2010: Our Year, By The Numbers

As we mentioned yesterday, we've decided to take a holiday break from publication during the next two weeks - so we apologize in advance to you, our readers, who won't have a wealth of links or our commentary to go along with your daily Paul Fell cartoon. We WILL have a few truncated editions we'll send out over the next two weeks just to let you know new cartoons by Paul have been published - including new Cap News, OK Gazette, HuskerNutz, Paul's Prediction cartoons, and of course, a Christmas edition. They won't be our full regular editions though, as we'll also be on vacation.

This will only be the third major break in our publication schedule over the last two years, so before we do anything else, we want to thank you, our readers, for being so loyal.

2010 has been an amazing year for us, so we thought today we'd give you a whirlwind review of the past 365 days, from the point of view of our staff. Of course, as always, we'll keep to the facts - so here, in a nutshell, is our year, by the numbers.

For starters, we were anything but housebound this year. Collectively, over the past year, the four of us have traveled approximately 30,320 miles, give or take a few trips to the grocery store. That included two trips to Italy, several trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and multiple trips between Nebraska and Washington, DC. Technically, we could have gone around the Earth just once - but Italy was a lot more fun.

We added two new staff members this year, Amy and Deb, and we thoroughly appreciate everything they've brought to The Daily Felltoon. We also remodeled PaulFellCartoons.com once this year, and The Daily Felltoon twice this year, and have received rave reviews on our current format.

Between the four of us, we had one baby (That was Amy and her husband Eric), moved at least twice, and worked with an astounding number of clients.

We've read approximately 16,000 news, commentary, and opinion stories - not including the ones we've written and edited - and published over 250 editions of The Daily Felltoon.

And if you're wondering how many cartoons Paul has drawn and had published over this past year? Try somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 cartoons - more than one a day, every day of the year.

For the thousands of people we've touched, from California to Maine, Florida to Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Brazil, and all over Europe, we say thank you for reading and sharing what we do with your friends and colleagues.

At the end of the day, what we do may not seem like much to some folks. Paul draws great cartoons and edits. Deb, and Shawn, and Amy all write and edit, pull web links, and publish items online. We're well aware that many Americans don't appreciate high-quality journalism or media of any kind as they once did.

However, we know that we make a difference in your lives, we give you things to laugh at, to think about, and to talk about. To us, that's better than any single number, fact, or statistic we've shared with you this whole year.

Enjoy your holidays!
We'll be back to regular publication on January 3, 2011.

One Final Look At The Reasons - And Responsibilities - Of The Season

We're more than willing to admit - we've been fairly direct this week, being hard on both Democratic and Republican politicians of virtually every stripe. Rest assured, we know this is supposed to be the season of peace - and we haven't forgotten that the holiday is fast approaching. We're taking some time off ourselves, and we'll fill you in on our holiday publication schedule tomorrow.

We understand the desire of our readers on Capitol Hill, staffers and Senators alike, to get home and be with their families, and away from work for at least a few days. We've got that same itch, and - for at least one of us - the next few weeks will be anything but a time to kick back, eat Christmas cookies, play with the kids, and watch college bowl games in our PJs.

In fact, for millions of Americans around the world, the next few weeks will be anything but a holiday.

For those public workers who keep our communities and our government running, the next two weeks will be just like any other - except for the two days where the banks will be closed. For our police, fire, and medical personnel, there is no such thing as a holiday too sacred to not work - regardless of personal beliefs. For many of the men and women of our Armed Services, Christmas dinner this year will be their favorite MRE they've been setting aside for that day.

In light of the work schedules of all these dedicated public servants, the incredibly offensive arrogance and pure unadulterated selfishness of Senators Jim DeMint and John Kyl on Wednesday simply floored us. Those two Senators went before cameras and microphones on Wednesday, to whine about the very real possibility announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday.

Reid stated flatly earlier this week that the U.S. Senate might have to convene on Christmas Eve day, or during the week between Christmas and New Years, if the Senate didn't get their work done before the break. We roundly applaud Sen. Reid's leadership on this manner, and we're certain that many Americans of all political persuasions agree with us.

We'll be blunt to those on Capitol Hill who side with the whining from Senators Kyl and DeMint:  Senators, you work for US, the American people. You work when we want, how we want, and you continue to serve at the pleasure of the people. For this, you are compensated quite generously. If your service doesn't please us, we'll be more than happy to remove you, as we did to more than a few of your fellow officeholders this year. If you decide that you can't handle the job, feel free to quit. As the citizens of places like Alaska and Massachusetts will tell you, high quality replacements for elected officials who resign or are suddenly unable to serve for other reasons can be found quite quickly.

There are many different, wonderful holidays celebrated at this time of year by Americans, each with their own special reasons for celebration.

The single most important reason we support Senator Reid's approach to the job of governing over the holiday season is simple...

Governing responsibly, to the best of our abilities, is the responsibility of every American, every day. For those elected officials who have the honor of getting paid to govern directly, staying in Washington until the job is accomplished is not that much for us to ask of them.

Holiday Returns Beginning Early This Year...

For all the grumbling and grousing coming from Americans across the country, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that everyone had torn into their holiday gifts early - and ended up with the worst presents ever. Unfortunately for the nation, the dissatisfaction has nothing to do with Americans' choice of last-minute gas station stocking-stuffers.

The complaining is actually coming from American voters who seem to have finally opened up their Election Day results - and realized exactly what was in the political packages they were sold this year.

The voters in Michigan and Ohio voted for new Republican governors in November - governors who have already flushed away millions of Federal dollars and thousands of new jobs building high speed rail lines. Californians brought back Jerry Brown as their governor this fall - who admitted on Tuesday, even before he heads back to Sacramento, that his state's budget mess is "much worse" then he'd thought or admitted to in the governor's race. New Jersey residents don't even want to talk about the money new Gov. Chris Christie cost them when he stopped work this year on a Federal tunnel project that was thirty years in the making.

In Arizona, they strongly voted to retain their current Governor Jan Brewer, who campaigned on a platform that included arguments against President Obama's Stimulus package. Yet when confronted recently by media organizations wondering why Arizona is pulling funds from its state aid to the poor, Gov. Brewer told the media Arizonans should be asking President Obama for more stimulus funds.

In Omaha, Nebraska, after being elected in 2009, Democratic Mayor Jim Suttle made deep cuts in the city budget this year - but that wasn't enough to get the city's finances in order. The mayor added several kinds of taxes in 2010 to try to balance his city's budget - and is now facing a highly questionable recall election early next year for attempting to be a fiscally responsible elected official.

The desire to exchange recently-elected office-holders isn't only hitting Americans on state and local levels.

In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, Americans are significantly less than thrilled with the new batch of Congresspersons they elected in November. After the landslide changes in Congress in both 1994 and 2006, voters expressed great confidence in the incoming freshman crop of politicians.

This year, nearly two-thirds of voters think the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives is either a "bad thing" or believe it won't make any difference over the next two years. Most simply say Republicans aren't doing enough to compromise with President Obama - a word incoming speaker John Boehner seems to reject even before he opens the door.

We can't say we didn't warn these citizens about what they might find when the TV commercial breaks stopped being filled with political ads and they finally took down their forest of yard signs.

Let this be a lesson to you, as you shop for last minute gifts this holiday season.

Be sure of the return policy on everything you purchase. Sometimes, you just can't take these things back for a refund.

It's So Embarrassing Sometimes...

Today, we've got to call a huge foul on our chosen profession, that of media and communication. There are certain times of the year when the conduct of some of our professional colleagues is almost enough to make us cry. Not like the fake blubbering of Rep. John Boehner - although we think his attempt to earn an Emmy for weeping on 60 Minutes Sunday was far more disgusting than moving.

No, the reason we're so embarrassed today is that we know what goes on behind the scenes in the media and political world at this time of year - which may be a lot like where you work.

In our corner of the work world, large numbers of people are already on vacation until January - and have been for at least a week. From sales to programming, and production to management, if a media or political organization didn't already look like an employment graveyard, they certainly do this week.

