The Very Rich Hours of the Lambrights

Good article at Slate: How Obama’s cool, detached temperament is hurting him and his party
I think the author hit the nail on the head. I don’t think it would be good for the President to change his style, however. Public discourse in this country has become way too emotional and ignorant of [...]

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Reading all the derision of the President’s Nobel prize and the positive joy some Americans seem to feel about Chicago losing the Olympics is getting really old. Claire McCaskill, Senator from Missouri, summed up my feelings really well on her blog:
I feel that I’m in an alternative universe. For eight years some people called [...]

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I try to remember that people with whom I disagree on politics are usually sincere and I, therefore, try to keep my tone moderate.  But I have to be honest.  This flap over the President’s proposed online message to kids next week on the first day of school makes me very angry and I’m running [...]

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I just found out that one person who read my post on health care reform felt that the author (me) was “obviously mentally imbalanced”.  While the person who passed this on to me was angry about it, I mostly find it amusing.
It also makes me curious, however.  I think that we need more discussion (and [...]

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For weeks now, I’ve been trying to get my head around the whole health care mess so that I could write a long, comprehensive, well-thought-out post.  I figure that would be the best way for me to contribute to the process as our democracy sorts this out.  Problem is, it’s complicated.  And the situation is [...]

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Despite China’s poor human rights record and authoritarian government, US companies have fallen all over each other to do business with the Chinese.  The US government, under both Democrats and Republicans have encouraged this business on the grounds that prolonged exposure to Western goods and markets will undermine the authoritarian regime by showing the Chinese [...]

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I will say right up front that I don’t know who actually won the election in Iran.  And I’m not sure anyone else does either.  In the aftermath of the election, the protesters have been out in force and the government has been cracking down harshly.  People all over the world have rightly condemned this [...]

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Sam Rayburn was thinking of people like Rush Limbaugh when he said:
Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.
Rush Limbaugh has a financial interest in anger and discord.  It’s what he thrives on.  Serious discussion and sincere efforts to solve problems don’t drive listeners to his radio [...]

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President Obama has issued executive orders closing Guantanamo Bay, ending the CIA’s secret prisons, and requiring all US agencies conduct prisoner interregations according to the US Army’s regulations (i.e. no torture allowed).
Nice to have the grown-ups in charge again.

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