The above 60 Minutes Report on how badly compromised members of Congress are is echoed in this report from the Daily Beast on Obama’s Energy Department graft that extends well beyond Solyndra. Clearly the US is teetering with political graft and scandal that extends across parties and is making Washington a place of Moral Compromise […]
Why Congress Has Failed to Regulate Wall Street, Healthcare, Energy, etc. Read More »
The Penn State Abuse case seems at first glance to be too dramatic and perhaps media lead. So a football coach was caught molesting a ten year old in the showers at Penn State. Shameful but not outside the bounds of experience [see US Swim team].So the football coach that obeserved it did not stop
Penn State Abuse: National Mirror Read More »
Political cartoons are making a comeback with the help of turbulent times and dimwitted politicians. Nowhere is that on better display than in in the cartoons by Washington Post caricature draftsman extraordinaire – Toles: This is the first in a slideshow of fun fun fun… The really great jests are down in the righthand corner,
Political Cartoons Make A Comeback Read More »
What are the Marks of Class Warfare? Is it the fact that Occupy Wall Street is fundamentally right about Class Warfare perpetrated by an Elite 1% of the population who can afford to spend $5billion to purchase access to politicians and policy making venues and thereby get their way. Is it the fact that popular
The Marks of Class Warfare Read More »
The balance of power in US Politics has reached a tipping point – John Q. Public can be effectively ignored and bypassed in policy making. The recent article in the NYTimes, Flat Taxes and Angry Voters, is just one of many proofs. The article points out how the GOP Presidential candidates are ignoring many polls
Ignoring John Q. Public Read More »
Supporters for President Obama face two quandaries. First, there are the Bundlers for Obama: Look who is contributing to Obama campaign this Fall The second problem is that even if Obama wins the Presidency his party will likely lose at least one House of Congress. This result will then continue the political gridlock that has occurred
The Obama Quandaries Read More »
The Congressional Budget Office’s recent report on National Income trends for the past 30 years finds that the top 20% of earners have gained at least twice as much in income while all other other groups have fallen behind. The Wall Street Journal felt compelled to respond with the interview below in its Opinions section. From the
Occupy the Wall Street Journal: FoxNews-like Messaging and Reporting Read More »
The respected and non-partisan CBO-Congressional Budget Office in a just released report has confirmed the basic chart and message posted below. Indeed the rich have gotten a lot richer while all other major income groups have lost income in the past 30 years. And in the hard battles to “lower our cost structure substantially” =
Occupy Wall Street Message: Update Read More »
Here is one party that can’t believe that the GOP, Masters of Manipulation of their Message, allowed so many debates to take place. God bless them, because unlike in the broader media coverage and analysis, much is being revealed in the debates about the candidates inherent knowledge of the domestic and world scene, their beliefs
The Unbelievably Revealing GOP Debate in Las Vegas Read More »
Takethe5th has been advancing the idea that the US, in a major departure from its democratic roots, has been in the process of becoming a Bautocracy. This is the process of the very wealthiest replacing one-man-one-vote with bought political access and therefore power. This buying of influence has been accomplished through unprecedented political access and power
Occupy Wall Street: Bautocracy Brought Into Focus Read More »
NYTimes David Brooks is taking a bruising for saying in his column he was a sap to believe in Obamaism and the “myth of hope”. Look at the reaction: Rolling Stone – Why David Brooks Is A Sap The premise of the piece was that he, Brooks, was a “sap” for believing Barack Obama when
NYTimes David Brooks as a Sap Read More »
Florida, NRA, and Grover Norquist[ he who brought you Starve the Beast Deficit spending by Republicans and then flipped flopped and now wants No Deficits now that GOP Presidents have added 60% to the national debt] are up to national mischief again. Sales of concealed handuns in the US have suddenly spiked since 2006. Map
Large Rise in Sales of Concealed HandGuns due to Out of State Licensing Loophole Read More »
This is the second part of the Taketh5th review of NYTimes Roger Cohen’s assessment US Interventionism. Our first take was that despite over 100 years of increasing US Intervention in foreign affairs and despite not just the UN but a whole phalanx international agencies such as Atomic Energy Commission, WHO, IMF, World Bank, and others
US Interventionism at Home Read More »
Roger Cohen has a story in today’s NYTimes entitled “Score One for Interventionism” which argues that the Libya action, because it prevented a slaughter like in or worse than in Syria, has been a success. Ye Editor has some problems with Rogers analysis. Looking at VietNam, Iaq I and II, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, and now
US Interventionism Read More »
If you thought the S&P downgrading of the US debt would persuade Washington to call off its bitter “unforced errors” of grisly partisan politics – wrong, Wrong, WRONG. The belligerents are still at it and the GOP are the alpha attack dogs because disgracing and defeating President Obama is the only thing that unites the
GOP Smells Blood, Targets Obama Read More »
Memo to: President Barack Obama Subject: NYTimes/Princeton’s Paul Krugman was right three times Dear Mr. President We regret to inform you that Paul Krugman was right three times. First he was right about the size and targeting of the stimulus funds. JedReport, June 2010 – Stimulus Spending: Paul Krugman was right – it was not nearly enough
Memo to: B. Obama – Paul Krugman Was Awfully Right Thrice Read More »
