She is something new in the White House. Take it from someone who has met and known First Ladies over five decades, from Mamie Eisenhower on. Michelle Obama is the first product of a Women's Movement sensibility, if not its ethos. Like her husband, she is not rooted in how things were before the 1960s, and her amazing popularity reflects that change. Unlike Hillary … [Read more...] about Michelle Obama’s First 100 Days
GOP’s Problem: Republican Party Shrinking And Growing More Conservative
In these days of financial crisis when coalition building and capturing independent voters seems to be the key to electoral victories more than ever, the Republican party now has a problem: it is steadily shrinking and growing more conservative. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza points out that the GOP now suffers a serious shrinkage problem: The new Washington … [Read more...] about GOP’s Problem: Republican Party Shrinking And Growing More Conservative
Will Cars Ever Replace The Family Horse?
Everybody likes alternative energy. How could you not like "live" sources of energy from the sun, the wind, the heat of the earth itself, from running water, more than "dead" energy from coal and petroleum derived from rifling the burial grounds of long deceased creatures. Many economists and other deep thinkers lament, however, that the transformation from dead to live energy … [Read more...] about Will Cars Ever Replace The Family Horse?
The One and Only Cloris Leachman
While our last effort was unfortunately scrubbed due to a scheduling conflict, today on Movie Addict Headquarters, (4 pm Eastern Time) we will finally be conducting our live interview with that legend of stage and screen, Cloris Leachman. In addition to reminiscing over her fantastic career, we'll be taking a look at Cloris' recently released autobiography, Cloris. If you'd … [Read more...] about The One and Only Cloris Leachman
Day of the Swine
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Day of the Swine
The Celebrity Apprentice: The Rage Of Melissa And Joan Rivers
And here we started to think that rage was confined to talk radio, mega-partisan Congressional debates and Fox News-promoted tea parties? Rage reigned supreme when Donald Trump fired Melissa Rivers from The Celebrity Apprentice...double rage since let's just say her mother Joan was not pleased, either: UPDATE: The New York Daily News has more details about what happened … [Read more...] about The Celebrity Apprentice: The Rage Of Melissa And Joan Rivers
The Long War: Music Piracy
The Long War: Music Piracy in 1897 (NYTimes) Via Michael Masnick at Techdirt: The fact that it focuses on Canadian copyright laws as the problem...nearly perfectly mimics today's claims from the recording industry. The article even talks about a recent conference held by industry members to create a committee to fight piracy. Basically, it's the same exact story we see … [Read more...] about The Long War: Music Piracy
CDC Video On Swine Flu Close Captioned
Dr. Joe Bresee of the CDC's Influenza Division gives a primer here on swine flu -- close captioned: … [Read more...] about CDC Video On Swine Flu Close Captioned
Swine Flu Could Make World’s Economy Battered Tourism Sicker
And now there's another potential victim of swine flu: world tourism. As alerts go out, a world already stunned and reeling from a deeply rooted, rapid-blow financial crisis now faces another sudden potential financial roadblock: fears of income drying up from tourism as frightened tourists warned by their governments about global travel stay home. Two of the key targets to … [Read more...] about Swine Flu Could Make World’s Economy Battered Tourism Sicker
U.S. and Torture: For Mr. Obama, It’s ‘Hard to Be Gorby’: Izvestia, Russia
Is 'just following orders' a defense for those who imposed torture on detainees? While it's true that the U.N. Convention on Torture outlaws this defense, in the words of Izvestia's Maxim Sokolov, 'A convention is a convention, but real life is so much richer.' Sokolov makes the point that it was fine to say 'just following orders' was inadmissible for Nazi war criminals, … [Read more...] about U.S. and Torture: For Mr. Obama, It’s ‘Hard to Be Gorby’: Izvestia, Russia
Truth, Consequences and Andrew Sullivan
David Broder doesn't get a whole lot of respect in the blogosphere. In more than one case, Border has been viewed as some what bland and grey with his calls for bipartisanship. But of course, Broder has been a reporter for a long time, longer than some of us (myself included) have been alive. He remembers when politics wasn't as nasty as it is now, and remembers when … [Read more...] about Truth, Consequences and Andrew Sullivan
Mistakes On A Plane
My headline is ripped from Jon Stewart's Daily Show graphic. The story is here and here. Fire the guy! Statement from Louis Caldera, Director White House Military Office, on Air Force One flight over New York "Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local … [Read more...] about Mistakes On A Plane
Newsmap 2.0
newsmap.jp. Very cool. Click-through for live view. Newsmap blog. More here. … [Read more...] about Newsmap 2.0
Barack Obama’s First 100 Days: Huge Government Expansion, The Leadership Of Patience Or Both?
The deluge of first 100 day evaluations of President Barack Obama has begun, but one of the most interesting discussions came on Meet the Press with istorian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Newsweek Editor John Meacham. A counter cultural presidency? The leadership of patience? A dangerous expansion of the federal government? A President who paces himself and replenishes his … [Read more...] about Barack Obama’s First 100 Days: Huge Government Expansion, The Leadership Of Patience Or Both?
Looming Pandemic
Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Looming Pandemic
CBS Poll: Blacks support Obama 96-0
Not surprisingly, President Obama's approval numbers on the 100th day are very high. At 68%, the latest CBS/NYT poll shows widespread support for President Obama as a person, and the job he is doing. When you remove the Rasmussen daily tracker, which skews negatively for Obama for some reason, Obama's … [Read more...] about CBS Poll: Blacks support Obama 96-0
Lawyers for Torture
The Federalist Society hosted a conference call this morning with themselves to brainstorm strategies for defeating the threat of prosecutions against former Bush officials for devising, authorizing, and justifying a torture program against foreigners the Bush administration deemed to be terrorists: … [Read more...] about Lawyers for Torture
Getting A Little Help From The Opposition
In 1898 Republicans in Indiana were concerned about winning a race for Congress in the 6th District. It was an open seat and the party had two major problems in holding it. The first was the black vote, which at that time was still heavily Republican. But in this particular year black voters were, for one reason or the other, upset with the local GOP. There was no danger they … [Read more...] about Getting A Little Help From The Opposition
Wall Street’s Welfare Queens
As the furor over AIG bonuses fades, Paul Krugman today points to a real outrage: "pay at investment banks, after dipping last year, is soaring again--right back up to 2007 levels." Such a symbol for unquenchable Wall Street greed may serve a political turning point just as did Ronald Reagan's Welfare Queen who drove a Cadillac three decades ago--with a number of added … [Read more...] about Wall Street’s Welfare Queens
President John McCain’s First 100 Days
What would the first 100 days of President John McCain's presidency likely have looked like if the Arizona Senator -- sometimes at much at odds with his own party as with the Democrats -- had won the Presidency? Walter Shapiro, writing on Salon, gives you his always perceptive take. (Shapiro was a great columnist on USA Today some years ago and now Salon regularly runs his … [Read more...] about President John McCain’s First 100 Days