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ER Ends Its 15-year Run on TV. Good Riddance
Tweet Share on Facebook March 31, 2009 Comment (8)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
When ER ends a 15-year run on NBC this week, to all the well-deserved bells and whistles for having survived, for so long, as a part of American culture, I won't be part of the celebration.
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Harley-Davidson to America: Let's Ride
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2009 Comment (13)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Here is a little product placement for my friends at the great American motorcycle company: Harley-Davidson.
Yesterday, Harley bought a two-page ad in the Sunday New York Times with a message that all Americans, in these difficult economic times, should read.
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Obama Laughs Off Pot Legalization Talk at Town Hall Meeting
Tweet Share on Facebook March 26, 2009 Comment (21)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
So. It turns out I'm not the only American who agrees with the expert opinion that the federal war on marijuana is a waste of resources.
If you can believe President Obama, of the 3.5 million people who tried to participate in his virtual town hall meeting today, many had marijuana on their mind.
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Marijuana: Tax It, Regulate It, But Legalize It
Tweet Share on Facebook March 26, 2009 Comment (167)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Legalize pot.
Regulate it. Tax the hell out of it. But legalize marijuana.
Do we need any more proof that our drug policy is bankrupt and counterproductive than what is going on along the Mexican border these days?
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Media Impotent Following Up On Obama At Last Night's Press Conference
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 Comment (22)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The White House press corps needs to work on its follow-up questions. The reporters sounded, way too often, like Tommy Smothers last night.
Tommy was the dumb brother on the left who would come up with some outlandish statement, and then be corrected by the smarter brother, Dick.
The brothers would get their laugh as Tommy manfully struggled to cope with his embarrassment and concoct a clever comeback, which usually was..."Oh yeah?"
Followed by (sullen, with resentment), "Mom always liked you best."
A follow-up question needs to be on target, to correct a misstatement or point out that the president dodged the initial query.
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Obama Can Learn From George Washington, Baron Von Steuben, and Maybe Even George Will
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2009 Comment (3)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Early in the morning of December, 26, 1776—arguably the most important day in the history of the United States—Gen. George Washington's battered little army, having made its famous crossing of the ice-strewn Delaware River, was creeping toward Trenton, N.J., through snow, sleet, and freezing rain.
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Google May Not Be Evil, But It Sure as Hell Isn't Interested in Free Speech
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2009 Comment (4)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The fight between Warner Music and Google may at first seem like a battle between the merely rich and the ridiculously wealthy.
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AIG Tax Vote Exposes Hypocrisy of Eric Cantor and the House Republicans
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2009 Comment (29)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Yesterday's decision by Rep. Eric Cantor and 84 of his Republican Party colleagues to support a confiscatory tax on bonuses at bailed-out financial firms should give Rush Limbaugh and the party's titular leaders pause.
What do Republicans stand for?
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Obama's Muppet Treasury: Are Geithner, Summers Really Beaker and Dr. Honeydew?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2009 Comment (3)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I perhaps should not be saying this because, Lord knows, I want Barack Obama and his team to succeed and rescue my 401k...
But has anyone else noted the resemblance between Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Beaker the Muppet?
Or maybe between Larry Summers and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew?
Is it the cough medicine I'm taking? Or are we living through some real life nightmarish episode of Muppet Labs? The one where they turn gold into cottage cheese?
Meep!
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Obama's Budget Reconciliation Strategy Is For Adults
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2009 Comment (3)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Human beings like narratives, and analogies. They make things easier to understand. It is not surprising, then, that Americans have often been described as a big, fractious family. And, in recent years, the family analogy has been stretched to include the Daddy Party and the Mommy Party. The daddy was supposedly the GOP, all stern and disciplined. And the mommy was the Democrats, all caring and understanding.
I have always preferred a different family-based metaphor, however, which more accurately divides Washington between the Grown Ups and the Babies.