This posting is not about Nazis but rather appeasement – abject, complete, and uncompromising appeasement. Now the US knows what its like to live under a leader who may be well-intentioned but as spineless as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of England just before World War II. Look at the facts: Republican Presidents have been responsible
President Neville Chamberlain Obama Read More »
If Pastor Rick Warren can say “Half of America Pays no Taxes, Zero”- you better believe it! But Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Beast has helped to uncover some data that refutes this notion easily. The Pastor is beginning to sound like Senator John Kyl of Arizona who was caught damning Planned ParentHood(“90% of its services are abortions”
“Half of America Pays No Taxes, Zero” Read More »
Ye Editor has previously put forward the idea that the GOP is coming apart at the seams and the only thing uniting the Republican party is the notion of making Obama a one term President. Now that the split in the House between the two factions in the GOP has become an open festering wound
The Only Thing Uniting the GOP Now is “Get Obama” Read More »
The most interesting item heard on NBC’s Meet the Press and ABC’s This Week was the fact that both parties were working towards a 4PM Sunday deal so that the Asian stock markets which are at 9AM Monday time did not spike downwards because of the continued US Debt Ceiling Gridlock . It shows where
GOP: We are the Super Dupers Read More »
News Corp International is the name of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire that stretches from his native Australia [owning many of the largest Australian newspapers] thru Europe with many interests based in England [including Harpers Collin Book Publishing, Sky Italia and other Sky TV networks, several newpapers including the Sunday Times and the just now defunct
As Murdoch’s News Empire Crumbles: Rule of Law Implications Read More »
This blog has been arguing that the Republican Party has over the past thirty years been engaging in deliberately irrational policies. It started with Ronald Reagan’s approval of the enticingly treasonous “Starve the Beast” government spending policy. Starve the Beast condones government spending increases which are not paid for by tax increases or spending cuts
Republican Irrationality: US Budget Deficit Math Read More »
Update as of July 16,2011: See the resignation of Les Hinton as WSJ CEO due to his role as head of Murchoch’s News of the World during its most scandalous period of phone hacking and police bribes which Les claims he was unaware of. Also see NYTimes Joe Nocera with his own mea culpa for
WSJ’s Sins of Omission and Commission on Budget Deficits Read More »
NYTimes has a good article about Mitch’s Daniel’s Indiana and some of the heart rending tradeoffs Daniels has had to make in the face of recessionary winds: “People think great business climate, Indiana comes to mind. People think infrastructure, we’re exactly who they think of.”Because recessionary winds have not toppled Indiana’s house, this state is
Mitch Daniel’s Indiana – Facing National Decline Read More »
There is a growing unrest that sees President Obama badly overshooting his Centrist tendencies and becoming a Republican. Ye Editor has raised the issue most recently with Race to the Bottom: Obama Curries Wall Street Favors. But Huffington Post’s Drew Westen has done the careful spadework and here is a sampler of an essay laced
The 3rd Wing of the Republican Party: President Obama Read More »
In a city blessed with self-declared supernatural beauty and host to a slightly damp but most civil and memorable Winter Olympics just a year ago, what was behind the Vancouver riots after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Finals to Boston? Was this a case of professional nihilist and hooligans as advanced by the Vancouver
Vancouver Riots June 2011 Read More »
Having praised Republican Intellectuals for their leadership in defining the the number 1 issue in the upcoming Presidential Election [in case you missed it -High Anxiety over the widespread National Decline and Washington’s incapacity at addressing the underlying issues], ye Editor expected that some Republican intellectual gaffe or three to inevitably follow. After all this
Paul Gigot: Republican Intellectual Distemper Read More »
The Republican Party directs often shrill attacks on so-called “intellectuals” or “Liberals”. And Republicans have a very loose definition of a liberal, probably close to “any non-engineer, non-business person with a graduate degree from any Ivy League-like School who maintains their academic or scientific relationships” [ye Editor is just kidding]. Thus, it is a surprise to
Republican Leadership: Intellectuals Read More »
Ye Editor has been following Republican intellectuals like George Will, Charles Krauthammer, and David Brooks wondering how could they tolerate the extraordinary flip-flops and utter political nonsense emanating from the Republican Party for the last decade. Start with the Republican’s treasonous “Starve the Beast” policy and the takeover of Republican messaging by the extreme right
No1 Issue: Fear of National Decline Read More »
Want to know why jobs are not coming back anytime soon and why Washington ignores what is being requested by the public in poll after poll? It is all a case of Supreme Court powered $dollar-votes being courted slavishly by both political parties for the upcoming Presidential Elections. Listening to the political pundits on the Sunday
Race to the Bottom: Obama Curries Wall Street Favors Read More »
There is a posting at Aljazeera about cyberwarfare that reads like a Clive Cussler Techno-thriller novel [try Polar Shift]. There is the intrigue and secrecy associated with hacking and the security defying exploits of hackers that make your taming of Microsoft Word’s formating ribbon look like what it is – tedious child’s play. But cyber-warfare has now
Cyber Warfare Moves to PrimeTime Read More »
Why be the Republican Presidential Candidate in 2012? The prospect is daunting given at best the titular power but the more likely fractious power accorded to the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate. It is definitely not fear of President Obama who has flunked Economics 101 by accepting ” Trickle Down, Rescue the Financial System first and
Why Be The Republican Presidential Candidate ? Read More »