Unfortunately, that includes the cubicles of those who actually create news content. Let's just say that at this time of year, the reporting and delivering of news and information often gets a bit sloppy (and we're being extremely kind by phrasing it that way).

Thankfully, at The Daily Felltoon, anything worth doing is still worth doing well - even if it only takes twenty seconds and we are able to do it (figuratively speaking) with a bag on our heads.

In case you missed it on Monday, a Federal judge in Virginia decided that one provision of the Health Care Insurance Reform law was unconstitutional. As soon as his ruling hit the wires, it seemed like nearly every news, infotainment, and other media source was jumping up and down, chanting that the health care reform law may be dead. Which, of course, we knew full well was complete bunk.

It took us less than half a minute to bring up the December 1st edition of The Daily Felltoon, where we linked to a story from the Washington, DC daily, The Hill. That story, and several others that were just a Google search away, proved that our fellows in the media were either completely incompetent - or they've allowed the interns to take over operations a bit early this year.

In fact, there have already been lawsuits in both Michigan and California, as well as an earlier lawsuit in Virginia where Federal judges have ruled IN FAVOR of the reform law. Two of those decisions even disagreed with the exact same provision Monday's ruling tackled.

In light of that kind of massive failure by multiple "news" sources, we'd hate to think if any REAL news stories came along during the holidays, what those interns left behind might do.

So here's our holiday employment hint to the intern brigades: If someone tells you there's a rumor on Twitter that Santa is dead, you might want to do a little fact-checking first before you click "Publish" - just in case you'd like to get that part-time PAID position in the newsroom next year.

All Wound Up - And No One To Blame But Themselves

Today may mark the beginning of a new week for most people, but the primary action most of the news and infotainment outlets will be reveling in is the same childish toy they've been playing with for several weeks - winding up Democrats against the Obama/McConnell extension plan for the Bush Tax Cuts.

We agree with many of our colleagues in the media that the tax cut debate - and the cost of any proposed tax cut - is critically important. However, we also believe that - as usual these days - much of the unnecessary media noise is pulling the focus away from several real issues.

One of those issues was displayed vigorously by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders to his colleagues on both sides of the aisle last week.

Senator Sanders gave an eight-and-a-half hour long speech on Friday, with an enormous amount of proven economic data. While it wasn't technically a filibuster, it is exactly what a real filibuster should look like. This is a key problem with the current U.S. Senate - that Senate filibusters look nothing like what Sen. Sanders did on Friday.

Currently, for a Senator to hold up any - or ALL - legislation in the U.S. Senate, they effectively only need to THREATEN a filibuster, which charges no real cost to any Senator to hold up the business of the entire country. The increasing abuse of the filibuster over the last decade - especially by Republicans - has turned the act of using a Senate rule designed for defense into an aggressive, cowardly, craven, act of bullying.

Bullies seem to have multiplied in certain corners of DC, and throughout Wall Street over the last few years. Unfortunately, so have those people who seem too willing to play the victim.

As anyone who has dealt with a bully knows, the first step to defeating them is to stand up to them. Yet, that isn't what our politicians have done as of late.

True fiscal conservatives have been as weak, wishy-washy, and mealy-mouthed over the last decade as the Congressional Democratic majority has been over the last two years. Both the Democratic majority, and the Republican minority knew that the political trap of the end of the Bush Tax Cuts was coming. All the same, both parties kept trying to put off until the third Tuesday after never an event that was - and still is - firmly scheduled for 12AM on January 01, 2011.

What Senator Sanders did on Friday was laudable for a host of reasons, not the least of which was the breadth, depth, and accuracy of his speech. However wonderful his speech was, the fact remains that equally serious and intense public debates over proper rates of taxation, as well as America's fiscal responsibilities, should have been happening throughout the last decade.

Instead, partisan bullies in Washington simply set up a faceoff of Republicans against Democrats, like a child playing war games with his new Christmas toys. Unfortunately, we have no doubt our colleagues in the media will follow a similar script this week, as they continue to wind up the Democrats against President Obama. Meanwhile, the real fiscal conservatives will likely cower in the corner offstage, as they have for most of the last decade.

Don't be surprised when we call the lot of them a bunch of spoiled, cowardly children who long ago should have put away their political toys and handled the people's business like real adults.

Friday Funday: Keeping Focused On What's Important

No, it's not just you.

We said that to each other more than once yesterday, as we bumbled about, appearing unfocused, trying to get things done, but having our individual attentions in different places from each other.

Our apparent lack of focus has nothing to do with getting ready to travel again or with recovering from a nasty flu bug. It's got nothing to do with age or with missing some valuable sleep, either.

We notice it every year about this time, an apparent inability to focus that appears during the holiday season and happens to nearly everyone. In truth, what we're witnessing is the opposite of being unfocused - it's an intense zeroing in by nearly every individual to cross off the items on our personal to-do lists.

It has nothing to do with which holiday a person celebrates, either.

The Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha is done, and the last night of Hanukkah was Thursday. However, those who celebrate Eid or Hanukkah are no less focused than those of us ramping up for Christmas, or Solstice, or just an extra day of leisure.

The New Year is on its way - as everyone is well aware.

Nothing seems to focus the attention of human beings like a deadline. Some deadlines are like clockwork, or the changing of the calendar. Some pop up in a flash, like the deadline to leave a burning building. There's no bigger collective deadline for all of us, though, than the desire to get the greatest amount of tasks completed before we have to re-educate our brains about which numbers to put into the empty "year" space on forms.

For us, one of the most important things on our annual to-do list has little to do with politics, or cartoons, websites or corrections.

It has to do with thanking you for being our readers.

We hope this weekend you follow our lead and just take a moment to thank someone you know for what they bring to your life. Give a bigger tip. Donate something to someone in need, whether it's time, money, or just lending an ear to a friend.

Take a moment to remember what's truly important to each of us.
Then, thank those important people.

That's something we hope is on everyone's holiday to-do list.

Thank you, for reading the Daily Felltoon.
Happy holidays.

Get Your War On - Political, Online, Or Otherwise

Aside from the annual fake "War On Christmas" that crazy right-wing pundits dredge up every year around this time, there are several other wars going full-bore this holiday season that have nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan, or Korea.

The one getting the most attention in the media currently, is the all-out political warfare going on in Washington.

For those people who haven't yet looked at the proposed agreement on extending the Bush Tax Cuts that President Obama, Sen. McConnell, and the Republican Congressional leadership have made, we highly recommend taking a look at the overview that was published in the Washington Post this week.

To say Democrats and Republicans are divided on this "deal" against each other, would be almost criminally negligent of the facts. Many Democrats hate "the deal" so much, they're willing to fillibuster it - alongside of Republicans - in the Senate. Likewise, many Republicans see this as fiscal hypocrisy on steroids for their party, and bad governance for their country. Members of both parties have also voiced their support for the deal.

While momentum to pass this deal does seem to be building, for both honest and purely partisan reasons, we're nowhere near claiming this battle is headed toward an armistice. In fact, this kind of conflict may ultimately prove to be obsolete.

A newer war, and one that's far more insidious in some ways, is the cyber-war that ramped up Wednesday between the forces attacking Wikileaks and those supporting Wikileaks.

A known group of hackers who call themselves Operation Payback disabled both the main websites of Mastercard and Visa on Wednesday, as well as some interaction with the credit card processors. Other targets of Operation Payback included Paypal, Twitter, Facebook, and even Sarah Palin's PAC website. To say that technology has evened the playing field between multinational corporations and governments, and small groups of individuals is an understatement.

Operation Payback made it clear Wednesday that they don't support Wikileaks unilaterally, so much as they oppose the heavy-handed tactics of governments around the world. To shut down Wikileaks and silence those like Mr. Assange, without using fully legal and proper methods, not only voids free speech rights around the world, but gives even greater power to governments of all kinds to operate outside the law.

If there's one thing we can agree with the Operation Payback folks on, it's that the people in our governments around the world don't need any more power than they currently hold.

