This section is here because, well, there is more than just one opinion on the planet.
The rhetoric that is coming out of Washington DC is so loud that the Republicans in House of Representatives and Senate cannot hear the American people. It seems there is nothing more important than stopping President Barack Obama from accomplishing anything. This, of course, comes at a time in American history when ideology is more important than jobs, unnecessary gun deaths and poverty, all of which affect the American economy.… [Read more]
The taxman is the Rodney “No Respect” Dangerfield of government employees. The latest hubbub over alleged Internal Revenue Service “targeting” of government-critical conservative groups is the latest ‘Tempest in a Teapot’ only Congressional Republicans could wail about. You’d think the President dug up ole Geo. Washington’s sacred bones and used them for White House Halloween decorations.… [Read more]
Readers of this space know that this Canuck is an admirer of President Obama. An easy call even if the President did not possess his many admirable qualities, given the sad state of his opposition, with knee-jerk abysmalism, and an always tried, never true policy of ‘well, shit, we’re not him’ its ragged, pathetic battle cry.… [Read more]
The continuing Benghazi debacle on Capitol Hill has all the marks of a Cecil B. DeMille Hollywood blockbuster. Starring the Marx Brothers.
“Impeachment,” hinted Sen. James “Lousy Okie Pilot” Inhofe (R-Okla.) as he made another pass at Runway ‘X’ and as construction workers scurried to safety. Inhofe is still mad at the Federal Aviation Administration for questioning his airmanship skills.… [Read more]
After this week’s congressional election between Mark Sanford and Elizabeth Colbert-Busch it is hard to think of the Republican Party standing for anything. The Grand Old Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Eisenhower has fallen to new lows in the election of often disgraced Mark Sanford, but it is the South, and politics below the Mason Dixon line is far from mainstream in any sense of the word.… [Read more]
With four weeks left in the school year, I am constantly getting e-mails from administration that remind us, the staff, that final walk-throughs will be done in the next couple of weeks and, after grades are posted, our final evaluations will be ready for us to view. We receive reminders to enter in our “evidence” that we have been working toward the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year.… [Read more]
April has come and gone, and virtually all of us have dutifully filed a tax return or an extension. The anti-tax mob hasn’t gone anywhere. Somebody’s going to have to pay the tab, according to their means. Despite the sequester that wasn’t supposed to be, replete with “For special friends of Rick’s” special interest mulligans, the bugaboo of taxation hasn’t left us.… [Read more]
The first thing I want to do is list our foreign policy successes in the Middle East over the last 20 years.
1.
2.
3.… [Read more]
It seems that the blogosphere has been abuzz all week with the news of gay NBA player Jason Collins’ coming out story in Sport Illustrated this Monday. The news has largely been met with positive statements from public figures, from the NBA Commissioner, fellow NBA players, and even former and current Presidents. Those on the right have largely kept quiet, or at least, feigned modesty over the whole ordeal.… [Read more]
People all across the Middle East and the world are wondering when will the violence in Syria end. The destruction of the Spire in Aleppo, one of the oldest religious sites in the world, is yet another example of what civil war can do to a country, its people and its society.
Thousands upon thousands of innocent citizens of the ancient civilization have been forced to flee their homes and families as the assaults by both sides in the ongoing civil war have left the once thriving society in ruins.… [Read more]
One has to have a sense of humor to be President of the United States. We saw with Tricky Dick Nixon how anger becomes paranoia, and “All The President’s Men” turned into a gaggle of bumbling cat burglars out of the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges. Has-been conservative firebrand G. Gordon Liddy probably has an understandable aversion to dining off metal trays from his inmate years.… [Read more]
K Street—the lobbying capital of our country. If you want something done, no matter what it is, you’ll be able to find someone on K street to lobby Congress on your behalf. But, is this a benefit to our political system?
It depends. If you’re a senior citizen, you probably belong to the AARP and like it that the AARP lobbies on issues concerning senior citizens.… [Read more]
You can always count on Canada to provide black comedic relief when it comes to how terrorist threats ought to be blunted. We – unerringly – take an American legislative excess and give that delightful, north of the 49th insouciance to make it our own. Remember ‘extraordinary rendition’ in the wake of 9/11, a dark Rumsfledian Star Chamber vision administered by charming Syrian prison officials?… [Read more]
Whether we like it or not, lobbying is part of our government. If it’s an issue that we like (education?) or one we don’t care too much about (taxes?), the fact remains that there is probably a lobbyist working on the issue. But, how big and pervasive is the business of lobbying? I know it’s a stupid question, but I get to ask it anyway because this is my post.… [Read more]
Rand Paul (R-KY) wants to be President of the United States. He also wants African-Americans to believe that he is not a bigot. During his recent outreach visit to Howard University he relayed to the students of the elite, predominantly African-American institution that he has never been against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and that he does not have a bigoted bone in his body or a racist feeling in his heart.… [Read more]
Don’t worry, ‘Merca. You’ll still get your mail on Saturdays. For now, anyway.
About a month ago I turned on my local news like I always do while I made dinner for my family. They were reporting on the controversy over whether or not the United States Postal Service would end Saturday delivery to save money.… [Read more]
In the aftermath of the recent Boston Marathon bombing, Republicans now complain why we “ignored” warnings from Russian intelligence about the alleged culprits. How times change. Just as the Reagan Administration cozied up with the Taliban as “freedom fighters” as long as they were killing Russians, offshoots such as al Queda went from “partisans” to pariahs when the sponsored attack dogs started biting the hands that fed them.… [Read more]
The last couple of days have been difficult for many Americans, especially those who have either lost a loved one or know someone who has been affected by gun violence. We watched as the United States Senate failed to pass background check legislation that could have helped curb the death, human destruction and financial costs of the one million plus men, women and children who have been senselessly killed by guns since 1968.… [Read more]
Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, and the tyrannical theocracy of Iran may not agree on a lot of things. Pipes may even style himself an opponent to the very existence of the velayat-e faqih regime. But there is one important thing the two parties do agree on – that the brutal Assad regime of Syria is currently worth supporting.… [Read more]
A few weeks ago, I offered a principled case for the Keystone XL pipeline project and its eventual approval by President Obama. I stand by those opinions – and as I explain here, recent Alberta political pronouncements elevate my views from so much environmentalist digital compost to pure gold. Realpolitik is rarely pretty. My bottom line suggestion that ‘hey, until America evolves beyond its fossil fuels fixation, oil’s gotta come from somewhere, so why not your friends?’ may at first seem an affront to any ‘principled case’ claims.… [Read more]
