The news gossips are tittering and tweeting: on Thursday, Comcast will, they say, announce it is buying Time Warner. [Update 3:55 am Pacific: Comcast confirms merger] Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S., wants to buy merge with Time Warner Cable, the second largest cable company in the U.S. Ah, yes. American capitalism at work: how many monopolies (or … [Read more...] about Comcast wants to swallow Time Warner; let’s make ’em choke
A Minor Surprise In The GOP Health Care Proposal
There has already been a lot of discussion on a recent Republican proposal to replace Obamacare and I don't want to repeat it all. The gist is that most people would pay more for less coverage and be at greater risk of losing coverage than under the Affordable Care Act. Reading a review in The New England Journal of Medicine I did find one item which I hadn't noticed in … [Read more...] about A Minor Surprise In The GOP Health Care Proposal
Sid Caesar, Immigrant Son, Consummate Comedian, Dies
>Sid Caesar was born to hard-working immigrant parents, his mother from the then Russian Empire, and his father from Poland. The young couple struggled to come to the United States where as too often happened back then… the age-old family surname was lost at Ellis Island when an immigration official decided to re-name the family "Caesar". Young Sid at age five was working … [Read more...] about Sid Caesar, Immigrant Son, Consummate Comedian, Dies
Faulconer To Be San Diego’s New Mayor
San Diego's registered Dem voters out number Repub voters by 14%. David Alvarez (D) had a war chest of five million dollars financed by organized labor. He out spent Kevin Faulconer (R) by one million dollars. As well, Alvarez had a large Latino following in his effort to become San Diego's first Latino mayor. However, Faulconer successfully went beyond ideology with wider … [Read more...] about Faulconer To Be San Diego’s New Mayor
Farewell Sid Caesar
As you may have heard by now comedy legend Sid Caesar has died at the age of 91 Over the coming days we will hear many great stories about Sid but I thought I'd offer one that came to mind when I heard the news, a story told by Carol Burnett. Back when she was starting out she used to sneak backstage and watch Sid and company do dress rehearsal and then she'd run home and … [Read more...] about Farewell Sid Caesar
Political Liberty Turns 1,000 Years Old
Ernest Renan, a nineteenth-century French philosopher, noted, "Getting its history wrong is part of being a nation." This truth has profound implications, chief among which is that the cultural and political trajectory of a nation is determined not only by its past, but also - and to a greater extent - by the stories it tells itself about its past. The United States' … [Read more...] about Political Liberty Turns 1,000 Years Old
Discrimination Versus Personal Property Rights
Kathy Gill looked at discrimination in 1964 and today, leading me to think about the ramifications of government action in this area. There are certainly parallels, and maybe differences, between discrimination against blacks then and gays today. She looked at some current legal cases: This week, Tennessee State Sen. Brian Kelsey filed legislation (SB 2566) that would “allow … [Read more...] about Discrimination Versus Personal Property Rights
‘Free Press’ Won’t Spoil President Putin’s Sochi Experience (Izvestia, Russia)
Looking back and comparing the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Izvestia columnist Maxim Sokolov writes that surprisingly, the 'free press' is much angrier today than it was then. And why might that be? According to Sokolov, it is because Vladimir Putin personifies these Olympic Games, and this time, the West isn't boycotting. For Izvestia, a … [Read more...] about ‘Free Press’ Won’t Spoil President Putin’s Sochi Experience (Izvestia, Russia)
A toxic kind of nostalgia: “we don’t serve your kind”
February is a flashback to 1964 in the entertainment world, as TV and radio wax poetic about The Beatles and their invasion of America. But there's another kind of nostalgia peppering state legislatures: we don't serve your kind. That artifact of America circa 1964 was legally put to bed with the passage of the Civil Rights Act (marked by a 54-day filibuster). This week, … [Read more...] about A toxic kind of nostalgia: “we don’t serve your kind”
Shirley Temple: Tot Idol to Cancer Heroine
The woman who died yesterday at 85 takes with her a world that is unimaginable today. Shirley Temple became a movie star at three, won an Oscar at five and was more popular in the 1930s than FDR. Her charms escaped me then because I was only a few years old older, but after undergoing mastectomy in 1972, she wrote a McCalls article about it for me after holding a press … [Read more...] about Shirley Temple: Tot Idol to Cancer Heroine
