Hey Jonah Goldberg, I couldn't help but notice your outraged, hyperbolic post today decrying a new low for the mainstream media. Juxtaposing the media debate over alleged violent Tea Party rhetoric in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting to a random clip you saw of the Today Show this morning, you extrapolated a double standard pertaining to how the media covered … [Read more...] about Introducing Jonah Goldberg to a new technological advancement
The Reinvention of the World Economy
The politicians of both parties, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department keep telling us that at some point economic growth will return to rates we have seen in the past. They are: In denial Idiots Lying This is what makes debt, both government an non government, a serious problem. The economic growth much of the world has experienced for several decades … [Read more...] about The Reinvention of the World Economy
First Step Off a Cliff
Now that it’s done, the President is calling the debt-ceiling deal “an important first step to ensuring that as a nation we live within our means,” but it looks more like falling off a political precipice. Even as he reiterates that “we can’t balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the brunt of the recession,” Barack Obama says ruefully, “Voters may … [Read more...] about First Step Off a Cliff
The Incredible Shrinking America
I am what many on the interwebs call an Obamabot. I am a huge fan of the American President. My BA degree dissertation was on how hip-hop culture enabled the political rise of Obama and my Masters dissertation was on how Obama was portrayed during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell debate. Yes, I am an Obamabot. With that said, I also consider myself to be a political realist and … [Read more...] about The Incredible Shrinking America
Speculation on Gabrielle Giffords’ Political Motivation and Career
While one reader here at TMV reflected that Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s last night’s courageous and emotional appearance on the House floor to vote on the debt limit bill may have been “ political theatre and showmanship, maybe even a little arm-twisting to drum up support for the bill,” others are speculating that it may be the start of her run for re-election in … [Read more...] about Speculation on Gabrielle Giffords’ Political Motivation and Career
Undocumented on Edge Before U.S. Supreme Court Ruling (La Jornada, Mexico)
Will the U.S. Supreme Court rule according to its tendency to favor corporate America, or will it strike down recent state law that cracks down on undocumented immigrants in the United States - which would undercut the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Columnist Arturo Balderas Rodríguez of Mexico's La Jornada warns that the undocumented can't count on the Court to protect their … [Read more...] about Undocumented on Edge Before U.S. Supreme Court Ruling (La Jornada, Mexico)
Quote of the Day: What Barack Obama Forgot About Change
Our political Quote of the Day comes from Paul Tullis, writing on the Huffington Post, about what President Barack Obama seemingly forgot about change: This battle over the debt deal was not a matter of who believes in Keynes. It was a matter of Republicans caring more about power than about governing, and Democrats being unable to wrest that power from Republicans so … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: What Barack Obama Forgot About Change
The Incredible Shrinking Barack Obama
No matter what consequences stem from the controversial debt limit ceiling deal, one thing is clear: we are now watching The Incredible Shrinking Barack Obama. And here are four other facts. First, Barack Obama will go down in history along with Ronald Reagan as presiding over the New Deal’s and Great Society’s gradual dismantling. Second, Obama’s mystique is evaporating … [Read more...] about The Incredible Shrinking Barack Obama
The Ethereal Presidency of Barack Obama
Political types used to worry about an imperial presidency in which a chief executive used both formal and merely implied powers of his office to run roughshod over congress, the courts, and other institutions to impose his own will on government policy. No need to worry about that, however, with Barack Obama in the White House. The man clearly has other priorities. He's … [Read more...] about The Ethereal Presidency of Barack Obama
The Debt Limit Deal: Angst and Uncertainty for Defense Hawks.
Depending on which side of the military spending issue one is in, thrills or chills are running up and down the respective spines in light of the debt ceiling deal that now looks quite certain to become law. While to sighs of relief from those for a strong military, it looks like the cuts in next year’s defense budget will probably be small, for the years beyond there is … [Read more...] about The Debt Limit Deal: Angst and Uncertainty for Defense Hawks.