From the political anarchy going on in DC, it's quite obvious that many members of those governing bodies don't know how to effectively use the power they already possess.

Things More Important Than Politics

It would have been easy for us today to write about the tax cut and unemployment insurance deal. Lord knows, a million other publications online and offline will still be talking about that subject today and probably through the end of this week. We even had planned to write one more commentary on it ourselves for this edition.

Sometimes, however, there are things more important than politics.
So today, we just want take a moment and acknowledge the holidays - and death.

For some of the readers of this publication, the death of Elizabeth Edwards on Tuesday from metastasized breast cancer, came as somewhat of a shock. It wasn't as though the world hadn't known she had a terminal prognosis. She announced that she had cancer the day after the 2004 Elections, and dealt with its effects for much of the next six years.

What stuck with us today, and changed the tenor of our words to you, is that the family of Elizabeth Edwards are not the only people who are having a difficult time dealing the loss of a loved one this holiday.

The passing of grandparents and spouses, children and friends... from age, from disease, from accidents - and from war, continues to affect us. We've discovered that more than a few of the people we care about in our personal and professional circles seem to be having a tough time handling the death of a loved one at this time of year.

Dealing with the death of people we care about isn't ever an easy thing - especially during the holidays, when everyone is trying to be happy and peaceful. "Merry Christmas," or "Happy Hanukkah," we shout to one another, even if we don't feel much of the spirit in us, as if faking it will somehow spark us to believe again.

The magical trick is, that if we let it, that positivity, that hope that we feign for others, really can help us deal with our losses. Whether we celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Eid or Solstice, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or any other holiday, now more than ever we need to remember each other, and what this season is really about. It is a season of hope - something we think so many of those gone from us would tell us to focus upon, if they could.

Our hearts go out to the Edwards family, as they do to all of our readers who are dealing with the loss of of a friend or family member during this season. We think Ms. Edward's final message to the world is one well worth reading - and remembering - for all of us:

"You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces -- my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know."

Please join us in a heartfelt farewell and blessing to a truly great lady.

More Games In Washington: But Is It "Let's Make A Deal"? Or Chess?

As we began gathering items for today's edition yesterday, there was a flurry of activity in Washington, as news leaked out. A short time later, those leaks were confirmed when President Obama announced that a deal between the White House and Congressional Republicans on extending the Bush Tax Cuts is nearly complete.

You can probably assume - and rightly so - based on Monday's commentary, that we're not entirely pleased with the results of those negotiations. It continues to seem like our politicians are playing political games with the futures of Americans while we can't afford to do anything but watch.

For what it's worth, the President outlined the deal Monday evening, and there are at least a few valuable things most pundits didn't see coming.

Yes, the Bush tax cuts, for ALL income levels, would be continued for another two years. As some GOP leaders telegraphed over the weekend, Republicans also finally caved on extending unemployment benefits for all jobless Americans, for an additional 13 months. Something almost no one saw as being added to this compromise is the inclusion of a two percent, one year payroll tax reduction, nearly identical to one that President Obama got passed in his 2009 stimulus bill.

Some other sops to both Republicans and Democrats have also been added to this tentative deal, including business investment deductions, as well as college, child, and income-dependent tax credits.

Persons from nearly every political faction can find consolation that their rivals are also unhappy. Liberals thought the President should fight Republicans harder. Progressives and old-fashioned fiscal conservatives bemoaned that this deal, like the Bush Tax Cuts before it, remain unpaid for. Far-right wing conservatives weren't happy because it looks like the unemployed will get some assistance after all. Even President Obama displayed a clear dislike for this compromise.

There appears to be at least a small glimmer of hope still alive, however, as President Obama in his announcement made it clear that these new tax cuts WILL expire in two years as part of major deficit reductions.

In two years - just in time for fiscal hypocrites in Washington to have to defend unaffordable tax cuts for the rich, in a Presidential election year, with an incumbent President.

There are those who've already said this may be President Obama's first move in the 2012 political election cycle. That could be, and if it is, we think it's the kind of wise move from him we've seen too little of these last two years.

For too many Americans, however, this economic gamesmanship is still a game that only the rich and corporate America can afford to play in the long term.

Cowards, Liars And Hypocrites: Kind Words For So-Called Leaders

After a weekend filled with chaperoning high-school kids and flipping burgers at a camp out to help the poor, as we come back to work this week, the actions of political leaders in Washington, DC are more of a cold slap in face to us than the current weather.

To say Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell are acting like anything other than hypocritical, whiney, spoiled babies is being needlessly kind to them.

To say President Obama and his administration have been incompetent in using their political playbook with Congressional Republicans is to say Husker Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson is the Einstein of college football.

In short, the idiots and cowards are running the asylum in DC right now, especially on the topic of the expiring Bush Tax Cuts.

In case you weren't doing so over the weekend, we've kept up with the news, and are well aware of the now-admitted fact that twisted members of the Bush Administration set a political trap for the current occupant of the White House, by setting their tax cuts to disappear at the end of 2010. You may also have missed the votes in the Senate this weekend where Republican Senators voted firmly AGAINST tax cuts for all Americans - only because those cuts wouldn't have given wealthy Americans an even bigger tax break (which, as we've pointed our previously, they don't need).

What growing numbers of Americans haven't missed is the continual dueling claims by so-called political leaders on both sides.

On the Right, Republican leaders constantly claim they're more fiscally responsible. However, the most fiscally responsible thing to do regarding taxes would be to simply let the Bush Tax Cuts expire. America simply can't afford to lose $4 Trillion in revenue over the next decade. The second most fiscally responsible thing would be to agree to let the tax cuts for the rich expire - as $60 billion dollars could fill many of the other needs Republican leaders facetiously claim to care about. Still, McConnell and other Republicans continue to hold the entire government hostage with their hypocrisy, on everything from national and international security interests to help for the poor during the holidays. Until they get their pacifier of tax cuts for the rich, their fake wailing about fiscal conservatism is sadly sure to continue.

Likewise, President Obama has claimed for most of the last three years - even on the campaign trail - that we can not, in any way, allow the fiscally unsound tax cuts for the top 2% to continue. But now all signs point to him now agreeing to some sort of arrangement with Congressional Republicans where the rich will keep their unnecessary cushion, even temporarily. Regardless of what the White House is leaking, if past history is any measuring stick, the deal will likely come with NO hard guarantee by Republicans that unemployment benefit extensions (a provably better way to stimulate the economy) or even the Federal budget for next year will be passed.

We know what we're wishing for this holiday season, and we're also aware that we're not likely to get much - if any - of those things for ourselves or our country that we'd like to have. The least we figure we should be able to ask for from our elected officials is a bit more honesty.

Unfortunately this year, judging by the way our "leaders" are acting, we may just have a better shot at getting those toys we asked Santa for when we were kids.

Friday Funday: Some Food, Some Fun, Some Folks Who Need Help

We've been talking about the holiday season a lot this past week. It's definitely on our mind, and we know it's on the minds of people all over the world right now.

Something that's also on the minds of many during this time of year is how we can help those in need.

We absolutely support the little red kettles of the Salvation Army, the work of police unions with their Santa Cop programs, and most other holiday programs to help those in need throughout the country. Food banks, homeless shelters, battered family shelters, religious programs for the poor, and many other worthy causes need help throughout the year - but especially during the holiday season.

With that in mind, it's nice for us to see one of our own staff members getting out and helping out too.

This evening, Friday night, if you're near our Lincoln offices, from 10 PM until 1 AM, our web guru and staffer Shawn will be helping out a very worthy cause, the Community Action Partnership, along with a local radio station for the station's annual "Kampout For Kids" event. The Community Action Partnership is a private, non-profit agency  that does a lot to help families in need in the area, including giving them food, toys, and clothing, and helping them find gainful employment.

We know that times are tough right now for lots of folks, as we're sure they are for many of our readers. It's not as though many Americans have loads of excess time, or money - or extra resources of any kind, really. Yet we applaud the efforts of any of our staff or readers who are choosing to get out, keep going, and do what they can to help someone less fortunate than they are.

