News Blog
So now we wait to see how far President Obama will back down on contraceptive coverage. Many media sources are reporting that the administration will announce some kind of compromise later today. That's a terrible mistake. As I wrote earlier this week, by insisting that its women employees be denied
News Blog
The draw-down of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan seems to be popular with Americans, as well it should be. But apparently that doesn't mean we've learned anything from our involvement there. Nor, apparently, have we learned anything about politicians making up excuses for invading other countries. Many of us are
News Blog
Jiminy Christmas! For anyone hoping for an Obama victory in November, the Republican presidential competition is proving to be an awful lot of fun. Yesterday, everybody seemed to think that Mitt Romney had the nomination locked up. The most the three other candidates could accomplish, everybody thought, was to tarnish
News Blog
The New York Times seems to have a warm spot in its heart for Rochester. In their coverage of the Kodak bankruptcy, Times writers have been careful to note that we've replaced many of the jobs that we've lost with the decline of Kodak. And Friday's Times carried an op-ed
News Blog
The enormous support shown for Planned Parenthood this past week has been a big, beautiful bright spot in what has been a troubling period of assault on women's rights and women's health. First there's been the conflict between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church over health-care coverage. The administration
News Blog
For the country, and for President Obama, this morning's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was really good news. The economy added substantially more jobs in January than had been expected, and the unemployment rate has dropped yet again. Predictably, Republicans tried to turn the report into bad news,
News Blog
How much do we need to know about political candidates' personal lives and beliefs? Does it matter whether candidates subscribe to a particular religious faith? And if a candidate is active in a particular religious organization - and is a substantial donor - how much do we need to know
News Blog
Despite the suspense and theatrics since Newt Gingrich won South Carolina, today's Florida primary probably won't tell us much. A week from now, it's likely that four candidates will still be competing for the Republican presidential nomination. Mitt Romney is heavily favored to win, but Gingrich says he'll keep fighting
News Blog
What a ride.... Two days ago, Newt Gingrich had an impressive lead in polls in Florida. This morning, according to Real Clear Politics, Romney's ahead in Florida. And he's eating away at Gingrich's brief lead in national polls. And Romney's lead may get stronger: conservative commentators are going after Gingrich with
News Blog
President Obama's State of the Union speech last night certainly could have been worse. And it could have been better. Maybe it was the best he could do, given his Republican opponents. Maybe making it better wouldn't have done much except make Republicans even madder than they are. Parts of it
News Blog
If last night was any indication, Bill Moyers' new program - being shown on WXXI on Sundays at 6 p.m. - will be a must-watch for anybody interested in US politics, including both liberals and conservatives. Moyers began the second show of his "Moyers & Company" with a scathing attack
News Blog
Oh, for heaven's sake. If only we could have an election campaign in which the candidates stuck to the facts. But here was Mitt Romney in last night's televised debate, insisting that Barack Obama is attacking him for being successful. No, he isn't. Nobody's attacking Romney for being successful. But it's perfectly
News Blog
Every time you think the Republicans' candidate search is about to settle down and become dull, something else happens. This morning, the news just won't stop breaking: Santorum seems to have won the Iowa caucuses, by 34 votes - although the Des Moines Register says we'll never know for sure. Officials
News Blog
Well worth reading: "Occupy America," a "proposal for the future of the Occupy movement," from our sister alternative media company, the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The lengthy article has thought-provoking ideas for Occupy's next steps, as well as a good bit of history of activist movements from the past. Not every
News Blog
Governor Andrew Cuomo will present his 2012-13 budget proposal at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Cuomo and Legislature leaders have already come to agreement on education and Medicaid funding levels, two items that often cause fights among legislators. But just because the leaders agree doesn't mean the rank and file will
News Blog
If you're interested in economic development, taxes, jobs, and the future of Upstate New York, a story in today's Buffalo News is mandatory reading. As we all know, Governor Cuomo wants to give Buffalo $1 billion to attract new business and grow jobs in the region. The idea is to
News Blog
As entertaining as the Republican Party's presidential search is, some deadly serious issues are bubbling in there. One is the growing influence of big money - not just money, but big, big money - in political campaigns. The other is the near-evaporation of civility and honesty. Say anything often enough,
News Blog
Mitt Romney's win in New Hampshire yesterday was no surprise. And I'm not sure that any of the other candidates' totals were a surprise, either. New Hampshire, like Iowa, is a very different state, and the results pretty much reflected its Republican population. We're learning a bit from
News Blog
It's hard to believe, but Mitt Romney really did say "I like being able to fire people." (You can watch him, in full context, here.) It hasn't taken long for Romney's opponents to shout about the statement, and the Obama campaign will certainly quote it if Romney's the Republican nominee. The
News Blog
The good news-media news over the weekend was that Bill Moyers is returning to public television. According to the New York Times, a new Moyers program - "Moyers & Company" - will debut later this month. It'll be similar to his previous "Bill Moyers Journal," featuring thoughtful and thought-provoking interviews with
