Wait! You mean it's not true that corporate CEOs are waiting to get that gold-plated affidavit from Pres. Obama that he will stop making them feel so uncertain with all that scary talk about climate change legislation? … [Read more...] about Lots of Uncertainty About Demand
The Pain Threshold
I heard a warning deep within - we usually do, when something worse than we can imagine is stalking us, and set to pounce. Fate's way of beating us in a fair fight is to give us warnings that we hear, but never heed. ~Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram The last few days I have been talking about the economic fate of the American worker and how that relates to our current … [Read more...] about The Pain Threshold
Jack Horkheimer: Beloved Stargazer Passes from This World
Jack Horkheimer, the little guy with the bad toupeé, Chaplinesque voice and strange name... who stood against a green screen while making it look to TV viewers at home that he was standing and broadcasting from outer space.... well Mr Horkheimer, the earthling beloved by many, has died at age 72 from a respiratory illness. He was the creator and host of the PBS show "Star … [Read more...] about Jack Horkheimer: Beloved Stargazer Passes from This World
Chelsea Clinton’s Wedding a Lesson for China’s Anti-Corruption Officials: Yangtze Daily News, China
What can the multi-million dollar wedding of Chelsea Clinton teach Chinese officials about corruption? According to columnist Zhang Dong Yang of the state-controlled Yangtze Daily News, the fact that former President Clinton could pay for such extravagance without having to hide it shows that he made his money honorably and with public knowledge - as opposed to public officials … [Read more...] about Chelsea Clinton’s Wedding a Lesson for China’s Anti-Corruption Officials: Yangtze Daily News, China
Slouching Out of Iraq
Generations of Americans have to take it on faith that wars can be won. Not since V-J Day in 1945 has there been dancing in our streets and strangers kissing in joy and relief. With the mission in Baghdad far from accomplished, the last U.S. combat troops leave behind 4415 dead, billions of dollars spent (or stolen) and come home to a nation that is much less safe or united … [Read more...] about Slouching Out of Iraq
Only $5 Million Left for Republican National Committee At End of July
Advice to the Republican National Committee: Quick...get on the phone and call News Corp for some money: it turns out you only had $5 milliion left by July's end for the final sprint of the 2010 mid-term elections: The Republican National Committee spent twice as much as it raised in July, leaving the committee with just over $5 million on hand with less than three months … [Read more...] about Only $5 Million Left for Republican National Committee At End of July
China Must Draw a Red Line Against American ‘Encirclement’: Global Times, People’s Republic of China
Does the United States have a cold war strategy to create an 'Asian NATO' to contain China's military? According to Dai Xu, author of the book C-shaped Encirclement, writing in China's new flagship state-controlled newspaper, the Global Times, current U.S.-South Korea exercises in the South China and Yellow Seas makes it imperative for Chinese 'dignity' to show the Americans … [Read more...] about China Must Draw a Red Line Against American ‘Encirclement’: Global Times, People’s Republic of China
Real Life Imitating Swedish Fiction?
Yesterday the founder of the whistle blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was charged by Swedish authorities with rape. It made front page news in this country because WikiLeaks has made public documents that suggest the American military, intelligence community, and key members of two administrations have been consistently misrepresenting their horrendously bungled … [Read more...] about Real Life Imitating Swedish Fiction?
Obama Polls
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Obama Polls
Don’t Publish the L.A. Teachers Names: The Case Against Naked Transparency
To those who mindlessly quote the great Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis line that "sunlight is ... the best of disinfectants" I reply, if you go outside without sunscreen on you'll get sunburned. Stay out and you'll die. Information without context is not knowledge. Sadly, context doesn't sell newspapers, or drive web traffic or build television and radio audiences. … [Read more...] about Don’t Publish the L.A. Teachers Names: The Case Against Naked Transparency
Remember the Iraq War ‘Deck of Cards’?
Remember when, during the early days of the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon developed and handed out to our troops sets of playing cards to help identify and capture (or kill) the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime---including Saddam himself? Each card of this set of “personality identification playing cards” was printed with the name of the wanted person, a … [Read more...] about Remember the Iraq War ‘Deck of Cards’?
