The socipathic Republicans/Conservatives hate welfare unless it's for large corporations that are part of the military industrial complex. In order to avoid cuts in the "defense" budget they want to cut food stamps. WASHINGTON -- The latest Republican plan to reconcile the budget and preserve defense spending extracts even deeper cuts from programs to help the poor … [Read more...] about Wingnut Welfare
LIVE VIDEO: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Watch the White House Correspondents' Dinner live HERE. As usual, the President (in this case Barack Obama) will do a monologue poking fun at him and his political foes. And the host will take potshots at the President and others. This year's host: Jimmy Kimmel. Also: watch it and place bets now on which comments by Obama and Kimmel will be turned into chest-beating lines … [Read more...] about LIVE VIDEO: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Dania Londoño Suare: The Woman Who Rocked the U.S. Secret Service (El Espectador, Colombia)
What kind of person is Dania Londoño Suare, the woman at the center of one of the biggest scandals to hit the U.S. Secret Service since its inception under President Lincoln in 1865? Reporter Jerly Calvo Licero of Colombia's El Espectador interviewed neighbors, the cab driver that drove her home after she was reportedly stiffed by her Secret Service client, and even a man who … [Read more...] about Dania Londoño Suare: The Woman Who Rocked the U.S. Secret Service (El Espectador, Colombia)
Mad Men Hold the Aged Captive
From "Mad Men," we know a media target is a demographic group who wants and needs the same thing or can be conned into thinking they do. Now, a brief hospital stay conjures up a bizarre new target audience of the old, the maimed and the chronically ill that ad men have in their sights. The future is grim, if you can believe where advertisers are placing their bets on … [Read more...] about Mad Men Hold the Aged Captive
Enthusiasm
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Enthusiasm
Understanding The Term “Family Values”
I admit it. I've been having a lot of trouble understanding this family values thing. I knew it had something to do with gun ownership and undermining environmental regulations, of course. But its larger meaning had alluded me until this past week, when the family value-loving House of Representatives finally made the term's meaning crystal clear to us all. To fund … [Read more...] about Understanding The Term “Family Values”
Romney Holds Unpublicized Fundraiser at Home of Controversial Billionaire’s Town House
The Daily Beast reports that presumptive Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney held what appears to be a hush-hush, big bucks raising fundraiser at the New York townhouse of a highly controversial billionaire. How hush hush? According to The Daily Beast's Ben Jacobs, the fundraiser wasn't on Romney's schedule and the campaign didn't respond to his inquiries. To those … [Read more...] about Romney Holds Unpublicized Fundraiser at Home of Controversial Billionaire’s Town House
Secret Agent Man
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Secret Agent Man
Cloud Cuckoo Land Budgeting in PA
This coming Tuesday, food stamp means testing will begin in Pennsylvania. This policy, brainchild of the state's Governor Tom Corbett, is bizarre for several reasons. It's cruel and will hurt the very neediest people in Pennsylvania - most of them children. The Governor is supposedly adding the test to weed out fraud - though everyone agrees that fraud in this program is … [Read more...] about Cloud Cuckoo Land Budgeting in PA
Romney’s Advice to Students: Borrow Money From Your Parents to Pay For College
Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney continues to provide lots of material for stand up comedians, topics for blog posts -- and ammunition to Team Obama with his unscripted comments that continually show him to be someone who seemingly doesn't have a clue about what most American families (of parents from both parties) go through. His latest was this advice … [Read more...] about Romney’s Advice to Students: Borrow Money From Your Parents to Pay For College
What The Secret Service Could Learn From Drunken Sailors
A look at the scandal from a rather unique point of view. … [Read more...] about What The Secret Service Could Learn From Drunken Sailors
A Review of the ACT Theatre’s The Pitmen Painters
The Pitman Painters by Lee Hall is inspired by William Feaver's book concerning the Ashington group. In 1934, a small group of working class men gathered at the Ashington, England YMCA hall to be taught art appreciation by Robert Lyon from Durham University. The class was sponsored by the union run Worker's Education Association (WEA) and was comprised mostly of miners. The … [Read more...] about A Review of the ACT Theatre’s The Pitmen Painters
Wall Street and China: Perfect Together?
I was feeling haggard and grumbly this morning after a truncated night's sleep, when I happened to spy the following headline tucked away on page 3 of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Wall Street, dissed by U.S., seen as moving to China O joy that cometh in the morning! What could have triggered such an ominously promising headline? Apparently JPMorgan Chase, that venerable … [Read more...] about Wall Street and China: Perfect Together?
A “No-Brainer” for when a Tornado Threatens
Living in the southern edge of “Tornado Alley,” I take these “weather phenomena” seriously and any time a tornado watch is declared for our area, we keep a close eye on the weather channel -- and on those dark, threatening clouds. When the “watch” changes to a “warning,” we prepare to take immediate shelter in a hopefully safe part of the house. Regrettably, unless one … [Read more...] about A “No-Brainer” for when a Tornado Threatens
Corporate Ethics Redux
To further reinforce my comments yesterday on the lack of corporate ethics and the failure of the feds to go after the execs who gamed the system is an article in today's LA Times. It reports that Lehman Brothers awarded $700 million to top executives just before it went bankrupt. It's further evidence that financial company executives did everything me first where money was … [Read more...] about Corporate Ethics Redux
Divided They Fall
It's a pleasure to note that the Republican party split is getting wider. The split -- between Republican loyalists and radicals -- may ruin the that party's effort to take the Senate in November. The Hill calls it a fight between conservatives (tea partyers) and the "establishment" (Republicans). Except tea partyers are knuckle-draggers, not conservatives, so between … [Read more...] about Divided They Fall
U.S. Economic Growth Cools
U.S. economic growth has cooled -- which likely means U.S. politics will now heat up: U.S. economic growth cooled in the first quarter as businesses cut back on investment and restocked shelves at a slower pace, but stronger demand for automobiles softened the blow. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in … [Read more...] about U.S. Economic Growth Cools
Boehner to Rubio’s Hopes of Passing GOP Dream Act: In Your Dreams
Marco Rubio, up and coming GOPER, Florida Senator and supposed Vice Presidential option for presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has gotten a lot of press and political pundit buzz from his efforts to drum up support for a Republican version of the Dream Act. While some have argued this is nothing more than an election year ploy by the GOP for damage control … [Read more...] about Boehner to Rubio’s Hopes of Passing GOP Dream Act: In Your Dreams
(UPDATED) Proposed Law in Egypt: Hopefully a Hoax, a Misunderstanding or an Exaggeration
UPDATE: The New York Magazine, pointing to the same story in the Christian Science Monitor we linked to yesterday, says that the Egyptian Corpse-Sex Law probably is not real: We say probably because even the doubters have been unable to provide conclusive evidence yet. But they — the Christian Science Monitor's Dan Murphy and readers of Andrew Sullivan's blog, for … [Read more...] about (UPDATED) Proposed Law in Egypt: Hopefully a Hoax, a Misunderstanding or an Exaggeration
Backward Banking (Guest Voice)
Backward Banking by Michael Reagan I don't know if it's Dodd-Frank. Or if it's Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd themselves. Or if it's just the big bankers. But the reality is, our banking system is completely screwed up when it comes to getting a home loan. The problem used to be that the banks, in collusion with a federal government, made bad loans to bad people. … [Read more...] about Backward Banking (Guest Voice)