Liberal Talk Radio

Episode 435 is up. Happy Independence Day!

Running about 24 hours behind schedule this week, due to travel.

Hi folks. Very sorry, but the show had to take a back seat this week to a nasty case of British Petroleum’s Revenge (aka Montezuma’s Revenge, aka … well you get the point). Apologies for the unplanned holiday. Hope you had a great Memorial Day, and talk to you next week.

I have to admit that I’m not quite sure if I should pat myself on the back or start chewing shoe now that the Louisiana oil spill shows just how dangerous off shore drilling can be. After all, I was pretty pragmatic back when Obama announced that he’d allow expanded drilling. “Will never see the [...]

When the airlines started aggressively charging for checked bags, I, like many travelers, did two things: packed more lightly and traveled with only a carry-on whenever possible. Turns out, the airlines are still making money even if I don’t check bags, since my luggage is now lighter, and they can sell the empty space in [...]

The Biden trip to Israel we mentioned on this week’s podcast wasn’t the only interesting Israel-related news this week. Gen. David Petraeus made a splash with the military brass and the White House by telling them that the Palestinian conflict was undermining the American mission in the Middle East.

A 50-year-old woman in Seattle will likely get life in prison for her third robbery, under the so-called “three strikes” law. The commenters on the P-I article are ecstatic (“She’s obviously a scumbag. Lock her up.”). Me? Not so much. “Three strikes” laws are turning our prison system into an overpriced geriatric ward. Taxpayers will [...]

Lately on the show, I’ve been talking a lot about my growing fear of right-wing extremism. We’ve received a few comments from listeners, mostly accusing me of being a bit hysterical about the whole thing. And while I generally understand that criticism, I do think that the country’s taking an ugly turn. Apparently, I’m not [...]

On this week’s podcast, we discussed the President’s gimmicky pledge to freeze “non-defense” spending in 2011. For your edification, here’s a chart showing defense spending over recent years: To put that in context, the total discretionary budget for every other department of government combined — that’s education, HHS, agriculture, commerce, the VA, everything — totals [...]

The podcast is going to be 24 hours behind schedule this week, folks. A painting project at my house got out of hand and suddenly the day was over. It was sort of like the Iraq war, really. I went in all optimistic, assuming that the walls would greet my wife and I as liberators. [...]