Informed Speculation

Speaking with my nephew this morning about Leonard Cohen inspired me to post this bit of weekend fun…the beautiful “Bird On The Wire” (there’s a skip in the tape about five minutes in and it repeats a verse, but it’s a nice clip nonetheless).  Enjoy your Sunday…

I’ve been challenged on numerous occasions to explain what exactly I WOULD support in the realm of providing financing to get additional people on the insurance rolls.  Billy, in a comment on my previous post, provided me with one answer:  end the War on Drugs and provide the savings in subsidies to low-income Americans that [...]

We are told, by supporters of health reform, that it is what Americans want.  I suppose that might be true if America were not already drowning in debt and in a financial crisis that is still far from over.  The evidence is not on the side of the supporters, at any rate.  The voters sent [...]

The big story of the day, of course, is the Massachusetts Senate race.  Given the stakes for health care reform, it may be the biggest single Senate race of my lifetime.  Scott Brown has the momentum and a sizable lead in almost all the late polling, but the Dems will bring a mighty GOTV effort [...]

NOTE: For the sixth consecutive year, I am moving this post from 2005 to the top in honor of the great civil rights leader.  It’s a tradition I’m happy to continue, and will probably observe as long as this blog is active… Today’s OpinionJournal contains a moving piece by Roya Hakakian, the co-founder of the Iran Human Rights [...]

It is now undeniable:  Scott Brown has the momentum in the Massachusetts Senate race, and the cause is health care.  That should be horrifying news to Democrats – and if they had any sanity, they would pull back from the brink and embrace the realization that the voters are preparing to send a powerful message.  [...]

The Massachusetts Senate race is notable for many reasons, and the lesson seems hard to ignore: Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White House, a new [...]

I saw Avatar on opening day, but it was in my recent gloomy period, and I declined to review it.  Yesterday, I saw it for a second time.  This is definitely a movie that holds up well on second viewing – in fact, I liked the movie the first time through and loved it the [...]

…in the performance of the Texas Longhorns last night.  Losing your Heisman candidate senior (who has more wins than any quarterback in NCAA history) in the first quarter is a blow that is impossible to overcome against a team as good as Alabama, but Texas at least made it competitive for a while.  Congrats to [...]

It seems as good a topic as any for me to reenter the discussion.  With the announcement of the retirement of Senator Christopher Dodd, pundits are questioning whether a trend is in the offing, and the proximate cause. In Dodd’s case, it’s simple:  he would lose his bid for reelection because of his far too [...]

If there’s anyone out there who still gives a rat’s patooie, I’m not hanging up the blog for good – I don’t think.  I don’t see a need to hide things from my small but devoted audience (at least up to now!), and I’ve still being struggling through some personal issues (of a romantic nature, [...]