So if you're near Lincoln this weekend, especially the South 40th and Old Cheney Hy-Vee grocery store, stop by the Blaze radio station's "Kampout for Kids" and make a donation, or check out their website. You could even wait until tonight, when Shawn and the old P.O. Pears restaurant crew will be serving up legendary "Jiffy Burgers" to help keep some of the radio station staff and listeners warm - and help earn a few more bucks so that maybe a family in need can also stay warm.

Enjoy your weekend, and your holiday preparations - and thanks for thinking of those less fortunate than you.

An Elementary Lesson In Unemployment Economics

We apologize if we're a bit brusque today, on the first day of Hanukkah, but we're not in the mood to beat around the bush like Congress is doing right now in Washington.

As we noted yesterday and again today in our links, Congress has once again allowed unemployment benefits to lapse for millions of Americans as we head into the holiday season. This happened in large part because Republican legislators have decided to hold the government hostage in order to get an extension of tax breaks for the richest Americans.

For those Americans who honestly do care about fiscal responsibility, this action only makes Republican members of Congress appear like rich arrogant schoolyard bullies.

It's fiscal hypocrisy in the extreme, the kind that makes ol' Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch look like a couple of amateurs.

As we've pointed out before, since unemployment insurance was created, Congress has NEVER refused to extend benefits if unemployment was over 7.2%. Yet Republicans in Congress have now prevented the renewal of those benefits not just once, but MULTIPLE times this year. This in a country where Americans still are seeking work at a rate of one job for every five people who are unemployed.

Still, the alleged fiscally conservative Republican leadership would rather spend nearly $700 Billion over the next ten years - money our country doesn't have - to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans (who aren't likely to spend that money anyway), instead of spending around $15 Billion to help out millions of unemployed Americans on a short-term basis. The unemployed will spend that money immediately in order to keep food in their kids' bellies and roofs over their heads - money that will immediately go back into the economy and drive up demand for goods and services, which would create more jobs, adding more money to our tax coffers, reducing our debt.

Simple, basic, elementary school math tells us that when there is only one of something that five people want, four people are going to be left out. No matter how well-educated, or experienced, or well-connected they are, no matter how many resumes they've sent out, or many jobs they've applied for - four of your fellow American citizens, heading into this holiday season, will be without a job, though they desperately want to rejoin the work force.

That same elementary math tells us that we shouldn't be spending $700 Billion we don't have as a handout to people who don't actually need it, and who won't be creating any jobs with that money, anyway. After all, if tax cuts for the wealthy were truthfully such a good job creation method, then after nearly a decade of Bush tax cuts we shouldn't be at nearly ten percent unemployment.

Finally, elementary kindness tells us that, as we sail through Hanukkah, on our way to Christmas and all the other holidays, that this is the time of year when everyone should be thinking about those less fortunate than themselves.

Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and the rest of the GOP still seem to have hearts three sizes too small.

In the spirit of the holidays, we'll be nice and refrain from commenting on what size we think these actions make their brains appear to be.

A Time For Everything

The holiday season always brings certain thoughts to mind that most people don't really consider the rest of the year. 2010 has been no different for us in that respect - and actually began a bit before the holiday season with some things we've been mulling over.

One of those topics happens to be the increasingly common habit of businesses remaining open on the day a holiday is celebrated - the other is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Both have some similarities in common.

In the old days, no one asked if someone was gay in the military. If the soldier next to you did his job well, no one cared much. In a similar way, holidays were something for ALL Americans to celebrate, a time for all Americans to - if nothing else - enjoy a day away from work. No one asked if taking a day to spend time with family and friends was a good thing. Everyone knew it was a good thing, including employers.

It was good psychologically as well as physically for nearly everyone in America to share a few days off a year. It wasn't worth it to the bottom line for most businesses to be open for just a few hours, or with a skeleton crew on days most folks weren't going to be out shopping anyway.

In a similar fashion, the incredible amount of added bureaucracy, paperwork, legal problems, unit disruption, and loss of well-trained individuals heaped onto the American military with DADT has been ridiculous.

With the Pentagon study that was released Tuesday on DADT, we hope any final thoughts on at least one of these two topics will be laid to rest.

In short, the Congressionally-mandated, Pentagon study determined that overturning DADT would not cause any widespread or long-lasting disruptions to our military. That doesn't surprise us one bit, because that same study proves that 70% of service members simply don't care what their fellow soldiers' sexual orientation might be. When asked about their experiences serving with someone they thought was gay, an overwhelming 92% said the experience was either “very good,” “good,” or “neither good nor poor.”

Secretary Gates' comments Tuesday at the release of the DADT study were both wise and sensible. In short, he told Congress to either get off their asses and kill DADT in an orderly and sensible manner - or else the courts will likely mandate the end of DADT abruptly at some point in the near future, which would be worse for the military.

We hope Congress will follow the advice of all of the many studies that have been done on DADT, and finally close the topic of gays in the military forever.

As for those Scrooge-like employers in retail settings who choose to force their lowest paid workers to report to work on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's?

We're afraid that topic will be hanging around for some time to come. Greed seems to rule. At least for now.

Ho, ho, ho.

Respect, Tradition And Rivalry

When it comes to the holiday season, tradition seems to ooze from nearly every corner and crevice of the lives of most people. Whether it's a favorite food or a cross-country trip we make only once a year, our unique holiday traditions are what make this a special time of year.

In sports, as in politics, traditions often come with rivalries - and aren't always easy to achieve.

Take the Husker football team's road to a final Big 12 Conference championship game with their rival of nearly a century, the Oklahoma Sooners.

Suffice to say, the Huskers had a tough time getting to the championship this year, including a Nebraska-Texas A&M matchup that included some horrible officiating and some controversy over Head Coach Bo Pelini's behavior on the sidelines.

While Coach Pelini's actions were colorful, and some folks seemed to not have much of a stomach for them, we were proud that he stood up for his players so strongly - and also proud that he and the team apologized and moved on from the game, instead of dwelling on their poor play, the horrible conduct of the officiating crew, and the disgusting actions of some Nebraska fans.

Rivalries often have a way of bringing out the best in all of us - and we think that's what has motivated Coach Pelini and his team to move on from the A&M game, to focus, change their attitude, beat Colorado, and lock in on the game the Huskers will play this weekend.

Traditional rivals aren't just another opponent we face in athletic or academic contests. We have all have rivals throughout our lives: high-caliber political cartoonists who have opposing political viewpoints; high quality writers and editors who challenge our abilities and vie for jobs with us; even quality webmasters who go about creating things in a way different from our own.

True rivals are those who beat us nearly as often as we beat them, with whom we come in contact almost as much as we do with our fellow workers.

The time when a rivalry becomes something more is when that rivalry becomes a tradition of respect, a way of viewing our opponents not as enemies, but as our equals. The best rivalries often have a strong component of friendship in them, and a long history of shared success - and failure.

For nearly a century, the University of Nebraska and the University of Oklahoma have battled on a regular basis on the football field, among other places. It's the kind of rivalry that few have, inside or outside sports. We couldn't wish for a better ending to Nebraska's time in the Big 12 conference.

True rivals respect each other enough to be on their best behavior while they fight tooth and nail - something our politicians in Washington would be wise to learn from some of our young collegiate athletes.

Holiday Tips To Keep From Missing The Point

We hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday as much as our staff members did. Of course, with every family gathering, there are almost always some relatives who don't understand how politics at almost every level works - or does not work. We had our share of "interesting" discussions over the Thanksgiving break, as we're sure most families did. While most of our different conversations appear to have remained civil, we know that's not the case with every holiday reunion.

The biggest single thing we seemed to run into is family and friends who refuse to remain informed, and instead choose to believe whatever snippets they may happen to hear from the infotainment talking heads on TV.