Canada’s Stephen Harper and the Census: The Tipping Point?
Editor's Note: If you think that the census has only been an issue in the United States, think again. As he notes in his post here, Owen Gray, publisher of the Canadian weblog Northern Reflections, it is a big issue in Canada as well -- perhaps one with more serious political repercussions for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "A democracy which refuses to heed the will of … [Read more...] about Canada’s Stephen Harper and the Census: The Tipping Point?
WikiLeaks Founder Claims Rape Charges “Dirty Trick” UPDATE: CHARGES DROPPED
NOTE: This is the update on this story. Charges have been dropped: Swedish authorities say they have revoked an arrest warrant that had alleged rape against the founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. Assange is "no longer wanted" and "is not suspected of rape," Chief Prosecutor Eva Finne said in a statement posted on the agency's … [Read more...] about WikiLeaks Founder Claims Rape Charges “Dirty Trick” UPDATE: CHARGES DROPPED
Enough is Enough with this Mosque Foolishness
Alright - everybody has made their points... SEVERAL DOZEN FREAKING TIMES! How many ways can you call the right intolerant and bigoted? Or refer to the left as Islamofascist sympathizers? Or moan about the degeneration of religious liberty in America? Or warn about creeping Sharia law? Build it. Don't build it. Move it. Bah! Everyone has an opinion. That opinion has … [Read more...] about Enough is Enough with this Mosque Foolishness
Why All Middle Eastern Politics Can’t Be Reduced Merely to the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Guest Voice)
Why All Middle Eastern Politics Can't Be Reduced Merely to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Barry Rubin I simply cannot comprehend why so many in the West refuse to see that Arabs can be revolutionaries. It is remarkable that so many who claim to be experts don't incorporate the idea that Arabs, like other peoples, might dislike their existing societies or be motivated by … [Read more...] about Why All Middle Eastern Politics Can’t Be Reduced Merely to the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Guest Voice)
Muslim Obama and Other Internet “Truths”
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Muslim Obama and Other Internet “Truths”
Living in a ‘Post-Racist’ Society (Guest Voice)
Living in a ‘Post-Racist’ Society by Tina Dupuy The MSNBC documentary series Lock Up ran a story earlier this month about a Maricopa County Jail inmate charged with identity theft named Cecil Kunkel. The 29-year-old Kunkel has a swastika tattooed on top of his “skinhead.” He’s covered in “white power” slogans and imagery. The only ink-free spot on him is an empty space in … [Read more...] about Living in a ‘Post-Racist’ Society (Guest Voice)
RIP American Middle Class
Yesterday I suggested that the economic problems we are now experiencing are in large part the result of the shifting of decent paying manufacturing jobs overseas. As more and more of those jobs were lost the number of customers declined. At some point we were going to reach the point where there were not enough people who could afford to purchase the low quality and often … [Read more...] about RIP American Middle Class
Outrage at the Pentagon’s ‘Ground Zero’ Mosque?
Petula Dvorak at the Washington Post takes us back to 2002, "a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the horror and disbelief of that terrible day still very fresh in our minds," when "right next to the spot where 184 people lost their lives in the Pentagon, the military opened a sanctuary where Islam could be celebrated." She tells us that this sanctuary is not two blocks … [Read more...] about Outrage at the Pentagon’s ‘Ground Zero’ Mosque?
‘Cordoba House’: Let it Be a Belated Triumph of Tolerance: Rheinischer Merkur, Germany
Continuing with our coverage of the global reaction to the proposed Muslim community center/mosque near Ground Zero in New York, this article by columnist Matthias Gierth of Germany's Rheinischer Merkur calls for cooler heads and eventual approval of the project, in order to prove al-Qaeda's claims about the 'godless West' wrong' - and prevent the terrorist group from using the … [Read more...] about ‘Cordoba House’: Let it Be a Belated Triumph of Tolerance: Rheinischer Merkur, Germany