Independent activist news this week was def centered on young people. See John Opdycke's piece "Going Indy" and consider the fact that "fully 50 percent of voters aged 18-29 now identify as independents..." (Opdycke is the Chief of Staff for IndependentVoting.org/CUIP.) Let that sink in for a moment. Then pivot back towards the triangulationists featured in John Avlon's CNN … [Read more...] about Young People, The Media, Political Independence, and “The Powers That Be”
Arizona Law
Mike Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Arizona Law
Arizona Governor Signs Anti-Immigrant Law Obama Says is Misguided
Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the state's controversial anti-illegal immigrant bill into law today, claiming she will not tolerate racial discrimination or police profiling. Despite her protestations, the law is directed at what Homeland Security estimates as 460,000 illegal immigrants in the state. The law authorizes police to ask people for their legal status … [Read more...] about Arizona Governor Signs Anti-Immigrant Law Obama Says is Misguided
Ramblings of a Fake American
My radio dial found a conservative station the other day and I listened for a while to one of the most stirring, hauntingly beautiful, patriotic songs I have ever heard: “Let Freedom Ring.” I left my dial there for a bit and listened to the talk-radio host, a Great American, taking a number of calls from several other Great Americans. It brought back memories of the 2008 … [Read more...] about Ramblings of a Fake American
Arizona – Inmates Running The Asylum
When I wrote a few weeks back about the Arizona legislature dropping the Kid’s Care health program, it seemed an odd way to balance a budget. The program encouraged people to take low paying jobs rather than resort to welfare, and the costs, once provided by the program, of their children’s health care would simply be born elsewhere without the 75% kick in from the federal … [Read more...] about Arizona – Inmates Running The Asylum
Peter Beinart’s Weird Disconnect Between Policy and Politics
Center-left pundit Peter Beinart is perfectly OK with the idea that the Democrats may get clobbered in this year's midterms. He writes that he's happy enough that the Democrats have passed health care reform, the stim bill, and most likely, the financial reform package: All of which makes me feel… pretty darn good. There’s a tendency, especially on television, to judge … [Read more...] about Peter Beinart’s Weird Disconnect Between Policy and Politics
When Good News Is Misleading As Hell
The Commerce Department reported Friday that new home sales increased 27% last month, the largest monthly increase in 47 years. Before you get your hopes up that the housing market is rebounding from the crash in 2007, a closer look at the monthly report is somewhat of a downer. The 441,000 homes were not sold and moved into, actually. They reflect signed contracts to … [Read more...] about When Good News Is Misleading As Hell
Deep Pockets On Wall Street
Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Deep Pockets On Wall Street
Disheartened Over the Political “Bubble World”
Once upon at time there was a prominent liberal blogger who in his every day incarnation was a litigator, someone whose business involved dealing with facts and specifics. Even though he was highly respected by many on the left and center to center-left, he took a break from blogging after the election because he started to feel the two sides in America'sw 7/24 political war … [Read more...] about Disheartened Over the Political “Bubble World”
‘We’re A National Joke” Laments Arizona Legislator
Remember the good old days when we all laughed at South Carolina politicians acting nuttier than a fruitcake with bizarre antics such as the governor leaving unannounced for a weekend trip to visit his mistress in Argentina? Move over, residents of the Palmetto state, your 15 minutes of fame are over. The new dessert du jour is pineapple upside down cake presented to our … [Read more...] about ‘We’re A National Joke” Laments Arizona Legislator
Gawker’s Nick Denton Says Gizmodo Made No Direct Revenue From Leaked iPhone Post
Gawker's Nick Denton says Gizmodo made no direct revenue from leaked iPhone post by Simon Owens Since Gizmodo penetrated Apple's impenetrable fortress and posted videos and pictures of a not-yet-released iPhone earlier this week, the post has received 7,861,004 views, made it to the front page of Digg, been linked to by thousands of blogs, and retweeted over 30,000 times. A … [Read more...] about Gawker’s Nick Denton Says Gizmodo Made No Direct Revenue From Leaked iPhone Post
Obama’s Scorched Earth Day
After a bipartisan blip on financial regulation in Washington, the President was in Manhattan yesterday, warning Wall Street, "A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it." This tough talk comes after his lofty Earth Day anniversary proclamation: "Forty years from today, when our children and grandchildren look back … [Read more...] about Obama’s Scorched Earth Day
Say it Again, Brother Brooks
The NYT columnist restates the obvious. ... things have not worked out for those of us in the broad middle. Politics is more polarized than ever. The two parties have drifted further to the extremes. The center is drained and depressed. He then asks the obvious question -- "What happened?" -- and answers it thus. History happened. The administration came into power … [Read more...] about Say it Again, Brother Brooks
U.S. Health Agency Predicts Higher Costs Than Obama Promised
Republican opponents of the new health reform overhaul legislation must be dancing in the streets now as a new government report suggests what they have argued all along -- that health care costs will increase with seniors on Medicare taking the biggest hit. A so-called panel of impartial economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the billions of … [Read more...] about U.S. Health Agency Predicts Higher Costs Than Obama Promised
While Wall Street Crashed The Economy, Some SEC Staff Watched Porn
While Wall Street financial manipulators concocted exotic deals to sink the economy, some of the top regulators and contractors regulating their activities at the Security Exchange Commission were watching pornography on government computers. An internal memo written by SEC Inspector General David Kotz said 33 commission regulators downloaded the sexually explicit images on … [Read more...] about While Wall Street Crashed The Economy, Some SEC Staff Watched Porn
Looking Back at the Elian Gonzalez Debacle
It's hard to believe it was a decade ago. But it actually is the tenth anniversary of the day that heavily armed INS agents extricated Elian, then six years old, from the fanatically anti-Castro exile community that had made him a symbol of their cause, and returned him to his father in Cuba -- where, as Tim Padgett writes in this very interesting retrospective, he should have … [Read more...] about Looking Back at the Elian Gonzalez Debacle
Democrat “Outs” Another Democrat For Being Straight
If you've been looking for further proof that American politics is going thoroughly bonkers as partisans claw for increasingly personal labels to hurl at and discredit foes or those who don't agree -- it's a lot easier doing that than debating someone on such piffle as actual policies and offering alternative solutions -- then look no further than Pennsylvania where one … [Read more...] about Democrat “Outs” Another Democrat For Being Straight
Tea Party Headache
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Tea Party Headache
The Adoption of a Child is ‘Not an eBay Purchase!’: Interfax, Russia
Who is responsible for monitoring children after they are adopted by parents in another country? That's the question at the heart of a controversy over a Russian child adopted by American parents. The seven year old, Artem Saveliev, was 'rejected' by his adoptive mother, and sent back to Russia alone on a long-haul air flight from Tennessee to Moscow. This article from Russia's … [Read more...] about The Adoption of a Child is ‘Not an eBay Purchase!’: Interfax, Russia
Make Mine a National Day of Religious Freedom, Please
The decision handed down last week by the U.S. District Court in Madison, Wisconsin, in which Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer is an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause, is a perfect example of the kind of judicial restraint and fealty to the text of the Constitution that the Republican Party claims to hold so dear. Which, of course, … [Read more...] about Make Mine a National Day of Religious Freedom, Please