The Secret Service’s response to its embarrassing Colombian prostitute scandal — like the GSA response to its infuriating Las Vegas spend-a-thon — says a lot about the bureaucratic mindset. In an effort to prevent agents from engaging in future drunken romps with hookers, the Secret Service has tightened guidelines. Agents working overseas now are “banned [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Time To Rely On Character, Not Guidelines
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Colombia, Colombia prostitutes, Hiring, Politics, Presidential Security, Prostitutes, Regulations, Secret Service, Training on April 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The Candidate Who Wouldn’t Leave
Posted in America, Humor, Politics, tagged 2012 Republican presidential race, America, Doggerel, Humor, Newt Gingrich, Poetry, Politics on April 26, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday Newt Gingrich indicated that he was finally ending his presidential campaign. The announcement caught most knowledgeable observers by surprise, because they thought his campaign had ended months ago. In this campaign cycle, Gingrich became the candidate who wouldn’t leave. In recognition of his long overdue decision to face reality and get the heck out [...]
Time To Flog The Speculators
Posted in America, Politics, tagged Airlines, America, Capitalism, Commodity Exchanges, Futures Markets, Gas Prices, Politics, President Obama, Speculators on April 17, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Gas prices are much too high for most Americans. It costs upwards of $60 to fill your tank, and that hurts. Obviously, it’s time to do something about it. Today, President Obama lashed out at oil speculators. He thinks they are manipulating the price of oil and reaping huge profits at the expense of American [...]
An Ohioan’s Thoughts On The Race Ahead
Posted in America, Ohio, Politics, tagged 2008 Presidential Election, 2012 Presidential Election, America, Gas Prices, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ohio, Politics, President Obama, Unemployment, Voters on April 17, 2012 | 2 Comments »
We’re now less than seven months away from the 2012 presidential election. What does the race look like, from the perspective of battleground Ohio? I think the 2012 election will be much less emotion-charged than 2008 was. In 2008 many hoped that Barack Obama would be a transformative figure whose election would finally slay the [...]
Not-So-Secret
Posted in America, Politics, World, tagged America, Politics, Preisdent Obama, Presidential Security, Prostitutes, Secret Service, Summit of the Americas, World on April 15, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The embarrassing scandal involving U.S. Secret Service agents and Colombian prostitutes should make everyone question the quality, training, and capabilities of the people who hold some of the most important jobs in the federal government. For those who missed it, 11 Secret Service agents were put on leave pending an investigation of their behavior in [...]
On Tax Day, Remember The GSA!
Posted in America, Politics, tagged 2012 Election, America, Bureaucracy, Dan Tangherlini, Federal Budget, General Services Administration, Government spending, GSA, Politics, Western Regions Conference on April 15, 2012 | 2 Comments »
All American taxpayers should be grateful this April 15, as we curse and finish our returns and contemplate how much we pay to our federal government: we have the General Services Administration out there working for us. You all know the GSA, of course. Its website describes the GSA as “responsible for improving the government’s [...]
Dissing The Stay-At-Home
Posted in America, Family, Politics, tagged 2012 presidential campaign, America, Ann Romney, Family, Hilary Rosen, Mitt Romney, Politics, President Obama, Stay-at-home fathers, Stay-at-home mothers on April 12, 2012 | 2 Comments »
The latest campaign snit involves a statement by Hilary Rosen, a Democratic “campaign strategist” — i.e., one of the endless parade of never-themselves-elected talking heads that appear regularly on TV “news” shows — about Ann Romney, the wife of the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. In an appearance on CNN on Wednesday, Rosen dismissed Romney’s comments [...]
Santorum Sits
Posted in America, Politics, tagged 2012 Republican presidential race, America, Concession speeches, Mitt Romney, Politics, Rick Santorum, Speeches on April 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Today Rick Santorum announced that he was “suspending” his campaign. Apparently “suspending” is the new word that political candidates use when they have lost, run out of money, or are otherwise unable to continue their campaigns. They don’t withdraw, they don’t concede . . . they just “suspend.” The word suggests that, at some indeterminate [...]
Inexplicable Vanity, And Santorum’s Folly
Posted in America, Politics, tagged 2012 Republican presidential race, America, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Politicians, Politics, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Vanity on April 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Last night Mitt Romney won three more primaries, in Maryland, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. He is now even farther ahead in the race for delegates — so far ahead, in fact, that his nearest challenger, Rick Santorum, would need to win 80 percent of the remaining delegates to win the nomination. Does anyone [...]
Balance Of Powers 101
Posted in America, Politics, tagged Affordable Care Act, America, Balance of Powers, Congress, Health Care Law, Judicial Review, law, Politics, President Obama, United States Constitution, United States Supreme Court on April 2, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Last week’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court about the Affordable Care Act — and the questions from Justices that suggested skepticism about the law’s constitutionality — seem to have caught some people off guard and caused them to make some very odd statements about how our government works. Today, for example, President Obama said: [...]
My God, Are The Republicans Still Playing?
Posted in America, Politics, sports, tagged America, Etch-a-Sketch, Mitt Romney, NCAA Tournament, Newt Gingrich, Politics, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, sports on March 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I haven’t paid much attention to the Republican presidential primary race lately. In light of March Madness, has anyone? The Republicans are like a Sweet Sixteen team that has played two dreadfully boring early-round games and then gets overlooked in the talk about the upcoming games. You sort of think: “Wow — are they still [...]
Illuminating The Misogyny
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Bill Maher, Misogyny, Politics, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Women on March 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The recent incident in which Rush Limbaugh called a woman who spoke out about contraception policy a “slut” could end up being beneficial in many different ways. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Name-calling is inappropriate. It’s cheap, thoughtless, and dehumanizing. It adds nothing to the discourse and says a lot more — all of it [...]
Romney, Like Ohio State
Posted in Ohio, Politics, tagged Mitt Romney, Ohio, Ohio State, Politics on March 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
How is Mitt Romney like Ohio State? Well, he’s the front-runner, well-funded, and expected to crush his opponents every time. Anything less than a complete drubbing is viewed as disappointing. And, as a result, Romney’s winning in Ohio isn’t really viewed as a win at all, because it wasn’t as pretty as the pundits thought [...]
Dennis, Departing
Posted in Ohio, Politics, tagged Congress, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Marcy Kaptur, Ohio, Politics on March 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s primary election in Ohio not only resulted in a win for Mitt Romney, it also ended (for now, at least) the congressional career of Dennis Kucinich. Fellow Representative Marcy Kaptur trounced Kucinich in the Democratic primary in a redrawn district. Kucinich blamed his defeat on a negative campaign by Kaptur. Perhaps — but it [...]
