The other day, John Brennan, the Obama administration's counterterrorism adviser, publicly corrected Republicans in Congress who have been attacking Obama and the FBI for handling the attempting Christmas Day bombing as a criminal justice rather than a military matter. In his letter, he pointed out that he specifically briefed Sen. Christopher Bond, Rep. John Boehner, Sen. … [Read more...] about Another Day, Another GOP Attack on Our National Security Experts
Hope for Cross-Aisle Cooperation
First reaction: Great. It's about time. President Obama and congressional leaders emerged from a rare bipartisan meeting on Tuesday pledging to work together on a range of issues, including a job-creation bill that lawmakers hope to pass this month, along with longer-term goals related to health care, trade and energy. ... The jobs bill represents an important test of … [Read more...] about Hope for Cross-Aisle Cooperation
Too Much Democracy
Is it possible to have too much democracy? The founding fathers certainly thought so, as Kurt Andersen reminds us ... The tea-party movement takes its name from the mob of angry people in Boston who, in 1773, committed a zany criminal stunt as a protest against taxes and the distant, out-of-touch government that imposed them. Two years later, the revolution was under way … [Read more...] about Too Much Democracy
Kathleen Sibelius and Anthem Blue Cross
Now here is something I cannot in a million years imagine a Republican administration doing. Anthem Blue Cross of California just announced that it's jacking up its premiums by as much as 39% -- despite a year of enormous profits -- and Kathleen Sibelius hit the roof: … [Read more...] about Kathleen Sibelius and Anthem Blue Cross
Before the Health-Care Summit
In a pre-Super Bowl interview, President Obama told Katie Couric about a televised bipartisan health-care meeting on February 25th to go through "all the best ideas...and move it forward.” If he hadn't been absorbed in the game, watching Bill Moyers Journal would have given him a more productive idea than meeting with members of Congress who have been bargaining and … [Read more...] about Before the Health-Care Summit
The Wealth of Nations and the Failure of Globalization
While it remains depressingly futile to bang the drum of warning against the dangers posed to the American economy by the new "global economy" there is a piece up at HuffPo this week by Thom Harmann which everyone should read. Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies The reason I find the subject depressing (which, not coincidentally, is also the reason … [Read more...] about The Wealth of Nations and the Failure of Globalization
Nearly Everybody Wants to Cut Federal Spending?
From a very recent Rasmussen poll: Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes. Considering the public pillorying that occurs every time a politician dares to suggest cuts, I find that percentage to be … [Read more...] about Nearly Everybody Wants to Cut Federal Spending?
Dreams from my mother
We're snowed in here in Washington DC. The government will shut down tomorrow for a second consecutive day. Tomorrow night, we're expecting another storm. One of the nice things about being shut in is the chance to read, and I've finally started on Dreams From My Father. In a word, it's superb. It would be a great book if Barack Obama were still just a lawyer in … [Read more...] about Dreams from my mother
Snow days are evil
Not completely evil. I dialed in to a two-hour conference call from home, which meant I could visit the refrigerator at lunchtime instead of waiting until the call ended to go down the cafeteria. But according to Matt Yglesias, it costs the taxpayers $100 million when the federal government has to shut down because of snowfall. (I've heard it costs the taxpayers $200 million … [Read more...] about Snow days are evil
Super Saints
RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Super Saints
The ‘Beijing Consensus’ Displaces Washington: NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands
According to this sobering editorial from the NRC Handelsblad of The Netherlands, recent tension between China and the United States is the opening tremor of a tectonic shift in the relative influence of the world's two top two powers - and that shift strongly favors Beijing. The NRC Handelsblad editorial says in part: According to conservative estimates, it will be … [Read more...] about The ‘Beijing Consensus’ Displaces Washington: NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands
Iran’s Latest Defiance: Starts Higher Uranium Enrichment Process
Iran has again thumbed its nose the U.S. and other countries that want to halt its nuclear program with its latest defiant move: it has started the higher enrichment process: Iran says it has begun enriching uranium to a higher level, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear activity. Iranian state television quoted officials who said the process started … [Read more...] about Iran’s Latest Defiance: Starts Higher Uranium Enrichment Process
Sarah in Wonderland
RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Sarah in Wonderland
Quote of the Day: Meghan McCain on the Tea Party Convention and Tom Tancredo
Arizona Sen. John McCain's blunt spoken daughter Meghan McCain gives us our political Quote of the Day in her response to the Tea Party convention -- particularly former Rep Tom Tancredo's remarks that a lot of the voters who voted for Barack Obama couldn't spell the word "vote" or say it in English...and that it would have been worse if John McCain had won the … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: Meghan McCain on the Tea Party Convention and Tom Tancredo
‘Avatar’: Nothing But a ‘Stupid Justification for War!’ – Le Monde, France
Avatar has turned out to be a politically explosive film. By and large, most writers see the film as a challenge to militarism/corporatism/fascism and a rejection of colonialism that extols the values of indigenous people. Chinese viewers see in the film a challenge to corporate interests that pay off corrupt officials to raze the homes of people unable to defend … [Read more...] about ‘Avatar’: Nothing But a ‘Stupid Justification for War!’ – Le Monde, France
Twin Awakenings and the Fate of Centrism
I read with great interest Rick Moran's post on Glenn Reynolds' comparison of the Tea Party Movement to the Great Awakening. While I disagree with some of the historical analysis of the First Great Awakening - the institutional church against which George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards railed was the Congregationalist Church, which represented New England authority and not … [Read more...] about Twin Awakenings and the Fate of Centrism
The iPad Touch
Some have been dismissing the iPad as just "a large iPod touch: a great device to draw your inspiration from, but perhaps not the seismic shift in technology that we were expecting." Hutch Carpenter sees it as much more; he's sensing a seismic shift. Writing at Blogging Innovation, Carpenter says it's Apple's skill with design-driven innovation that will make the iPad a … [Read more...] about The iPad Touch
Sarah Palin’s Palm Notes Were Actually Brilliant Ploy to Draw Attention to Obama Teleprompter
Or so Fox News now seemingly suggests. What truly is stunning is how in recent years partisans will jump through all kinds of mental hoops to try and excuse things that people on their side do that they berated others on the other side for doing. You could say "mind-boggling" but now this is the norm. Outrage and ridicule is only directed at those who you seek to politically … [Read more...] about Sarah Palin’s Palm Notes Were Actually Brilliant Ploy to Draw Attention to Obama Teleprompter
Hey Network Newspeople, America Doesn’t Really Want To Reach Out That Way
On The Media spoke last week with Don Corrigan, editor of The Webster-Kirkwood Times, a small community paper published weekly. Two years ago in his Missouri town, reporters at that paper found themselves covering -- and in one instance witnessing -- the murders of some friends and neighbors: Probably the low point for me was a call about 1:30, 2 in the morning after this had … [Read more...] about Hey Network Newspeople, America Doesn’t Really Want To Reach Out That Way
Death And Politics
The old saying is the two things you cannot avoid are death and taxes but these days it seems politics are much more entwined with death and to me that is a sad thing. Certainly the death of a political incumbent has political aspects, especially where the district is marginal and thus subject to takeover. But you do not discuss such things while the body is still … [Read more...] about Death And Politics