My Cut

Recent events in Arizona and the Middle East have put an unplanned pause into Republican energy to cut the budget.  Some might argue there was never any energy for action other than talk.  In any case, time has now interceded.  Surprise, surprise, as the smoke clears, the Republican proposals look foolish and unworkable.  This reality [...]

Intelligent and No Hopes

As we watch events play out in Cairo, the pictures show a young, western dressed group confronting the Egyptian Government’s police.  The news tells us the demonstrators want an end to the Mubarak regime.  They hope that will lead to a brighter future. The demonstrators (at least some of them) carry cell phones and are [...]

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Yesterday, President Obama seemed to do what George W Bush always did.  That is, speak first, think later. The hottest story on the 7/24 news cycle is the unrest in Egypt.  The popular uprising is threatening to topple the Mubarak government.  The usual actors are present.  Corruption, poverty, high unemployment, and repressive government tactics.  To [...]

Laying Blame

There are 633 riveting pages.  The 2008 Financial Crisis is a mystery no more.  The icing on the cake, the crisis could have been prevented. As crisis go, this was not your average one.  It had a lot of moving parts.  There was the government-gone private Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac.  These twins would buy [...]

State Bailouts

Republican leaders said this week that they would oppose any attempts for States to ask the Federal Government to undertake a “bail out”.  This seems a wise position to take.  It does, however, also raise a number of questions. Without bankruptcy, some States will have to raise the money (read raise taxes) to pay their [...]

Genetics

Recently the New York Times published an essay that claimed once one controlled for environment, children with the best genes did best.  This is not an optimistic statement for the poor and the average middle class, or is it?.  What hope is there to improve the US educational system if this proposition is true?  It [...]

Conservative Two Step

Last evening syndicated columnist, Charles Krauthammer, spoke in Philadelphia.  His speech from prepared remarks was both informative and skillfully presented.  He spoke from the right side of the plate and delivered an insightful perspective of President Obama and his presidency.  Krauthammer writes well and last night he spoke well. In the question and answer portion [...]

Specifics Please

Tuesday night America will hear three addresses.  One from President Obama in what is known as the State of the Union speech, and the other two “rebuttals” from Republicans.  One of the two Republican speeches will not be broadcasted on national television since only one speech is treated as justified under a doctrine of political [...]

Shame

It is still early in the legislative year.  Never the less there are signs that the conservative Tea Party driven elements of Congress will follow the “act first, think later” style of governance.  If so, what a ride we are in for. The Tea Party cry is for deep and permanent cuts in government “non-defense” [...]

Socialized Medicine

What is socialized medicine?  How does it differ from the system we have the US?  Why are so many people dead set against any steps that they feel might lead to what they call socialized medicine? As you might guess the “medicine” part of socialized medicine is just the same as what we are used [...]