My 2012 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 2]
[ Posted Friday, December 28th, 2012 – 18:02 UTC ]
Welcome back to our annual year-end awards column!
Archive of Articles in the "Military" Category
Friday Talking Points [238] -- Merry Cliffmas!
[ Posted Friday, December 14th, 2012 – 18:07 UTC ]
What's that? Mayans? Not Maya Rudolph? Man, I've got to start paying closer attention to these things. I'm still trying to figure out what sort of omen it is that Paul McCartney performed with Nirvana on 12/12/12, personally. Maybe not the end times, but certainly the strange times.
The New Deal
[ Posted Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 – 18:20 UTC ]
Instead of focusing on whether a GB2 deal will be struck between Obama and the House Republicans, or even when such a deal might be finalized, I think far too few pundits are focusing on what the deal might contain. So I thought I'd peer into my cracked and foggy crystal ball and make an attempt at predicting which way the GB2 chips are going to fall. Please note, though, that I'm not endorsing (or condemning, for that matter) any of the following outcomes, I'm just attempting to read the political language emanating from the principal negotiators involved and draw some likely conclusions of what is likely going to be in such a deal. With that caveat firmly in place, here's how I see things working out.
Friday Talking Points [235] -- The Can-Kicking Congress
[ Posted Friday, November 16th, 2012 – 18:47 UTC ]
The real news is happening behind closed doors, of course, as Congress absolutely must act before the end of the year or we're all driving over that fiscal cliff together. Or maybe it's just a "slope" -- this seems to be a new talking point from some pundits. Whichever... my money is on "nothing will actually happen until the last week in December, when a Band-Aid will be slapped over the whole thing and the can kicked as far down the road as the politicians think they can get away with." Not to mix metaphors, or anything, Sigh.
But I'll get to my true feelings towards Congress in a rant which will take the place of our talking points this week. First, though, let's hand out a few quick awards.
Armistice Day
[ Posted Monday, November 12th, 2012 – 17:03 UTC ]
Yesterday was Veterans' Day, or (as it was originally called) Armistice Day. The following column was actually written for Memorial Day, but it tells the story of the forgotten nature of the World War I veterans who died in northern France almost a century ago, so I thought it would be appropriate to re-run on the day originally set aside to honor the end to the "War To End All Wars," at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Just ignore the references to "Memorial Day" in the following, and it stands as a good reminder of one of the most brutal wars in all history. Normal columns will resume tomorrow.
What Was The Debate Subject, Again?
[ Posted Monday, October 22nd, 2012 – 21:29 UTC ]
To paraphrase an oldie but a goodie: "What if they had a debate and nobody read the agenda?" Tonight's debate was, ostensibly, supposed to be on foreign policy. However, both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama decided fairly early on that the differences between the two policy-wise were pretty small, so they both decided to hijack the foreign policy debate and instead just continue the debates on the economy, instead.
Friday Talking Points [227] -- Smile, Mitt, You're On Candid Camera!
[ Posted Friday, September 21st, 2012 – 15:25 UTC ]
Wouldn't it be amusingly ironic if Mitt Romney only managed to get 47 percent of the national popular vote for president? It would renew my faith that the universe has a sense of humor, that's for sure.
The Non-Story Of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal's Anniversary
[ Posted Thursday, September 20th, 2012 – 17:03 UTC ]
The most poignant comment of all is that it is simply a non-story. For all of the fulminating and dire predictions from conservatives and military folks, gay people are now openly serving -- and the U.S. military has not fallen apart as a result! Whoa -- who'd a-thunk it? Western Civilization still stands and America has not been conquered by her enemies. Brave men and women still selflessly serve, and the military is stronger than ever.
Happy 225th!
[ Posted Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 – 17:41 UTC ]
Yesterday was a momentous occasion, but I was steeped in crass horserace politics, and so failed to mention it. Two hundred and twenty-five years ago yesterday, the United States Constitution was adopted by the convention called to create it.
Friday Talking Points [226] -- Convention Talking Points
[ Posted Friday, September 14th, 2012 – 15:22 UTC ]
The second item of note is that today marks the fifth "birthday" of this column series. September 14, 2007 saw the very first Friday Talking Points column ever (although the name and the column format wouldn't solidify for a few months). Since then, almost every Friday, we've been attempting to provide Democratic talking points for politicians to use to get their point across in a snappy and memorable fashion. How much success we've had doing so is open to interpretation, but we're still here doing it, which tends to indicate that Democrats still have a ways to go to match the Republican ability to keep "on script" during interviews. To put this another way, it's the old Democratic "herding cats" problem.