I used to think that the most lasting effects that a President can have on the country are his appointments to the federal courts.  But George W. Bush has changed my mind about that.  If you really want to have a lasting voice in the national conversation, just put your name on a big, fundamental piece of legislation and make it sunset after you're out of office.  The "Bush Tax Cuts," designed from the start to expire after Bush's two terms were, were a devious trap, set to explode in the face of the next president, preferably a Democrat.

I guess you've heard that the Orlando police have been busy arresting people from Orlando Food, not Bombs who have been busy feeding the hungry and the homeless in the city's public parks.  That was a big story in itself, but the even bigger story was that, among the protesters, there was one lone supporter of the police.  He prefers to remain anonymous, but he's pretty clear about why he's s

Lo! The deadline approacheth! In New York, the bond traders shred their garments and gnash their teeth! In Washington, the Federal Reserve Chairman foretells a "huge financial calamity." The dollar is falling, the bankers are wailing, the President, it is said, is agitated.

Mitt Romney has put out a political ad about one Wayne "Packy" Campbell (or Wayne P. Campbell. Or Packy Campbell, etc.), a land developer in Rochester, N.H. and former Republican State Representative, who is struggling to deal with the complexities of not being able to take his kids to Disneyland because of Obama.

The largest single economic problem the U.S.

Over at TPM, the early response to Obama's presser seems to be that this was a political homerun for President Obama.  I get the logic here.  He used his bully pulpit to very clearly articulate that all of the debt ceiling obstruction is coming from the right.  He tortured House speaker John Boehner by praising his honesty and intentions, thus making the rest of the Republican party look a tad insane.  This could, as David Kurtz argues, cost the Republican some stature with the press, if not with vote

Until last night, when I heard that she had passed, I didn't realize how much I admired Betty Ford.  Truth said, my first thought was "I thought she had died long ago."  I do that a lot lately.  Betty lived to be 93 years old and hadn't been seen in public for several years.  That's the only way I keep in touch with public figures -- by seeing them in public.  So when public figures I admire or enjoy are gone from view they're gone from thought, and when they pass, only then do I see it as moments lost.  I should have been paying attention.

Hosted by the blogs What Tami Said and Shakesville, today is a Planned Parenthood Blog Carnival. The purpose of the Carnival is for women or men that have been helped by Planned Parenthood to share their positive experiences.

Since the dawn of man there has always been the need for a healthy society to smack down villains.  Villains are the human version of opportunistic rats:  There is no compunction about doing us in if that's what it takes to keep their kind going.  If their population is allowed to grow and thrive, their numbers will take us over.
 

I have criminal trials on the brain this week with Dominique Strauss-Kahn and now Casey Anthony dominating the non-political news.  But, as I said in a previous post, I'm not a crime news junky.  I am, however, very interested in procedure and civil liberties.  When something like the DSK case happens I almost immediately wonder, "what happens to the accused when they are not fabulously wealthy?" Which is the topic of my column for The Daily this week.

My friends, for 35 years we have searched for Richie Cunningham's older brother, Chuck.

You'll notice a pattern in all stories: There are three kinds of characters: heroes, villains and there but for the grace of God go I.

-- Glenn Beck