For example, while many insurance rates will be going up slightly, as FactCheck.org has proven, the majority of Americans will NOT be paying significantly higher insurance premiums next year. Compared to past years, the Health Care Insurance Reform law actually will have significantly reined in the potential for increases in health care premiums for most American families.

The latest release of previously classified documents through Wikileaks has even more examples of facts trumping rhetoric.

Released over the weekend, the documents prove many things. For example, Saudi Arabia and many Arab states, who often decry the United States as the policemen of the world, have also been insisting for some time that America attack Iran - because the Saudis and fellow Arabs either have no real ability to do so or are afraid to do it themselves.

Other ideas promoted this year by those on the far right have also been proven false by the latest release from Wikileaks. According to those previously classified papers, the Obama administration has quite obviously been working incredibly hard over the last two years on diplomatic efforts to contain or redirect the North Korean threat. The administration has also been shown to be working to handle the prisoner situation in Guantanamo Bay, to deal with the rampant corruption in the fledgling Afghan government, and to deal with both traditional and cyber terrorism from groups like Al Qaeda and traditional powers like China.

We hope that after a long break away from your regular responsibilities that you click some of the links we provide, then read and research for yourself the truth behind the issues you hear about on radio and TV and read about in the newspapers. We're not suggesting you take large chunks of time out of your already busy schedule to learn vast amounts about large numbers of subjects. That's our job as members of the media, and one we enjoy performing for you.

However, it's likely that that within the next thirty days you'll be at another family event, with a few individuals who might not be as well-informed as yourself. Take some cues from us and research the topics you care about most. Then, at the next family get-together, you might be able to have more civil and intelligent holiday discussions, leading everyone to the real point of the season - peace and family.

A Thanksgiving Treat - For Everyone.

As is often the case, we all  tend to overlook the many small blessings we have in our lives. For example, if you're reading this today, you have Internet access and a piece of technology to read the Daily Felltoon on at the moment.

That's more than many folks in the world have right now.

Something many Americans often don't look at as a blessing these days is a day away from their responsibilities. Whether at one of our multiple jobs, or in the search to find employment that pays enough, a day off is something too many Americans don't get these days.

So as a gift, our namesake and Editor-In-Chief, Paul Fell, decided our staff should have this week off - after we send out today's edition.

We're giving you a full set of cartoons for the week, including a Daily Felltoon, a HuskerNutz cartoon, and Paul's Prediction for next Friday's Husker football game (not including highly questionable officiating).

Before we step out for the week, we want to thank you for your continuing support of what we do here at the Daily Felltoon.
Thank you for reading, and enjoying our work.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving week. We certainly will be.

Friday Funday: Sad News - But Hope Springs Eternal

It was both a surprise and another gut check for us this week as the online publication The Washington Independent was forced to close its doors, another casualty of both the recession and the pervasive attitude that everything online should be cost-free for the user.

As at least one of our staffers has said elsewhere, this wasn't a left versus right issue. TWI, while slightly left-leaning, was a solid publication, winning awards, and helping lift quality journalists like Dave Weigel to the next level.

We hate to see yet another great media product of any kind go away, either online or offline. As so many have been lamenting of late, quality sources for news and information are far too hard to find. We were proud to link to The Washington Independent many times over the last two years, and are saddened to see them go.

So why are we telling you about this on Friday, when we're supposed to be having fun?

Whether it's writers, cartoonists, photographers, editors, web-personnel, or others in the media world, all of us - and many of our readers - have been saying for MANY years that the internet needs to find a better way for those of us who work in cyberspace to get paid for our work.

The sad fact pointed out by our webmaster Shawn, is that, in the beginnings of the internet, some of the original designers wanted to make EVERY link bidirectional - meaning every link connected the original source to the current page that link was on. That bidirectional system also was designed to allow micropayments - which would allow every writer, cartoonist and other content creator to get thousands or millions of tiny payments.

The way the internet works these days doesn't allow for this.

Enter the folks at Google, specifically Google News, with one of their newest inventions, Publishing Metatags.

While the experiment is still in the initial stages, its implementation is relatively simple. Because it's a product of Google, the idea of content creation being able to be tracked  - and maybe earning money for its creators - seems to be one that's finally being taken a bit more seriously. Even if Google's current approach doesn't work, their entrance into this field seems to be spurring a growing number of serious discussions of how micropayments could make online content creation fiscally viable.

We hate that more of our fellow media professionals are looking for work once again.

But there is hope - growing and serious hope - that those of us who create great words, pictures, and other media for you, may soon be able to actually get paid fairly, allowing us to continue to do what we do well, whether online or in print.

In that there is some serious hope, and that's a cause for celebration for all of us.

Enjoy your weekend.

The Ruling On The Field? Delay Of Game.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, that the new version of the START treaty - one of the few bills that has had wide bipartisan support in the Congress - has been stalled so far in the 2010 lame duck session of Congress.

Unfortunately, the only starting we've seen on Capitol Hill so far is the race to make sure every House member has some special kind of committee to chair.

Instead of short debates about extending unemployment insurance - so that holiday gatherings at American households don't turn into permanent, long-term living arrangements - we're seeing stories about who gets what Congressional title, or who won't have a meeting because of some perceived slight nearly a year ago.

Instead of putting on their battle armor, and suiting up for one more try at accomplishing worthwhile legislation - like funding our military or securing nuclear weapons - our legislators seem to have headed back to Washington in rhetorical party dresses.

Don't the fools on Capitol Hill get it? If they're going to go the 'mean girls' route, like some pampered teenaged prima donnas, they're going to have to dig one hell of a lot deeper into the resentment bag than, "That guy came to my party last year, when we embarrassed ourselves on camera - so we're blaming him for it."

The thing that tends to irritate us most isn't that nothing much is getting done during this Congressional overtime period. It's that while Congress can't find the time to get legislation passed, they all seem to find the time to poke their tiny heads in front of microphones and cameras. They remind us of too many so-called professional athletes we've all seen - in print ads, on TV, in movies - but rarely in the end zone or at the awards ceremony.

We've pointed this out a dizzying number of times already in the 15 days since the election, but what Americans voted for wasn't a wholesale change. No matter where you fall along the political spectrum, an honest accounting of the results will tell you that Americans were voting for Congress to hurry up and help get Americans back to work. Instead, we get musical chairs, empty promises, and lots of wind-testing and coin tossing to attempt to see which way will be easiest for politicians to try and score points on their rivals.

As far as many voters on both sides of the aisle are concerned, if Congress keeps this up for two more years, we may just bench every one of them in 2012.

Groping Our Way To The Boarding Gate

Some of us are already traveling again, and with the holiday season fast approaching - and Eid already here, so 'Happy Eid' to our muslim readers -  the rest of us will also be doing some traveling soon enough. We're fairly certain that you will also be on the road - or in the air - soon, so with that thought in mind, our thoughts have been turning to travel troubles.

We've been staring at the low-level controversy coming from the babbling heads on TV and the radio regarding the problems with the full-body scanners and those who are fighting against being scanned - and simply shaking our heads.

This manufactured media controversy doesn't even rate a halfway decent quotation of Ben Franklin's opinions on liberty and security.

We're well aware of the stupidity of the TSA's current policy regarding scanning of passengers. A recent change in policy now forces TSA personnel involved in full body pat-downs to use the front of their hands in "vigorous" searches, versus the previous back-of-the-hand, barely worthwhile searches.

Of course, if someone would rather not get groped as part of their pre-boarding procedures, they can also choose to use the modern day technological equivalent of the old x-ray specs we used to get from the back section of the comic book. Then they can worry about blurry photos of what purports to be their naked bodies, shared online, with strangers.

Most of the reports on this issue continue to omit the fact that most airports in the United States don't even have these full-body scanners. Those same reports also usually gloss over the fact that virtually nothing that travels in the cargo areas of most airplanes in America, including packages under one pound, is ever scanned. So any attempt at claiming these heavy-handed procedures make traveling by air safer are simply laughable.

Of course, that isn't preventing some Americans from calling for a national 'opt-out of passenger screening' protest in airports across the country, on the day before Thanksgiving. That's JUST what every American needs on the busiest traveling day of the year - something that will delay our time in airports even more.

