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Submitted by christine on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 5:06pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman
Paul Krugman, bless his heart, calls them like he sees them. He gets it, and he invariably helps regular folks "get it." That's pretty good since most investors, spenders, earners, and borrowers are just plain scared of money and the topic of economics. Nobody likes to think about it, which is what gets so many people into a mess of trouble. It's easier to say, "Let somebody us deal with it." Trouble is, guys like Bernard Madoff are happy to oblige.
When the first round of bailouts and bankruptcies hit this fall -- before the world at large had come to recognize just how bad things were -- the tv networks all pulled Paul Krugman in as their economic mess pundit. The Princeton professor showed up obligingly to comment, but he looked rumpled as hell and more than a little stressed. He had long been a lonely economic Cassandra, forecasting doom and gloom before it arrived and before others believed in it. He had warned of bad Bush economic policy for years, pouring his knowledge and heart into reams of NYT columns, books, and commentaries. When it all came crashing down, Krugman knew what it meant.
Clearly, there was no joy in having been proven right. With the news anchors and audiences looking to him to explain why the sky had fallen, and to imagine for the more thick-headed what might come next, the wise man basically apologized for the way things were turning out.
A couple of months have passed since the first economic gloom arrived, and Krugman appears to be getting more sleep now. The new Nobel Prize winner in Economics spoke at a National Press Club luncheon on December 18, and he offered a forecast with both good and bad news. On the gloomy side, he anticipated unemployment rates in the 9 to 10 percent range by the end of this year. (The San Francisco Chronicle has the numbers confirming that here.)
The holidays bring on songs we only hear this time of year. Most are Christmas songs, though there seem to be more Hanukkah songs each year. But Winter Wonderland is one of those holiday songs that everyone, regardless of religion, can appreciate.
The above lyric is one that sticks out even in normal times. Sleigh bells ringing and snow glistening set a tone, but marriage suggestions and the idea of being married by a snowman divert the theme into a side road.
If the snowman really was Parson Brown, or a person named Parson Brown, would the parson ask a young couple where the genders were the same, "Are you married?"
In 1934, this probably wasn't a question of major concern. After all, in quite a bit of the country, people of different races couldn't get married, even if the genders were different.
Now 74 years later, we try to define what marriage is. The image of a young couple, sitting in a horse carriage, being swept up in the holiday spirit, perhaps hanging on extra tight to their special loved one, thinking about marriage is supposed to be one that society encourages.
Now that George W. Bush will be looking for work, perhaps Bush would be a good role model. He already cheers for Christ, and during his senior year, was the head cheerleader at Phillips Academy, an all-boys private high school in Andover, Massachusetts.
Apparently, there is a crying need to combine the best of cheerleading with the best of the evangelicals to form the übersport.
"We want to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all cheerleaders in the United States," says National Director Marilou Braswell, a former University of Georgia cheerleader and cheer coach. "Cheerleaders are leaders in our schools, and when they are on fire for Jesus, it can change an entire campus."
There are many ways the word of God or Jesus can be conveyed. And there isn't anything wrong with cheerleading. But cheerleaders usually lead people who are already rooting for the team, er, savior. Cheerleaders preach, or cheer, to the converted.
Submitted by christine on Mon, 12/22/2008 - 1:00pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman
Weigh in on accountability vs. moving on -- Will prosecution pay dividends, or simply distract from a positive agenda and desire for unity?
George Stephanopoulis asked VP-elect Joe Biden Sunday if Donald Rumsfeld and others should be prosecuted for their role in allowing torture, or "prisoner abuse," at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere. Earlier in the week, Senator Carl Levin and the Senate Armed Services Committee concluded that the decisions of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-level Bush administration officials led to that abuse. Biden said:
"President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We're focusing on the future."
Submitted by meg on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 2:30pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Meg White
The American Family Association (AFA) has a new job title as of today: Soup Nazi.
In this and next month's The Advocate (described by the AFA as "the nation's largest homosexual magazine," as if it is only attracted to similarly shiny-papered media and eschews romantic relationships with newsprint), Campbell Soup took out several full-page ads, one featuring a married lesbian couple and their young toddler.
The AFA blusters that Campbell is "helping homosexual activists push their agenda" and trying to convince others "that homosexual parents constitute a family and are worthy of support.
I guess Campbell Soup is working to condense the homosexual agenda so it will fit in their fabulously flamboyant cans?
