My memory, which can be less than photographic sometimes before surprising with a sharp and verifiable recollection of obscure events long ago, says that the device of calling this day "December 25" was imposed on me during childhood. Whether that...
What value, other than commercial, is there in MSNBC and other broadcast outlets, letting us here the anguished calls for help to 9-1-1 operators from panicked people caught in yesterday's torrent of water in Maryland?I know how you will answer...
It's an old saw, this celebration of the "holiday season." According to Olbermann who I watch (or, more accurately, podcast), O'Reilly, who I don't, is bothered by all this and, in a way, so am I. Christmas is not my...
Once again, poor Barth is confused. One day the Washington Post is editorializing thatThe Wilson-Plame case, and Mr. Libby's conviction, tell us nothing about the war in Iraqintentionally ignoring how much it tells us about the creation of phony justifications...
Stop reading this for a minute and go read Bill Ayers' column in today's NY Times because it reminds us how empty our political campaigns are which, in turn, explains how the country has been led into the hole into...
Josh did us all yet another service by linking to Gabler's LAT piece since this revisionist Goldwater to Reagan to Bush II story of modern conservatism is just so much bunk. In the million and half books and essays about...
A debate has broken out on Daily Kos between two of my favorite "columnists": Teacherken and GrannyDoc. And other posts, such as this one appearing, as they do, on a progressive web site present yet another illustration of how bad...
I love Thanksgiving. It is a holiday, with little or no religious significance for most of us, spent, ideally, with family or friends. Only the Fourth of July is better, in my opinion.It celebrates our thanks for so many things,...
Those who believe that "9/11" will always stop traffic should note how little is said of its predecessor date of significance, the date on which the President of the United States was murdered in Texas....
The first Romney campaign for president, that of Mitt's father, George, famously started on a downward spiral when he tried to explain his changing views on the Vietnam War by claiming: "I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody...
We can all be childish once in awhile.My ex-wife once stuck her head out of the window of an apartmen we had in Greenwich Village to yell "Humanity!!! Listen to me." The following compendium of insights, mainly posted on...
Many of us live in a country formed by revolution against the past, by dreamers who sought to form "a more perfect union" to render the government an instrument of the people, and not of the despots or oppressors of...
I posted this a few other places yesterday, but wanted to get it here today:When the dust settled on the 1960 presidential election, President-elect Kennedy told us that he was off to prepare for "a new administration and a new...
He told us this in the first minutes of his presidency:All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor...
The reason that the upcoming election is always the most important election ever is that from the point of view of today, the only one we can take, it is the only election where the result is unknown and can...
Crossposted at the usual elsewheres:I was eight years old when President Kennedy was elected. Up to that time, the president was a grandfatherly looking man who the older folk told me was a great general who helped to beat the...
Cross posted at DailyKos, and The Public ServantThe Bob and Ray version of the end of Curt Gowdy's Red Sox pregame show on the late WHDH had them saying that they were rounding third and getting thrown out at the...
<em>This is a cross-post from Daily Kos, where it is getting some attention, which is good. My ego aside, this needs to become part of our national discussion about what has gone on this week. Those who grew up with...
<em>This is a cross-post from Daily Kos, where it is getting some attention, which is good. My ego aside, this needs to become part of our national discussion about what has gone on this week. Those who grew up with...
If the Democratic Party is unable to elect a president under these circumstances, it will be hard to consider it a legitimate factor in any future election. As a barometer of how the executive is doing, or a check on...
