Recently in Politics Category

There's good news and there's bad news. First, the good:"White House officials expect Lawrence Summers to leave his job as the president's National Economic Council director after November's congressional elections, according to three people familiar with the matter." Now the bad:"Administration officials are weighing whether to put a prominent corporate executive in the NEC director's job to counter criticism that the administration is anti-business, one person familiar with White House discussions said [I smell Rahm]....

I've been fond of saying lately that a drunken monkey could have beaten Harry Reid in Nevada. Fortunately, for Reid, he didn't get a drunken monkey as an opponent. He got a crazy tea party candidate. One of the things that has been bandied about lately is how this tea party is going to effect the midterm elections. You get disagreement. Some think they are a powerful force no matter what their ideas. Others think...

Here is an unattended life guard station from the beach in Galveston, Texas. I took this picture two days ago.This is the Tea Party/Republican view of our society. They feel we should all be left alone to fight the rip currents of life.Under the Tea Party/ Republican Party, we'd have privatized social security that rises and falls at the whims of the markets. Is this what you want when it is time to retire? What...

Two questions: 1) Who the hell is in charge of Democratic strategery? 2) How far up your ass does your head have to be before this sounds like a good idea? "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he will add the DREAM Act, a controversial immigration measure, to a defense policy bill the Senate will take up next week. The decision means the defense bill, which often passes with bipartisan support, will be home...

Wannabe Speaker John Boehner says a few reasonable sounding words on Face the Nation and the headlines are about a 'shift in policy,' a 'crack in Republican solidarity,' a 'victory for the Obama administration,' and 'Republicans caving on the tax cut battle.' Three words of advice:Don't buy it.First, why would anyone believe a word Boehner says? Then look at the entirety of his comments. Yes, he said,  "If the only option I have is to...

A couple of things don't make sense in this debate over letting the tax cuts for the top 2% expire. Don't make sense on the surface, that is. Dig a little deeper and it becomes perfectly clear. Why is there such angst in Congress about raising taxes on the wealthy? Members of both the House and the Senate in both parties say they are so concerned with the deficit, but yet extending the cuts will...

Hank Gilbert, the Democratic nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, says that incumbent Commissioner Todd Staples has not taken necessary steps to stop bedbug infestation in Texas.(Above--Hank Gilbert--As American as Amber Waves of Grain.)Mr. Staples has been more concerned with his buddies in the pest control industry, than he has been with the best interests of the people of Texas.In addition, Mr. Staples is not doing all he can to educate Texans about how to prevent...

I have taught a lot of workshops over the years, and one of the components that I cover when I deliver a workshop on change management is something called the "Emotional Contagion Theory."In the March 2005 issue of The Journal of Applied Psychology, Richard Saavedra and Thomas Sy at California State University at Long Beach examined the effects of a leader's mood on a group. They took 189 volunteer undergraduates, divided them into 63 groups of...

The reactions that I've read this morning to President Obama's speech yesterday in Ohio seem to divide along the lines of "too little, too late" and "it's about time, where has this guy been for the last 20 months?" To the first group I would say, better late than never. If it's not Election Day, it's not too late. To the second, nothing happens in the past. OK, mistakes were made, but to paraphrase Willie...

So I guess the desecration of September 11th and showing insensitivity to the families and friends of those who lost their lives that day doesn't extend to Reverend Glenn and Sister Sarah soaking the suckers for a few extra bucks or Newt the Pious, defender of the sanctity of marriage, peddling his latest piece of anti-Obama, anti-Islam garbage on that day. From Think Progress: "This weekend, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are hosting a rally...