Recently I heard a Planet Money clip on Public Radio about a drug that actually works quite well to help people get off heroin and pain pill addiction. The generic name of the drug is Buprenorphine, also known by its brand name, Suboxone. In our upside down world it is very hard to get this drug - it's expensive and doctors are not eager to prescribe it due to challenges and … [Read more...] about How To Cut The Taliban’s Major Funding Source
Defying the NRA Death Lobby
Half a century ago 60 percent of Americans favored a ban on hand guns. Now, 53 percent don’t want to outlaw even assault rifles. Such a massive shift in public opinion has been spurred, sponsored and legislatively enforced by the National Rifle Association, tagged by journalists as the gun lobby but more accurately described as the gun death lobby. As Mitt Romney disdains … [Read more...] about Defying the NRA Death Lobby
Washington State Charter Schools Initiative Bankrolled By Tech Millionaires
Coming to the Washington state ballot in November is a measure, Initiative 1240, asking voters to allocate public tax revenues to alternative schools. These "charter schools" are exempt from some government rules and regulations and have greater flexibility in curriculum and teaching methods. Actually, we should say coming again to the ballot. Washington state voted down … [Read more...] about Washington State Charter Schools Initiative Bankrolled By Tech Millionaires
Mitt Romney’s London Trip: Successful In Terms of Image Deconstructing
You have to give presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney a lot of credit: when it was first announced he'd be going overseas many analysts predicted that it would be the kind of foreign trip that would add to his image. It most certainly has. But as Taylor Marsh notes here, it has been a debacle in imagery -- image deconstruction not image building. This is not the … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney’s London Trip: Successful In Terms of Image Deconstructing
A Task That Needs to Be Done (Guest Voice)
A Task That Needs to Be Done by Robert Coutinho I recently had to go into the hospital due to an emergency. On my last day there, I got a new room mate who talked about politics, economics, and other items. What I learned from him was very important. The man was in his early sixties. He was probably of average intelligence. He had worked most of his life in … [Read more...] about A Task That Needs to Be Done (Guest Voice)
Rankism vs. the Golden Rule
[This is the 17th in the series Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship.] The Many Faces of Rankism Rankism is a collective name for the various ways power can be abused in the context of a rank difference. It’s a name broad enough to cover a wide range of rank-based indignities and abuses. Whereas rank is meant to serve, rankism is self-serving, a perversion of … [Read more...] about Rankism vs. the Golden Rule
Senate Blinks on Judge Shipp, Onus Now On Reid For More Confirmtions
By Scott Crass It happened just the way I figured. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on the nomination of Michael Shipp, a candidate for a U.S. District Court judgeship for New Jersey. It was a totally non-controversial nomination which meant that, had a filibuster been held, would’ve been broken easily. But the GOP decided to vitiated a filibuster … [Read more...] about Senate Blinks on Judge Shipp, Onus Now On Reid For More Confirmtions
Romney Foreign Policy Tour Turns Into Gaffe Watch
WASHINGTON - THE POLITICAL MALPRACTICE of the Romney campaign continues at breathtaking speed. The political incompetence is mounting on multiple fronts, so you'll have to game up to keep up. Now, not only did Mitt Romney insult Great Britain on the Olympic games, but he also appeared to have forgotten Labour Party leader's Ed Miliband's name. We also had the Anglo-Saxon … [Read more...] about Romney Foreign Policy Tour Turns Into Gaffe Watch
Issue Won’t Go Away: Conservative Union-Leader Newspapers Calls On Romney to Release Tax Returns
I've often said that 21st century political mantras are repeated over and over and over again and oftentimes the repetition of them turns in into accepting something as fact. Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's talking point suggesting that Democrats want more of his tax returns released so they can find things to "lie" about increasingly doesn't hold water due to all … [Read more...] about Issue Won’t Go Away: Conservative Union-Leader Newspapers Calls On Romney to Release Tax Returns
Delayed Gratfication and Wall Street’s Skewed Priorities
Apple’s earnings came out two days ago and the stock price dived. Wall Street analysts were upset that Apple’s earnings had fallen below their estimates. The company sold 26 million iPhones last quarter, 28% more than it had done a year earlier. Analysts had predicted that 29 million would be sold. Apple also sold 17 million iPads last quarter, compared to 9 million a year … [Read more...] about Delayed Gratfication and Wall Street’s Skewed Priorities
How in the West and East, Mass Murderers are Bred (Elsevier, The Netherlands)
Is the world churning out more mass killers than usual? For Elsevier of the Netherlands, columnist Leon de Winter writes that Western societies, thanks to an odd combination of 'extreme individualism' and the growing capacity of people to live without human contact, are breeding a new type of mass murderer, able to nurture his madness in isolation. Meanwhile, an ancient form … [Read more...] about How in the West and East, Mass Murderers are Bred (Elsevier, The Netherlands)
Rationalizing Gutlessness on Guns (UPDATED)
WASHINGTON -- Talk about power: The gun lobby barely had to say a word before the media sent advocates of saner gun regulation shuffling off in defeat. In a political version of Stockholm syndrome, even those who claim to disagree with the National Rifle Association's absolutist permissiveness on firearms lulled themselves into accepting the status quo by reciting a … [Read more...] about Rationalizing Gutlessness on Guns (UPDATED)
No This Is Not A Joke
No this is not from The Onion: A Republican state legislator in Missouri is holding a campaign fundraiser where he will raffle off one of the same types of weapons used in the Aurora movie theater shooting. Rep. John McCaherty (R-High Ridge) planned the fundraiser prior to last week's shooting that left 12 people at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie dead. … [Read more...] about No This Is Not A Joke
Rush Limbaugh’s Compliment to Ice T Is Not Reciprocated
Top conservative talk show host and top polarizer Rush Limbaugh paid a compliment to actor-rapper Ice T recently, but it wasn't reciprocated. I suspect from this Ice T is not a Rush Limbaugh listener. (On the other hand, perhaps this shows he is.) … [Read more...] about Rush Limbaugh’s Compliment to Ice T Is Not Reciprocated
NRA and Congress
LEGAL NOTICE ON CARTOON: This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Reproduction elsewhere without licensing is strictly prohibited. See great cartoons by all the top political cartoonists at http://cagle.com. To license this cartoon for your own site, visit http://politicalcartoons.com … [Read more...] about NRA and Congress
James Holmes, Alleged Slaughterer, High I.Q. Didnt Take Into Account Human Nature: His Mailed Notebook that Did Not Arrive At Holmes Intended Target
The FBI recovered a package that is said to have been mailed by James Eagan Holmes, after the shooting suspect told investigators to look for it at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. A senior law enforcement officer told NBC that the package contained writings about killing people, but could not go into more detail. Holmes had been in a doctoral program … [Read more...] about James Holmes, Alleged Slaughterer, High I.Q. Didnt Take Into Account Human Nature: His Mailed Notebook that Did Not Arrive At Holmes Intended Target
Mitt Romney Unfamiliar With Details of Colorado Shooting, Falsely Claims Shooter Got Weapons Illegally
I am amazed at the brazenness of the Romney campaign in criticizing Obama on foreign policy and just about everything else, yet they are prone to so many gaffes and have a problem with the facts. Romney had the nerve imply to Brian Williams, according to the transcript of his exclusive NBC interview, that he is unfamiliar with the details of the Colorado shooting that left 12 … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney Unfamiliar With Details of Colorado Shooting, Falsely Claims Shooter Got Weapons Illegally
Sloth-Brained Democrats Take On The Tax Issue
It would be wrong to call the guys and girls who set Democratic Party election themes "brain-dead." A more accurate description would "sloth-brained." They devise just the right policies, but a year or two (or more) after the same themes would have been far more effective. Like those generals who are always brilliantly fighting the last war. Consider taxes. A huge issue … [Read more...] about Sloth-Brained Democrats Take On The Tax Issue
Germans React to the Colorado Massacre (Multiple Newspapers)
Since yesterday, Worldmeets.US has posted articles from two more German newspapers about the Colorado attacks. 1) The NRA: America's ‘Deadliest’ Lobby (Die Tageszeitung, Germany) Is there any sense to the logic of the National Rifle Association, which asserts 'If private gun ownership were restricted, it would be more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain guns; but … [Read more...] about Germans React to the Colorado Massacre (Multiple Newspapers)
Romney Campaign Adviser: President Obama Doesn’t Understand Depth of Anglo-Saxon Heritage
The UK Telegraph has an interesting conversation with two unnamed advisers to Mitt Romney, in which one explained President Obama's so-called coolness to Great Britain by saying he doesn't understand the Anglo-Saxon heritage like Romney does and that his father was from Africa. Um, newsflash to the Romney campaign, Kenya was colonized by the British. Of course, Mitt Romney … [Read more...] about Romney Campaign Adviser: President Obama Doesn’t Understand Depth of Anglo-Saxon Heritage