Submitted by meg on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 4:20pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Meg White
The standoff at Republic Windows & Doors finally ended last week. The Chicago company that said it couldn't get the money from its bank to pay its fired workers had no more excuses, and members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) Local 1110 left the factory they'd been peacefully occupying since the beginning of the month.
The enormous pressure applied by leaders all over the country, along with support from President-elect Barack Obama, opened the floodgates. Bank of America finally agreed to pay out a $1.35 million settlement to laid-off workers. JP Morgan Chase, which owns a minority share in the now-defunct company, pitched in an extra $400,000. The money went straight into two funds: one to pay workers the severance and vacation pay owed to them by Republic, and the other to try and write a new chapter in the story of the decades-old factory.
Submitted by Chad on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 2:32pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Chad Rubel
Dear Gov. Blagojevich:
What a rough six days you've had, huh. Just think it was last Monday, only a week ago, when you told us that "whether you tape me privately or publicly, I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful."
Since then, there has been a large national discussion over whether that is true, something you might not have expected last Monday.
But this isn't just about the recent stuff: this is about everything, even some of the stuff we know is completely legal. Outside of your house, there are very few people in the State of Illinois, much less the country, who want you to be governor any more.
You have no political future, as governor or senator or ambassador or cabinet. None. But I realize that you don't realize that.
Your one last shot was to appoint yourself as the replacement for Barack Obama, not for money but purely to save your political career. Getting you out of Springfield would have made so many people happy. And that was the shot I really thought you would do. And you did mention it on the tape, according to the Justice Department, so I feel vindicated that you seriously considered it.
But it's too late. Your time is up. It's time to give Lt. Governor Pat Quinn the chance to do what he can for the residents of Illinois, to clean up the mess that you have made, most of which again stems from decisions that were completely legal.
You are in a tough position. Your career is over, but you are still the governor. And why would you give that up? You might think that maybe there is a way out to save your career; there isn't. You know deep down you have to resign, but you are not sure how to go about it.
It was easy for Eliot Spitzer in March. He saw the writing on the wall, and he took the honorable way out. He didn't try to stretch out his time. Spitzer gave us less than a week, and he was gone. You could learn something (well, a lot of things) from Spitzer.
If you need political inspiration, you might try to go with Richard Nixon. After all, you referred to Nixon and Watergate just seven days ago. As I've noted, apparently Nixon is a political idol in your mind. Boy, you can't write fiction as ironic as this connection.
But Nixon may be very useful right now. After all, people were crying for him to resign for some time. There had to have been the conversation where Nixon finally figured it out.
Well, LaHood is from Peoria, a Republican, and is expected to be named Secretary of Transportation. Like Norman Mineta, LaHood would be a crossover Transportation Secretary.
The pick might play in Peoria, but the problems are mostly in big cities, those neglected by transportation secretaries for decades.
LaHood does like Amtrak, as does our vice-president elect. And he seems warm to public transit. But does he have a grasp on the transportation issues affecting our large cities?
As much as Obama is pulling from Chicago to fill his cabinet (Arne Duncan? Really?), it would be nice to have an individual who understands the needs of big-city transit. I should be glad, at least, that Obama didn't pick a Chicago transportation person since our CTA is so poorly run.
Transportation secretaries have focused on two things: airports and highways. One likely non-coincidence is that Mineta now has the San Jose airport named after him, the honor given to him in November 2001 while serving as Secretary of Transportation.
Submitted by Chad on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 3:22pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Chad Rubel
There is a lot of news coming from Detroit these days, mostly about the auto bailout and the ramifications if the Big Three don't get some help. We have relied primarily on the Detroit Free Press, though the Detroit News is the other major daily paper in the Motor City.
But now, two newspapers that have taken on more problems than your typical daily newspaper are about to take on yet a big blow. As part of the Detroit newspapers plan to cut 9 percent of their workforce, Detroit area residents will no longer be able to get 7-day delivery service of the paper.
The Free Press will be delivered Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays starting in March, while The News will be delivered Thursdays and Fridays. The papers still will be printed and sold at newsstands.
Submitted by christine on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 2:22pm.Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman
UPDATE: The shoe-throwing story is far from over. Now the Iraqi parliament speaker says he's resigning after legislators argued about the case. 1500 demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in the Baghdad Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah to demand al-Zeidi's release. [chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld]
The shoe story won't go away. President Bush must take hold of this incident and redirect it -- or it could soon spin totally out of control.
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Now that George W. Bush will be looking for work, perhaps Bush would be a good role model. He already cheers for Christ, and during his senior year, was the 
In this and next month's 
