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The Moderate Voice

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Where Might A Needed Economic Stimulus Come From? A Private Infrastructure Initiative

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One of the save-the-economy notions floating around Washington these days is something called the American Infrastructure Financing Authority It's a public-private approach to refurbishing and modernizing our roads, bridges, public transit, schools, and other infrastructure. In its current proposal form, it would have the government front $10 billion in start up capital for … [Read more...] about Where Might A Needed Economic Stimulus Come From? A Private Infrastructure Initiative

Forget Rick Perry – Mitt Romney is Perfect for the GOP (Guest Voice)

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Forget Rick Perry - Mitt Romney is Perfect for the GOP by Tina Dupuy The Iowa Straw Poll last weekend is to election season what Labor Day is to Fall; it's official now — the season has begun! I don't care about the "viability" of candidates. I am not a prognosticator. Well, if I were, I'd be a very bad one. I said former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was most likely … [Read more...] about Forget Rick Perry – Mitt Romney is Perfect for the GOP (Guest Voice)

Iran Throws Down Gauntlet: Sentences Two U.S. Hikers to 8 Years In Jail

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This sentence in Iran can only be interpreted as the country throwing down the gauntlet to the Obama administration, saying in effect: "I dare you to try and do something about it." Truly a sad and disgusting verdict -- but in the end some believe they will not serve the full time: Iranian authorities sentenced two Americans arrested and detained along the Iran-Iraq border … [Read more...] about Iran Throws Down Gauntlet: Sentences Two U.S. Hikers to 8 Years In Jail

The Stupidity Sweepstakes

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In a week of campaigning, Rick Perry has made Michele Bachmann look positively professorial. The previous frontrunner specializes in little gaffes--like mistaking serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the cowboy star, starting the Revolutionary War in Concord, N. H. instead of Lexington, Mass., mistaking the anniversary of Elvis’ death for his birthday and worrying about the … [Read more...] about The Stupidity Sweepstakes

Quote of the Day: Is Rick Perry Karl Rove’s Frankenstein Monster?

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Our political Quote of the Day is actually a post of the day by The Huffington Post's always must-read Howard Fineman noting how Karl Rove now finds himself like Dr. Frankenstein watching the political monster he created run amok as Rove gives off more and more signs that he wants to stop Texas Gov. Rick Perry from getting the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination: Karl … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: Is Rick Perry Karl Rove’s Frankenstein Monster?

The ‘Defense Budget’: Understand it, Know It, Before Cutting It.

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In “How much is that F-35 in the window,” I wrote about the difficulty of pinning down the true cost of a single F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft or, for that matter, of the entire Joint Strike Fighter Program. Multiply the uncertainties, vagaries, and red tape of pinning down the cost of this aircraft--- this program---a thousand fold and one gets an idea of the … [Read more...] about The ‘Defense Budget’: Understand it, Know It, Before Cutting It.

Japan Learned Nothing from its WWII Defeat (Asahi Shimbun, Japan)

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While Germany is regarded as an axis power that has really confronted its behavior and activities during World War II, Japan is not. That is what makes this editorial from Japan's Asahi Shimbun so eye-opening. According to Asahi, Japan's failure to acknowledge and alter the organization of Japanese society since its defeat 66 years ago has led not only to economic crisis, but … [Read more...] about Japan Learned Nothing from its WWII Defeat (Asahi Shimbun, Japan)

Obama Could Learn From Ronald Reagan (Guest Voice)

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Obama Could Learn From Ronald Reagan by Michael Reagan If President Obama really wants to get the U.S. economy going again, he could do worse than to study the results of my Dad's 1981 Economic Recovery Act, which boosted the economy by leaps and bounds. Take the matter of jobs, for example. Thanks to the 1981 act, an astounding 20 million new jobs were created. … [Read more...] about Obama Could Learn From Ronald Reagan (Guest Voice)

Michele Bachmann and Christine O’Donnell Keep Stumbling Along (UPDATED)

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More News on the gaffe and truly awful political style/book sales front. The first was actually a bit shocking: Michele Bachmann is proving herself to be a very talented and in some areas quite nimble politician, one willing to try and expand her constituency and take advice from a seasoned political pro like Republican consultant Ed Rollings. Yet she keeps making the same … [Read more...] about Michele Bachmann and Christine O’Donnell Keep Stumbling Along (UPDATED)

Your Week In Republican Politics: If You Plant Ice You’re Gonna Harvest Wind

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With all the subtlety of a cartoon anvil hurtling down on Wile E. Coyote, it has dawned on Karl Rove and what is left of the mainstream Republican leadership that unless Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann can be muscled aside, President Obama could cakewalk to a second term despite a sucky economy. Even if Mitt Romney, the one-time putative front runner, grows a spine and … [Read more...] about Your Week In Republican Politics: If You Plant Ice You’re Gonna Harvest Wind

SEC Appears To Be Whitewashing Wall Street Indiscretions

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Rolling Stone reports on claims from an SEC whistleblower that suggest that for almost 20 years the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been deep-sixing public records. Darcy Flynn, a 13-year veteran SEC attorney responsible for records management, has presented evidence to the SEC inspector general and three congressional committees. Under a deal the SEC worked … [Read more...] about SEC Appears To Be Whitewashing Wall Street Indiscretions

“What Does a Woman Want?”

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Freud’s perplexity comes back in a bizarre juxtaposition between a GOP debate question about Michele Bachmann’s vow of wifely “submission” and a new HBO profile of Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, my colleague and friend half a century ago. Bachmann fudges her religious stance into mutual respect, but it recalls those “Mad Men” days when wives kept house and shopped in the … [Read more...] about “What Does a Woman Want?”

Misguided Economic Priorities in U.S. Endanger Mexico and World (La Jornada, Mexico)

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Is it time for a full-throated reform of our 'current economic model'? This editorial from Mexico's La Jornada expresses just as much derision for America's current economic policies as any Tea Party member - but comes to dramatically different conclusions. The La Jornada editorial says in part: In the best case, warnings by economic specialists about the beginning of a … [Read more...] about Misguided Economic Priorities in U.S. Endanger Mexico and World (La Jornada, Mexico)

Our Sick Politics: Ad Asks “Have you ever had sex with Rick Perry?”

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How sick has our politics gotten? This sick: An Austin Ron Paul supporter has taken out a full-page ad in the local alt weekly newspaper seeking any "stripper ... escort ... or 'young hottie'" who has slept with Rick Perry, part of his single-minded jihad against the presidential candidate. Robert Morrow describes himself as a "self-employed investor and political … [Read more...] about Our Sick Politics: Ad Asks “Have you ever had sex with Rick Perry?”