A Scientific Fact

Global Warming has joined ‘the earth is flat’, ‘the sun revolves around the earth’, and ‘disease is caused by humors in the blood’, as a scientific fact. The polar bears are dying, the penguins are going into exile, the seas are rising and the land will disappear beneath a flood greater than Noah’s. The dilemma…

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Edwards and the Bloggers

Bill O’Reilly, interviewing a young lady defending John Edwards, asked with his usual bombast: Would you have fired the bloggers if you were Edwards? The young lady – a spokeswoman for the Young Democrats – evaded. He pursued. Finally, cornered, she admitted, No, she wouldn’t. O’Reilly pounced: If they had attacked blacks – the same…

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Music and Politics

Here’s a commentary on the state of Presidential politics. John Edwards has chosen the theme song for his campaign: John Mellencamp’s “This is Our Country.” Ford – or is it Chevrolet – is using the same song to sell trucks. Senator Chris Dodd, risking the appearance of vanity, choose “Get Ready (Cause Here I Come)”…

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Our Ally in Iraq

We have given the Iraqi Army the best weapons, the best training, the only air support in Iraq – so why can’t they defeat the terrorists? The answer we are told is they need more time to train. But that seems to defy common sense. They’ve had as much time for training as the terrorists…

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Dwight Eisenhower on Iraq

A marine officer on patrol in Baghdad sees five Iraqi soldiers clustered beneath a streetlight, an easy target for snipers; certain something is wrong he rushes across the street. He finds the Iraqi ‘s staring at pornography on a cell phone. (News and Observer; 2-10-07). An Army Lieutenant on patrol with Iraqi soldiers captures three…

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A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep

John Edwards enjoyed a surge in popularity after his announcement, even leading Hillary in polls in Iowa. But a new poll raises questions. A month ago Edwards led Hillary by 13 percent in the polls in North Carolina. But, now, the latest Public Policy Poll (News and Observer; 2-9-07) shows Hillary surging, cutting Edwards’ lead…

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Guilty but Not Guilty

The head of the Optometrist PAC, who gave former speaker Jim Black blank checks, which Black in turn gave Representative Michael Decker (some says as a bribe for Decker’s vote) entered an ‘Alford Plea’ in court last week. The News and Observer described how an ‘Alford Plea’ works in another case, involving a school teacher…

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Googled?

State and local government have made a deal to give Google $260 million to put 210 jobs (with average salaries of $48,000) in Caldwell County. Do the math: $260,000,000 in ‘incentives’ is greater than the total salaries Google will pay over the next 24 years. Supporters of these deals say that government subsidizing corporations is…

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Sexism and Bigger Jets

The Air Force jet former Speaker Dennis Hastert used can’t fly all the way to California without stopping to refuel, so Speaker Pelosi wants a bigger plane. The Air Force said no. The Speaker shot back, “I’m not saying that I am being discriminated against because I am a woman. I’m just saying as the…

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Backstage Politics: The Way Things Change after the Election

Senator Claire McCaskill, the newly elected (with a boost from Michael J. Fox) Missouri Democrat, won “election last year with a populist campaign bashing special interest and corporate lobbyists.” (News and Observer; 1-29-07). That was before the election. After the election Senator McCaskill invited dozens of those same lobbyists “to a fundraiser: $1,000 per political…

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