WASHINGTON - Once Mr. Olbermann came to Current TV I made sure our house changed our cable subscription so I could view his show on Al Gore's network. Gone were '08 grudge matches, now a part of history. He has not disappointed, especially Monday night. While Lawrence O'Donnell bloviated on MSNBC, more worried about trying to dig himself out of bankrupt political analysis … [Read more...] about Keith Olbermann Lowers Boom on Obama & Incumbents: Only Goals are Re-nomination, Re-Election, and the Pursuit of Hypocrisy
Don’t Read This If You Scare Easily
Following up on the prior post about the stock market is this sobering article from Atlantic magazine. … [Read more...] about Don’t Read This If You Scare Easily
Dow Headed For 38 Year Record ?
Depending on what happens in the next couple days we could be seeing a very undesirable record set. Yesterday the stock market DJIA was down for the eighth day in a row which matched a record from 2008. If it is down again today (at this point it is down about 90 points) then it will match a record from 1978. If it is down again on Thursday then we will be at a ten day … [Read more...] about Dow Headed For 38 Year Record ?
The President, Congress and Race
When I heard Pat Buchanan call President Obama "boy", I, unlike many people who support President Obama, chose to shrug the comment off. Yes, you can interpret it as a racially motivated comment, but I thought it was a comment motivated by disrespect. If we are honest, I've heard liberals call President Bush a lot worse. But when I heard that a congressman used the words … [Read more...] about The President, Congress and Race
Ailing Mubarak Goes on Trial: Pleads Not Guilty
An ailing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been wheeled into a courtroom as he goes on trial on charges related to the deaths of protesters in the uprising that led to his downfall. CNN's report: The Los Angeles Times: A nation watched rapt as toppled President Hosni Mubarak, once the epitome of the Arab autocrat, was wheeled into a makeshift courtroom … [Read more...] about Ailing Mubarak Goes on Trial: Pleads Not Guilty
Politics, Reality Show Style (Guest Voice)
Politics, Reality Show Style by Tina Dupuy The difference between a documentary and a reality show is staging. A documentary tells a story about real life. The subjects are normally not paid, aren't actors and the story is non-fiction. It's a quiet, illuminating and thoughtful genre (read: boring). Reality shows are like life, in that people on these programs do things … [Read more...] about Politics, Reality Show Style (Guest Voice)
Obama turns 50
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Obama turns 50
Introducing Jonah Goldberg to a new technological advancement
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