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There are finally some rustlings on the hustings; you will pardon my attempt at poetry. Republican presidential hopefuls are moving about in Iowa and New Hampshire; does that clarify my admittedly amateur attempt at rhyme? I simply could not resist. It was rather quiet out on the hustings a few weeks ago, and frankly, for me, it was a little gloomy. I have been saying for months that…

President Obama in the opening days of his term made a showing of mandating openness in government.  He even stated, “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.  Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.”  He then directed department heads to implement his Open Government Directive.  While this…

According to James Carville, his timing was simply a "little off" with a 2009 prediction that Democrats would rule for 40 years. The political operative and frequent guest on ABC appeared in the revamped Newsweek magazine to offer an apology for the inaccurate assertion. The first-person piece in the March 21 issue included an admission that the title of his book, 40 More Years: How the…

It took the threat of a defamation lawsuit, but the New York Times finally corrected a story from late February that accused FBI informant Brandon Darby of "encouraging" a plot to bomb the 2008 Republican National Convention, when in fact Darby was integral to law enforcement efforts to disrupt that plot. The Times was aware of the error as far back as March 3, according to emails included in…

"Democrats on both sides of the Capitol say they have no idea where the White House stands or who’s running the show." -- Politico, 3-17-11 "Obama The Invisible: Anti-leadership Amid World Crises"--headline, John Podhoretz column, NY Post, 3-15-11 With the Hamptons beach season looming, has Donny Deutsch let working on his abs get in the way of watching what's going on in the White House…

Several liberal talk-radio hosts are pandering to listeners by taking polls on just how despicable Republicans are in response to the horrifying disaster in Japan and the scary nuclear-power issues. The poll at Thom Hartmann's website asks: Will the Republicans succeed in cutting Tsunami funds? -- Yes! You gotta give tax breaks to millionaires and the money has to come from somewhere. --…

Diane Sawyer allocated all but 1:37 of World News to Japan on Wednesday night, committing 33 seconds of that limited time to touting President Obama’s NCAA basketball picks provided to ABC corporate cousin ESPN. “Despite all the troubles around the world” Sawyer rationalized – as if there’s much evidence Obama, who’s hardly been engaged in the Libyan or Japanese situations and who went…

Wait a sec!  Isn't it Republicans who supposedly are irresponsibly accusing Dems of being socialists and Commies?  Check that.  Ed Schultz has declared--not paraphrasing, actually quoting--that Tea Partiers who support Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are "lining up with the Communist Party." Schultz was set off by Snyder's signing of an emergency bill giving, as per this report, "broad…

On Wednesday's Newsroom, CNN hyped the concerns of psychiatrist Terry Kupers over the imprisonment of Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning. Kupers labeled Manning's months-long solitary confinement "cruel or inhumane treatment, and by international standards, they constitute torture." The guest also claimed that "nobody has been accused of crimes like Bradley Manning's." Anchor Carol Costello…

Joy Behar on Wednesday made a staggeringly stupid comment on "The View" that is so inane it requires no additional setup. "I’m sure people in concentration camps made jokes about each other, about the Nazis, about their situation. That’s the way people relieve stress" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Here's an example of a former newspaper man correcting a politician's claim -- and his correction requiring a correction. Appearing on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Monday, MSNBC's Chris Matthews offered kneejerk condemnation of Mike Huckabee saying President Obama grew up in Kenya as "racist," an assertion Huckabee had acknowledged as inaccurate. Matthews piled on, making his own…

On Wednesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, fill-in host Norah O'Donnell spoke with  liberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne about his claim that the United States is "not broke," but simply needs to "raise revenue" through higher taxes. She teased the segment by wondering: "Is Washington really as broke as lawmakers make it seem?" O'Donnell described Dionne's latest column as "…

Within the past decade, I've written three columns titled "Deception 101," "Stubborn Ignorance," and "Exploiting Public Ignorance," all explaining which branch of the federal government has taxing and spending authority. How can academics, politicians, news media people and ordinary citizens get away with statements such as "Reagan's budget deficits," "Clinton's budget surplus," "Bush's budget…

In about a month, the Republican majority on the House Budget Committee will present its concurrent budget resolution for fiscal year 2012, which by law will include their proposed 2012 annual budget and their projection of the budgets (spending, revenues and the resulting deficit, surplus or balance) for the following nine years. It may not be overstatement to assert that this presentation…