By Robert S. Becker  8-10-10

Haven't we seen this barefaced sideshow before? GOP sabotages another Democratic president "to save America." Predictably, racism has made wary, less culpable Obama an easier mark than wayward Clinton. Deserved and not, abuse heaped on Clinton, today's most… Read full post »

by Robert S. Becker 

It's impossible, whether tracking stock slides, baseball slumps, or TV shows, to confirm bottoms when they happen, to know precisely when enough is enough. Or, with unending, unwinnable, remote wars, what defines way beyond "enough" until we begin to… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker   July 26, ‘10

The Shirley Sherrod “politics of panic” indignity dramatizes my provocations, recast from last week:

Why is this energetic, veteran White House repeatedly shellacked in the message-framing wars by overtly deceitful Republi… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker            Jul 23, 2010

If Sarah Palin were aware of the world outside her head, she'd have quit on "refudiate" before committing a more serious theological blunder.  But she suffers from a chronic malady &n… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker  Jul 19 2010 

Summer Pleasantry (satire for poetry haters)

By Robert S. Becker

You betcha, we crashed the stage

With willful slogans oozing rage;

Like snarling Palin, our model rogue –

Ain't contempt in "populist" vogue?

Umbrage propels Tea Party zeal,

Defying… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker 

Iraq and Afghanistan are not yet wholly “Obama’s wars,” but the White House’s piece-meal, deferential retreat from out-of-control Gulf deluge has become his and his alone.  The Big Spill dramatizes, furthermore, how a once savvy politici… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker

photo, Katy Pye

South Padre Island, Texas:  Sidestepping this week’s oncoming hurricane, my wife and I just returned from the south Texas coast where we observed 116 soup spoon-sized hatchling sea turtles marching boldly/… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker 

In 2004, John Kerry, a genuine war hero with a surprisingly consistent voting record, was mercilessly (and unfairly) ridiculed for his gaffe, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion [Iraq war supplement] before I voted against it.”  T… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker  

To echo A.J. Toynbee, civilizations fall not by getting murdered by outsiders: they tend to commit suicide first.  Judging by our example, so do advanced species.  The good news: earthlings need not dread the shocker of meteor collisions, volc… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker   June 2, 2010

Despite muddled health insurance, jobs and mortgage crises, and protests against his legitimacy, political insiders are confident President Obama will survive his first term without getting impeached, according to the Washington Pest.  That p… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker   May 27, '10

I’m all in favor of knowingly jousting at windmills, so good luck to Cenk Uygur for arm-twisting Goldman Sachs to repay (only) $12.9 billion via loans guaranteed by our “reform” government.  Problem is, where’s the publ… Read full post »

Robert S. Becker

By Robert S. Becker    

Long before Year One ended, progressives understood President Obama’s focus was routine wheeling and dealing, not regrowing the New Deal.  Between victory and governance, Obama “reform” switched from promises to make government serve pe… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker  May 10, '10

Clearly, the White House has had it with Birther-type smears against the president’s citizenship, credibility and legitimacy, for over a year impugning him and his late, beloved mother.  Especially around Mother’s Day, who im… Read full post »

Disorder, Delusion, Distrust and Paranoia Abound 

Passed on by Robert Becker

Note: Who knew “d-mail” existed (“d” for demonic?), let alone actual demons wreaking havoc upon our species (like we need help).  Surfacing by chance in my e-mail, one Uncle… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker

With all the Earth Day brouhaha, you’d think the old planet would be out of the endangered, environmental woods – at least those few healthy, sustainable ones not under siege.  Media venues small and large declared all the “great progress,” impl… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker    April 19, '10

Holden Caulfield, the self-described if suspect expert on phoniness in The Catcher in the Rye, would have a field day.  Phoniness abounds, shredding a sense of fair play, from predatory lending, Ponzi schemes, gouging/… Read full post »

Political Execution, Obama-style Shock & Awe 

By Robert S. Becker  April 13, ‘10

Aligning himself with presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, and at least one Bushwhacker, President Obama joins an American pantheon that has sanctioned all sorts of overseas shenani… Read full post »

“Hell, No,” More Madness Than Method

By Robert S. Becker   April 6, ‘10

Looming ahead: can strident extremists bellowing “hell, no” – pitching faux outrage and chronic lying, not middle-class jobs programs – springboar… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker   April 1, ‘10

Non-patriots can concoct their own opinions, not their own facts – nor get away with denunciation of what drives democratic legitimacy, namely elections.  When rage, victimhood and racism fuse, mass hysteria will embrace not just prepos… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker   Mar. 30 '10

To no one’s great surprise, itself a point of interest, unhinged Republicans predicted the Democratic relief of worst-case insurance abuses meant the end of the world.  Imagine the pandemic heart attacks, let alone exhausted rhetoric, had the… Read full post »

Hawking Hate Speech, Cranking Up Violence

By Robert S. Becker    Mar. 26, ‘10

Is "Repeal and Replace" what took a century to pass the real GOP-Shock Jock-Tea Party strategy for this year?  Bring that one on.  Total in the right’s upsurge in vit… Read full post »

By Robert S. Becker     Mar. 23, '10

Instead of cheering or jeering the House passage of the Health – I mean, the lobbyist-corporate – Insurance Reform bill, let’s assess winners and losers.  Others have depicted the relative, rather delay… Read full post »

Defiant Slogans Drive Rightwing Mission

By Robert S. Becker    March 19, ‘10

Like pre-tested, pre-packaged junk food, rightwing slogans ooze from 24/7 media, cable and wireless spigots. What salt, sugar, and fat do for snacks, the GOP smear machine does to the ad… Read full post »