More change in the air from Rasmussen. Total number of Democrats in the country falls. Republicans gain a tiny amount, but stay essentially flat. In December, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to the lowest level recorded in more than seven years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Reports. Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as … [Read more...] about A Pox on both their houses… Again
Tunnel Wars
New York City and New Jersey have been engaged in tax battles for decades. It's always the same basic cause. The city wants to get more tax dollars from people who live in New Jersey but commute to the city to work. And people in New Jersey who are already taxed to a mind numbing extent do whatever they can to avoid the extra bite. The latest such bite takes the form of … [Read more...] about Tunnel Wars
Baby It’s Cold Outside
With all apologies to Dean Martin, the people in Britain don't seem to be exactly thrilled with mother nature at the moment. People normally used to "brisk" are finding themselves dealing with conditions more often found in the parking lot outside of a late season Buffalo Bills football game. But everybody deserves a shot at a winter wonderland once in a while, don't you think? … [Read more...] about Baby It’s Cold Outside
Alternative Alohas
Barack Obama and Rush Limbaugh will both be leaving Hawaii with a better prognosis for the new decade than events of the holiday season might have provided. If the Christmas Day body bomber had not been thwarted, the President's vacation would have been cut short to lead the nation in mourning hundreds of victims of what he yesterday clearly attributed to terrorism: "Al … [Read more...] about Alternative Alohas
Orrin Hatch: Individual Mandate Does Not Tax or Spend; Therefore, It Is Unconstitutional
Sen. Orrin Hatch and two lawyer friends of his take to the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal to tell us that the requirement to purchase insurance in the health care bill is unconstitutional: … [Read more...] about Orrin Hatch: Individual Mandate Does Not Tax or Spend; Therefore, It Is Unconstitutional
Suggested Tiger Woods Theme Song?
A reader via email raised an issue discussed this week by liberal talk show host Ed Schultz: what should Tiger Woods' advertising strategy be now that he has lost some accounts? Some suggest he step back for a while -- before he loses more accounts. And quite a few folks suggest he can successfully resurface later. The TMV reader wondered: would it help if he had a a theme … [Read more...] about Suggested Tiger Woods Theme Song?
We Have Succumbed to ‘Terrorism Hysteria’: Financial Times Deutschland, Germany
For some, exasperation with new U.S. rules for passenger aircraft is running high. Why? Because, according to German columnist Andreas Theyssen, by almost any objective measure, the new regulations being imposed won't do a thing to make flying any safer. For Germany's Financial Times Deutschland, columnist Andreas Theyssen writes in part: There are many ways to … [Read more...] about We Have Succumbed to ‘Terrorism Hysteria’: Financial Times Deutschland, Germany
Underwear Bombers
Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Underwear Bombers
Newsweek: White House Advisor Learned About Underwear Tactic in October
Boxers or briefs...but someone was briefed: that's the gist of yet another investigative tidbit from Newsweek, this time via reporters Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball who have learned that White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan learned about Al Qaeda's underwear explosive tactic in October: White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in … [Read more...] about Newsweek: White House Advisor Learned About Underwear Tactic in October
Rush Limbaugh Says Health Care System Is Fine and He Got No Special Treatment
So Rush Limbaugh's heart is fine (for which I am glad), but unfortunately his doctors could do nothing about the stupid, which he flaunted immediately upon his release from the hospital in Honolulu: … [Read more...] about Rush Limbaugh Says Health Care System Is Fine and He Got No Special Treatment
Truth And Consequences
Trivia question: What was the original name of the New Mexico town that changed its name to Truth Or Consequences? Residents of this town of 7,000 are just as quirky as they were in the early 1950s when they voted to rename their village after a popular television show of the time. The difference is they are thinking big time. I mean really out-of-the-box-to-the-moon big … [Read more...] about Truth And Consequences
Rush to Judgment
Adding on to Dr. Steven Taylor's fine post highlighting some of the more irrational responses to Mark Hosenball's Newsweek article about the intelligence briefing Pres. Obama received three days before the Christmas Day attempted airline bombing, here is a much more thoughtful and sensible piece by the always-worth- reading Spencer Ackerman: … [Read more...] about Rush to Judgment
Christmas Day Terror Plot Looks Like a Set-Up: Ad Dustour, Jordan
Was this sheer incompetence - or is there something else going on? The scale of the intelligence mistakes surrounding the case of suspected Christmas Day underwear bomber Omar Farouk Abdul Muttalab are such, that many people, particularly Muslims, suspect that there is some "hidden force" behind the story. According to columnist Hilmi Al Asmar of Jordan's Ad Dustour … [Read more...] about Christmas Day Terror Plot Looks Like a Set-Up: Ad Dustour, Jordan
More BS From North Korea
How many times have we heard this? North Korea calls for an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year's message pledging to make the Korean peninsula nuclear free. Makes me wonder if the official issuing the statement carried by the government's Korean Central News Agency, state radio and television had celebrated too far into the early morning hours … [Read more...] about More BS From North Korea
When Cable Fights the Networks, You Lose Either Way
So Time Warner and Fox have come to an agreement, at least for the time being, to continue bringing the various Fox channels to subscribers. Oh, good. In case you're wondering who the winner is in that little staged drama, it's both of them. There's only one loser, and that's you. You're going to wind up paying more than you were before yet again. Except now, when they jack up … [Read more...] about When Cable Fights the Networks, You Lose Either Way
The Politics of Foreknowing the Past
In a column on New Year’s Eve in the NYT, David Brooks wrote: Various experts have gathered bits of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s biography. Since they can string the facts together to accurately predict the past, they thunder, the intelligence services should have been able to connect the dots to predict the future. This passage came to mind upon reading some of the … [Read more...] about The Politics of Foreknowing the Past
Obama Weekly Address: Al Qaeda Behind Attempted Christmas Underwear Bombing
In his weekly Radio/You Tube address President Barack Obama focuses on national security, terrorism -- and the Christmas Day attempted underwear bombing which he places squarely at the door of Al Qaeda: … [Read more...] about Obama Weekly Address: Al Qaeda Behind Attempted Christmas Underwear Bombing
Responding to a Republican Friend
Friendships are typically developed on the ground of common experience and perspective. It should thus be no surprise that -- as a Republican until 2006 -- I count among my friendships a fair number of Republican and Republican-inclined individuals. Granted, those friendships are based on much more than politics, which is a key reason why these individuals are still my … [Read more...] about Responding to a Republican Friend
Newsweek: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing on Terrorist Threats To Homeland
A new Newsweek report suggests that the terrorism issue which has been pitchforked into the headlines, partisan talk radio and partisan weblogs will be pitchforked even further into prominence through 2010 -- all the way to election day: according to the newsmagazine, President Barack Obama got a pre-Christmas briefing "about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against … [Read more...] about Newsweek: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing on Terrorist Threats To Homeland
A Little Freedom Music
Some twenty years ago the world watched in awe as freedom swept Eastern Europe. On 25 December 1989 the immortal Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethovens 9th Symphony from Berlin. For the performance, the Ode to Joy was changed to ode to Freedom, and hundreds of millions watched and wept. It should be noted that the ovation for the master conductor went so long they … [Read more...] about A Little Freedom Music