Another week, another wrap-up. The problem is that this past week feels like déjà vu all over again as the news cycle spit out one story after another about the “scandals” of Benghazi the IRS and even “umbrella gate.” Yeah, ‘umbrella gate’ — in which the far right has lost what remains of its senses by throwing yet another hissy fit over a Marine holding an umbrella for the President as he delivered a speech during the rain.… [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]
Six months ago, Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast. As Sandy’s forceful winds blew and lifted waves in its path, entire neighbourhoods were torn apart as homes and lives blew away.
Since then, we’ve seen the best of government: New York and New Jersey’s respective governors, Andrew Cuomo (D) and Chris Christie (R) working hand in hand with President Obama to survey the damage, form assessments and get the wheels turning to expedite aid to displaces families.… [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]
Did you miss last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner?
In terms of a little background, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is an group of journalists who cover the U.S. President and the White House. According to WHCA, the organisation was founded in 1914 by journalists in response to a rumour that a Congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.… [Read more]
Four Democrats helped kill the gun reform legislation supported by nearly 90% of the American public yesterday in a 54-46 vote. Those Democratic Senators who voted against the Toomey-Manchin bill were: Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Senator Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, voted against the bill but that was for ‘procedural reasons’ in that in order to re-introduce the bill at a later date, as leader of the House he is required by rule to vote against it.… [Read more]
Many of us are watching the next move in the political game of financial chess. Today, President Obama will submit his long-awaited budget proposal. Keeping focus on deficit reduction in the face of a slowly recovering economy and unemployment figures that hover in the upper end of the 7 percent level, the president’s proposal includes $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, which is expected to bring in total deficit savings to $4.3 trillion.… [Read more]
President Obama’s salary and pension may be exempt from sequestered cuts but that hasn’t stopped him from taking the same cut that other federal employees are being subjected to due to budget sequestration. Today, it was announced that the POTUS plans to return 5% of his $400,000 annual salary in response to and in support of federal workers who are going to be furloughed.… [Read more]
abomination [əˌbɒmɪˈneɪʃən]
noun
1. a person or thing that is disgusting
2. an action that is vicious, vile, etc.
3. intense loathing
It’s clear that many on the right view President Obama as an abomination worthy of disdain — but is it possible that what the electorate is witnessing is their fear that the extremist ideology touted by the right continues to lose support?… [Read more]
Part of the fallout from our current recession has been the growth of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), neé ‘Food Stamps,” participation throughout the nation. This Federal program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Food & Nutrition Service and the states, provides non-cash food assistance to households in impoverished financial distress.
Republican conservatives regularly use SNAP as a poster child for lambasting ‘welfare’.… [Read more]
Though the news this week is of the election of Pope Francis and what this means for the Catholic Church’s Legacy following the resignation of Benedict XVI, I want to focus on the big news last week. Last Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit the astronomical all-time high of 14,253.77, and has continued breaking records for nine straight trading days.… [Read more]
“Spring forward”….yes, that’s a good message to share as we wrap up another week. In taking stock of the past week’s events, we can see that several things took place that lay a foundation for moving forward, including but not limited to improvement in the nation’s employment figures, record-setting stock market averages, reauthorisation of the Violence Against Women Act, and even (some) Senate Republicans broke bread with the President to discuss getting beyond the self-imposed sequester.… [Read more]
Yesterday was International Women’s Day. Looking at the events and purpose of the day, I now propose we men take a sensible step back from the underarm-applied testosterone supplement bathroom mirror world view of our receding hairlines to reflect on some still unfinished business. In this country, we need a renewed push for the still unenacted Equal Rights Amendment.… [Read more]
So the Republican-controlled House of Representatives proposed a $982 billion bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year instead of more brinksmanship. Before we start dancing in the streets, and name a few golf courses and watering holes after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the devil is again in the details.
As a former Federal agency budget analyst and before that, a military comptroller, we need to look beyond the spin platitudes and delve into the numbers.… [Read more]
For several months, politicians on both sides of the political aisle have been sounding the alarm. We’ve been warned that the sequestered spending cuts are across-the-board and, therefore, without analysis. We’ve also been warned that the draconian measures will slow economic growth and, as a result, cost the nation somewhere in the area of 750,000 jobs – a figure agreed to by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.… [Read more]
In the middle of a week that can only fall under the category of our founder’s favorite phrase –sequestration, an allegedly semi-divine pontiff resigning, sinkholes in Florida, massive Winter Storms from Maine to Virginia, these still do not merit the title of “What the living f*ck!?”
It’s when the first American guest of the last holdout of Stalinesque brutality and Leader Worship is a seven-foot, cross-dressing former NBA star.… [Read more]
Over the past few months, the question of whether or not to build the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) has become as divisive as the line its blueprints draw through the heartland of America. One side claims that the pipeline will be ‘game over for the climate,’ while the other asserts it will create jobs and give a much-needed boost to the American economy.… [Read more]
Two-time Pulitzer winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, sketched an appropriate cartoon the other day on the string of inept GOP brinksmanship showdowns. Yes, America is tired of it. Making a mess in the kitchen, and leaving it for the missus is not a path to domestic bliss.
Kowtowing to the Tea Terrorists, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) “led” his ‘Party of No’ on another sabotage raid on the American economy.… [Read more]
The famous title line from “tough guy” actor, director, and GOP Convention empty chair talker Clint Eastwood is now for President Obama and Congressional Democrats to use against Right-wing foes bent upon driving the nation off yet another fiscal cliff.
Congressional Republicans want to allow dramatic across the board cuts under the sequester. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.), unable or unwilling to provide adult leadership to the more radical ideologues in the ‘Party of No’, now see fit to let the crazed upstarts drive the bus off the cliff.… [Read more]
