Monthly Archives: April 2015

One Mom At A Time

BY RICH GALEN
APR 30 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Baltimore is only about 40 miles from Washington, DC. For decades Baltimore was where we went to watch Major League Baseball. There was a stadium in the middle of a neighborhood on 33rd Street.

We commiserated with the city when the owners of the Baltimore Colts NFL team snuck out of town, literally, in the dead of night and surfaced in Indianapolis.

The Inner Harbor has been a showplace for the revitalization of a downtown area since it was substantially completed in 1965. The Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens have stadiums that share a parking lot adjacent to the area. Continue reading

Privilege

BY RICH GALEN
APR 28 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Last week General David Petraeus, as the result of a plea agreement, was sentenced to two years probation and a $100,000 fine for the crime of, as reported by CNN.com, “sharing classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell.” He was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

The notebooks he shared with Broadwell “included notes from national security meetings, the identities of covert officers, and more classified documents,” according to CNN.

I have met David Petraeus although he would have to feign knowing me if we ran into one another. He rose to the rank of Four-Star General – the highest rank in the United States Military – on the basis of being smart, being good looking, being an excellent military strategist, and Continue reading

Medicare. For older Americans. Yeah, right.

BY B. JAY COOPER
APR 21 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

Remember when you’d wait anxiously, day to day for the mail to arrive because you were expecting a letter from someone (okay, I’m talking to people over 30 here who remember snail mail), or a delivery of something you bought mail order?

Well, last week I signed up for Medicare. And while I got an email a few days later saying that a decision had been made on my application, of course it didn’t say what the decision was but that I’d be getting a letter telling me soon (because why shouldn’t the federal government, which is rolling in dough, spend a few more shekels on a stamp?).

Well, yesterday it arrived. I’m officially registered for Medicare which starts in a few months when I actually do turn 65 (65? Oy). Continue reading

Free Trade: Theory & Reality

BY JOHN FEEHERY
APR 21 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The first major law passed by the Congress under our current Constitution and signed by President Washington was the Tariff Act of 1789. Declared the Second Declaration of Independence by the local newspapers at the time, the new law put taxes on products made overseas to benefit American manufacturers.

James Madison, as a leader in the newly formed legislative branch, navigated passage of the law, attempting to balance the sectional interests of the country. Southerners largely favored lower tariffs, because they exported the bulk of their products (mostly cotton and tobacco) overseas, while Northern manufacturers favored higher duties, because they didn’t want the competition from Europe and their market was largely domestic. Continue reading

We’re Becoming More Partisan

BY RICH GALEN
APR 20 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

I know you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “Figure that out all by yourself, Einstein?”

Well, no. In fact there were at least two articles over the weekend that present a fascinating look at where we are headed in the American political system.

No fewer than 19 announced, presumed, and possible candidates for the Republican nomination for President made their way to New Hampshire over the weekend for a GOP-sponsored event. Continue reading

Is Rubio Right About New Generation Gap?

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN  |  APR 17

Senator Marco Rubio’s announcement of his decision to seek his party’s nomination for president was greeted by generally good reviews, and for good reason. He delivers a speech well, he is attractive, he is conservative, and he appears to have that magic quality, charisma.

His personal story, as the son of Cuban immigrants, is inspiring. Despite the obvious difficulties ahead of him in a crowded field, he will no doubt be a formidable candidate in the primaries.

But I wonder if his insistence on the generation gap as the theme of his campaign is a wise one. Continue reading

Ageist & Sexist

BY RICH GALEN
APR 16 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Democratic strategist Ann Lewis and I were on Channel 4 – that’s Channel 4 in London, not WNBC in New York – to talk about the Hillary campaign one day after her YouTube announcement.

I don’t know Ann well enough to like her; I certainly don’t know her well enough to dislike her, but I know her sufficiently well enough to respect her. Continue reading

Re-Defining Marriage, Profits, McCarthy, and More…

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN  |  APR 13

It used to be said about prizefighter Ray Robinson that he was “pound for pound, the greatest fighter in the world.” In recent years I have begun to think that Charles Lane, columnist for the Washington Post, is, column for column, the best political writer in Washington. Opinionated without being dogmatic, prudent but firm in his judgments, and willing to take seriously opinions that do not agree with his. He is a pleasure to read.

On Thursday, April 9, he wrote, thoughtfully as ever, about the controversy over Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the religious freedom restoration act, and the subsequent all-out attack by gay activists and by some business leaders who wanted to “curry favor with a Continue reading