Happy April 15h - Tax Day!

Like many Americans, I am concerned with my tax rate, and ultimately how much cash I'll need to pay Uncle Sam this year.

Today, there are supposed to be conservative "Tea Parties" around the country, expressing outrage over the tax policies and stimulus package of the Obama… Read full post »

Dear Friends,

President Obama of the U.S. and his Russian counterpart, President Medvedev, met at the G20 Summit last week. The primary topic of the summit was our economic crisis, but Obama and Mdvedev have decided to meet again this summer to sign a treaty to reduce our two countries' stockpiles of… Read full post »

I must admit it. Although I am a huge Barack Obama fan, I have been disappointed in his administration's first steps in the foreign policy realm.

I was very excited that Hillary Clinton was named Secretary of State, but she and her staff made an embarrassing translation error before the Russian… Read full post »

As Chris Matthews said, the reporters were "zombies" during the Obama news conference tonight.

And there was none "stupider" (my academic term) than Chuck Todd.

After a lot of lead up to Chuck's asking a question that had been solicited from "the public," all he could come up… Read full post »

Friday night, The News Hour reported on the video project of Michael Steinman's AP English class at Village Academy High School in Pomona, California. Steinman sensed that the economic downturn was impacting the lives of his students. So, when he asked them to write about their experiences with the c… Read full post »

Several weeks ago I wrote my first book review for my personal blog, Reflecting Obama. My plans are to write another one as soon as I've finished Gwen Ifill's The Breakthrough.

If you are interested in following Obama in the literary world, you don't need to wait for me to… Read full post »

Yesterday, I discussed the questionable journalistic abilities of CNBC pundits Erin Burnett and Jim Cramer. At the end of my article I wondered out loud how the Jim Cramer visit to The Daily Show would actually play out. The "war of words" between Cramer, CNBC and Jon Stewart and been ongoing… Read full post »

When I was a senior at Elkhart Central High School in Indiana, I took a journalism course with Mr. Mongion. He insisted that we stick to the facts, the who?, what?, where?, when?, how?, how many?, when reporting a story. He told us to avoid editorializing, to keep our own opinions… Read full post »

Josh Orton published an article on MyDD today called "Whose Limbaugh?" He discusses the argument that's all the rage right now as to whether the stinking Limbaugh mess is actually all a set up from the Democrats.

This is a fascinating discussion, but frankly I'm not up for all the finer points… Read full post »

We need to be careful and very, very vigilant in these times. We are in the depths of an economic crisis, the likes of which we haven't seen in 80 years. We also have an African-American president, the first ever in the history of our country.

Any time you mix hard… Read full post »

Race in the United States is probably the most difficult topic to get our heads around as Americans. There is such a varied experience, plus such emotional history, that it is extremely difficult to develop a unified, national approach in handling the topic of race. Instead, we remain volcanic in our… Read full post »

The past couple days have been filled with disappointments, celebrations and good news. Good news first: Hallelujah! the stimulus bill was passed last night. In watching the process of this bill coming to fruition, it became very clear that, although it is possible to build a Team of Rivals, we must… Read full post »

This past Sunday, just before President Obama was to visit Elkhart, Indiana, I wrote an article concerning the need to move beyond huge numbers that depersonalize this economic crisis. Too often politicians get caught up in crunching these figures, and they forget that each person suffering in this e… Read full post »

This will be a very short post. First a video clip:



Please refer to the graphs and you will see the gravity of this recession. It just plain scares me. The blue line represents the 1993 recession. 2001 is the red line. The green line is where we are at the… Read full post »

A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article about the psychological damage done by unemployment. The sense of powerlessness and emotional pain are very hard to describe. I referred to a tragedy in L.A., where a man who had been recently laid off flipped out and killed himself, along with everyone… Read full post »

This is a considerably modified version of a previous post. Due to the recent ridiculous focus the MSM have placed on the sartorial habits of President Obama, I felt moved to share this piece again.
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The ca… Read full post »

I'm a worrier. I worry about my job, my family, my health, and my life. This morning I found myself worrying about Barack Obama's presidency. We're only two weeks into his administration and I am already worrying about his success or failure.

I celebrated Obama's victory with every fiber of my body… Read full post »

Indeed, she was condescending towards Senator Claire McCaskill (D, Missouri), Vice President Biden and President Obama because they had criticized the $18.5 billion of bonuses given to bank employees after the TARP funds had already been disbursed.  Ms. Burnett called such criticism "populism" a… Read full post »

Our financial institutions are lions and we're being eaten alive. Recently, we learned that the largest banks paid out more than $18 billion in bonuses to their top employees. That's the sixth largest total ever given out. Ever. Even though Congress just gave them $250 billion to bail them out after… Read full post »

The economy is the first concern of Washington these days, but as we move forward with the Obama administration, my biggest fear is another issue that may lead to our President's failure. What brought it to mind was a report on CNN this morning concerning the skyrocketing suicide rate among veterans… Read full post »

What if each unemployed person were considered a potential death? Would congressional Republicans then show a sense of urgency in getting the stimulus package passed? What if each citizen out of work were regarded as having cholera, malaria, or AIDS -- on the verge of dying? Would the Republicans, th… Read full post »

This is a periodic series I will be writing on books I recommend for President Obama.


Please note that these are one reader's opinions, so if you have any other takes on the books I rate, please comment so everyone can see how you feel.


How Barack Obama Won by Chuck Todd and… Read full post »

At the Commander-In-Chief Ball following his inauguration, President Obama interviewed Chicago soldiers based in Afghanistan via satellite. He was clearly proud of these men and women serving their country and especially so that they were from Chicago.

My own interest was piqued when he began asking e… Read full post »

Although President Obama is doing his best to work in a bipartisan fashion, many Republicans are doing their best to cause trouble. No matter what is proposed, they are opposed to the stimulus plan, saving homeowners, regulating banks, creating jobs, developing a health care system and rebuilding ou… Read full post »

It's day 3. Why count? It's certainly a part of American culture to categorize, rank, rate and count down. Think of a perfect 10... Batting 1.ooo... 10/10 or 100/100 on a quiz or test. Grade A. Code Blue. Top 100 colleges. And the first…

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