The question for the day is why a public figure lies when it’s so easy to refute the lie? This question develops naturally from the latest Romney fiasco—his accusation that President Obama has loosened the work requirement for welfare. This accusation is such a blatant lie that virtually every mainstream media outlet has covered it, […]
Read More… from Romney’s welfare lies meant to energize the Tea Party crowd
Perhaps because 67 is not a round number and has no magic attached to it, I should have expected the news media to pay little attention to the anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, the first of only two times that a weapon of mass destruction was used to purposely kill […]
Two studies released over the past few days both beg a simple question: what happened/happens to the money? In both cases, the answer is the same: it’s going to the wealthy. In one study, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a think tank that leans left, created a definition of a “good job” and […]
Read More… from 2 studies suggest how much more of the wealth pie the rich take nowadays
Of the four highly reported mistakes that Romney made on his foreign trip, two seem to have been calculated in advance, one rightly and one wrongly. When I say calculated rightly, I don’t mean that Romney said the right thing, but that it worked to attract or solidify votes. Romney’s comments about the superiority of […]
Read More… from Romney’s foreign faux pas suggest a lack of presidential timber
That Andrew Hacker would advocate ending the requirement to study algebra to get a four-year college degree is mildly surprising. There has been no hint of such anti-intellectualism in his many fine essays on demographics, race and the education system in the New York Review of Books and elsewhere throughout the years. On the other […]
Read More… from Hacker wants to cripple students by denying them basic tools of a complex society
The public argument over whether the NCAA was too harsh, too lenient or just right in punishing Penn State has replaced the argument over whether Penn State should have taken down or left up the statue of Joe Paterno. What I find so remarkable in the unfolding of the Penn State sex abuse cover-up is […]
Read More… from Consistent NCAA & Penn State decisions show that it’s always about the bucks
Facing the facts on guns in American society completely demoralizes me, and no more so than when I have to view those facts through the prism of yet another mass murder committed by someone who legally purchased his weapons and ammunition. Perhaps most depressing is the nature of the political discussion. The debate should center […]
To say it’s a dog’s life once described a dreary, harsh and probably impoverished condition. Nowadays we would probably use the term “dog’s life” to symbolize living in the lap(dog) of luxury. Spending on dogs and other pets has tripled over the past 20 years. Stores for training, feeding and grooming dogs seem to be […]
Let’s go back in time to 1998 or whenever it was that Joe Paterno and some high-ranking Penn State officials first learned that an assistant football coach was sexually abusing young boys. What if, instead of engaging in an illegal cover-up of illegal and disgustingly immoral activity, Joe-Pa and his crew had put Sandusky on […]
Mitt Romney continues to refuse to release his past tax returns, while insisting that there’s “nothing hidden in them.” It’s an untenable position, since it begs the obvious question, “If there’s nothing hidden, why not release them?” The answer, of course, is that the returns will likely show the enormous amount of money he makes, […]
Read More… from Not releasing past tax returns is an enormous PR blunder by Romney campaign