Frankly, if we can get to our destinations safely and on time, without having to listen to the mewling of a small child the entire time we're trapped in a confined space thousands of feet in the air, we don't really care if we get a free mammogram or testicular cancer screening at our boarding gate.

All we ask is that they throw in a lollipop, like they do at the doctor's office.

So... What's REALLY Important To Americans?

We asked you yesterday to play along with us and send your attempts to balance the U.S. Federal budget, using the New York Times online tool. While we received a few suggestions of what you'd like to do - and we thank those of you who did so - we think the most telling response to our request was received in a private e-mail.

This person simply asked why we were focusing on this topic - the budget deficit - when poll after poll continues to show that what Americans really want politicians to focus on is JOBS.

Not the deficit. Not the Bush tax cuts. Not the intraparty fighting.
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

We couldn't agree more - and in fact, we're glad that at least one of our readers has stated the obvious.

As some of us discussed our little budget deficit exercise yesterday afternoon, we hit on the same point we've made multiple times before - that no matter how we or you or Congress slices the budget, more revenue MUST be brought in and more cuts MUST be made. There is simply not an either/or approach to fixing our federal - or state - budgets that will able to be passed, that will work with ONLY raising taxes or cutting budgets.

The compromises that are being bandied about on all sides in Washington on the issue of extending the Bush tax cuts - or not extending them - merely support our point even further. The insane idea that political partisans from either side have pushed, that no one is to be allowed to make any compromises on this issue is bogus to the extreme. That any idiot ever spoke such words, let alone campaigned on such preposterous ideas, degrades the idea of effective government for us all. Thankfully, wiser heads on all sides appear to be prevailing in that too.

We agree, simply marking boxes like we - and some of you - did, in our budget exercise on Monday isn't the same level of difficulty that our Senators and Representatives will go through in aiming for more fiscally responsible government.

However, as we've shown here today in ultra-simple terms, tackling what needs to be done on issues of secondary importance - like the long-term deficit and the Bush tax cuts - aren't nearly the impossible tasks that so many make them out to be.

As our astute reader reminded us, what Americans want their government at ALL levels to focus on right now, more than ANYTHING else, is the exercise of working together to get Americans back to work, permanently, securely, and at respectable wage levels.

Other exercises are fun, sometimes - unless you're hungry, jobless, and you're not sure where you'll be staying next month, or next year.

It's long past time for every member of Congress to realize without jobs, none of the rest matters that much.

Lame Ducks, Cat Food - and Your Opportunity To Determine The Budget

During the time most members of Congress were out begging and schmoozing for their jobs during Campaign 2010, others in Washington kept working - including the Budget Deficit Commission, often pejoratively called on the internet the "Catfood Commission". We tend to agree that if the recommendations of the commission's chairman were to be followed to the letter, that far too many poor and working class Americans might be forced to eat cat food just to stay alive. Still, the general findings of the commission - as compromised and questionable as its makeup may be - are the same as what we've been saying for many years now.

That is, if America wants to deal with its budget problems, we need to collect more revenue AND make some significant changes.

The "Lame Duck" session of the 11th Congress returns to Washington, DC today - and both budget cuts and taxes are foremost on their agenda.

They also face the release of the report by the Deficit Commission, appointed by President Obama to make recommendations to Congress, after Republicans in Congress refused to appoint a commission themselves. We've studied what we can about what the details the committee has released so far - and it appears their efforts weren't completely worthless.

We've previously pointed out the President's 2011 budget proposal and noted how - when you crop out non-mandatory spending - only about 1/4 of the Federal budget can really be cut, the biggest portion of that being what's been reserved for the military.

The commission came to a similar conclusion about the military budget that we have, recommending that it be slashed deeply. As President Eisenhower warned half a century ago, America's military/industrial complex has an expensive habit of continuing to fight past wars, one that we can no longer afford. Those who believe that more military spending always increases our safety should be reminded, a dozen insane fanatics with 79¢ box cutters weren't stopped by a military that spends more on its budget than every other country on Earth combined.

Not all of the Commission's recommendations were worthy. They also recommended cutting Social Security and Medicare commitments severely - an idea pushed by some Congresspersons on the committee. While we agree that there are things in the budget that could and should be cut, reneging on commitments to those who've already paid in to the system - or blue-collar workers, who often need Social Security and Medicare long before they're 65 - are not cuts we'd universally recommend.

Because so many people - including our staff - believe they know how to cut the Federal budget and how America should raise revenues, The New York Times has now created an online tool where readers can choose what taxes they'd raise and which programs they would cut.

We invite you to do the same, and share your results with us today, by e-mail, by posting on our Facebook page or our blog.
We only ask one caveat of your attempt: Do it WITHOUT decimating any one class - poor, working class, or rich.

Good luck. Have fun. And remember - if we can do it, why can't Congress? We'll check back with your answers - and our own - soon.

Friday Funday: Congratulations - It's "Snow"-ing!

There are quite a few items we have our eyes and ears on today, including the potential for the GOP to finally cave and meet the President on his suggested compromise to temporary extensions to the Bush Tax Cuts. We're also watching the continuing "civil" war in the Republican Party over earmarks among  other things, And we've been going over the announced - or rather, leaked by the chairman - details of the Deficit Commission's report, which we'll likely tackle at some point in the near future.

However, today is Friday - so we'd like to celebrate the efforts some of our staff and their colleagues on an outside project that launched this week.

We know that more than a few professional cartoonists and other media professionals read the Daily Felltoon and our daily commentaries. So we'd like to direct them - and you - to the website for a brand new project called Snow-by-Night.

It's an attempt at a new way to handle cartooning and comic books similar to a direction in which the major comic labels are going. It's an online graphic novel, one that will be be released at the rate of a page every Wednesday.

Like the serial cartoon strips of old, the story will follow a continuous arc - and has been written and created by someone who has worked professionally in the gaming and fantasy storytelling field. It's professionally edited, penciled and digitally inked, and then digitally colored - and then professionally published online. When the online graphic novel reaches around 32 pages, the plan is to have each finished chapter made available - on demand - to be ordered as a printed product. In other words, a good old-fashioned comic book.

Like many new media ventures, the Snow-by-Night team are using tools like Facebook and Twitter to grab the attention of those people who are more plugged in.

One feature we at the Daily Felltoon like about what they're doing with Snow-by-Night. For them, it's about the story first - and then the artwork must back up that great story.

They've got a lot planned to expand that story into a fully-fleshed out world, so we hope you'll go to snowbynight.com and check out their work.

If there was no other reason for us to recommend this project than that some of our staff was involved, we would. But this endeavor seems to be of high quality, and it appears that our friends are attempting to take the business of cartooning in a new direction - something we strongly favor.

Enjoy their work - and your weekend.

Real Superheroes

As a cartoonist, and being among those multitudes who love cartoons, we're used to seeing superheroes of all kinds - with capes, in tights, with masks, and special powers.

Today though, we celebrate the superheroes that most Americans don't see in comics and cartoons every day - those Americans who have served in our Armed Services. These folks aren't in any G.I. Joe movie, and you won't see most of them on television. Whether they're gay or straight, old or young, men or women - even officers or enlisted - in the military they were all just service members. They all had their own political views, but regardless of how they felt, they did their jobs well - and came home alive.

Today is a day for us to celebrate their work and their service.

We hope, if you have a chance today, that you volunteer some of your own service at your local Veterans Hospital or with another veterans support group. If you're looking for some guidance on who needs help in your area, we recommend the IAVA, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or your local VFW.

We also hope you'll simply say, "Thank you" to a veteran, for his or her willingness to serve. And to do our part, we're sending out our own "Thank-Yous" today.

Thank You to our Army Veterans, who've fought in locations near and far across the globe - and came home far too often with bodies or minds seriously scarred.

Thank You to our Navy veterans - including our webmaster - who have guarded, protected, and patrolled the roughly 2/3 of the planet the rest of us normally don't think much about.

