Fri, 22 May 2015
The question on Iraq presented Jeb Bush with an opportunity to achieve a balance between family loyalty and thoughtful policy. All he needed was preparation. Why it did not occur to him to prepare much earlier for an obvious question remains a mystery. Marco Rubio had a chance to pick up the pieces. But he managed to trip over the shoelace on Jeb's foot. Instead of finally proving himself to be the one candidate with a policy vision, he proved instead that vaudeville will never die.
Direct download: Whos_on_First_in_Iraq.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News, War -- posted at: 12:07am EDT |
Mon, 18 May 2015
Within the last few years, a British spy at a high level within al Qaeda and a secret informant with the North Korean government were compromised by published reports. If reports are accurate, the existance of an official in the government of Pakistan has been revealed, after he helped Americans know where and how to kill Osama bin laden. We have to be impressed by the bravery of those reporters who inform us of all the facts, and who courageously accept the consequences of their actions. Regardless of who suffers those consequences.
Direct download: Press_Freedom_and_Government_Secrets.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT |
Wed, 13 May 2015
Commuters sometimes take traffic delays personally. That is why 4 successive days of 4 hour delays, delays generated deliberately, have hurt Chris Christie more than any comparable scandal. But the Governor has gone through a period of introspection. He may have discovered within himself a path to recovery.
Direct download: Chris_Christie_is_Ready_to_Move_On.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 11:04pm EDT |
Wed, 6 May 2015
Satire can be a mighty weapon when humor is used to puncture the pretensions of the privileged, the pretentions of the elite. When it directed at the downtrodden, those who struggle to overcome hardship, satire mutates to something less noble. It becomes simple meanness, petty and cruel. Free speech includes freedom of malevolence. We can and we must defend the rights of those who bully and hate. That full and vigorous defense does not obligate us to join them in their hatred.
Direct download: Supporting_the_Rights_of_Pamela.mp3
Category:Politics and Bigotry -- posted at: 9:56pm EDT |
Fri, 1 May 2015
The Republican definition of religious freedom recently became the freedom of an employer to decide whether employees could get birth control as part of their insurance package. Then freedom of religion transmuted into the right of an employer to order an insurance company not to provide birth control on its own. Now freedom of religion has mutated into the right of any boss to require workers to report to management, and ask permission, if they want to go to their local pharmacy on their own time and pay for birth control themselves. The Republican vote was unanimous.
Direct download: Birth_Control_-_Republicans_Require.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 12:11am EDT |