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Category Archives: Dysfunction

Those were the days

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t that long ago that the United States of America was capable of rational environmental action. But it was, and though it gets little attention, we are reaping the benefits of our past rationality: It’s the beginning of the end for the Antarctic ozone hole. A new analysis shows […]

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The Greatest Country on Earth

Saturday, July 9, 2016

This sort of says it all: Over the last 30 years, local and state governments increased how much they spend on putting people in jail three times more than how much they spend on educating students, according to a new analysis by the Department of Education. The department examined corrections spending and education spending data […]

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Say it ain’t so, Joe

Thursday, November 19, 2015

I won’t go into all the reasons why this was a horrible thing to do. They have been amply covered elsewhere.  All I can say is that I’m ashamed that my Congressman has played into the hands of terrorists and contributed to a culture of fear.

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Ryan Express derailed

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Paul Ryan has agreed to be speaker of the House, so long as the members of his own party take a solemn oath that they won’t fire him. There is an interesting dynamic in all of this, leaving this pundit to wonder whether there is any way out, for the Republicans, and, more importantly, any […]

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Debate Wrapup

Friday, August 7, 2015

First, let me say that I didn’t watch the “debate”. Now, you may think that, given that admission, I have no right to express an opinion about the goings on in Cleveland. But this is America, a place where everyone has the right to express their opinion, regardless of their state of ignorance. In fact, […]

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How to stop voter suppression

Friday, April 17, 2015

Daily Kos directed me to this article at the Nation, in which John Nichols, of that illustrious publication, proposes that we enshrine the right to vote in the Constitution. The proposed text of the Amendment: “SECTION 1: Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to […]

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Unrepresentative democracy, an American tradition

Monday, March 30, 2015

I am currently reading a biography of John Quincy Adams, by Fred Kaplan. Both of the Presidents Adams have gained in stature recently. JQ Adams, like his father, had some admirable qualities, mixed in with some faults that truly make the mind boggle. Franklin’s quote about the father seems applicable to the son. But that’s […]

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We’re number 1!

Friday, March 20, 2015

On a number of occasions I’ve noted that we here in the rational states lead the nation in a number of respects. We may, for instance, be godless, but somehow we also manage to have the lowest divorce rates and the lowest rates of births out of wedlock. But, being rational, I’m bound to admit […]

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Safe for another year, what a relief

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

It’s hard to convey the inexpressible sense of relief that swept over me when I learned that we had avoided, first for a week, but now a blessed year, a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Like everyone else, I was shaking in my boots at the prospect of losing the agency’s protection, even […]

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Bad Moon Rising

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Pam Martens, at Wall Street on Parade, reviews the evidence for a worldwide deflationary spiral: Collapsing yields, collapsing commodity prices are the result of distorted income dispersal, otherwise known as income inequality. Last August, researchers at the Federal Reserve released a study showing the fragility of the U.S. consumer. The Fed’s Division of Consumer and […]

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