Thank You to our Air Force veterans, who not only patrol the skies, but keep an eye on the thousands of objects that orbit our planet - and who know the difference between an airplane contrail and a missile launch.

Thank You to our Marine veterans, who so often go places that not even other armed services members wish to go, and accomplish tasks that most other people think are impossible.

Thank you to our Coast Guard veterans, too often overlooked. When Americans need to be saved from our own mistakes - for example, when massive cruise ships end up dead in the water off the coast of California - our Coast Guard members simply and humbly do their jobs.

Chances are statistically near 100% that someone you interact with every day is a veteran. Many of them are people you may not have even realized that served. So ask around today. Find a veteran or two. Thank them for their service.

Real-life superheroes appreciate gratitude too.

Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hyde, And Ethics

Having integrity as we work in the fields of media and communications requires that we hold ourselves to higher ethical standards. It also requires that we apply those same standards to both those we comment upon and those within our own own career field.

We're willing to admit for some of our staff that there has been some pushback lately in our hammering of those in the Tea Party and on the far right who claim to be Republicans. To us, Republicans as we remember them, and as most Americans think of them, tend to identify more closely to functional libertarians. Not the ideological strait-jacketed insanity of Rand Paul (which already appears to be loosening up), but classic Republicanism. Those kinds of Americans are assertive (not aggressive) about a number of things - fiscal conservatism, military readiness, and smaller government, when sensible and possible. However, they also understand and fully respect that good government means being willing to compromise.

The problem is, that's not what a growing number of those using the Republican brand want the GOP label to mean. That's why we continue to point out the Jekyl and Hyde nature of the modern GOP. For those of us who are conservative, that doesn't make us RINOs. It makes us honest.

Likewise, for those of us on the left, there are those in our field who claim not to know the difference between "progressive" and "liberal" when we know damn well those claims are false. We've caught heat for that lately, but we've called out some of our fellow journalists for that lapse in honesty, too.

Which brings us to Mr. Keith Olbermann.

We won't belabor the subject. Others inside and outside our business have obsessed about this to the point of ridiculous for the past four days.

Suffice it to say that we know Mr. Olbermann knows the old journalistic axiom that, if you have to ask if your actions or words could be considered unethical, you've already gone too far. He apologized last night to his viewers and others for his lapse in judgement, and we applaud him for doing so.

As Mr. Olbermann's colleague Rachel Maddow mentioned last week, for those of us in the media who choose who hold ourselves to higher standards, the rules are different. Our ethical conduct is what separates us from those in the media and elsewhere who operate with a two-faced agenda, claiming to be fair while having an outright bias.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing well," is a phrase that we take very seriously around here.

If more people both inside and outside the media took that phrase to heart, maybe there might not be such a huge gap between the faces we show the world, and those we show each other.

The Biggest Difference between Campaigning & Governing? Specifics.

Although the 2010 midterm elections are mostly history except for a few remaining recounts, the normally increased levels of incivility that happen between the political left and right don't appear to be diminishing any time soon. In fact, those politicians who attempt to claim Tea Party support (usually only when it's convenient) don't appear to be in any mood to focus on the specifics of governing on issues like the budget cuts they claim they'll make - but can't identify.

Frankly, this only irritates us.

On the positive side, according to the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, we're not the only ones who are hacked off. And unlike those attempting to appease the Tea Partiers, we have specifics.

We fully expected USA Today to lead the presentation of their poll results with the most unsurprising statistics - that Democratic and left-leaning voters are currently more willing to find compromise in order to fix problems the country is facing than Republicans and Tea Partiers.

What we didn't expect to find in the deeper poll numbers was that the politicians who appear to have missed the message that voters sent a week ago aren't President Obama and the Democrats or even traditional, sane, fiscally conservative Republicans. For example, according to the numbers, voters don't really care about the Health Care Insurance Reform bill - only one-third want the law repealed.

What did become broadly clear is what the voters DON'T want.
They're not in the mood for two more years of partisan bickering and fighting without getting much done.

51% trust that Democrats will make a sincere effort to move the country forward, and work WITH Republicans to fix the problems Americans are facing. They overwhelmingly think President Obama will work towards compromise, by a 2 to 1 majority.

What they don't trust or believe in right now is that Republicans are going to be making a sincere effort to make things better for struggling Americans. Only 43% believe in the Republicans.

Further, for truly independent-minded voters, who statistically made up such a large portion of the Republican Party's winning vote count by a nearly 2 to 1 majority, they also want Republican leaders to get done what America needs done, instead of strictly adhering to political talking points and party dogma.

While we understand what some politicians like Rand Paul are doing, claiming that they'll be willing to drive the entire world's economy into the crapper in order to stay true to their campaign promises, we hate to remind them of the difference between campaigning and governing.

"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." - NY Gov. Mario Cuomo

No Clowning: No Surprises For Us

There were two major news announcements made late last week that seemed to have surprised more than a few people - although we weren't among them.

The first big non-announcement was that Nebraska's Republican Governor Dave Heineman officially announced he wasn't going to be running against Democratic Senator Ben Nelson in 2012 for the seat Nelson currently occupies. The second non-announcement was the tepid proclamation that Nebraska Republican Attorney General Jon Bruning is THINKING of running for the seat Sen. Nelson holds. Bruning didn't ACTUALLY announce on Friday that he was running for the seat, so much as he announced he was "looking into it" - also known as checking to see which way the political winds are blowing.

To many Nebraskans who aren't heavily involved in the nuts and bolts of politics, these two pieces of news came as somewhat of a shock.

However, to those of us who know much of what goes on behind the scenes in politics, those two tidbits of information merely confirmed what our sources told us months ago. Folks from Washington, DC to California knew that the Nebraska GOP wasn't going to allow Gov. Heineman to challenge Nelson in 2012. Among our sources it was widely known the GOP planned on giving Bruning a shot at banging his head into the brick wall - or tree - that will be the Nebraska Senate race in 2012.

We're not saying it's impossible for someone else to be occupying Nebraska's most powerful Senate seat after 2012. It is merely difficult - especially with the Tea Party continually attacking Republicans from the far right.

As Republican candidates across the country discovered this past year, trying to satisfy both the sane, classic, old-fashioned Republicans and the far-right, often less-than-rational Tea Partiers is a task that few can pull off. If the economy has recovered further by 2012 as voters across the political spectrum are demanding, and President Obama runs for a second term as expected, the political right will likely be tearing itself in two - as will any candidate who attempts to appease them.

While Sen. Nelson hasn't always been our favorite person, he has displayed, on more than enough occasions, that he's definitely a Democrat these days. In fact, when compared with those on the far right in the Tea Party, he may as well be a long-haired, pot-smoking, free-love hippie.

Any Republican who runs for nearly any office in 2012 will have to satisfy traditional Republicans, far right Tea Partiers, and independents as well, if they hope to win. Meanwhile, in order for Democratic candidates like Sen. Nelson to win, they merely have to satisfy Democrats and a few independents to come out on top.

That's a simple fact that any clown could see.

Friday Funday: One More Plea For Sanity

Friday is the day for fun, slightly less politically oriented commentaries around here. After the week - or really, the election season - we've all had around here, we could definitely do with a dose of unity and positivity in this counry. Yet that message hasn't seemed to have gotten through to everyone. While the President has communicated he's willing to compromise and work WITH Republicans, Republican congressional leadership seems to be telling Obama to... do offensive things to himself. In light of that difference of approach, we thought it might be good to take one more last look at the real message from last weekend's "Rally for Sanity and/or Fear" with Jon Stewart.

Our staff who were at the rally had a lot of fun - and saw a lot of crazy signs. More importantly, we think Mr. Stewart's message is even more important now than it was before the election.

All of us agree with most of what Jon Stewart said in his closing speech. So we've clipped out what we think are the most important parts, and we'll let his message take you into this weekend.


"We live now in hard times - but NOT end times. We can have animus, and not be enemies. Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.

This country's 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing....

