2011 Recap: Out with the News, In with the Olds

Welcoming 2012 should be less about hoping for better news, and more about getting back to the ways of living we practiced when life felt surer and stronger in the past.

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Carraway News: Strong Words, Strong Actions on Libya

As with any new military campaign, the war for public opinion begins even before the bombs fall.

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The Persistent Threat of the Federal Reserve

In a climate of unprecedented policies from the Federal Reserve, most average citizens are failing to recognize just how precarious our economy was before the recession in 2008, and just how close our US dollars still are to the brink of disaster.

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Shadows of Government: Top Secret America, A Leftist Cabal, and Corporate Deception (Part 2 of 2)

As previewed in the last post, the current expansion of state power by means of three shadow branches of government has been eerily predicted by Eisenhower and others. The key difference between his time and now is not the character of the American people, the fierceness of political ideologies, or the scope of problems facing our nation. What has changed is that we are out of the industrial age and into the information age.

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Shadows of Government: Top Secret America, A Leftist Cabal, and Corporate Deception (Part 1 of 2)

With so many complex laws on the books and career politicians on the beltway, it is as if the kitchen sink in Washington is clogged up and the garbage disposal is broken.

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Our Crude Disaster: The Gulf Oil Spill

This disaster is more damaging because it is our fault, everyone in America, and this time no amount of federal action can save us or relieve our guilt.

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Google, The Great Firewall, and Why Blogging Matters

Today Google, one of the internet's largest and most innovative companies, announced that it is considering pulling its search engine, email and other products out of China's internet market. The move comes after a cyber attack on Google's server in which hackers tried to access the gmail accounts of several Chinese human rights activists. This offensive coupled with evidence that suggests these were the same hackers who infiltrated US defense computer system last year could portend a full blown geopolitical cyber crisis.

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A Bedtime Story from Nancy Pelosi

Recently, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced that she would like to have a healthcare reform bill in the next month as a "Christmas Present for the American people." What a nice sentiment from our maternal provider in Congress! This skill for weaving fantastic narratives with important policy decisions has made Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues wonderful icons for the American taxpayer as Santa and his little elves are for young children across the country. Many citizens, like some commentators on this very blog, have expressed their deep admiration and sheer awe for the Democratic party's Hollywood-like ability to spin a good yarn. Nothing produces sound public policy laws like an oft repeated feel-good story, whether fiction or not, that infiltrates the hearts and minds of voters and convinces them that magic can really happen. All we need to do is close our eyes, shut out the problems and logical gaps of reality, use our imaginations and just believe...

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From Cash to Clunkers to Slump for Junkers

Here's a question to ponder: If you were going to buy a car a few months ago, would you have done it? Or would you have waited for the Cash for Clunkers program? How about that car that might not pass inspection in the next six months? Why wait to buy a car then when you can get $4500 from the government if you do it now? There's an inherent problem in all this concentrated car buying. It may be a "stimulus" to the car market now, but it will actually lead to less car buyers and a slump later in the year once the program ends.

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Be Careful What You Wish For: Healthcare, Democracy, and the Internet

As a free citizen in a democratic republic, what combination of factors would make you so fired up that you would actively seek out your local congressman and shout at him until he will listen to your two cents on an issue? Recently there has been a wave of American anger boiling over at town hall meetings regarding healthcare. In a previous post, I questioned what the news media would cover during the August recess of Congress. I posited that Americans would begin to demand more answers from those in power regarding their lack of progress on international issues. I was right about the renewed call to politicians for more accountability, but wrong about the agenda that would be called into question. It seems a sizable portion of our citizens are most concerned about, indeed fearful of, the Democrats' healthcare initiatives and are voicing their concern to elected officials while they are making their August visits to their home constituencies.

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