, telling, directions. The Boston Globe and Seattle Times were among those who said, “Obama bends.” But The Wall Street Journal and the Providence...

I was watching C-Span and they aired a brief interview with former House member Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, a fairly liberal Democrat who served in the 1970s. As part of her interview she discussed the fact that she was the first member of Congress to give birth to a child and the first to be granted maternity leave. It struck me that today that would hardly be a big deal, indeed outside of the human nature part of the story I doubt many would report it. But for the era, it was a big deal. Indeed in...

Few details yet. Earlier this week, Whitney was spotted leaving a Hollywood nightclub with scratches on her arm, blood dripping down her leg and her wig askew. Remember, I Will Always Love You…

The conventional wisdom a)is like a yo yo on this Republican presidential nomination race, b)will continue to operate like yo yo c)is made trickier with the news that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has just won the Maine caucuses vote on a day when conservatives at CPAC in effect went along with his insistence that he was a “severely conservative” Governor and is a conservative now. The latest good news for Romney: Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney bounced back from...

After a terrible political week, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has gotten some good news in terms of imagery and the argument he’s making that he is conservative and was a “severely conservative” governor: he has won the highly touted Washington Times/CPAC straw poll, which many had expected former Senator Rick Santorum to win: Mitt Romney won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential Straw Poll on Saturday, and also nipped Rick Santorum as the top choice of conservatives...

How is former Massachusetts Mitt Romney doing among some conservatives? To be sure, he seems to be winning some over, but not all. For instance, add conservative icon Richard Viguerie to those who are skeptical. Here’s his latest e-press release in full: Richard Viguerie Says Mitt Romney is a Severe Conservative Impersonator Manassas, VA — Richard A. Viguerie, the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement regarding Mitt Romney’s speech at the Conservative Political...

First polls showed former Godfather CEO Hernan Cain surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable alternative to former Massachusetts Mitt “I-was-severely-conservative” Romney. Then he fizzled. Then polls showed former House Speaker Newt Gingirch surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable anti-Romney. And now a PPP national poll find that it’s Senator Rick Santorum’s turn: Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories...

Is it possible that American citizens, now under arrest in Cairo, were involved with a plot to partition Egypt into four smaller states? According to columnist Muhammad Dunia of Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram, maps that were discovered during a raid on the Cairo offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute prove that at least some of the foreign NGOs operating in Egypt are actively involved with the scheme, which Dunia calls a long-term ‘American-Zionist’ project. For...

UPDATE: A wave of unusually severe cold is gripping Europe. But the weather is not the only thing that is chilling over there. Under the headline “A Chilling Verdict in Spain,” the New York Times reports that “The enemies of Judge Baltasar Garzón have finally gotten their way” as Spain’s Supreme Court has found Judge Garzón guilty of misapplying the country’s wiretap law and suspended him from the courts for 11 years. The 7-0 ruling flowed out of a 2008 corruption case in which...

Did former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just put his food in what seems to be his most accustomed spot again when trying to convince conservatives he’s one of them at the big conservative gathering in Washington, D.C.? It certainly seems so. Our political Quote of the Day typifies the raised eyebrows a particular quote of Romney’s has generated among many movement conservatives. It comes from Red State’s Eric Erickson: Mitt Romney got a warm reception at CPAC, standing ovations...

When Dad is a One Percenter by A Daughter My father, who is 85, grew up believing that all Americans can succeed through hard work and education, and that people who didn’t weren’t trying hard enough. He still believes that. I grew up with the same belief, but its implicit promise of reward based on merit didn’t turn out to be true for my generation or its children. Our economic circumstances have diverged so radically from those of my father’s, you’d think we belonged to different families. Dad...

As the crisis — and brutality — continues to unfold in Syria, keep an eye on Iran, its role and its designs. Michael Youhana has a must read in the NYU Local. Here’s part of it: The Syrian regime’s appalling crackdown — which has left around 6000 dead — has been one of the most violent government responses to the Arab Spring’s wave of uprisings. On Friday, bad became worse when, according to conservative counts, 181 people were massacred in the Syrian city of Homs by Bashar...

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

A Little More Heat by Michael Reagan It seems to me that what is missing in the top two contenders for the Republican presidential nomination is passion. While Ron Paul speaks with passion of the Federal Reserve and Rick Santorum speaks with passion about life, Newt Gingrich speaks passionately mostly about Mitt Romney; and Mitt, it seems, merely speaks in sound bites. I don’t know about you, but I want to see them seek to build their own shining city on a hill such as that my dad envisioned,...

