June 30, 2009
The ‘Activist’ Court (Peter Fenn)
OK. I am not, nor have I ever been, a lawyer. I took Constitutional Law in college just a few short years ago — 40, maybe — and I don’t devour Supreme Court cases, judiciously reading the footnotes and the footnotes to the footnotes.
So, you ask, why do I feel compelled to comment on the latest Ricci case? I am not going to discuss Title VII or the lower-court rulings or the effect on Judge Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Rather, I have another angle. > Read More
Post a Comment (4) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This June 17, 2009
Why Healthcare Reform is Job No. 1 (Peter Fenn)
This should be a win-win. Everyone agrees that our healthcare system is broken — it costs too much, it delivers too little to too few and it is gobbling up obscene amounts of our gross national product.
Each year we spend over $2 trillion, nearly 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. Right now, over 46 million Americans have been uninsured for at least a year and flood our emergency rooms for costly care. But the more amazing figure is that 87 million Americans were uninsured for at least a month over the past two years. The number of Americans who don’t go to doctors, who don’t engage in preventive care, who fail to heed the warnings of obesity, heart disease and curable cancer is a national tragedy. > Read More
Post a Comment (34) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This June 2, 2009
Republican Good-Cop/Bad-Cop … Will it Work? (Peter Fenn)
You have to love these Republicans as they approach the Supreme Court hearings for Sonia Sotomayor.
Right out of the box you have the usual right-wing cabal spewing forth hateful venom. Comparing her to the Ku Klux Klan, calling her a racist, issuing condescending remarks about her intellectual heft. In a 24/7 news cycle and cabal blather that encourages the most outrageous comments imaginable, because they make “news,” these attacks are over the top. > Read More
Post a Comment (4) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This April 30, 2009
The Republicans Blew It on Specter (Peter Fenn)
Once again, the Republican right got what it wished for — ridding the party of another moderate.
The Club for Growth, which worked with Pennsylvania Republicans and certain forces within the Senate, was successful in getting its wish — Pat Toomey to once again challenge Arlen Specter in a GOP primary. The moderate Republicans left the party in droves in Pennsylvania and switched to the Democratic Party. And the state has a closed primary, so Democrats and independents could not vote for Specter. > Read More
Post a Comment (4) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This April 28, 2009
Cheney Cherry-Picks Again (Peter Fenn)
Well, Dick Cheney is almost pathological. As we all know, he cherry-picked intelligence as he led us into war in Iraq — from yellowcake uranium to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons hanging over our heads; from metal tubes to mobile labs, you name it, he manufactured it.
Now Cheney is at it again, flailing around on Fox when he is not closeting himself in his bat cave writing his book to justify the disasters of the last eight years. But what I love is the transition from “We don’t torture” to “Well, torture worked!” And now he wants two memos released, one 12 pages and one 19 pages, to justify his actions. So Cheney wants once more to cherry-pick to try and make his point. > Read More
Post a Comment (3) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This April 7, 2009
Cheney vs. Bush (Peter Fenn)
You know, it astounds me that Dick Cheney would so profoundly embarrass his president, George W. Bush.
But after a rather rocky last six months in office — during which he was largely shunted aside, trying desperately to get a pardon for Scooter Libby and being rebuffed — what does Cheney have left?
While President Bush has exhibited a rather classy exit from power, Cheney has to continue his Limbaugh/Hannity-esque attack on President Obama. I have a strange feeling that he will not go softly into the good night, but will try desperately to resurrect himself, long after this Easter has come and gone. > Read More
Post a Comment (27) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This March 20, 2009
Bailout Bonanza for Tax Cheats (Peter Fenn)
What? Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who chairs a subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, announced that at least 13 companies receiving billions in bailout money owe more than $220 million in back taxes. Two companies owed more than $100 million each, one from 2005 and 2006 and one dating back to before 2004.
So let me get this straight: We are giving these companies billions in taxpayer dollars so that they can pay their taxes? This is worse than robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is rewarding tax scofflaws who didn’t pay their taxes during the good times. This is giving millions of our tax money to companies that owe millions in unpaid taxes. > Read More
Post a Comment (7) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This March 18, 2009
Is Obama Taking on Too Much? (Peter Fenn)
Not on your life. The recent hand-wringing about whether President Obama’s “plate is too full” couldn’t have it more wrong.
The argument goes as follows: The economic troubles are so staggering, and the problems so complex, that any attempt to deal with healthcare, energy and/or education in the coming year is folly. Unifocus on the economy and put everything else on the back burner.
First and foremost, Obama inherited one hot stove, with several “front burners.” Deficits out of control, an economy in meltdown, education deteriorating, a healthcare crisis neglected for eight years and virtually nothing done on making us more energy-independent and more invested in alternative sources of energy. In other words, all these issues are clearly front-burner issues, few relegated to the back. > Read More
Post a Comment (25) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This February 27, 2009
The Rush to Rush (Peter Fenn)
Boy, I have never seen anything like it. All the lemmings in the Republican Party actually think that the American people rally around Rush Limbaugh.
Take Bobby Jindal — his condescending, sophomoric response to President Obama's speech was right out of the simplistic Rush playbook. And funny — the only person who praised the speech was Rush!
But we watch as not only other talk show hosts like Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham take up the Rush mantle but supposedly responsible Republicans in Congress also rush to Rush. > Read More
Post a Comment (12) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This February 12, 2009
Judd Gregg — Is This Just a Bad Dream? (Peter Fenn)
OK, this is absolutely true. Ask my wife — I told her this morning about the dream I had last night.
I woke up with that cold sweat. Why? I dreamt that I was in Florida at a great big Southern mansion, with a wide porch that kept wrapping around and around. Lots of people, food, activity. What was happening? Rush Limbaugh was broadcasting and pulling me into his usual diatribe. Trouble was, it was all his audience of ditto-heads who were glaring at me and shouting cat-calls. I was blasting back. What possessed me to enter into this back-and-forth with Limbaugh on his turf? Who knows? > Read More
Post a Comment (25) Permalink TrackBack
Email This Post
Share this post
What's This