On the Sunday before the final presidential debate, Mitt Romney and some of his senior staffers played a flag football game with members of the Press Corps on Delray Beach, Fla. Continue reading
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Author Archives: Walter Brasch
Romney & Co. distort Medicare realities
Several times during the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney claimed President Obama had stolen $716 billion from Medicare to fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Paul Ryan repeated that lie, as well as several other distortions and half-truths, in the vice-presidential debate. Continue reading
Romney v. Obama: The debate that wasn’t
What passed as a presidential debate, last Wednesday evening, was nothing more than a series of carefully-rehearsed, often rambling, mini-speeches that talked more in generalities than in specifics. Continue reading
Grade inflation; education degradation
As a society we have allowed our children to believe they are all not just above average but superior. Continue reading
Don’t count out the labor movement
Almost every conservative political columnist, pundit, commentator, blogger, and bloviator has written about the decline and forthcoming death of the labor movement. Continue reading
Romney tax return provides a window to his soul
When a craven covey of buffoons and bigots disguised in the bodies of Birthers figured that anyone with dark skin and a foreign name had to be born outside the U.S., Barack Obama provided a birth certificate. Not just the usual “short form,” but a state-certified copy of the “long form” that detailed he was born in Hawaii, which some Birthers apparently think is a foreign territory, to a mother who was a natural-born U.S. citizen.
Continue reading
Vouchering an educational adventure
I hadn’t talked with Marshbaum for a couple of years, ever since he left newspaper journalism for more lucrative work in the fast food industry. But here he was in my office to ask if I would publicize his new educational adventure. Continue reading
Olympians medal in London, While the NRA meddles in Harrisburg
Shortly before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on an amendment last December that would ban pigeon shoots, the Pennsylvania Flyers Association sent out a bulletin it marked as “urgent.” Continue reading
Sunshine still blocked at Penn State
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—The Penn State Board of Trustees, still sanctimonious in its public moral outrage, continues to violate state law. The Board held a private three-hour meeting, Wednesday evening [July 25] to discuss the NCAA sanctions and the role university president Dr. Rodney Erickson played in accepting the sanctions. Continue reading
The fluff factor: Today’s Journalism
Will someone please buy gags for Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford? Continue reading
Pennsylvania politics continues to trump health and the environmen
Politics continues to threaten the health and welfare of Pennsylvanians. Continue reading
American patriotism in hyper-drive
It’s midway between Flag Day and Independence Day. Continue reading
Splitting hairs in a multi-cultural school
Sasha Rivera is a 15-year-old sophomore at the Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School (MACS) in Philadelphia. Continue reading
Pennsylvania politics continues to override humane actions
A national animal welfare organization has filed an ethics complaint against a Pennsylvania district attorney. Continue reading
Memorial Day 2012: A lesson not yet learned
Today is Memorial Day, the last day of the three-day weekend. Veterans and community groups will remember those who died in battle and, as they have done for more than a century, will place small flags on graves. Continue reading
Eliminating the ’99%’ can lead to a better message for social justice
It’s time to retire the 99 percent. Continue reading
Mission impossible: Finding a mini-van made in America by union workers
Last year, not one of the 491,687 new minivans sold in the United States was made in America by unionized workers. Continue reading
The Trayvon Martin case: A lesson still to be learned
For years, my father, a federal employee with a top secret clearance, carried a copy of his birth certificate when he went into Baja California from our home in San Diego. Many times, when he tried to reenter the U.S., he was stopped by the Border Patrol. Continue reading
Spearing a tax deduction
On a bright Monday morning, a day before tax returns were due, I bumped into my ersatz friend Marshbaum who was placing a change container at the Gas-High Mini-mart on Low Octane and Greed avenues. Continue reading
Reality, news perception, and accuracy
She quietly walked into the classroom from the front and stood there, just inside the door, against a wall. Continue reading
Collateral damage in the Marcellus Shale
There’s nothing to suggest that in his 51 years Kevin June should be a leader. Continue reading
The late great commonwealth: Catching up to the Republican primary
It’s the beginning of April, and that means I just finished celebrating New Year’s Eve, and will soon begin shopping for Valentine’s gifts. In a month or two, I may even get around to toasting St. Patrick. Continue reading
Fracking: Corruption a part of Pennsylvania’s heritage
Part 3 of 3
The history of energy exploration, mining, and delivery is best understood in a range from benevolent exploitation to worker and public oppression. A company comes into an area, leases land in rural and agricultural areas for mineral rights, increases employment, usually in a depressed economy, strips the land of its resources, creates health problems for its workers and those in the immediate area, and then leaves. Continue reading
Fracking: Health, environmental impact greater than claimed
Part 2 of 3
The natural gas industry defends hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, as safe and efficient. Continue reading
Fracking: Pennsylvania gags physicians
Part 1 of 3
A new Pennsylvania law endangers public health by forbidding health care professionals from sharing information they learn about certain chemicals and procedures used in high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing. The procedure is commonly known as fracking. Continue reading
Star Gazing: Comets, actors, and Angelina’s right leg
In 1973, some friends and I went to the rooftop of our apartment building to watch Comet Kahoutek, touted by astronomers and the media as the comet of all comets. We were sure we’d see it since we had the requisite equipment—binoculars and beer. Continue reading
Oscar and the bronze beauties
It’s the end of February, and one of my friends is still sporting a summer tan. I know it’s phony—and she knows I know it’s phony—but I have long ago stopped teasing her about it. In her never-ending quest to appear to be beautiful and healthy, she has slathered skin tanning lotion into every pore of her body, laid out on roofs and beaches to catch whatever ray was passing by, and goes to a tanning salon once a week. I’m not sure she’s ever stepped into the surf. Continue reading
Fewer words; less filling
The Reduced Shakespeare Co. cleverly and humorously abridges all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays to 97 minutes. Short of having a set of Cliff’s Notes or a collection of Classic Comics, sources of innumerable student essays for more than a half-century, it may be the least painful way to “learn” Shakespeare. The critically-acclaimed show, in addition to being a delightful way to spend part of an evening, is a satiric slap upside the head of the mass media. Continue reading
Labor pains: A fable for our times
Once, many years ago, in a land far away between two oceans, with fruited plains, amber waves of grain, and potholes on its highways, there lived a young man named Sam. Continue reading
The lowly groundhog: Long may they live
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow last Thursday. Continue reading
Republicans lie about ‘support our troops’
Posted on September 28, 2012 by Walter Brasch
For a decade, Republicans have been screaming at Americans to “support our troops.” Continue reading →