Category Archives: Electoral Politics

One Year Out

The presidential election is one year away.  What are we talking about?  Is Herman Cain a heinie-pincher?  Was Rick Perry drunk at the podium in New Hampshire?  Can Barack Obama win re-election?  For the answer to number three, see questions one and two. Just like global warming, we’re getting used to this crap and we […]

What the Left Hand is Doing

Cognitive dissonance is name given to the discomfort caused by trying to simultaneously hold two conflicting ideas.  Policy dissonance might be the name applied when two conflicting ideas are the basis for government action. An example: Texas is still in the worst single-year drought in its history and the hottest summer in Texas history just […]

Cowards, Every One of Them

A week ago, I asked how bad political discourse can get in this country.   Discouraged as I was, I hadn’t seen this coming.  Perhaps – despite everything my family and friends tell me – I’m too optimistic. Last week, Republicans who hope to be president stood silently by as their constituents cheered for the […]

How Bad Can It Get?

It’s a question I’ve stopped asking myself, because I have too often thought, “It can’t get any worse,” and then it does, usually within a week.  “It” could apply to the weather, the climate (not the same thing), the food, the culture or all of the above, collectively.  Today, however, I mean political discourse. Witness, […]

Orwell was an Optimist

Quick quiz, two questions: 1 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is occurring?  2 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is caused by human activities?  Read those again carefully; it’s not the same question twice. The answers (I won’t make you wait) are 100 and 98.  No statistically significant number of […]

Crazy Like a Fox

I admit having a morbid fascination with electoral politics, the way some people feel about slasher movies. Even so, the Sarah Palin bus tour is too gruesome and I must avert my eyes. Democrats are said to be happy with the antics of the former half-term governor of Alaska. The hype around Ms. Palin chokes […]

Stop Making Sense

Yesterdays’ Wall Street Journal carried an op-ed attacking Barack Obama for a draft executive order which would require businesses contracting with the federal government to disclose their owners’ political contributions over $5,000. One of the authors is John Yoo, who famously wrote memos authorizing torture for the Bush administration. So, on one hand, Mr. Yoo […]