Issues
The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight
A few years ago the Department of Health and Human Services set out to reform mental care and wrecked it. Next it set out to reform in-home care for Medicaid patients and wrecked it. And, now, itâs got another â $265 million dollar â train wreck on its hands. Back before he…
Read MoreCarter Responds to Gary
Now, Gary, that’s what I call a reasonable response. And you’ve raised a good question: Does building the mosque at Ground Zero make it easier or harder to win the War on Terrorism? The theory that building the mosque takes us a step closer to victory, it seems to me, goes like this: By…
Read MoreThe Same Old Republican Pledge
For the fourth consecutive decade, Republicans are “pledging” to cut taxes and cut spending. Ronald Reagan made the pledge in the 1980s. Newt Gingrich made it in the 1990s. George Bush made it in the 2000s. And now it’s back in the 2010 “Pledge to America.” Jon Stewart did a masterful job of…
Read MoreCall it Religion
The school board down in Johnston County has a problem: Every time fourteen-year-old Ariana Iacono walks through the door of her school with her ‘stud’ in her pierced nose she gets suspended – but she simply won’t give up. She goes home, serves out her suspension then demurely returns to school with the stud in…
Read MoreGary Responds to Carter
Well, Carter, to be fair, I didn’t call you “a bigoted skunk.” I’ve grown more mellow these days, and I try to avoid name-calling. Instead, I said your ad for Renee Ellmers was “an appeal to anti-Muslim prejudice.” I think that is a fair statement. “Sixty Minutes” had an interesting piece about the…
Read MoreThe Wrong Message
Gary, doggone it, itâs like âdéjà vu all over againâ â here you are [see below] attacking me for a TV ad. Canât a fellow even oppose the Ground Zero mosque without being called a bigoted skunk? And how did the folks opposing the mosque become the wicked, hard-hearted âdividersâ as opposed to the Iman…
Read MoreNimrud’s Earrings
President Obama says the war’s over but according to the newspaper an odd problem has cropped up in Iraq: A 4,000 year old statue of King Entemena of Lagash has vanished. In fact it turns out over our seven years in Iraq a lot of antiquities have disappeared. Now when it comes to plunder…
Read MoreBarking Up the Wrong Tree
There’s an old cartoon that showed an owner fussing at his dog: “Bad dog, Rover. Don’t ever do that again, Rover. You know better, Rover. Bad dog, Rover.” Then the cartoon showed what the dog was hearing: “Blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, Rover.” I’m afraid that’s all the voters…
Read MoreThe Other Budget Gap
The breakfast conversation the other day was about what happens with the state budget next year if Republicans win the state House or Senate this year. They won’t raise taxes. So they’ll have to cut $3 billion or so out of a $19 billion budget. My Republican friend said that can be done…
Read MoreSeptember Surprises
The 9/11 rallies and replays this weekend were a reminder of how X Factors can scramble our lives – and politics. Nine years and three days ago, George Bush was working hard to be the No Child Left Behind president. After 9/11, he became obsessed with his oedipal need to both avenge and…
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