0
POPSSchwarzenegger's Wage Slashing Order Won't Be Obeyed I predict that the terminator will end up terminating his harebrained idea about slashing state workers pay to minimum wage level now that he has started a rebellion. It turns out that ol' Arnie was trying to engage in a political stunt since the state does have enough funds on hand to meet its obligations. As to this callous GOPer's disregard to the little guy, one state worker proposed the appropriate corrective action: "I think the governor should fund the budget with his own resources until he and the Legislature can get together," said Paul Ablon, who has been a state attorney for nearly nine years. "And maybe he'll appreciate how it is to worry about paying your expenses."
0
POPSGirls Score Just as Well as Boys in Math Tests My daughter used to complain that her high school math teacher would often call on a boy to answer a question than call on her when she had her hand raised in class. She knew nothing of the stereotype that females are not as good as males in math. She lived it. Follow the link and read the entire article for further interesting findings.
0
POPSSchawarzenegger Threatens to Pay State Workers Minimum Wage It's amazing how cavalier rich people in power can be about the wages of working people. Load mountains of federal debt to fund tax cuts for the rich and enrich Big Oil in Iraq or, in this case, slash their wages only to score a political point. It amounts the same callous indifference about the needs of the average working person and family. It's no comfort that they will receive their full pay later on. Can they pay their creditors without penalty under the same arrangement? We all know the answer to that one, don't we.
2
POPSMcCain: The Mistake Machine Poor John McCain is a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats. Mistake after mistake after mistake. I'm beginning to worry about pointing out his mistakes. I'm afraid someone will accuse me of making fun of someone with a "challenge" and it will be true.
0
POPSThe Whiner that isn't Whining Sen. John McMad can't make up his mind. The press was against him yesterday but today it wasn't. McCain has all the characteristics of a pathologically angry person. He acts rashly out of anger, then gets regrets about it and enters into a period of denial. He is too much of a loose cannon to be President.
0
POPS McCain Running Against the Press The press is saying good things about Obama. That can't be tolerated. It must mean the press is biased because good things are only supposed to be said about John McCain, a darling of the press for years. So McCain has decided to attack the press. In his desperation, he is taking a page from the paranoid days of Richard Nixon.
0
POPSGeography John McCain Style It's amazing that this man believes he is actually more skilled in foreign policy than Barack Obama. There are teenagers that don't make the errors that John McCain makes routinely.
0
POPSCommercial Bankruptcies Rise Sharply Most of the bankrupt & closed businesses are among the 23 million small businesses. That demonstrates how the Bush economic plan was geared only to the very elite & wealthy sliver of the corporate economy . That accords with other statistics indicating it has only been the ultra wealthy that have have done well during the Bush economy.
1
POPSIraqi Prime Minister Backs Obama's Withdraw Plan For such a neophyte according to McCain, Obama certainly seems to be making the right foreign policy calls. Emphasize Afghanistan instead of Iraq. Set up a diplomatic relationship and negotiation with Iran. Use a specific timetable to withdraw from Iraq. The Bush administration is signing onto to each of these but in different terms. John McCain is beginning to look like a stuck-in-the-mud in contrast.
1
POPSBush & McCain Move Toward Obama's Position on Iraq Troop Withdraw Within a week's time, Bush comes out in favor of a quasi-diplomatic recognition of the Iranian government and now a "time horizon" for withdrawing troops from Iraq. In both cases, John McCain signs onto the ideas and in both cases they play in the same ballpark of Barack Obama's positions. Clearly, Obama and his views are winning the argument.
4
POPSMcCain Redbaits Obama Taking a page from Joe McCarthy and Delaware Republican ex-blogger Dave Burris, John McCain decided the best way to attack his opponent is to suggest that he is a socialist. Usually such suggestions result from political desperation and extreme intellectual need.
2
POPSUSA Health Care System: Highest in Cost & Worst in Quality Again and again studies show similar results, yet Americans continue to delude themselves that their system is the envy of the world. Those Americans who think it are the intellectual equivalent of flat earthers. The system is broken. The debate is over and has been for some time. We need single-payer, universal health care.
0
POPSJoe Biden Defends Obama Against GOP Distortion Why hasn't Obama held any subcommittee hearings on Afghanistan asks GOP Senator Jim DeMint? Because we hold them here in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden fires back, and you know that. Biden catches DeMint trying to make a political cheap shot. That's my state Senator coming at you, Jim boy!
