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Shaming Our Country into a Debt Ceiling Deal
Tweet Share on Facebook July 28, 2011 Comment (6)Looming fiscal disaster doesn't seem to be moving Washington towards getting an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Is it too late for basic shame?
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Why Can't Washington Pols Be More LIke NFL Negotiators?
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2011 Comment (12)What does it mean when people who mounted political campaigns and were ostensibly vetted by the voters cannot come to an agreement on the debt ceiling, but the National Football League and professional athletes worked out a deal in plenty of time for the football season to start on time?
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Fuss About Michele Bachmann's Migraines Fueled by Sexism
Tweet Share on Facebook July 26, 2011 Comment (10)GOP contender Michele Bachmann certainly has made statements that deserve close questioning. She has confused Concord, Mass., with Concord, N.H. in her discussion of the Revolutionary War. She said her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa was home to famed actor John Wayne when (oops!) it was, in fact, famed murderer John Wayne Gacy. (And do you really want to mention "Waterloo" when mounting a campaign of any kind, anyway?) On a more substantive level, Bachmann should be expected to explain why, despite the warnings of numerous economists, she seems unconcerned about the fallout of a failure to raise the debt ceiling.
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Norway Reacts to Terror Attack With Commendable Peace
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2011 Comment (23)Oslo, Norway, has long been a symbol of peace, culturally and officially. Homicides and other violent crime are uncommon; security around government buildings is low, compared to other countries. And, notably, Oslo is home to the Nobel Peace Prize.
That image was tragically shattered when a crazed gunman with apparent racist and anti-immigrant leanings launched what police believe was a dual attack, bombing a building in the city and shooting scores of young people who were at a Labour Party camp on an island. Initial worries were that the attacker was a member of al Qaeda or another terrorist group with Islamic connections. In fact, the accused mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, said he was on a crusade against multiculturalism and Islam. In a 1,500-page manifesto identified with Breivik, he decries "Islamic colonisation and Islamisation of Western Europe" and the "rise of cultural Marxism/multi-culturalism."
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Allen West Damages Himself With Insulting Email
Tweet Share on Facebook July 21, 2011 Comment (60)Well, so much for "the distinguished gentlelady from Florida."
That, of course, is how members of Congress—all of them adults, and presumably schooled in basic manners—are supposed to address a colleague such as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, even if they disagree with what she is saying.
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News of the World Hacking Scandal Threatens Free Society
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2011 Comment (10)It might have been just a juicy scandal, the very sort that the now-defunct News of the World would have trumpeted on its front page. Hacking into the cell phone message systems of celebrities, royals, and even the families of an abducted girl and of 9-11 victims is not only unethical, but a crime. But the scandal has reached far beyond the British newspaper and its owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and has upset the faith in the institutions critical to a working democracy.
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GOP Could Regret Pushing Elizabeth Warren Into a Senate Run
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2011 Comment (13)Senate Republicans must feel awfully confident about the re-election chances of GOP Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Otherwise, it could be really, really awkward in the Senate dining room come 2013.
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House GOP Wastes Time on Inane Light Bulb Battle
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2011 Comment (33)How many House Republicans does it take to unscrew an energy-efficient light bulb law?
We can’t be sure, since it was done on a voice vote. But it was a GOP-driven effort, and an avowed GOP victory for the rights of energy-inefficient light bulb users everywhere, when the House voted last week to defund a federal law requiring that light bulbs be 30 percent more efficient by 2012. The law—notably passed and signed during the Bush administration—does not explicitly ban incandescent bulbs the GOP’s constituents claim to love so much, but the energy standards certainly would result in the old-style bulbs being phased out.
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Women's Sports Finally Get Our Attention
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2011 Comment (7)There are front-page stories in many major newspapers today, including both The New York Times and the Washington Post, about the U.S. women's soccer team win that advanced them to the World Cup finals.
The athletic feat was itself remarkable. What was perhaps more remarkable is that the news media is finally giving women's sports due attention.
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Self Checkout and Saving American Jobs
Tweet Share on Facebook July 13, 2011 Comment (10)As Congress and the White House blame each other for the poor employment situation, here's one thing Americans can do to help save jobs:
