Before I became a senior editor with Bloomberg Financial News where my work revolved around business and economic issues, I spent years writing about the environment. This background has given me a rather interesting focus — an ability to see some important similarities in the ways the natural world and the world of economics operate. From this perspective, it's clear to me why … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney — An Ecologically Unsound Choice For President
A Hungrier Summer In Philadelphia
An article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer states: "Fewer students will be eating free breakfast and lunch in summer school this year because [of] budget troubles...That means parents will have to scramble to feed children - many of them low-income - who are accustomed to free school meals but will not receive them." Isn't that just wonderful. Not only are Governor … [Read more...] about A Hungrier Summer In Philadelphia
Hitler: A Coke Head Who Distributed Another Kind of Gas (Flatulence)
If you say the name "Adolf Hitler" among other things that comes to mind is a political madman who gassed millions of Jews in his infamous "Final Solution." But the release of his medical records now up for bid online suggest his life was marked by another kind of gas: major flatulence. And he was also a coke head, to boot: It’s a whole other side to the Nazi dictator, … [Read more...] about Hitler: A Coke Head Who Distributed Another Kind of Gas (Flatulence)
Ted Nugent: Romney Campaign Has Told Him Not to Tone It Down
If independent voters hope for a more thoughtful tone in our political campaigns and for signs that American political campaigns are not becoming one long polarizingm, demonizing, rage filled talk show style rant, they will have to keep looking. Rocker Ted Nugent says that the Romney campaign has told him not to tone down the kinds of comments that led to the Secret Service … [Read more...] about Ted Nugent: Romney Campaign Has Told Him Not to Tone It Down
Quote of the Day: Resignation of Robert Grenell is Romney’s First Big Mistake
Our political Quote of the Day comes from Bloomberg's Michael Kinsley, who in a column titled "Mitt Romney’s Bigotry Needs No Spokesman," argues that the resignation of Romney's foreign policy spokesman Robert Grennell amid attacks on Grennell from social conservatives who had an issue with him being is a big mistake that will hurt Romney with moderate voters. Kinsley begins … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: Resignation of Robert Grenell is Romney’s First Big Mistake
Budget Savannah
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Newt and LBJ: Speakers on Different Frequencies (Bill Clinton is Attuned to Only One)
>Newton Leroy Gingrich goes into history now to join Lyndon Baines Johnson, two men of outsized appetite for power who served as Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives decades apart and in different worlds of heart, mind and spirit. Johnson later passed a civil rights law to free a race from psychological chains after physical captivity and started an ambitious … [Read more...] about Newt and LBJ: Speakers on Different Frequencies (Bill Clinton is Attuned to Only One)
Did You Hear About The Al Qaeda Massacre In Arizona? No?
It is worth noting yet again as the first anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden passes that while Islamic-driven terrorism remains a serious problem, right-ring domestic terrorism is a more substantial one. And that the inability of the media and many other folks to connect the dots between one mass shooting and another -- and then another and then another -- renders us … [Read more...] about Did You Hear About The Al Qaeda Massacre In Arizona? No?
Stop The Dumb Campaign Ads
It's not surprising that we are all burned out on political ads and as a prior post notes, the rhetoric in the 1800's was even worse. But still I can't believe some of the commercials out there "Democrat Elmer Fudd wants to give Viagra to child molesters and then put them in charge of day care centers" "Republican Bugs Bunny wants to take your grandma's social security … [Read more...] about Stop The Dumb Campaign Ads
David Maraniss Obama Book Provides Rip van Winkle Moment for Media
WASHINGTON - Back in 2007 into very early 2008, when the national press was agog about Barack Obama, I wrote about him in a manner that was honest and highly doubting that the myth matched what I'd been told by Chicagoans, as well as what I'd dug up and read about the man who was just another ruthless politician. But politics is a dirty game and there isn't one person who … [Read more...] about David Maraniss Obama Book Provides Rip van Winkle Moment for Media
Just saying… about loss of the young
Homicides Los Angeles: Jan. 1, 2007 to April 30, 2012 about 25% our very young... age 17-23 are part of this stat of nearly 4000 murders over 5.5 years' time. By cause Blunt force 234 Gunshot 3,013 Other 180 Stabbing 412 Strangled 42 Unspecified 93 By race or ethnicity Latino 2,027 Black 1,273 White 475 Asian 128 Other 40 … [Read more...] about Just saying… about loss of the young
Afghanistan, For the Long Haul?
WASHINGTON -- Show of hands: Does anybody really understand the U.S. policy in Afghanistan? Can anyone figure out how we're supposed to stay the course and bring home the troops at the same time? I'm at a loss, even after President Obama's surprise trip to the war zone. The president's televised address from Bagram air base raised more questions than it answered. Let's … [Read more...] about Afghanistan, For the Long Haul?
China, Obama y Chen Guangchen
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Obama Campaign’s Attack on Romney over Bin Laden: An Ad too Far?
Even liberal Arianna Huffington objected to a recent Obama campaign ad suggesting that Mitt Romney might not have issued the order to send in the Navy SEALs to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. She called the ad "despicable.” Standing with 9/11 mayor Rudy Giuliani by his side at a New York firehouse that lost 11 men on Sept. 11, Mitt Romney, who has attacked Obama for … [Read more...] about Obama Campaign’s Attack on Romney over Bin Laden: An Ad too Far?
Future President
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Suggested Campaign Slogans for the Romney Campaign
As I noted here before, the Obama campaign has apparently decided on "Forward" as its campaign slogan -- settling on half the MSNBC slogan. So before you assume that means Romney will decide then that his campaign should be "We Report" (half the Fox News slogan), here's Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball coming to the rescue with this list HERE of suggested slogans for the Romney … [Read more...] about Suggested Campaign Slogans for the Romney Campaign
Romney’s War on Words–and Meaning
So soon after eight years of W circumlocution ("Mistakes were made"), could Americans bear as president another aging frat boy who instinctively mangles language into meaninglessness? Mitt Romney provides a preview of his brand of highwire linguistics by torturing a five-year- old declaration by Obama that he would unilaterally pursue Osama bin Laden into Pakistan: "I … [Read more...] about Romney’s War on Words–and Meaning
What is the Border Wall Really For?
When I went down to the border for a meeting about building the wall between the US and Mexico -- this was about five years ago -- it became clear to most of us in the meeting, even many who had come to defend strong measures designed to keep immigrants out, that this wasn't about immigration. The proposed wall stretching from California to the Gulf Coast was about the wall … [Read more...] about What is the Border Wall Really For?
Poll: Romney Leads Obama in Two Key Swing States
This is going to be a swing state and partisans in each party who are suggesting that in the end it'll be easy their party's candidate are increasingly faced with evidence that they're deluding themselves. Like this: Mitt Romney now runs neck-and-neck with President Obama in electoral-vote-rich Ohio and Florida, according to the latest installment of the Quinnipiac … [Read more...] about Poll: Romney Leads Obama in Two Key Swing States
Dysfunctional Washington- What Does the Future Hold?
With the vast majority of Americans disgusted with Washington and polls showing that Congressional approval rates are in the toilet, can we anticipate that the discourse might improve in the future? Can we expect that politicians will take citizens’ displeasure to heart with positive steps to improve the atmosphere in Washington, so that the important business of the nation can … [Read more...] about Dysfunctional Washington- What Does the Future Hold?