Republicans vs. Fiscal Responsibility
I still can't believe people say the Republican Party is either fiscally prudent or fiscally conservative.
View ArticleTwo Election Years To Pay Attention To
They might be the years you think they are, but probably not for the reasons you expect. Take your well-earned break from the next election cycle (EDIT: I was unclear. Meaning through the end of...
View ArticleTop Ten Republican Losses of 2012
It's been a rough year for the Grand Old Party. Let's look back at some fond memories of how the Republicans lost the War on 2012.
View ArticlePaul Ryan Needs to Get Unplugged
Once again, somebody looks in a mirror, fails to recognize his reflection, and says it looks like his enemy. Former vice presidential candidate and noted partisan Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI)...
View ArticleStill clueless about energy policy
Some people forget that there's top-down solutions that work better than bottom-up ones. Thomas Friedman in Sunday's The New York Times:Nothing would do more to clean our air, drive clean-tech...
View ArticleEndorsement for the next US Senator from Massachusetts
Massachusetts has not seen a lot of turnover in its senators. Ted Kennedy kept his seat from the mid-1960s until his death in 2010. John Kerry held on to his seat for a few decades as well, until...
View ArticleThe Inconsistency of Right Wing Justices
First, congratulations Senator-elect Markey! I wish I'd had energy to do more than make sandwiches for one of your staffing offices.Yesterday the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned one...
View ArticleStop calling them conservative
One of the easiest traps to fall into when debating is to let the other side, or sides, dictate the terms and language of a debate. This is especially the case with political discussions. For many...
View ArticleFlip-flopping Right-winger du jour: David Brooks
Sometimes I think he writes his columns just to hear himself speak. Well, and to earn some money from the coffers of All The News That's Fit To Print.What he says about radical Islam:It’s no use...
View ArticleA Rare Case of Political Sanity
It's not common to find something good to write about in politics, but the Democratic primary in MA-5 is definitely something interesting. (Note: I am keeping this a little vague for personal...
View ArticleShutdown Near An End--But Prepare For The Next One
By now, various news outlets are talking about the end of the shutdown and how the federal government will be funded, at least for a few months. On the one side, thank goodness. Maybe now the national...
View ArticleMary Matalin Fails Government 101 And Nobody Catches It
I am sitting here watching a time-delayed (All Hail TiVo!) Real Time with Bill Maher thankfully back from break, and one of his guests is longtime Republican strategist Mary Matalin. My jaw dropped...
View ArticleIdiot of the week
Tony PerkinsWhy of course, putting cakes in the oven for people you morally disapprove of is exactly the same as putting people you morally disapprove of in the freaking oven.Dumbass.
View ArticleA Saga Concludes: Market Basket Reopens For Business
Let me tell you a story about a CEO, one who has so much loyalty from his workers that they went on strike to get him reinstated after he was fired.First, a little background.My first encounter with...
View ArticleMassachusetts Candidates on Health Care: A Quick Primer
Before anything else: don't forget that there is a primary election on Tuesday, September 9 in Massachusetts. All statewide offices are up for election, so be sure to go to nominate your choices for...
View ArticleTop Ten Reasons Don Berwick Should Be Governor of Massachusetts come 2015
Don't forget, Massachusetts, we have a primary around the corner. Let me tell you why you should vote for Don.First, the not so serious version:10) Doesn't think climate change means a trip to...
View ArticleTom Friedman still doesn't understand the economy
Tom Friedman tries. He tries, really hard, to come up with solutions to the problems of the day. His intentions are honorable. He cares about people outside his rarefied economic bracket without being...
View ArticleA Break from Politics: Homemade French Fries
One reason so many people like going out to eat is French fries. These lovely little sticks--or occasionally wedges--of potato (or, if you're like Dan Quayle, "potatoe") are quick, tasty, and seemingly...
View ArticleElection 2014: The Quest For Election 2016
I had meant to be more active this election cycle--helping campaigns where possible, writing when I could. I should have been more active. I keep telling myself this as I look at Democalypse 2014: The...
View ArticleMassachusetts: Still Blue with Red Governors
The New York Times has a full roundup of all the major elections in Massachusetts, excepting the non-binding Question 5.What's interesting is where the votes went. Not everybody voted for every race....
View ArticleGoodbye, Mr. Chi- err, Colbert
The previous night you jumped The Shark on the word wall. It was definitely time for you to come to the end.You had an amazing run, and you ended the show beautifully. And I have to say, there's no way...
View ArticleThe Inherent Biases of Language and Society, and How They Shape Americans
Some years ago I took a college course on how to read the newspapers--no joke. The professor, who had been a journalist for decades himself, pointed out how slants can be put into news articles that...
