[Originally posted on January 11, 2011.] It's that time of year. Now, as the airwaves are filled with the same silly stories that the same silly people trot out every silly year, it's timely, and I present it for your consideration, slightly altered and emended: NOTE: Spent all day Tuesday [January 11, 2011] at an update on changes to Federal and Oregon tax law for … [Read more...] about So How Come the Tax Code is so “Unfair”?
The Bullies Again
This isn't about high school or college students. It isn't about rednecks, reeling with beer, roughing up a gay guy late at night in some bar in the southwest. This is about the Secret Service and it appears to happen with some frequency. We've even seen an instance of it in this part of rural Texas when off-duty presidential guardians got involved in a local dispute and … [Read more...] about The Bullies Again
Santorums Exit Like “The Sopranos”
Five years ago, a family that had captured the American imagination suddenly disappeared from TV screens with no real explanation, just as the current national soap opera, “The Santorums” abruptly ended this week. They sit around a table, nothing untoward happens...and then fade to black. We had been mesmerized on the weekend by their daughter’s hospital stay, we were … [Read more...] about Santorums Exit Like “The Sopranos”
Book Review: “The Gandelman Name in History” [Paperback] (The “Our Name In History” Series)
Sorry to have to be so blunt and I have never used the words in a review before, but may I say "Rip off?" Yes, I know that the publishers of the Our Name In History disclose that these are short books, have some statistics and deal with immigration and old immgration records. But I -- like I'm sure others have and will -- bought this because the titled suggested it was a … [Read more...] about Book Review: “The Gandelman Name in History” [Paperback] (The “Our Name In History” Series)
The Good Inflation/Bad Inflation Story
Is inflation in this country well under control? You might think so if you listen to what's coming from the Fed on the subject, or even from Paul Krugman, whose analysis of economic matters I usually find quite perceptive. Unfortunately, however, inflation here is not well under control when you look at it more closely and distinguish between "bad inflation" and "good … [Read more...] about The Good Inflation/Bad Inflation Story
North Korea’s Loss of Face. What Now?
Even before the humiliating failure of North Korea’s Taepo Dong-2 missile launch, the regime there was already considering the possibility of failure and whom to blame it on. Well, not exactly. The paranoid leadership apparently entertained the possibility of the “U.S., Japan and the ‘group traitors’ running South Korea” intercepting the rocket, and promised an … [Read more...] about North Korea’s Loss of Face. What Now?
The Real Ike (Guest Voice)
The Real Ike by Richard Cohen Washington Post Columnist One day in 1967, Dwight D. Eisenhower came to New York for the opening of an exhibit of his paintings at the old Huntington Hartford Museum on Columbus Circle. Ike, like Churchill, was an amateur painter and, like Churchill, was more ambitious than talented. Ike's paintings were simple farm scenes and the like, … [Read more...] about The Real Ike (Guest Voice)
Was Fox News Pulling For Romney? (Guest Voice)
Was Fox News Pulling for Romney? by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown According to the RealClearPolitics website, Newt Gingrich recently told a Tea Party meeting in Delaware, "I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through. In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of … [Read more...] about Was Fox News Pulling For Romney? (Guest Voice)
Kim Jong-un`s Toy
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Kim Jong-un`s Toy
Mitt Romney’s Future Is Canada’s Future
Now that the fight for the Republican nomination has been settled, Canadians should keep a close eye on Mitt Romney. His future is Canada's future. Romney personifies the financialization of the North American economy in the past thirty-five years. He did not make his money by making things. He became rich by buying, selling and closing down businesses. Obama has the … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney’s Future Is Canada’s Future
How Comedians and Cartoonists View North Korea’s “Failure to Launch”
