I don’t think think this comes as a huge surprise, and it’s certainly disheartening. From Wash Post: The government signaled yesterday that its financial rescue efforts may have reached their high-water mark, announcing that the much-anticipated “stress tests” of 19 large banks showed that only one, GMAC, was likely to need additional taxpayer aid and [...]

We all know that Americans have put on a little weight over the last few decades. The solution, we hear, is to exercise more and eat less. Well, a new study suggests that, really, eating less is the only viable option. It seems we’re not much less active now than we were in the 1970s. [...]

While attending the Offshore Technology Conference earlier this week (on sponsorship by the American Petroleum Institute), one truth became very apparent: opening up the outer continental shelf to oil and gas exploration would create a lot of jobs. Right now, our government is spending hundreds of billions in an effort to revitalize the economy, but [...]

This is actually good news since folks were expecting 620,000 jobs lost. Still, even if this begins to slow down even more, we’re likely to see double digit unemployment before this is all over. Because the unemployment rate is at 8.9% right now. Also, let’s not forget the the underemployment numbers… If laid-off workers who [...]

After the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency there was much ink spilt in the USA on domestic policy changes during this so called ‘honeymoon period’. In Britain, however, we are more concerned with Obama’s foreign policy, and have the advantage of distance (both geographical and theoretical) from which to give an assessment on that. [...]

Also, they don’t even hold an advantage among men any more. The numbers… I can’t remember when the split was this large, and Gallup’s numbers from the past 9 years bears that out… And here’s the graph for men… Remember, McCain lost by 9.5 million votes and Obama became the first Democratic nominee to garner [...]

Despite all the government assistance and talk of providing more, GM lost $6 billion last quarter with earnings dropping by 47%. GM executives say car buyers are turning away from GM out of concern the company will end up in bankruptcy and won’t honor its warranties. Could the prospect of bankruptcy help force bankruptcy? To [...]

Rush keeps slinging the silly… Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh Wednesday that if former Secretary of State Colin Powell is going to keep criticizing the GOP, he may as well leave the party and become a Democrat—adding that Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama was “purely and solely based on race.” “He’s just mad at me [...]

This came as a bit of a shock to me, but Arnold is definitely one of the most moderate Republicans I’ve ever seen and is willing to take chances giving his unique position as a Republican Governor of a solidly blue state. Also, let’s not forget that the state voted to okay medical marijuana back [...]

This comes as no surprise to those of us who’ve been following the floundering Steele, and it speaks to just how rudderless the GOP is right now. From Washington Times: Capitulating to critics on the Republican National Committee, embattled Republican Party Chairman Michael S. Steele has signed a secret pact agreeing to controls and restraints [...]

On a piece of legislation as big and historic as this, a spirit of bipartisanship would be welcome…but I think many worry it would be a Frankenstein of ideas that would be too clunky and too costly and ultimately wouldn’t solve the problem, Regardless, here’s the report from WSJ: Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican [...]

Hmmm, wonder why he’d be interested in doing that… From National Journal: Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who is writing a book on the direction of the country and has signed on to be one of the national spokesmen for the upstart National Council for a New America, which aims to revive the GOP, [...]

I usually wouldn’t embed a video of Rachel Maddow’s show, but the following is compelling enough to share. Long story short…abandon the culture wars, embrace real fiscal conservatism and stop being war mongers. Can Libertarianism save the Republican party or will it split it in two? Also, can election laws be reformed to allow a [...]

Thankfully, the trend continues… AUGUSTA, Maine — In a banner day in New England for advocates of gay marriage, Maine legalized the practice Wednesday, and the New Hampshire Legislature voted to do the same. Maine Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, signed LD 1020 shortly after the legislation passed the Senate with a 21-13 vote — [...]

First we heard about $100 million in cuts and now add another $17 billion to that total. The drops in the bucket are getting bigger. From Miami Herald: WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to unveil Thursday a fiscal 2010 budget full of details on his plans to save as much as $17 billion by [...]

President Obama’s plan to crack down on what he considers to be overseas tax shelters is already creating a lot of backlash from the business community. The main complain? Taxing overseas profits will directly harm American jobs. [Martin Regalia, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce] said the ability of companies under current tax [...]

The current Congress loves nothing more than marshalling the power of government to save failing businesses. As Justin previously wrote, the latest is an effort to rescue newspapers: “Despite the 24/7 availability of news from print, broadcast and digital sources, there remains one clear fact: When it comes to original in-depth reporting that records and [...]

On my final day at the Offshore Technology Conference, I attended a panel on climate change. Now, you might expect an oil and gas industry convention would prefer not to discuss the effects of CO2 emissions. But the panel included three scientists who all gave mini-lectures intended to convince the audience that global warming is [...]

Today at the Offshore Technology Conference (which I am at on sponsorship by the American Petroleum Institute), I attended a panel discussion titled: The Case for Access to Oil and Gas Resources on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. As the title and graphic to my post probably reveal, the panel was less reasonable than the [...]

Trivia question: Who were the last three Supreme Court justices to be appointed by Democratic presidents? The most recent are pretty straightforward — both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer still serve on the high court.  But prior to that, it had been over 40 years since Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall as the first [...]