Here's the headline that topped yesterday's Yahoo Finance web site, a headline for an AP story: "Obama implores top banks to increase lending." And here's the dictionary definition of "implores:" begs, urgently entreats, beseeches. So in the view of this headline writer, based on the story written about our President's meeting with bankers, Mr. Obama is begging, urgently … [Read more...] about A Banking Beast Now Beyond Reform
Independents Are a Sleeping Giant Part 2 – How We Limit Our Own Success (Guest Voice)
Independents Are a Sleeping Giant Part 2 - How We Limit Our Own Success by Alex Hammer In Part 1 of Independents Are a Sleeping Giant I talked about how Independents represent a large section of the electorate but a minute slice of elected representation. I discussed in rather general terms the role that such a disconnect may play in our government overall. For … [Read more...] about Independents Are a Sleeping Giant Part 2 – How We Limit Our Own Success (Guest Voice)
Quote of the Day: Why Did Joe Lieberman Seemingly Change a Key Position on Health Care Reform?
Our political Quote of the Day is actually two quotes of the day dealing with the question of why Senator Joe Lieberman seemingly changed a key position -- on the medicare buy in. The quotes come from two sources generally considered reliable stand-back-and-analyze infooutlets, versus the typical left-right weblogs that seem engaged in permanent political campaigns for their … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: Why Did Joe Lieberman Seemingly Change a Key Position on Health Care Reform?
A Surefire Way To Make $1 Billion
Here is a step by step guide to make a guaranteed $1 billion. Actually a friend and I came up with this scheme many months ago and commented that it was too bad we didn't have the moral depravity to undertake it. … [Read more...] about A Surefire Way To Make $1 Billion
The Four(teen) Camps of Global Warming
From an op-ed in today's NYT ... Climate talks have been going on in Copenhagen for a week now, and it appears to be a two-sided debate between alarmists and skeptics. But there are actually four different views of global warming. The writer proceeds to offer a "taxonomy of the four," labeling them the "Denialists," "Skeptics," "Warners," and "Calamatists." He then … [Read more...] about The Four(teen) Camps of Global Warming
At Least 29 Women Running For Governor In 2010
ElectWomen.com has the links and a list for "...the top, most viable female gubernatorial candidates..." and an asterisk after some of the names indicates that in addition to the women listed, there are also female primary challengers for some of the candidates. The number of states involved: 16! Currently, just six states (Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Washington, … [Read more...] about At Least 29 Women Running For Governor In 2010
Democrat Al Franken versus Republican John Thune in the Senate
The health care reform bill took a non-Joe-Lieberman-heated twist yesterday when Democratic Sen. Al Franken accused Republican John Thune of being highly selective, distorting facts and leaving some others out in how he characterized the bill. Here's the exchange: Bill O'Reilly nemesis Franken was both loved and hated as one of Air America's original talk show hosts. It's … [Read more...] about Democrat Al Franken versus Republican John Thune in the Senate
Senate Progressives: Rational or [Bleep] Crazy?
I suggested yesterday that Senate progressives would not be acting rationally if they killed their chamber's health bill because it doesn't go far enough -- i.e., because it was tailored back from their vision of "great" to something "less great" in order to secure the votes of the Independent senator from Connecticut and/or the Republican senators from Maine. Nate Silver … [Read more...] about Senate Progressives: Rational or [Bleep] Crazy?
Ruh Roh, Shaggy: 2010 Election Trends from Cook Report
The Cook Report is already hard at work tracking the polls and prognosticating on which House and Senate seats will go which way in next fall's elections. Thus far, it seems like the Democrats should be able to hold on to their House majority status. Barely. Well... maybe, anyway. On the surface, things might be considered fairly rosey for the Dems. The report ignores the … [Read more...] about Ruh Roh, Shaggy: 2010 Election Trends from Cook Report
The Joe Lieberman Show
It's all about Joe Lieberman these days in the struggle to get health care reform passed, and that is exactly how Joe wants it. His latest play, as everyone who follows politics knows by now, was to announce that he wants the Medicare buy-in proposal out, and that he would stand with Republicans to kill the entire bill, via filibuster, if he did not get his way. … [Read more...] about The Joe Lieberman Show
Blue Christmas
Elvis singing the song from his classic 1968 "comeback" special in front of an audience: … [Read more...] about Blue Christmas
Empty Words
In his Oslo speech accepting the Nobel Prize for Peace this past weekend, Pres. Barack Obama said the following (emphasis is mine): … [Read more...] about Empty Words
Can We Get The Nerve To Raise The Eligibility Age ?
One of the commonly known but often unspoken secrets of the current battle over health care reform is the fact that we are in desperate need of entitlement reform. When Social Security was first passed in the 1930's we had 3 workers for every person going on the system while today that ratio is reversed and the numbers are headed in the wrong direction. Indeed current stats … [Read more...] about Can We Get The Nerve To Raise The Eligibility Age ?
Paul Krugman on Clinging to Error in the Face of Reality
As individuals, most of us do learn from experience. As a society, we repeat the same mistakes over and over. The latest example, for Krugman, is Friday's vote breakdown on the financial regulation bill: … [Read more...] about Paul Krugman on Clinging to Error in the Face of Reality
The Animated Joe Lieberman
An animated editorial cartoon by the Washington Post's Ann Telnaes is HERE. … [Read more...] about The Animated Joe Lieberman
No Google Messiah, AT&T’s Network, & Remembering Verizon’s Slimy Billing
Through the weekend I've been watching the Google Phone chatter -- nine Google Phone Techmeme Toppers in just 48 hours. Sadly, In the end I come down on the side of Slate's Farhad Manjoo: I'm guessing there's something we're missing about this story. As Engadget's Joshua Topolsky points out, this is not the first time Google has given its employees preview versions of upcoming … [Read more...] about No Google Messiah, AT&T’s Network, & Remembering Verizon’s Slimy Billing
The Christmas/Holiday/Chanuka Spirit? (NOT!)
The month of December is always a special one. The thrust of Christmas and other holidays is that it's a time to start thinking about the fact that we need to love others, are interconnected and perhaps focus deeper things than real and politically accentuated divisions. People are -- at least for the duration of the holiday month -- urged to put aside hatreds, stereotypes and … [Read more...] about The Christmas/Holiday/Chanuka Spirit? (NOT!)
Adulterated News
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved. … [Read more...] about Adulterated News
“Smartest Person in the Room”
Watching President Obama on 60 Minutes recalls a memorable exchange from the 1987 movie, "Broadcast News," in which Holly Hunter's boss taunts her, "It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you're the smartest person in the room." With a stricken expression, she answers, "No. It's awful." Last night, as he was being pressed by Steve Kroft about … [Read more...] about “Smartest Person in the Room”
Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants: Because It Pays Better
Whether you're surprised by this story or not is beside the point, which is that this kind of thing and variations on the same thing happen with shocking regularity. From Why James Chartrand Wears Women's Underpants: You know me as James Chartrand of Men with Pens, a regular Copyblogger contributor for just shy of two years. And yet, I’m a woman. This is not a joke or … [Read more...] about Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants: Because It Pays Better