The deafening noise coming from Republicans about the deficit is nothing but a lot of…. noise. Most of these people, especially on the far fringe right, are talking about something that they really do not understand.
Many understand the underlying thought but a picture will help to reinforce the concept. Towards that goal, here is an extremely simplified picture of the economy:
The concept to keep in mind here is that the economy is a network of circulating money.… [Read more]
The American dream of the 1950s — owning a home in suburbia — is no longer what it seems. Single income households are generally a thing of the past, and residential renting became much more practical when the housing market turned downwards at the onset of the economic recession. As single family home sales stalled, condominium purchases picked up some slack.… [Read more]
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the contrast is striking. On the one hand, we have a President who’s cancelled campaign stops, and who’s calling on donations to the American Red Cross instead of his campaign. As reported by the Huffington Post: “On the campaign side, Obama halted his flood of fundraising emails on Sunday, and the campaign is now using its Twitter, Facebook and campaign pages to instead urge donations to the Red Cross storm relief.… [Read more]
As city after city surveys the damage left in Hurricane Sandy’s path in the east coast, photos show the devastation of entire neighbourhoods covered in sand and slowly-receding water. Even more sad is the reported loss of lives to the storm; a sad fact from which some may never recover. According to MSNBC nearly 8 million remain without electric power — and though crews are working feverishly to restore and repair, it’s impossible to pinpoint when a sense of normalcy will return.… [Read more]
Hunkered down in my apartment in Virginia Beach, VA, I’ve been running circles from the windows to the TV to the computer, obsessing on Hurricane Sandy since 3:45 Monday morning. I noticed something unusual—little to no political ads. Not much in the way of campaign propaganda whatsoever. Was I simply sleep deprived, or was something unusual going on?… [Read more]
Just when we think we’ve identified all of the end-of-days religious wingnuts, along comes another. This time, it’s self-styled Chaplain John McTernan. Yesterday he went way off the deep end, which would be easy if he were in lower Manhattan, today, when he blamed Hurricane Sandy on the gays.… [Read more]
Nonsensical, draconian laws of Saudi Arabia make news more often than not in world media. But what just occurred seems to be setting new records in ignorance. Each year millions of Muslims from all over the world visit the kingdom to perform pilgrim in Makkah, as part of their faith, for earning spiritual rewards. This time, the Saudi authorities decided to vaccinate pilgrims coming from certain countries where polio is still considered endemic.… [Read more]
It has been said that politics is a local issue. Given all the attention being paid to this crucial presidential election, it should be remembered that many of the issues affecting us take place on the national level but, as we have seen over the past nearly 4 years of the Obama administration, it is the state-level politicians — the senators and congressmen — who have the ability to support or block efforts that affect the entire nation.… [Read more]
Nothing fries the circuits of the proud, ostensibly principled American progressive psyche to the same degree of fricassee as the Right (Troglodyte Division) in its fullest and finest bellow. From my safe, snowball throwing perch on the Canadian south coast, I read, mark, and inwardly digest the US presidential campaign detritus flung northward. I am constantly amazed at how readily Democrats rise to the bait cast so effortlessly by the baying conservative sportsmen.… [Read more]
Conservative loudmouth Rush Limbaugh ranted about a funny Obama for President ad featuring HBO TV show “Girls” actress Lena Dunham, titled “First Time.” Yes, the same Rush Limbaugh who lost a ton of advertisers not too many months ago after calling Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke a “slut.” Turns out college dropout Limbaugh didn’t fare well in that exchange.… [Read more]
Here on the East Coast of the United States, we wait with anxiety and dread the horror that will clog our sewers and storm drains with our dead. They call it “Frankenstorm.” We’ll probably lose power. There will likely be lives lost. Millions, if not billions in property damage. Thank goodness the pundits are focusing on the most important impact this storm may have on the lives of people from Virginia to New Hampshire.… [Read more]
Wrapping up this week, we thought we’d post a public service announcement video by singer Lesley Gore, known for several 1960’s classics. This pro-feminist announcement, “You Don’t Own Me,” is more than fitting for today’s social and political climate — especially in light of the GOP’s “crazy uncles” such as Todd Akin and, most recently, Richard ‘Rape babies are “something God intended to happen” Mourdock.… [Read more]
We are tempted to say that Ann Coulter‘s legacy is her unflinching support of bigotry.
After Ms. Coulter tweeted that President Obama is a “retard,” Barbara decided to draw a Coulter cartoon and asked our facebook friends for a suggestion. One of them, to whom this Art-itorial is dedicated, replied, “You could draw a [steaming] pile of crap and put long blonde hair on it,” and the result is what you see above.… [Read more]
This week’s Say It In Song post is a 1980’s throwback: Little Lies, by Fleetwood Mac.
“If I could turn the page In time then I’d rearrange just a day or two…”
How many of us aren’t feeling that way during this political season? Just ready to turn a page and move on…
There’s work to do, and we’re tired of hearing lies.… [Read more]
Throughout this election season many of us have heard numerous reports about charges of voter fraud, voter suppression tactics, Tagg Romney‘s ties to a company that owns Ohio voting machines, and even CEOs who have threatened employees with termination should Mitt Romney lose the upcoming presidential election. We’ve heard about the respective candidates’ poll numbers and who is gaining/losing support among women, the impact of the economy, and the weight of endorsements.… [Read more]
A report today noted the nation’s recovery is still slow, but the most recent annualised figures for the period ended September 30th reveal that the economy experienced 2% growth — and that growth was more than originally projected.
Increased strength in the housing market and higher consumer spending resulting from a slight increase in consumer spending are contributing factors.… [Read more]
In the 1950s, the science fiction genre was at its highest popularity with movies depicting aliens from other world coming to earth to take over the human population for various reasons ranging from food to slave labor, to the total annihilation of the human race.
My all-time favorite Sci-Fi movie is the classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.… [Read more]
It is not spoken of much today but I vividly remember the Summer of 2005; Israeli soldiers physically removed Jewish settlers from the Gaza territory. The settlers, resisting with screams and kicks, cursing the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldiers. One memory will never escape my mind; it is that of a settler holding his infant out of the window from the top floor of his home threatening to drop the baby if the soldiers took another step towards his home.… [Read more]
On November 2nd a jobs report will be released — just a few days before the Presidential election. The monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has long been the object of intense focus among denizens of the Beltway and Wall Street due to the impact that the numbers contained therein have on politics, business and the economy.… [Read more]
It’s laid out pretty clear in study after study that if the PTC Extension (Production Tax Credit) isn’t passed in Congress, jobs will be in jeopardy. These aren’t imaginary jobs that someone has made up on paper but are jobs that have been built, one by one throughout the country. The United States is facing the oncoming train that wind energy could be damaged by the severe loss of jobs and support with the PTC.… [Read more]