View ArticleOpen Thread: Rename the Republicans!
The political right in the US has done a lot of "message control" in the past few decades. They take something that most people wouldn't have a problem with, give it a different and highly unflattering...
View ArticleThe Tempest in a Teapot over Trevor Noah
The Daily Show will have a new host later this year, Trevor Noah. Some people have gotten upset at some of his more inflammatory zinger-tweets. The Nation has a pretty good round-up, sans links.Look. I...
View ArticleTrevor Noah: African American Humourist
Some people might remember me writing here about Trevor Noah and some of his most offensive tweets. "Tempest in a teapot" were some of my words.I am not only not taking those words back, I am doubling...
View ArticleFood Blogging: What To Do With A Burger Pan
So you've made burgers for your meal. You might have made other things too, but now that you've made the burgers you have frying pan filled with burger grease.A lot of people will put that pan in the...
View ArticleSonnet: Justice for Baltimore
A man arrested, healthy and intact in custody was taken by the Law. His death is still the only living fact inside a story rife with every flaw. Policemen, armored, ready for a fight amass to keep a...
View ArticleLabor unions need to fight back during negotiations
Back in 2011, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey renegotiated union contracts with state workers stating a need to lower labor costs but also acknowledging that the state has underfunded the pension...
View ArticleRepublicans forgetting States Rights
I am watching last night's Real Time with Bill Maher, where one Rick Laszio is talking. He's the fellow Hillary Clinton beat to become Senator Clinton. Just yesterday, Hillary called for automatic...
View ArticleI Stand With the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
There is little I can manage beyond my words, but as they are my only real means of doing anything right now I will use them, however poor a substitute they are for friends at the door.I am a lifelong...
View ArticleFiveThirtyEight.com Bearish on Bernie
Credit where credit is due, Nate Silver and his team have done very well in predicting election outcomes over the past few election cycles. While Bernie has been polling pretty well in New Hampshire,...
View ArticleSonnet: Primary Choices
In oh sixteen we face a daunting choice of who to lead our nation for some years. How will we choose, the ones who give us voice? Or else the ones who play upon our fears? Now Hillary, less centrist...
View ArticleThe total idiocy of "Stump For Trump"
In last night's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon opening monologue, Jimmy showed a clip on CNN last week where two black women who are part of "Stump for Trump" showed up and made some statements....
View ArticleHow Bernie Sanders can sweep the primaries--and still lose the nomination
Right now, a lot of Daily Kos readers are very enthusiastic about Senator Bernie Sanders, wanting him to become the nominee of the Democratic Party. I'm one of those enthusiasts. However, the battle is...
View ArticleWhy Republicans Are Wrong On Economics, And How To Teach Them Better
Republican candidates for President, Senator and Representative positions all hammer home one economic theme. Roughly speaking it's, "We should return to the good old days when the economy was better."...
View ArticleWhy Bernie Will Win, Reason 5
The older people among us probably remember how, in 1980, a relatively large number of Democrats crossed party lines and voted for one Ronald Wilson Reagan.Well, Bernie's doing the same thing in...
View ArticleDemocratic Debate from the corner couch: impressions that are 45 minutes old
I am not fully up to current time on the debate (all hail TiVo), but I have been watching. Impressions so far:While there is some degree of sniping back and forth, none of it is on the basis of...
View ArticleMore an au revoir than a goodbye
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’ve been on the Internet for over two decades.My early forays on my own equipment were with dial-up modems that were hooked up to an old Apple MacIntosh with two...
View ArticleDear CNN: Go To Hell
It figures that when the MSM finally decides to look at Bernie Sanders, they try to do so as dismissively as possible. From this little hit piece:Poll by poll, Sanders is emerging as the left's very...
View ArticleQuick headline prediction
Before today, the main media narrative about Bernie vs. Hillary was that she would win in Iowa. Also, that he winning in Iowa would mean doom for Bernie Sanders and his campaign is done for.As I type...
View ArticleLeading the polls? Really?
You may have seen the headlines saying Hillary Still Leading Over Bernie, or words to that effect. Those articles generally refer to the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina primaries—you know,...
View ArticleLosing Our Breath
No pictures. This isn’t about pictures anyways.This is about words.When we say words aloud, we use our breath. I want you to breathe.Breathe in.Breathe out. Breathe for a moment. Think of your...
View ArticleTalking about Donald Trump's Business Record
Shorter Hillary Clinton: Donald, you have underpaid or completely stiffed thousands of direct employees and contractors.Shorter Donald Trump: I have fully paid tens of thousands of people who are happy...
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