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker... yet - I feel good. Strangely, calmly, good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false...

We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done. The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done - Every. Damned. Day! The only place we don't is here [Congress] or on cable TV! But Americans don't live here, or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done--not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.

[Like cars going into the Holland Tunnel]... this is us. Every one of [those cars] is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear--often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers'. And yet, these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze, one by one, into a mile-long, 30-foot-wide tunnel, carved underneath a mighty river.

And they do it, concession by concession: you go, then I'll go. You go, then I'll go... [It works] Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness. And sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land.

Sometimes, it's just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together."

The Future For The GOP: Civil War And Universal Solvents

Contrary to the fervent hopes of some on the far right, most people on the progressive left weren't devastated or wanting to throw themselves off of buildings after Tuesday's losses. In fact, 94% of the progressive candidates running in Tuesday's election survived - while only 47% of the so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats did.

President Obama, in his first post-election press conference, also made it clear that he's NOT going to abandon his progressive principles to get things accomplished over the next two years. He may actually take a more firm stand on those accomplishments he's already completed. The President very pointedly made it clear in that press conference that Republicans no longer have the luxury of sitting back and saying "no" to everything; now they actually have to bring legitimate, workable ideas to the table.

That's where the GOP's "universal solvent" problem comes in.

Headline tea party candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Carl Paladino all lost on Tuesday, some of them quite soundly. Tea Party candidates, in general, also got shellacked. Commentator and blogger Sarah Palin's record of endorsed candidate wins was around .500 - a good number for a baseball player, but abysmal for politics. Yet the mythology being ramped up, post-election, by many on the right is that the tea party is some kind of political "universal solvent", good for dissolving any opposition in it's way.

The problem with a universal solvent, as the saying goes, is if it eats its way through everything, how does one contain it?

This is the problem facing Rep. John Boehner and other Republican leaders as they've already been receiving veiled - and not so veiled - messages from tea partiers and others on the extreme political right. The tea partiers insist there should be NO compromise on ANYTHING with the President or Democrats - but they expect results IMMEDIATELY.

The issue of raising the Federal Government's debt ceiling, then, is the point at which that universal solvent eats through the floor, on its way to the center of Earth, and total annihilation.

The issue of raising the debt ceiling is simple and has ALWAYS passed in every previous U.S. Congress. In short, the Federal government MUST continue to raise the debt ceiling nearly every year. If it doesn't and the U.S. Government defaults on its debt, not only will the U.S. economy collapse. It will do so in such a spectacular way that it will take the entire rest of the world's economies with it.

Unlike when President Obama and Congress passed and signed the stimulus into law in near record time, when the clock strikes midnight on the agreement to extend the debt ceiling, there will be no last-minute rescuing anyone. If the GOP does not agree to extend that debt ceiling before the deadline expires, political skirmishes will be the least of our concerns.

Extending our debt ceiling, of course, is something tea partiers have already said they're not willing to do - even if some the old-guard Senators who have attempted to lead them have already agreed to cave to reality.

So if you know a progressive or someone who you're pretty sure who votes Democratic? That smile on their face isn't because they don't know they lost more than a few races on Tuesday.

It's because they're not John Boehner or anyone else in the Republican leadership.

As an old teacher we once knew used to tell her students right before a grueling exam, "Good luck - and have fun!"

Election Aftermath: Recommendations For the 112th Congress

After a LONG night, and a EARLY morning, we're all tired. Pre-election volunteering in Ohio and Nebraska, busy work schedules, and still some recovery from the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in DC last weekend have sapped us all just a bit.

There were a few surprises last night - and a lot of unsurprising results too. As we also predicted, today it still looks like there is some legal wrangling, some arguing, and of course, an enormous number of highly biased politicos and pundits claiming some kind of a blanket mandate for their specific issue or candidate that doesn't actually exist.

We also predicted the sun would come out today, and it has - although it's more sunny in some places than others. Regardless of the results, the American people still think there is a LOT of work that needs to be done.

Thankfully, the last twenty-one months have seen a HUGE number of problems successfully tackled by President Obama and the 11th Congress.

The Lilly Ledbetter Act helped equalize pay for women. The Credit Card Reform Act reined in many of the corrupt and parasitic practices of the credit industry. That was part of the Financial Regulatory Reform Law - the Wall Street reform that was necessary after the deregulation frenzy of the Republican Congress and George W. Bush years. There were all kinds of laws passed to improve our health too, including increased cigarette manufacturing regulations, S-CHIP (The Children's Healthcare program George W. Bush had tried - and failed - to pass), and the landmark Health Care Insurance Reform law.

The Economic Stimulus Bill worked to stop the hemorrhaging of the economy, and the Auto Industry Bailout measures, including 'Cash for Clunkers', which also worked. The Stimulus also included the single largest investment in education by the Federal government EVER, the single largest investment in clean alternative energy EVER, and the single largest tax cut in history - even larger than the ones George W. Bush and the Republicans passed in the early 2000s. And unlike his predecessor, Mr. Obama's tax cut was paid for.

Speaking of which, the 111th Democratic-led Congress under Mr. Obama brought back PAYGO, the budget balancing procedure that originated under the first President Bush and President Clinton. And we haven't even gotten to the Hate Crimes Bill that was passed, Student Loan Reform which fixed a broken system, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which grew Americorps, or the start of removing active combat personnel from Iraq.

All of this was accomplished while shrinking the Federal Deficit.

No matter what the makeup of our government is this morning, the American people STILL agree on a few things, one of which is that there is still a great deal of work to be done in order to get the American people moving forward again.

For the 112th Congress? You have VERY large shoes to fill.
We suggest you learn the art of compromise quickly, if you expect to keep your jobs past the next election.
You have about 18 months. The clock begins in January.
Tick... tick... tick...

Decision Day 2010: No, Democrats... The Sky Is NOT Falling

As promised, we're finishing our 2010 pre-election commentary today with a look at things from the political left. If you missed our look at the race from the saner side of the political right, check out yesterday's Daily Commentary - AFTER you GO VOTE.

Contrary to the screaming "political pundit perpetual panic conflictinators" on cable TV, election day doesn't look nearly as bad as it could be for the Democratic Party.

We're under no delusions. The Democrats will likely lose the majority in the House of Representatives, and hold onto a slim majority in the U.S. Senate. As we said yesterday, it's a mid-term election. A swing back in the opposite direction is normal after the landslide win by Democrats two years ago.

Are some of us disappointed in the likely results of today's elections? Sure - although we and many others think it will likely be later in the week, or possibly later in the month before the results are 100% final. But the results of today's voting will not, in any serious way, prove to be a referendum on the policies of the Obama Administration.

Even Senate Minority leader McConnell admitted Monday that "there is no poll data showing the public is in love with [Republicans]." If ever there was an understatement, that is it.

Looking at REGISTERED voters across the country, Americans favor Democrats and Democratic-backed progressive ideas by small but sizable margins of around five percent. The idea that there has been too much of a "liberal overreach" by one of the more moderate progressive Democratic leaders in recent history is not only laughable, but provably wrong.

There are FAR more Democrats angry that the President's policies weren't bigger, more progressive and more effective than they were.

The Stimulus was a perfect example of this. Every economist worth spit has said that the stimulus did, in fact, work. Some of the best have made the case that it should have been much larger. Writer Kevin Drum makes the observation that throughout history, the most progressive - and most popular - government programs like those of the New Deal and Great Society eras, have happened in very short bursts of time.

As we also pointed out yesterday, even if Republicans win the House, as they're likely to do, fulfilling their promises of getting rid of health care insurance reform and eliminating controls of Wall Street will be nearly impossible.

No matter who wins today - or whenever the elections are finally finished with being recounted and sued over - the facts will likely be what we've predicted before. There will be very slim majorities for either party in the House and Senate, and in most state races too.

When it's all said and done, our President - the President of ALL Americans - will still be Barack Obama.

And the sun will come out on Wednesday, no matter who wins.
Now if you still haven't gotten around to it, go vote.