rule of thumb Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Saturday Evening News Roundup

Matt Taibbi has read Paula Bradwell’s biography of General David Petraeus. I appreciate his efforts. As a rule of thumb, I usually stay away from these types of biographies. They tend to be nauseatingly sickly sweet. They tend to fall on the subject in such a way as to make you think of two lovers in the backseat, fogging up the windows. Taibbi’s assessment of this biography is that it is basically exactly what you’d expect. There is no deep analysis. There’s no thoughtful retrospection. There’s nothing but praise. Interestingly, Matt goes on to tell us that the mainstream media does this type of non-critical journalism all the time. Remember when Time had Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers on the cover? They were dubbed the committee to save the world. No, seriously. That’s what Time called them. Now, as it turns out, not so much.

President Obama would like for more of us to shop local. Notice, he sets the example.

I continue to enjoy the fact that Allen West has conceded to Patrick Murphy.

Remember back in January when Pat Robertson, a longtime host of the 700 Club, told us that God had spoken to him and that God was no fan of President Obama? Several days ago, Pat Robinson had a mea culpa. He said, “so many of us miss God, I won’t get into great detail about the election but I sure did miss it, I thought I heard from God, I thought I had heard clearly from God, what happened? What intervenes? Why?” The answer is obvious. He did not hear anything from God. Instead, he heard his own prejudices. This is exactly why I think it is crucial that all of us, both Right and Left, understand that God is not a supporter of Democrats or Republicans. The God that I worship is a supporter of all mankind. He wants everyone to do better. Matthew 7:15 – Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-11-26T21:31:57-04:00November 25th, 2012|Economy, Elections, Obama administration, Party Politics|Comments Off

Grab bag — Friday evening (update)

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has a nice series of articles on the Senate finance health reform bill. These articles include how to improve the bill and detail some of the problems that stick out like sore thumbs. Good reading.

The more I read about the Great Depression, the more I find out that the Great Depression was a series of good policies and bad policies. Some of the bad policies were driven by hawks worried about the deficit. As a result, Roosevelt stop spending at one point in order to “try to balance the budget.” Unfortunately, we’re seeing the same thing today as Republicans and the media (currently they’re one and the same) are complaining about the deficit. As a rule of thumb gleaned from history: fix the economy and then fix the deficit.

Representative Alan Grayson took apart a CNN analyst, Alex Castellanos, who, as it turns out, gets paid a relatively handsome sum from the health-insurance industry. I’m really starting to like this Grayson guy.

When I was in Tyler, Texas, I met Louie Gohmert (Republican – Tx). As a matter of fact, we both spoke at a multidenominational Martin Luther King celebration. He truly appeared to be a good judge and a decent human being. That was before he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Since then he’s been a right-wing tool. It is really disappointing.

Representatives Jane Harman and Loretta Sanchez have broken away from the Blue Dogs on this public option. Here’s my question. The Blue Dog Democrats are supposed to be focused on fiscally responsive behavior. On healthcare, the best bang for our buck is a single-payer system. Where are all the Blue Dogs on this issue? Why aren’t they pushing a single-payer system or are they fiscally responsive only some of the time?

Who is surprised that some of the football players at Florida State University can only read at a second grade level? I’m not surprised in the least. College athletes are tools for their school. They are to be used to garner huge sums of money for the school. They aren’t being paid to learn or to read. They are playing a game that can fill up the bank account of some schools for tens of millions of dollars.

Finally, Meghan McCain shows a little cleavage and people go nuts. Please, she’s a 24-year-old female. Settle down.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-10-16T16:57:17-04:00October 16th, 2009|Economy, Healthcare, Party Politics, Sports|Comments Off