4
POPSAppeals Court Gives Bush Powers of a Dictator Dictators can lock up people, provide them no trial and detain them indefinitely and now so can George Bush. Bush once said it the job of the presidency would be a lot easier if he were a dictator. Locking up people and throwing away the key has now become very easy indeed.
0
POPSMore Banks Expected to Close Yet another free market free fall. The last one was only 20 years ago: "The nation’s banks are in far less danger than they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 federally insured institutions went under during the savings-and-loan crisis. The debacle, the greatest collapse of American financial institutions since the Depression, prompted a government bailout that cost taxpayers about $125 billion."
1
POPSObama Campaign is wrong about New Yorker Caricature There's too much sensitivity from the Obama campaign over the New Yorker caricature. The illustration clearly satirizes the absurd notion that the Obamas are covert Islamic terrorists hellbent on destroying the US. It mocks the ridiculous idea visually.
0
POPSGeorge Bush's Socialist Solution to Fannie & Freddie It's a good thing Bush is a Republican. Otherwise his federal bailout would qualify him as a "red." Like Regan with the savings and loan crisis, lurking in the hearts of "conservatives" is a quasi Bolshevik to rescue them once they've wrecked the economy through permitting rapacious profit-taking and inadequate regulation.
1
POPSChuck Hagel to Join Obama on Trip to Europe & Middle East Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) will join Obama on his trip. Some have advocated for an Obama Hagel ticket in November, arguing that such an historic ticket would be the ultimate sign that Obama intends to be the coalition building President he has promised. One thing is certain: By placing a Republican on the ticket, Obama could shave off many Republican votes, especially those already disgruntled with McCain, and and almost certainly defeat McCain in November in a rout.
1
POPSPelosi Gives OK for Bush Impeachment Hearings Finally. But it's about 5 years too late. That the Democrats want to do it now that Bush only has 6 months left to go in his Presidency shows the timing is political. The hearings will be in full tilt by the November elections, helping the Democrats, but probably won't conclude in time to impeach Bush. It's a pity because if there ever were a President who deserved to be impeached and expelled from office, it's George Bush.
1
POPSOn Jesse Jackson's Apology One of the odd criticisms of Jesse Jackson is his insistence that others apologize if they make offensive or racist comments about another individual. Here is an example of Jesse Jackson practicing what he preaches. Apologies are important. (I made one yesterday.) They restore what was made out of balance among persons back to a state of balance as closely as possible depending on the circumstances. They are a way of taking responsibility for one's actions and are an admission, of what we often don't want to acknowledge, our finitude. As such they are a way of inspiring trust in those realistic enough to realize that imperfection is a universal trait. I applaud Jackson's apology. It makes me trust him more.
3
POPSWho's the Grave Threat, Obama? Although the IAEA and the CIA have declared that Iran has no nuclear weapons program, Obama called Iran a "grave threat" for firing 9 missiles during military exercises. One of the missiles has the capacity to reach Israel. Israel recently practiced a simulated bombing run on Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons facility, but no one in the USA government or running for president called Israel a "grave threat." Israeli officials have also been clear they intend to strike Iran if it doesn't give up its nuclear facilities. Yet Israel has nuclear weapons, ones obtained through illegal means according to international law. Undoubtedly, Iran was sending a message with its missile test. The message is "we will defend ourselves." How is that wrong when they have been threatened by Israel?
2
POPSJesse Helms is Dead at At Age 86 He is low on my list of likable ex-Senators. A cultural conservative to the max. But I do give him credit for putting the kabash on the proposed Reagan-Ford co-presidency proposal. I once met a female former ex-lobbyist who told me "Back in the day Jesse Helms was the biggest ass pincher in Washington." She alleged to be one of his pinchees. I wish I had something good to say about the man, but I don't. I'm sorry for his passing. I suppose the fact that he died on July 4 will play as a "sign" from the Almighty among the cultural conservatives.
6
POPSThe Future: The Hybrid with a Better Twist It's this kind of technology America needs to turn to on a massive productive scale and perhaps even partly subsidize the production to help keep the costs down for consumers. That would put people to work in good paying jobs, greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and we can tell McCain & Bush that we don't need more offshore oil just offshore wind power so we can charge our cars up at night.
1
POPSThat's Why They Call It Imperialism Remember those no-bid Iraqi oil contracts that went to American and British big oil companies, guess who drew them up for Iraqi officials to sign on the dotted line. You guessed it: US. No word yet if we gave them the pens and ink as well.
3
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update