Recently in Politics Category

Is this what the powers that be in Washington have sunk to?:"Sherrod told CNN that the White House urged her to resign Monday afternoon after the video clip surfaced."They harassed me," she said. "I got three calls from the White House. At one point they asked me to pull over to the side of the road and do it because you are going to be on Glenn Beck tonight." [...]Sherrod said the White House calls...

I read something disturbing in the paper a couple of days ago: "The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work." As if we didn't already know that the...

Elizabeth Warren should be a no-brainer as President Obama's choice to head the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). She is a long-time advocate for the rights of consumers, the person most responsible for the Bureau's inclusion in the recently-passed financial reform legislation, and its most notable and vocal supporter. She also has this crazy notion that a consumer protection agency should actually...you know...protect consumers against the abusive practices of the big banks. As chair...

Let's turn our attention to the federal budget. A lot has been said about balancing the budget and cutting certain parts of the budget. Unlike many of our lawmakers, I've always thought that the best way to tackle a problem is to actually look at the problem. So, here is a pie chart representation of the 2010 federal budget for your enjoyment.In the spirt of the fireside chats, I thought I would talk about this...

It appears that Republicans are following the advice of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) about laying out their plans for what they would do should they regain control of the House in the November mid-term elections. On Bill Bennett's radio program last Thursday, Rep. King said this:"I don't think we have to lay out a complete agenda, from top to bottom, because then we would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point trying...

Growing up in high school, my history teachers always taught us that the political spectrum was a straight line. On the left you had communists, socialists, and liberals and on the right you fascists, reactionaries, and conservatives. It's no wonder that so many people have made so many mistakes when dealing with other nations. The straight liners got their idea from the French Revolution. The radicals sat on the left and the loyalists sat on...

The No-Nos kicked it up a notch yesterday with House Minority Leader Boner Boehner calling for repeal of financial reform--before it even passed:"House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters, "I think it ought to be repealed. There are common sense things that you should do to plug the holes in the regulatory system that were there, and to bring more transparency to financial transactions, because transparency is like sunlight. Sunlight is the best disinfectant."Here's...

A couple of charts for the Republican Tin Men (if they only had a heart) who think that the unemployed are just lazy bums who would rather collect unemployment that work. First, from the Atlantic:"At the end of May there were 3.2 million job openings, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the face of nearly 15 million unemployed, that's obviously not enough. And if you add in those other...

God's Own Party is on the march. Sharron Angle, speaking to Ralph Reed:Reed: Sharron, you really came, maybe not out of nowhere but the back of the pack to win the Republican primary here in Nevada. There is a new poll out this week that shows you leading Harry Reid by 7 or 8 points. How do you explain all this? Your now a national story, are you kind of overwhelmed by it all?Angle: Not...

A wise man once told me, "When you throw a rock at a pack of dogs, the one that gets hit is the one that yells first and loudest." Yesterday, the NAACP threw (emphasis added):"Late this afternoon the NAACP passed a resolution calling on all people -- including tea party leaders -- to condemn racism within the tea party movement. "We feel it's very important that we educate our membership about the tea parties," said Anita...