For days now, we’ve seen images of the rallies in Cairo’s famed Tahrir Square. Today, a million Egyptians from all walks of life are turning out to demand an end to the Mubarak autocracy and free elections to form a new “people powered” government.

Certainly, all… Read full post »

This woman, as any kind of political figure, is toast. Her poll numbers are falling faster than a lead sinker. What is interesting is that Congressowman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who seems to believe there’s enough of a following that she can make a run at the GOP nomination,… Read full post »

Dear Tea Party Guy,

It’s time to put up or shut up.

You’re always yakking about “taking your Constitution back.” And your mouthpieces, like Beck and Palin and Bachmann and Limbaugh and Ailes and Angle and Savage, and God knows how many other highly paid flacks are… Read full post »

I was intrigued by meggacuppiecake's and Linda Seccaspina's posts  in which they wrote  about "roles" in initiating relationships among males and females and the various devices women employ in making themselves attractive. 

Both writers, in a few words here, dispense with th… Read full post »

The following was taken from my "Don't Lose" file and given to me some some  liberal friend - I've long forgotten who - some years ago. 

There isn't a nickel's worth of difference between the Democrats or the Republicans. Now Boehner, McConnell, Kantor & Co.  shout at us t… Read full post »

I enjoy stand-up comedy. Comedy, at least the kind of comedy we see these days, seems to turn on pointing out the silliness of our culture: you know, pointing out the inconsistencies, the hypocrisy, the downright goofiness of some of the cultural, religious, and political icons a lot of… Read full post »

Once again, the national breast beating continues uninterrupted after Americans read with horror about the actions of a deranged monster who decided to convert his rage into murder and mayhem. We again ask the same old questions: What is wrong with us? Why are we such a violent people? What ca… Read full post »

In a fascinating article in California Lawyer Magazine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, he who regularly provides the most questions (as well as comic relief) during oral arguments before his court, argued, essentially, that “if it isn’t in the Constitution, it isn’t l… Read full post »

In an almost astonishing departure from no-holds-barred capitalism, China has discovered that if they are to continue their 30 year, double digit economic growth they must have to have consumers other then foreign customers for their exports: consumers  like their own people.

 With… Read full post »

There's no doubt the President hit a grand slam in the last 26 days of the 111th Congress. Obama's ratings have spiked significantly since being "shellacked" in the midterms. But since taking office in 2009, Obama has not been exactly sitting on his hands. 

Herewith is a list of notable  ac… Read full post »

On the far side of a summer river,

High up a steep bank covered

With fir and hemlock and spruce,

I heard the sound of breaking twigs

Interrupting the gentle air

Made visible to my ears.

A black bear… Read full post »

If you accept that that Tea Party (which is not a legitimate political party but an amorphous accumulation of  frustrated, radical Know-Nothings who can’t feel whose hand is in their wallet pocket) isn’t a force to be reckoned with, you haven’t been paying attention.… Read full post »

So-called "liberals and progressives," which I take to mean Democrats who stand a little more to the left than, say, the Clintonistas of the 90's, have been pulling their hair out by the hank with this most recent "caving in " on the part of the Administration in order to… Read full post »

What's up with books? The business of book buying and selling is changing...and changing fast.

 In the beginning was the word...

In the old days I used to buy a book in something called a book store.  Usually it was in the neighborhood or downtown. Then Crown Books… Read full post »

It is a fair bet that sometime in the next 6 years - likely starting in 2012 - one or more of the Supreme Court Justices will retire.  Ruth Badar Ginsburg will be 79 in 2012; Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy both will be 76; Steven Breyer will be… Read full post »

Can you believe it? FIFA, the governing body of international soccer has just awarded tiny little Qatar, a million and a half strong spec in the Persian Gulf, the World Cup Games in 2022 after no fewer personages than Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman and US soccer star Landon Donovan made… Read full post »

There is an odd similarity between one of those marine bait balls you've undoubtedly (?) seen on one or another television natural history show and, most especially, what passes for American conservatism You know: those monster schools of herring or sardines that gather in tight clusters as… Read full post »

Ah! Next Thursday kicks off my 67th Thanksgiving. It is hard the imagine that 67 turkeys died for my gustatory benefit (and that doesn't even count all the Christmases!); but then how many cows and steers gave their lives that I might enjoy a mushroom and swiss burger now and then… Read full post »

Rupert Murdoch is the most dangerous man in America.  Like his predecessor, William Randolph Hearst, his voice in American politics is more powerful than perhaps anyone in the country, including Presidents. 

Murdoch has become the modern recincarnation of Hearst but with a far more… Read full post »