Sun, 29 June 2014
I never thought of him as a comedian until I came across a bit of history a few months ago. Then, a Tea Party candidate in Oklahoma again reminded me of Benjamin Franklin last week, and how he faked out an unethical rival, and made him deny his own death for years.
Direct download: Ben_Franklin_Is_Not_a_Tea_Party_Cand.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 7:23pm EDT |
Thu, 26 June 2014
Disagree with the President as many of my friends do, you kind of have to admit, in more honest moments, that this President is among the most straight arrow people around. No financial dirt. No extra-marital affairs. "No Drama Obama" is not just a personality trait. It seems to be a personal ethic. But, after years of effort, Republicans have finally uncovered a criminal conspiracy with illegal trading of insider knowledge. And it involves Obamacare.
Direct download: Republican_Witch_Hunt_Gets_Very_UNbo.mp3
Category:Political News, Insider Trading -- posted at: 10:21pm EDT |
Tue, 24 June 2014
Hillary Clinton can become a great President, if she stops trying to think of herself as one of us. |
Sun, 22 June 2014
Ancient Romans considered themselves superior to those they conquered. What is often unexamined in popular history is the attitude of Roman elites toward the Emperor Hadrian. They thought of Hadrian as unworthy. He was not considered a real Roman. He came from one of the conquered territories. Such people were inferior, uncivilized, unclean. They were to be tamed, not to be followed. Ancient Senators who looked down on Hadrian as a pretend Roman have modern descendants.
Direct download: Leadership_War_and_Centuries_of_Ha.mp3
Category:Political News, Racism, War -- posted at: 11:29pm EDT |
Thu, 19 June 2014
As the Empress and her entourage made their way down the Dnieper River, the governor had his men erect a fake village and dress up as peasants. As soon as the procession was out of sight, the village would be disassembled, hastily transported down the river before the Empress could arrive, and then reassembled. The Empress and her group saw dozens of healthy, productive villages, populated by industrious peasants who looked remarkably alike. Centuries later she is back in suit and tie, disguised as a US Senator.
Direct download: John_McCains_Strange_Village_Visit.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News, War -- posted at: 9:56pm EDT |
Tue, 17 June 2014
The last foreign policy trip George W. Bush took as President, and the last few days of the Bush Presidency itself are remembered for a single jarring incident. Shoes were thrown. They missed. The President was amused. What is often overlooked is the reason President Bush was visiting Iraq to begin with. The new Status of Forces Agreement had deadlines. Some experts thought the United States should stay a lot longer. The time frame of our stay should be anywhere from a few more years to a few more generations. Mostly they were the same experts who had marched us into Iraq. But Iraq's Prime Minister, not to put too fine a point on it, turned out to be an astonishing jerk.
Direct download: Throwing_Shoes_at_the_President.mp3
Category:Foreign Policy, Political News, Obama -- posted at: 9:36pm EDT |
Sun, 15 June 2014
The Love It or Leave It mentality has, at its heart, a rejection of traditions important to representative democracy. Missouri Republicans seem to have a different tradition. State Senator Republican Ed Emery wrote to one citizen who protested Republican blocking of insurance for low income residents. Part of Ed Emery's letter was an invitation...
Direct download: Love_It_or_Leave_It_Missouri_Style.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 10:16pm EDT |
Thu, 12 June 2014
The assessment went back to the closest previous period during which such threats had materialized. It had been during the Clinton administration a decade and a half before: Economic problems, the winding down of war, social change, and a liberal Presidential administration. This time we could add a black President. Conservatives were insulted.
Direct download: Domestic_Terrorism_-_Warnings_from_2.mp3
Category:Domestic Terrorism -- posted at: 11:21pm EDT |
Tue, 10 June 2014
With each oscillation of modulus 4 years, Republicans win, when they win, by a smaller margin. When they lose, they lose by an ever widening gap. The reason is that Republican politicians face an increasingly conservative electorate in Republican primaries. They lose to extremists or they adopt extreme views themselves to get past primaries.
Direct download: Republican_Revolution_in_Virginia.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 11:42pm EDT |
Sun, 8 June 2014
All the vital, angry, deadly issues in this prisoner exchange come down to a few decisions. Each of those few decision involves priorities. This true of the President. This is true of each conservative critic.
What is most important?
Direct download: Angry_Issues_in_Prisoner_Exchange.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 11:41pm EDT |
Thu, 5 June 2014
Changes that keep keep minority voters and the elderly from voting for the other side are necessary. If voting rights are violated, that's just the price you have to pay. The campaign activist locked alone with the ballots? Let's not make a big deal over every little thing. |
Tue, 3 June 2014
Depending on our level of ignorance or on our philosophy, we either negotiated for a hostage, or we negotiated for a prisoner exchange. The meaningful question is whether either one will encourage other enemies to take prisoners for the purpose of negotiation.
Direct download: Negotiating_With_Terrorists.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 11:24pm EDT |
Sun, 1 June 2014
Eric Shinseki once discussed his management technique, comparing it to combat, where you never have enough information or resources."Sometimes you just gotta launch, and fight your way through the unknowns."
That might work at times in combat. In a non-combat organization, a narrow focus on motivation works about as well as overfilling a gas tank in response to a dead battery. Perverse incentives are a recognized enemy in the private sector. In this case, the 14-day mandate provided an incentive that was singularly perverse.
Direct download: Perverse_Incentives_in_the_Veterans.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 7:01pm EDT |