Political Realities

News/Politics

Richard Shelby: Poster Child for Arrogance

In case you haven’t heard what the Senator from Alabama did on Thursday, he put a “blanket hold” on ALL of President Obama’s more than 70 nominees before the Senate. Reports say the holds were placed because of a dispute over a contract to build Air Force refueling tankers. Guess where Shelby wants to see those tankers built? Shelby is also... Read more of this article

Is health care reform dead? Part 2

OK, so by my thinking we need an insurance mandate to reduce the ranks of the uninsured not because it’s their right or the country’s obligation but because it’s a national economic imperative in order to address a long-term financial crisis. In addition, we want to prevent our insurance companies from dropping coverage when someone gets sick,... Read more of this article

Is health care reform dead? Part 1

I hope not. Here’s why, from a response to a question Larry asked me here: Larry, to your question about the role of health care reform and the budget deficit: you are correct that I support health care reform as a means of addressing the deficit though the plan that was likely to be passed didn’t do it. I argued many times on this blog that my... Read more of this article

Even in death, the saga of Michael Jackson continues

This post is a bit off the beaten path for me, but I think it bears mentioning. Even in death, the saga of Michael Jackson continues unabated. The focus is now on the attending physician at the time of his death, Dr. Conrad Murray. The good doctor was hired by the pop singer to be his personal physician while he was rehearsing for a much publicized... Read more of this article

Farm Subsidies – Ripe for Budget Cutting?

In general, the extent of my relationship to farming includes eating the foods and drinking the milk they produce, and mooing at the cows as I drive past. I’d say that makes my credentials for criticizing farm subsidies quite impeccable. In looking into a post about potential areas of cuts in our bloated federal budget I came across farm subsidies... Read more of this article

Government waste at it’s finest

A lot of discussion has been taking place about the amount of money our government spends every year. Both on Political Realities and on other blogs and in news stories, the new budget of President Obama has been looked at and dissected, cussed and discussed, if you please. The amount of money in question is staggering, to the tune of $3.69 trillion.... Read more of this article

Public-financed campaigns

Is there anyone here who hasn’t felt overwhelmed by the amount of money spent on political campaigns? I don’t know about you, but I have bemoaned for years, the fact that it seems to take so much money to even think about being competitive in a national election. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a Congressional race or the... Read more of this article

Obama’s Budget: A Closer Look

There’s a terrific interactive chart on the NY Times online today that is worth a look and some thought. There has been much discussion about “out of control spending” and the scariness of the budget numbers but it’s very interesting to take a look at the breakdown of budget components to see just how little room there is for maneuver. Here’s... Read more of this article

President Obama and a Republican majority

As I was doing some of my daily reading and browsing through different blogs and news stories, I was suddenly struck with a thought. Correct me if I am wrong, but when President Obama was voted into office, he had something that a lot of sitting President’s have only been able to dream of. A 256-178 Democratic majority in the House of Representatives... Read more of this article

President Obama’s new budget plan

With all of the talk on Political Realities and around the nation about the budget deficit, I thought it fitting to mention the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The White House is set to release some of the details later Monday, but it has been learned that the budget will total $3.8 trillion in spending and will raise the deficit from $1.41 to... Read more of this article

Dr. George Tiller, Scott Roeder, and domestic terrorism

It was May 31, 2009 when Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in his church in Wichita, Kansas, as he was serving as an usher. Scott Roeder had decided that it was time to end the life of one of the few doctors who was willing to perform late-term abortions. As I am pro-life, I am against abortion, but that also makes me against murder. I think one could... Read more of this article

Obama Speaks to the House Republicans – Video

I was just watching the second half of Obama’s comments and Q&A with the House Republicans and have come away with a view that it will provide an important crossroads in political gamesmanship in weeks and months ahead. The problem is it’s not clear to me whether it will be a positive or negative development. With his strong command of the issues... Read more of this article

Toyota halts sales and expands recall

No, before you click off the page, thinking you have reached the wrong blog, this is still Political Realities. Before you get carried away with the leaving part, please read the article, as it is very important, especially if you own a Toyota or Lexus vehicle. Since I work in the automotive service industry, I thought it would be a good thing to include... Read more of this article

The State of the Union thereof

I wasn’t going to write about the State of the Union address last night, but here goes nothing. As usual, President Obama gave a good speech. One can not deny how well he can speak. In spite of his swelling words however, there were some things in the speech that I did not agree with. I am not going to go through the speech line by line, but if... Read more of this article

Scott Brown and the conservatives

Hasn’t this past week or so been a wild and woolly ride in the world of politics? I mean, we had all kinds of excitement, including a Republican win in the mostly liberal state of Massachusetts. Who would have thought Scott Brown could have ever pulled off his victory, but we have proof, as he will soon be seated as the 41st Republican in the... Read more of this article

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