Three months ago, I received a survey from the Heritage Foundation. They wanted input on how I (or rather, “Ms. Allyn Gibson,” as that was how the survey was addressed) felt about taxes. Specifically, they wanted to know how I felt about the sunseting of the Bush tax cuts over the next two years. IContinue reading “On Political Surveys”
Category Archives: Politics
On Last Night’s Elections
Yesterday was, in some parts of the country, Election Day. I’ve sat down to read about elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Maine. I’ve not even had my coffee yet. It’s still brewing. The Democrats were crushed at all levels of state government in the Old Dominion. The Republican candidate for governor pulledContinue reading “On Last Night’s Elections”
On the Fissures in the Republican Party
If you’re any sort of political junkie, today has been endlessly fascinating. In upstate New York, a bizarre 3-way special election campaign to fill a House of Representatives seat has been waged. The Democratic Party put up Bill Owens, the Republican Party put up Dede Scozzafava. One of New York’s minor parties, the Conservative Party,Continue reading “On the Fissures in the Republican Party”
On Reading Republicans
Recently, for Sooper-Sekrit reasons, I have been following the post-Senate career of Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania (though he didn’t really live there). This has meant, for instance, reading Santorum’s newspaper column for the Philly Inquirer. I feel a thousand brain cells cry out in terror, and then suddenly silenced, every time IContinue reading “On Reading Republicans”
On the Fall of John Edwards
John Edwards. As long-time Allynologists know, in the Democratic primaries of 2008, John Edwards was my candidate. I donated money to his campaign. I blogged about Edwards, his positions, and his media coverage, like how Edwards most resembled the Viking berserker, or how Edwards was the heir to Teddy Roosevelt’s mantle of progressivism. And IContinue reading “On the Fall of John Edwards”
On Rick Santorum’s Second Act
We can only be so lucky — Rick Santorum is thinking about running for President in 2012. Rick Santorum! I’m beside myself with glee. :party: My encounters with Santorum are few. For instance, Santorum compared the war in Iraq to Aragorn’s assult on the Black Gate of Mordor, which prompted me to point out whatContinue reading “On Rick Santorum’s Second Act”
On Letters to Congress
Wednesday night, like millions of Americans, I watched President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on the need for health reform. And, like millions of Americans, I heard a Congressman shout out from the floor “You lie!” when the President insisted that his plan did not cover illegal aliens. It turned out, theContinue reading “On Letters to Congress”
On Health Care Reform and the Debate
Can we invoke Godwin’s Law on the protestors railing against health care reform? We have cases such as these: A woman in Massachusetts compares reform to Nazism and holds up a sign of President Obama with a Hitler-esque mustache, prompting Representative Barney Frank to ask her what world she lives in and compare speaking withContinue reading “On Health Care Reform and the Debate”
On Carl Sagan and Policy Debates
Eric Michael Johnson of The Primate Diaries posted a few days ago an article on Carl Sagan’s theory of Nuclear Winter and the political reaction to it in the early 1980s. Okay, okay, yes, I will admit that Sagan was not the only person involved in the Nuclear Winter theory, that being the idea thatContinue reading “On Carl Sagan and Policy Debates”
On a Taxation Survey
I received something absolutely fascinating in the mail today. A survey from the Heritage Foundation. The right-wing think tank. They want to know what I think about taxation. Let’s take a look. Current plans by President Barack Obama and the liberals in Congress to erase the historic tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 could forceContinue reading “On a Taxation Survey”