From Daniel Kurtzman, About.com MUDGE’s Musings Frank Rich of the NYTimes eviscerated John McCain over both his supposed area of expertise, military affairs, as well as Sen. McCain’s admitted area of weakness, matters economic. It wasn’t pretty. It’s the Economic Stupidity, Stupid Op-Ed Columnist | By FRANK RICH | Published: July 20, 2008 THE best thing to happen to John McCain was for the three network anchors to leave him in the dust this week while they chase Barack Obama on his... Read Full Story

© Simone Van Den Berg | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’s Musings Summertime. People are vacationing. The weather, here in the Northern Hemisphere, at least (reportedly quite chilly in Oz, sorry guys!) is excessively hot and humid. The beach beckons. News is sparse, but the need to sell the advertisers’ wares means that the 24-hour news cycle keeps on spinning. Thus a story in the New England Journal of Medicine received undue prominence this week: a report on a clinical study of a comparison of... Read Full Story

© Robert Paul Van Beets | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings If biofuels make any sense at all, and the jury is still out on that one outside the White House, and the state of Iowa, ethanol made from sugar cane rather than from corn has already been shown to be far the better choice. First, a review. We have discussed this topic many times: Fuel from Food: Just a bad idea all around mm429: World Bank: biofuels cause starvation mm367: It’s not just a bad idea, it’s a crime mm360... Read Full Story

© Suhendri Utet | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings Can anyone still doubt our national (perhaps global?) economic distress? Runs on the banks. A tank of gas edging toward Benjamin territory. Someone you know (or mayhaps many someones you know) out of work and/or looking. Or giving up looking. Starbucks (Starbucks!) closing 600 stores. Let’s have a show of hands: How many of you (U.S.) readers believe that this Spring’s tax refund “stimulus” could have been an order of magnitude larger... Read Full Story

MUDGE’S Musings It’s baaaaaack! Mid-summer lethargy. Another in a string of Midwestern 90/90 days. So begging your indulgence yet again, we bring back another gem from the dim, cool and crisp past, last October. Blast from the Past! A post we really, really loved to write, and read, and re-read… From last fall, and always in season, originally posted October 8, 2007, and originally titled “mm164: A Nation of Christians is Not a Christian Nation,” MUDGE’S Musings The creation of the... Read Full Story

MUDGE’S Musings So it’s already almost 9:30pmCDT as I begin these words, pretty late to start a week-night project. It’s only a little crazy that, for WordPress.com, it’s already Thursday, as they operate on GMT and the calendar flips over for them at 7:00pmCDT. But, while not Thursday yet in my world, it’s pretty late. Got some interesting political/current events stuff that, if I had some drive, I might be able to write about. But, after a day of writing (a thrilling technical manual... Read Full Story

© Joshua Wanyama | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings A bit lost in the top of the week media frenzy: the failure and resulting run on IndyMac Bank; serious troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; extreme umbrage over the satirical The New Yorker cover; a certain presidential candidate delivered a compelling essay on national topic 1a, Iraq. This pointless and criminally mismanaged war in Iraq was, for several agonizing years, national topic 1, until the not quite official recession took over... Read Full Story

© Mark Rasmussen | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings Today’s a day when I very well might wish I were a user of “recreational chemicals.” Monday. Reported to the office at 6:45am. At the end of the day, saw a new doctor for yet another new indication. Came home to old and new family and economic stresses. Ugh. Might be fun to escape, for even a little while. But. I’ve always tried to be a law abiding citizen. Regardless of the usefulness or the sensibleness of the law. When the kids of my... Read Full Story

© Enruta | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings Those looking for the smoking guns on torture and the mishandled war on terrorism within the Bush administration seem to have found them. Frank Rich has a must read column in today’s NYTimes, reviewing “The Dark Side” by Jane Mayer, to be published July 15. Seems like the book is going to be a must read, also. The Real-Life ‘24’ of Summer 2008 Op-Ed Columnist | By FRANK RICH | Published: July 13, 2008 WE know what a criminal White House... Read Full Story

© Kathy Wynn | Dreamstime.com MUDGE’S Musings Among the most popular posts here in this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere© are the occasions when we call attention to Patrick Smith, the airline pilot who writes the Ask the Pilot column for Salon.com. In fact, one such column was especially popular with Salon’s lawyers, as this then newbie was called to account for exceeding the amount of quoted text allowed by their copyright. Oh, well, live and learn. But that hasn’t stopped me from reading and... Read Full Story