Random Blogging
No More Susie Sunshine
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 26th, 2010
Anyone who has read my columns over the years knows I am a resolute optimist. My general theme is something along the lines of “Yes, this bad thing or that has happened, but overall, look at the progress America is making.” And it’s true—over the long haul, we have seen progress in the general culture, [...]
Continue reading...The Sad Demise of the GOP?
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 16th, 2010
I was an active, committed Republican for 35 years. I worked in a Republican city administration; I ran for Congress as a Republican, and I was “mainstream” enough to win a four-person primary. That was in 1980.
Over the years, the GOP drifed ever further from the principles that had attracted me. A principled concern with limiting the authority of [...]
Fact-Check the Talking Heads
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 4th, 2010
One of the most persistent complaints about broadcast journalism–a complaint that comes from both left and right–is the practice on shows like Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week, etc. of asking questions of their guests, allowing those guests to answer, and then moving on to the next question. The hosts rarely challenge even the most obvious [...]
Continue reading...Defining “Wasteful” Spending
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on December 30th, 2009
The charge that government wastes money (or “throws money at problems) is a favorite accusation of politicians of all persuasions. Certainly, lawmakers should refuse to fund activities that have been shown not to work. But as Steve Benen points out, the definition of waste generally owes more to ideology than evidence.
Continue reading...Intellectual Honesty and Facebook
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on December 19th, 2009
The pitfalls of our new social media environments are widely discussed, if not quite as widely understood. A recent personal experience brought that point home to me rather vividly.
A couple of days ago, I posted an angry comment to Facebook about Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson, and their apparent willingness to kill health insurance reform. In Lieberman’s [...]
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