When it comes to the oppression of dissent in Syria, are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council undermining global peace and security by issuing ‘reckless vetoes’? According to this editorial from Japan’s Kochi Shimbun, by concerning themselves with the interests of their own countries rather than what is best for the world, China, Russia, America, Britain and France are demonstrating an extreme form of irresponsible selfishness. The Kochi Shimbun editorial says...

The 5th Avenue’s new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is a wonderfully disconcerting pleasure to enjoy and digest. Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong has referred to Oklahoma! as “. . . truly the quintessential American musical.” The 5th Avenue embraces this truth by weaving a quintessential American tension throughout the production. This tension comes in the name and captivating presence of Jud Fry, played by Kyle Scatliffe. ...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivered his long awaited address to CPAC today. Most commentaries noted the following: 1. He used the word “conservative” so many times you could swear he was trying to hypnotize the audience (and perhaps he was). 2. He used a teleprompter almost completely in the style of President Barack Obama. Which raises the obvious question now being asked: will Newt Gingrich, conservative writers, and talk show hosts make that a big topic now? Or is the teleprompter...

The data points sound horrifying: 46 percent of American children enter kindergarten lacking the basic language skills they need to learn to read 61 percent of low-income children have no children’s books in their homes The verbs convey urgency (currency is an intentional affect, as the factoids are used for fundraising, establishing organizational mandates) and imply that the data are current. But are the data points true, for any definition of “truth”? Oh. And a reminder....

Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

This video, apparently made by angry father Tommy Jordan, has “gone viral” and had more than a million views in under 72 hours, with a torrent of commentary. Most of the commentary seems to express either enthusiastic support or simple shock. I suspect it will get a few million more hits before it dies down or the father pulls it down. I am assuming this is real and not a staged prank. Assuming it’s real, I am sympathetic with Mr. Jordan. Unlike some, I am not fazed at the use...

Do people really not pay attention to what is said anymore? Yesterday, while being interview by John King about possible questions Santorum may face as Commander-In-Chief, Santorum was asked about having women in combat roles. Santorum responded with this answer: “Look, I want to create every opportunity for women to be able to serve this country, and they do so in an amazing and wonderful way. They’re a great addition to the – and have been for a long time – to the armed...

Who can beat President Obama in the fall on the Republican side? The question of electability is the main point of concern among Republicans so far in this cycle. To date, a handful of former first-tier candidates have succumbed to the specter of electability including Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty and yes, even the “perfect candidate” Michelle Bachmann. With only four candidates left in the field, the electability question is even more intense as primary and caucus voters have weighed...

WASHINGTON – The White House compromise on the contraceptive mandate is set for 12:15 pm EST, sandwiched in between the CPAC speeches of Santorum, Romney and Gingrich. But if you want to know what this debate is about, see Joe Scarborough from yesterday. “… I think women should be deacons as well as men. …But if the federal government, if the Justice Department offers a mandate ordering Southern Baptists to make women deacons, I would be the first to say get the hell out...

Would the United States, utilizing what is known as a ‘false flag’ strategy, sacrifice a nuclear aircraft carrier to persuade the world that a war against Iran must be waged? According to columnist Anna Pinderak of Poland’s Wprost24, a theory is making the rounds that the Pentagon has sent the famed USS Enterprise to the Persian Gulf – to sink it – and then to blame Tehran for the crime. For Poland’s Wprost24, Anna Pinderak starts out this way: Is the United...

BISHOP DOLAN IS GROUCHY In for a dime in for a dollar seems to be the modus operandi in the latest round of culture warfare and even when reasonable compromise is within reach it remains elusive. And so we have the sight of Catholic bishops locking horns with the Obama administration over its principled view that all women need affordable access to contraceptive services and products, including the morning-after pill, which pro-lifers view as a form of abortion. This right happens to be a cornerstone...

A centerpiece of the Republican Party’s social agenda in the new millennium has been to deny women new rights and take away old rights, but it stands to reason that everyone of every political stripe would be opposed to neutering laws that seek to combat domestic violence and sexual assault. But Republicans are less reasonable with every passing election cycle, and so we had the specter this week of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voting against the reauthorization of the...