On Russian Spies and ‘Snowdenistas’: A Rebuttel of Edward Lucas (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)
It is becoming something of a cottage industry. Two weeks ago, Patrik Etschmayer of Switzerland's News rejected historian Sean Wilentz, who in the pages of the New Republic, attacked Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Glenn Greenwald, by examining old blog entries, their early careers, and other information that has nothing to do with NSA mass surveillance. Today we have … [Read more...] about On Russian Spies and ‘Snowdenistas’: A Rebuttel of Edward Lucas (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)
Executions Stopped By Washington State Governor
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has placed a moratorium on executions in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington. Inslee’s decision follows similar moves by the governor of Maryland, which has since abolished capital punishment, and Governor John Kitzhaber, Inslee’s neighboring governor to the south in Oregon where a moratorium has been in effect since 2011. Governor … [Read more...] about Executions Stopped By Washington State Governor
The Topsy Turvy 21st Century
Welcome to the topsy turvy 21st century, where previous values and logic are turned upside down. When "Alice in Wonderland's" caterpillar asked Alice who she is, she replied: "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who IÂ WASÂ when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then." And so it goes with the United States … [Read more...] about The Topsy Turvy 21st Century
Looking at the Law (Guest Voice)
Looking at the Law By Peter Funt In one courtroom were poorly prepared attorneys, shackled defendants and assembly-line justice. In another, things were all spit and polish: "yes, sir" and "thank you, ma'am." My son Danny and I spent the better part of a recent day observing our legal system from vantage points 3,000 miles apart. My conclusions were encouraging, while … [Read more...] about Looking at the Law (Guest Voice)
Shirley Temple Black (Cartoon)
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed by Cagle Cartoons to run on TMV. All rights reserved. Reproduction elsewhere without licensing is strictly prohibited … [Read more...] about Shirley Temple Black (Cartoon)
Chicago event evokes pre-scandal Christie
Chicago event evokes pre-scandal Christie (via NJ.com) CHICAGO — For a precious hour yesterday, Gov. Chris Christie put aside the widening scandal known across the country as Bridgegate and returned to what he had been doing before the controversy engulfed him: He offered himself once again as a model… … [Read more...] about Chicago event evokes pre-scandal Christie
The State of the GOP
Andrew Sullivan reflects on the state of the Republican Party in light of its recent behavior on several issues on The Daily Dish. This is the party that wants to be seen as an alternative. It is rather, an unpredictable cauldron of crazy now grasping for more than the House. Perhaps it will win the Senate on a wave of Obamacare hysteria and opposition. But its conduct in the … [Read more...] about The State of the GOP
US ends boycott of India’s Prime Minister-aspirant Narendra Modi
After humiliating and bycotting Narendra Modi, India's powerful leader beloging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the US administration has finally woken up from its Rip Van Winkle sleep after almost a decade. The US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell will meet Narendra Modi on Thursday in Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat, India's western state that has elected Modi … [Read more...] about US ends boycott of India’s Prime Minister-aspirant Narendra Modi
House Votes To Increase Debt Ceiling
The House passed a clean bill increasing the debt ceiling today, showing that the Democrats have learned their lesson to refuse to negotiate with terrorists. The bill extending the debt ceiling until March 2015 passed by a margin of House voted 221-201, with the support of only 28 Republicans. Initially Republicans had hoped to tie their vote to some concessions, such as … [Read more...] about House Votes To Increase Debt Ceiling
Dignity in Education (Part 1)
This is the ninth part of the serialization of All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (Berrett-Koehler, 2006). The ideas in this book are further developed in my recent novel The Rowan Tree. CHAPTER FIVE: DIGNITY IN EDUCATION (Part 1) I’m afraid of dying before I prove that I’m somebody. –Tyondra Newton, a teenager raised in foster homes One of … [Read more...] about Dignity in Education (Part 1)