CNN’s Don Lemon Brings Back Independent Analyst Panel to React to Debt Ceiling Limit Crisis (VIDEO)
On Sunday CNN's Don Lemon brought back his independent analyst panel to get their reactions to the debt ceiling limit crisis. He has had this panel composed of TMV's Joe Gandelman, Dr. Omar Ali, and Nicole Kurokawa on approximately seven times since November 2009 -- often tracking members down when they were traveling. Here is the video: … [Read more...] about CNN’s Don Lemon Brings Back Independent Analyst Panel to React to Debt Ceiling Limit Crisis (VIDEO)
A Hold-Your-Nose Deal (Guest Voice)
A Hold Your Nose Deal by Eugene Robinson Washington Post Columnist WASHINGTON -- It's supremely galling. It's unbalanced, unfair and mostly unwise. For President Obama and the Democratic Party, it's a comprehensive defeat. But it's not the end of the world. The deal struck Sunday to free the U.S. economy from its Republican hostage-takers is impossible … [Read more...] about A Hold-Your-Nose Deal (Guest Voice)
Putting The Children In Charge
Joe Nocera's column in today's New York Times will be quoted often in years to come. He and a few others -- like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich -- have written that America's future is being sabotaged by the children who were elected last November. Nocera writes: These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged … [Read more...] about Putting The Children In Charge
Tea Head
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Tea Head
Justitia, Open Your Eyes (Guest Voice)
Justitia, Open Your Eyes by Peter Funt Should Justitia remove her blindfold? Named after the Roman goddess, we know her better as Lady Justice: guardian of our courts. The scales she holds remind us to weigh evidence with care; her sword indicates that punishment must fit the crime. And her blindfold connotes...well, what? It's generally accepted that the … [Read more...] about Justitia, Open Your Eyes (Guest Voice)
The Troubling Profile of a ‘Bushian Terrorist’ (Le Quotidien d’Oran, Algeria)
Can it credibly be said that George W. Bush and U.S. neoconservatives are partly responsible for the emergence of Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik? According to columnist K. Selim of Algeria's Le Quotidien d’Oran, Western media has been careful not to draw the right conclusions about where a man like Breivik really came from. For Algeria's Le … [Read more...] about The Troubling Profile of a ‘Bushian Terrorist’ (Le Quotidien d’Oran, Algeria)
Will Democratic Liberal Disgust Over Debt Ceiling Limit Deal Hurt Recalls in Wisconsin?
A Talking Points Memo post suggests something I have often noted: when some members of the Democratic Party's liberal base get mad they decide to punish their party or just don't vote and hand long sought victories to their foes. Then they complain afterwards when their foes are in power, or consolidate power. This has led to teeny-weeny things such as America's Supreme Court … [Read more...] about Will Democratic Liberal Disgust Over Debt Ceiling Limit Deal Hurt Recalls in Wisconsin?
The Tea Party Job-Killers
By the end of the day, Congress and the President will have enacted legislation to take much more money out of the economy than the Stimulus bill put into it in February 2009 with tax cuts and infrastructure investments to offset the effects of a looming Depression. The $787 billion back then is dwarved by the estimated $2.5 trillion in cuts to the budget over a decade by an … [Read more...] about The Tea Party Job-Killers
Part of Debt-Raising & Deficit-Reducing Legislation Is Unconstitutional
The long-awaited and controversial legislation raising the U.S. debt limit in two stages and providing for certain immediate and future spending reductions is also unconstitutional in part. This bill was passed on August 1st (Monday) by the U.S. House of Representatives. It will likely be approved by the U.S. Senate and signed by the President on Tuesday, August 2nd – just … [Read more...] about Part of Debt-Raising & Deficit-Reducing Legislation Is Unconstitutional
Mitt Romney and the Debt Ceiling Limit Crisis: Profile in Political Cowardice
Well, no one can accuse Mitt Romney of not being transparent. Romney has apparently stuck his finger up in the wind to see which way vital Tea Party sentiments were going on the debt ceiling limit issue. For weeks he has had his finger stuck in a much shadier area on this issue. But now the big battle is over and he needs Tea Party votes so suddenly he is speaking … [Read more...] about Mitt Romney and the Debt Ceiling Limit Crisis: Profile in Political Cowardice