While Friday’s spectacular missile launch failure was a humiliating embarrassment for North Korea and its leaders, it provided plenty of material for humorists, satirists and cartoonists everywhere to poke fun at North Korea and its missile program. The usually sedate Stars and Stripes provides us with “a look at some of the funnier reactions.” However, while we make fun … [Read more...] about How Comedians and Cartoonists View North Korea’s “Failure to Launch”
The Titanic, 100 Years Later
"The very rich are different from you and me," F. Scott Fitzgerald famously quipped to his fellow scribe and drinking pal Ernest Hemingway... to which Hemingway just as famously replied, "Yes, they have more money." Both men came from solid middle-class Midwestern stock. But Fitzgerald had gone to school with the rich boys and knew them intimately: the sporty banter, the … [Read more...] about The Titanic, 100 Years Later
Repression Will Win Out Over Legalization at Summit of the Americas (El Carabobeno, Venezuela)
Will the Summit of the Americas, to be held in Colombia this weekend, call for drug decriminalization? Columnist Julio E. Mayaudon of Venezuela's El Carabobeno writes that despite all the evidence supporting an orderly decriminalization, an alliance of sorts between the U.S. and more authoritarian states will doom plans for legalization: The U.S. opposes it, preferring to put … [Read more...] about Repression Will Win Out Over Legalization at Summit of the Americas (El Carabobeno, Venezuela)
The War on the War on Women Woman
Welcome to the Etch-a-Sketch. Now, if you're paying attention, you just learned the Achilles heel of the Romney campaign. If you haven't been paying attention, that's YOUR Achilles heel, which they intend to exploit. I speak of course, of Ann Romney's dirty crack. … [Read more...] about The War on the War on Women Woman
Don’t Let Mommy War Linkbait Distract From Policy Preferences & Differences
Did you know that working moms who don't watch Fox are socialists? Neither did I. But then I asked some folks on Twitter, who were beating up on a friend of mine who is a left of center lady, not unlike myself, and was on Fox this morning (the national cable version, not the local), if they could link to the clip about which they were razzing my friend, since, being a working … [Read more...] about Don’t Let Mommy War Linkbait Distract From Policy Preferences & Differences
The Rich Are Different from You and Me – They Pay Less Taxes (Guest Voice)
The Rich Are Different from You and Me – They Pay Less Taxes by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship Benjamin Franklin, who used his many talents to become a wealthy man, famously said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But if you’re a corporate CEO in America today, even they can be put on the back burner – death held at bay by the best medical care … [Read more...] about The Rich Are Different from You and Me – They Pay Less Taxes (Guest Voice)
Shrill for the Women’s Vote: Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen Go to War
WASHINGTON - The graphic above is from Buzzfeed, a favorite daily stop of mine. It says a lot, especially how Hilary Rosen's comment turned Ann Romney into the Romney campaign's reluctant heroine at a time when the candidate himself is sucking wind on women. That the cultural collision ignited by Rosen brought back a favorite Republican talking point, to which I've never … [Read more...] about Shrill for the Women’s Vote: Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen Go to War
Never Worked A Day In Her Life
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Never Worked A Day In Her Life
Cat Fight Between the Cheshire Cat and Fox News (UPDATE)
UPDATE: The feud continues. The man -- the Daily News called him a “Cry Baby” back in 1995 -- who “closed down the government because Clinton made him sit at back of plane,” now has an even more devastating revenge in store for Fox News. Jeremy Peters over at The Hill informs us that Gingrich and Callista will be sitting at CNN’s table, not Fox, at the White House … [Read more...] about Cat Fight Between the Cheshire Cat and Fox News (UPDATE)
TO Piers Morgan and Ann Romney: Wake up, For Most Women Today, it’s NOT a “Choice”
Tonight, Piers, whom I adore for being a shy outspoken reserved iconoclastic darling curly haired boyish mensch... cozied up to the Ann Romney statement (via Ann's son coming on his show to defend his mother), refuting Miss Hilary Rosen's remark inferring that Mrs Romney's no expert on the lives of women, not having to work a day in her life. Just this Piers: Ann said over … [Read more...] about TO Piers Morgan and Ann Romney: Wake up, For Most Women Today, it’s NOT a “Choice”