Once again, House Republicans have been unwilling to take a strong stand against insider trading. Though a revised version of the STOCK Act (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) was passed yesterday by the House by an overwhelming margin, it was only after Republicans had weakened the bill. In December, Republican Spencer Bachus from Alabama, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee postponed voting on a bill that would have prohibited insider trading by members of Congress. This was...

Faced with the threat that a slowly improving economy may buoy the President’s reelection chances, Republican campaign strategy is tilting toward the Religious Right. After winning a tiny sliver of voters in three states, Rick Santorum is in Texas talking to pastors: “There’s not a management problem in Washington, all right. There’s a more foundational problem there that goes to the basic concepts of who we are as a people. And those are deeply moral questions… “I have...

It’s High Noon for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney when he talks before the Conservative Political Action Conference: CPAC’s largely young attendees will have a chance to compare the currently sagging Romney with his other GOP Presidential wannabe rivals who have painted themselves as real versus pretend conservatives, including the on-the-ascent Senator Rick Santorum. Can Romney convince them he’s a conservative? To many conservatives, Romney may (today) talk but when he...

by Walter Brasch Once, many years ago, in a land far away between two oceans, with fruited plains, amber waves of grain, and potholes on its highways, there lived a young man named Sam. Now, Sam was a bright young man who wanted to work and save money so he could go to school and become an electrician. But the only job open in his small community was at the gas station. So, for two years, Sam pumped gas, washed windshields, checked dipsticks and tire pressure, smiled and chatted with all the customers,...

I’ve been catching up on my reading and one of the books was so compelling I felt the need to commend it to the TMV crowd. The book is called Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives In North Korea by Barbara Demick. We’ve all heard the stories out of North Korea about the famines or how the average North Korean is shorter than his South Korea brother, but this book takes a new tack that gives you a real insight into the nation. The author chose to focus on one city in North Korea and tried to...

As compared with the Brits, few Americans have made India their home. Among those Americans who became well-known, I wrote about the legendary Samuel Evans Stokes Jr who fought along with Mahatma Gandhi to free the country from the colonial rule, and also brought horticulture revolution in the hills. The other well-known figure is an Indian actor of American origin – Tom Alter – who is now a household name. Born to an American Christian missionary couple, Tom Alter acted in several Bollywood...

Comics don’t mind making a fool of themselves, but first ladies? Yes, if you’re Michelle Obama, who has been making the rounds of talk show hosts and beating them in feats of physical fitnessl in the name of her “Let’s Move” initiative. Her latest victim was Jimmy Fallon of “Late Night,” who visited the White House to take on Mrs. Obama in a series of event, including push-ups, tug-of-war, hula hooping and potato sack racing. Click here for a link to the...

At a time when President Barack Obama seems to have handled relatively well diverse foreign policy challenges, many inherited from his predecessor, his handling of the economic policy and the Wall Street have remained a big question mark. Obama’s continuing reliance on U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and kowtowing to the bankers, makes one wonder whether the President has learned his lessons. All eyes are now on Noam Scheiber’s blockbuster book on the Obama economic team. Here’s...

A touching commentary on the same sex marriage vote in Washington

Our political Quote of the Day comes from former Godfather Pizza and fizzled Republican presidential front-runner candidate Herman Cain, who told had this to say to the CPAC: “We must outsmart the liberals,” Cain said. “We must outsmart the people who are trying to ruin this country.” But, he said, it wasn’t just the stupid people who were ruining the country: “Stupid and ignorant people are ruining America…” Mr. Cain: Photo via shutterstock.com

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner (NOTE: This column was written the morning before former Sen. Rick Santorum’s three big wins Tuesday. However, it’s more timely than ever as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney now tries to prove that he’s a genuine conservative to short-circuit Santorum’s quick rise as the anti-Romney). KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Barring some big political development that again upends the conventional wisdom, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still...

WASHINGTON — Criticism of Mitt Romney for lacking a coherent message is grossly unfair. He has been forthright, consistent and even eloquent in pressing home his campaign’s central theme: Mitt Romney (BEG ITAL)desperately(END ITAL) wants to be president. Everything else seems mushy or negotiable. Romney is passionate about the need, as he sees it, to defeat President Obama — but vague or self-contradictory as to why. The lyrics of “America the Beautiful,” which...

OK, I have always liked JC Penny and have always shopped there.  But I now have an other reason: It’s nice to see a corporation doing the right thing. Even if they are doing it because they realize the new demographics make it a plus it’s still a plus. It’s a sign of the times. The old order is dying – that’s what scares old white people and the election of Obama was a severe weather warning flag. This is rewarding: “She shares the same values that we do,” he...

