Ethics or What?

The House Ethics Committee is dealing with two long term House Democrat members.  The unfolding process is baffling. Representative Charles Rangel has chosen to contest his charges in an open trial and Representative Maxime Waters has similarly opted. What would these two representatives be thinking? Why didn’t they settle for the normal “wrist slap” and [...]

I Wonder Why?

Scene 1. Clinton White House. The Weekly Standard, Fox News, the Editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and many other like minded media sources are spewing out daily a hash composed of “Clinton is a congenital liar”, “the Country is going the wrong way”, and “Clinton is weak on defense”. Reflection:  So, what.  The [...]

Untapped Efficiency

One of the reasons that the current recession is taking so long to recover is tied, economists say, to the elimination of so many non-productive jobs with computer aided technology. In some cases this technology is not new and has been in use for a number of years. It has taken a severe jolt to [...]

Leak or Leaks?

Today’s newspapers are telling Americans that the war in Afghanistan is going poorly and that the Pakistanis have not always been our ally. These reports are based upon “leaked” electronic correspondence, mostly from lower level military members and all “unclassified”. The White House is aghast and has uttered the words “someone could be killed or [...]

Complex Systems

George Lakoff, a noted UC Berkeley linguist has describe the major difference between liberals (progressives) and conservatives as the way they view the world. Specifically progressives see the world as a result of complex interactions and conservatives see the world as “one-off” events. Mining coal is a smart decision because coal is plentiful and relatively [...]

Toothless Tiger

Senators Fluster and Bluster have been vocal for quite some time denouncing the nomination of Elena Kagan for a position on the US Supreme Court. Their speeches have been political theater and intended to reassure their supporters that they do not agree with the President’s nomination. Beyond Fluster and Bluster, there has been little else [...]

Bush Tax Cuts

Congress is now turning its attention to the quandary of what to do about the Bush Tax Cuts.  Doing nothing is the correct answer but that is highly unlikely. The Tax Cuts have an expiration date (end of this year) and tax rates are scheduled to return to Bill Clinton era levels. Since the Country [...]

Missed Opportunity?

Republicans and Democrats fought a meaningless battle yesterday over extending jobless unemployment benefits. Democrats characterized Republicans, again, as heartless and willing to grant tax cuts for the rich but not extend benefits for the unemployed. Republicans responded that they were 100% in favor of helping the unemployed but wanted the benefits extension funded. Democrats chose [...]

The Wide Gap

There is a certain amount of all political discourse that is simply about keeping one’s job. Members of Congress claim X,Y, or Z in order win the votes of his constituents. It may be half the truth or entirely misleading, but X, Y, or Z, if believed, will serve the greater good in the Congress [...]

What Do You Expect?

A Government watchdog agency issued a report Friday that claimed the bail out of GM and Chrysler failed to take in account the economic impact of allowing GM and Chrysler to shed so many of their dealerships. The report stated that, as a result, there were a lot of lost jobs that have not been [...]