Cartoon by Carolita Johnson

Hey, kids, I don’t know what the hell your nut-job parents were all upset about. The President gave a back-to-school speech this morning at a high school in Virginia, a patriotic message about dedication and personal responsibility that was beamed to all schools in this country.

Your parents thought this speech was tantamount to some propaganda shilling for Democratic social programs like that public option in the current health care fight up on Capitol Hill. This was supposed to be the speech where the force of Mr. Obama’s charisma was going to hypnotize you into becoming a free-spending and taxing Socialist, and indoctrinate you into the ways of Karl Marx. Read the rest of this entry »

Ted Kennedy: A Senator, A Patriarch

The passing of Senator Ted Kennedy surely represents a significant loss in American politics. The “lion of the Senate” for 47 years was at the forefront of American social policy. Through his long and distinguished career, he was if nothing else an extraordinarily gifted legislator and a master of the coalition-building and deal-making needed to craft what were some path-breaking legislation of the 20th century.

Look up the Civil Rights Act, immigration reform, health insurance as we know it, No Child Left Behind (despite his reticence once it passed), educational reform, etc —make no mistake, Ted Kennedy was behind every one of those pieces of law. You know the employer-based health insurance coverage, Cobra, that stays with you once you have to leave your current job? Yeah, that’s Ted Kennedy, too. It will be hard to imagine what the US Senate will be without him. His absence has been especially acute now during the acrimonious health care debate, packed as they are with the town-hall meetings. Now it’s up to the legacy of Kennedy, and all that represented in his career-long battle for health care reform, to help rescue it in some way. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah! The sugar! Ah! The saturated fat! The buttercream! Oh, wait, let me start over. Next Tuesday all Americans have a moral and civic duty to fulfill, by going over to their local polling places and marking their ballots for what is possibly the most important election of their lifetimes. Two candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain. Numerous Senate races all over this great land. Important statewide propositions, including here in California. You all –we all—have to do our part to get out the vote and, from what pundits are predicting, the turnout will be heavy, so get there early. Already voted by mail? Awesome. Well, this kinda applies to you too. Read the rest of this entry »