As you have seen in the news a number of banks have settled with a number of attorneys general to resolve issues related to the mortgage meltdown mess. Now I am not going to say that a 26 billion dollar plan is nothing but let’s do a little math here. To begin with the reports I am hearing say it will take 1-3 years before anyone starts getting money or modifications, not a big help to those in trouble today. Second, let’s run the numbers. Now a portion of the money will go to people...

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that GOPers are fleeing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the anti-Romney for the newest conservative hope: for Rick Santorum. It never pays to count Rick Santorum out. A Tribune-Review/WPXI-TV poll conducted Feb. 2-6 shows the former senator was gaining strength among Pennsylvania Republicans even before this week’s victories in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota that threaten to shake up the GOP presidential contest. The statewide poll of 500 Republicans...

Has the GOP base now turned on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney? A ROUNDUP is here.

Yes, Virgina, there have been and there are highly thoughtful conservatives and Republicans who can discuss an issue without lowering themselves to use demonizing exaggerated rhetoric that is sure to scare away a good chunk of the voters that the Republican Party must win if it wants to get the votes of more people than Rush Limbaugh and Fox News fans. And judging from some of his newest comments, up and coming conservative-favorite Republican aspirant former Senator Rick Santorum is not one of...

WASHINGTON – CPAC is in Washington this weekend. As you can see from the video above, Cal Thomas decided to get even for his friends. It all began when Rachel Maddow said the following this week on her show: “I realize a lot of 60-something male pundits look at this issue & think hmmm… bad politics for Democrats on the Catholic side. There’s another way to look at it.” – Rachel Maddow Who are those “60-something male pundits?” More importantly...

RJ Matson, Roll Call This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill to ban insider trading by members of Congress and to impose new ethics requirements on lawmakers and federal agency officials following a similar lopsided vote by the Senate less than three weeks after President Obama demanded such action in his State of the Union speech. The swift response and 417-to-2 and 96-to-3 votes reflected concerns over the low esteem in which voters hold lawmakers but the votes concealed deep differences and a reluctance by House...

Tom Walkom writes that, as things stand, not much could have been done to keep the doomed Electro-Motive plant in London. He points out that Bombardier no longer manufactures locomotives in Canada. It buys them from a Catapillar plant in Mexico. The problem lies not so much with Caterpillar or Bombardier, but with the rules of the game. “The real villain,” he writes, “is unrestrained globalization. As long as goods and capital are free to move unimpeded across national borders,...

President Barack Obama sending dual messages to voters and has moved from the “hope and change” candidate we saw in the 2008 election, to the “doing what it takes to win” president fighting for reelection. President Barack Obama Sending Dual Messages to Voters in Quest for Reelection (Wikipedia) The political transformation of President Barack Obama is glaring. He has moved from the “hope and change” candidate we saw in the 2008 election, to the “doing what it takes to win”...

Hindsight is always 20-20, of course, but it turns out that the widespread fear — bordering on panic — that there would be a second wave of attacks in the months after 9/11 was misplaced because it turns out that Al Qaeda was a one-hit wonder. This reality is revealed in an article in a leftist rag called the Air Force Times that says that the government underestimated the terrorist group before the attacks and overestimated it afterward. The Bush-Cheney cabal cannot be forgiven for...

You might label the past few weeks “Return of the Culture Wars.” And, as ABC News notes, it’s bad news for the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: The resurgence of social and cultural issues in voters’ minds poses new challenges for GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney as he reels from surprising losses Tuesday to conservative favorite Rick Santorum. The economy remains the No. 1 issue of concern for a majority of Americans. But the recent hoopla surrounding the Obama...

When you find yourself agreeing with Donald Trump, it’s time for a sanity check. Still, The Donald knows about beauty contests (pace Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado), so he may be qualified to comment on the results: “Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It’s unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh ‘okay’ I just lost by the biggest margin in history...

No they have not managed to extend FB to the world beyond…… yet. But this is a free estate planning tip to all the TMV readers. While many of us plan for our loved ones by setting up a will or trust and leaving them with information about bank accounts and credit cards, one thing we tend to forget is our internet presence. It’s not a pleasant topic, but we’re all gonna go sometime (unless someone knows something I don’t) and your loved ones need to, among other things,...