[todd] LA Times: Cancer Victim Apologizes to Obama

Am I the biggest fan of Health Care Reform? No... I think a number of additional steps, like the public option, could have been taken to make this a more comprehensive solution. And I'm worried that it doesn't yet do enough to curb the costs of medicine in this country while making sure access (and cost sharing of the system) are universal.

But within the framework of "getting something done" -- including the fact that the reforms themselves include a number of GOP proposals from a saner time ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 12/08/11 at 10:19 AM Comments (0)

[todd] Archie Manning Talks Ole Miss: Nutt to Freeze

The University of Mississippi has released this video of Archie Manning, Ole Miss alum and former football great, who co-chaired their search committee for a head coach to replace Houston Nutt.

Ole Miss is hiring Hugh Freeze, the first-year coach of Arkansas State.

A message from Archie Manning from Ole Miss Rebels on Vimeo.

[todd] Ben Stein Makes Sense: ‘Raise Taxes’

An exchange here on the site lead me to do something I don't any more often than I absolutely have to... I launched Newsmax.com, the swelteringly conservative website and magazine based in South Florida.

And it was there that I saw something I least expected: common sense.

It came in the form of a Ben Stein column (he'll always be the Ferris Bueller teacher to me) called "Raising Taxes is the Adult Thing to Do." Wow.

How does this lauded conservative describe the 30-year experiment in ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 10/25/11 at 01:30 PM Comments (0)

[todd] It’s the Trade Deficit, Stupid

Great story in the Nation by Thomas Geoghegan, called What Would Keynes Do? outlines a problem in the U.S. economy that not enough people -- either conservatives or liberals or moderates and flip-floppers -- are worrying about right now: the trade deficit.

If we consult his writing, the scripture left by Keynes himself, we might be surprised to find that it would be a lot more than “prime the pump”—i.e., just run up the federal debt. For Keynes, the problem would be not just getting people ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 10/13/11 at 10:00 AM Comments (0)

[todd] American Jobs Act: Why Obama is Right and Wicker Is Wrong

Make no mistake: The American Jobs Act introduced by President Obama last night in a fiery speech last night in Congress is one thing -- stimulus. It's exactly what we need and, finally, it's exactly what we're getting out of this president.

President Barack Obama's $447 billion job-creation plan would likely add 1.9 million payroll jobs and grow the U.S. economy 2 percent, a leading economist said.

The GOP's reaction? GOP Apparent Actual Majority Leader Eric Cantor didn't like the "tone" ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 09/09/11 at 11:30 AM Comments (6)

[todd] JFP Radio @ Noon: Gubernatorial Candidate Johnny DuPree and JFP Sports

Update: The podcast has been posted at JFPRadio.com; interview with DuPree is at the top of the hour.

We're on the air at noon (with the podcast available later today at http://www.jfpradio.com) interviewing Mayor Johnny DuPree, the Democratic candidate for governor. DuPree has made history as the first African American candidate for governor in the modern era, and were he to win, he'd be the first black statewide elected official since Reconstruction. We'll talk to him about his approach and ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 09/08/11 at 09:47 AM Comments (0)

[todd] ‘Trickle-Down’ Explained In About 1:30

Warning, NSFFNW. (Not Safe for Fox News Workplaces.)

Here's a fascinating explanation of Tea Party logic and its trickle-down effects on the economy:


 
by Todd Stauffer on 08/09/11 at 03:20 PM Comments (101)

[todd] WaPo: Who ‘Wins’ With The Debt Ceiling Deal?

Some say the debt deal announced this weekend helps Obama claim centrist cred and position him for re-election:

Obama, meanwhile, needs to appeal to independents and moderates who are interested in deficit reduction and compromise, and he is not opposed to tweaking entitlements even if it robs his party of an effective political tactic. “Despite what some in my own party have argued, I believe that we need to make some modest adjustments to programs like Medicare to ensure that they’re still ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 08/01/11 at 01:21 PM Comments (2)

[todd] The War on Math, Part 2: Is the GOP Out of Step with America?

In the continuing GOP/Tea Party "War On Math," the insistence on balancing the budget by cutting spending may be doing serious damage to the Republican Party's credibility -- so says Professor Lawrence Jacobs writing for CNN, who finds that polling is going against the GOP in a big way.

The GOP's insistence on reducing U.S. debt solely by making cuts to government programs is unpopular and increasingly so -- less than a fifth of Americans favor this approach as opposed to 56% who favor a ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 07/27/11 at 11:59 AM Comments (3)

[todd] HCR Insurance Mandate Upheld By Appeals Court

This is, of course, not the last legal challenge that Health Care Reform will face, but the law signed by President Obama in 2010 has had its insurance requirement upheld as constitutional by the Sixth U.S. Court of Appeals, according to the L.A. Times.

“We find that the minimum coverage provision is a valid exercise of legislative power by Congress under the Commerce Clause,” the judges said in rejecting a legal challenge to the law by the conservative Thomas More Law Center.

The logic? The ... read on »
 
by Todd Stauffer on 06/29/11 at 01:58 PM Comments (1)