I guess that's not a surprise.

But after several years of blogging, with Dems in control for quite a bit of it, it's frustrating to see that we don't have an alternative to up-and-down in the Middle East.

My biggest issue is NAFTA and China. Are they related? Kinda sorta. Mostly they're the swamp of our attention. (I saw House of Spirits last night, but won't bore you with where *THAT* takes me).

So, MSNBC decided to suspend Keith Olbermann. Why? Because he dared to participate in Democracy!

I've made no bones about the fact that I think systemically the product produced by MSNBC is the same as all the other cable outlets in selling outrage over information - anger over reason. And as one of their flagship personalities, I've mentioned the way Olberman presents himself as an example.

Yesterday, under the cover of darkness, while I was drinking bourbon, Deadman called me a lunatic for suggesting that the U.S.

Tired of being too far left to make a difference?  Tired of the crazy Right having too many rights?

Folks, step right up here (er, or, left up here) and join my new party.

The Sentrist Party.  Stands for Sensible mixed with Centrist.  Get it?  If not, pay attention, folks, cuz you will.

pros·per·i·ty  –noun, plural -ties.
1. a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, esp. in financial respects; good fortune.
2. prosperities, prosperous circumstances.

            The Monday morning quarterbacks are in full flow, and the post-mortem is already on. The alternatives are being immediately staked, and the relevant policy changes demanded. Depending on whom you read, the Democrats lost so many seats in the mid-term election because Obama wasn’t centrist enough or because he was too centrist.

I made the mistake of turning on the TV this morning.  Ms. Generic Correspondent was interviewing triumphant supporters from John Boehner’s district in Ohio about what their win means for America.  What I heard floored me.  This was live and I was too stunned to think to record it, so I’m paraphrasing:

OHIO RESIDENT:  “For the last 2 years, it’s been Obama’s way or the highway.  Finally we’ll get some compromise in this country.”

REPORTER: “You really think this election will result in more compromise?”

The modern-day GOP (since around 1980) has never had any reservations about interpreting Democratic victories in whatever the hell way they want to.  They have never ceded sole rights to defining any electoral mandate to the Democrats when the Democrats have won elections.  Nor have they felt any obligation whatsoever to concede a single thing to either a newly elected Democratic President or a recently elected Democratic Congressional majority. 

Harold Evans at the Beast discusses the stimulus package; explaining what it has accomplished.

In Evans’ mind, the stimulus worked and is working. There just were not enough stimuli.

Now this is the standard Krugman liberal approach when examining the current state of the economy.