Sandy Andina

Obama gave a pretty good speech tonight--hit the GOP and conservative Dem Senators harder than I'd expected for (respectively) their obstructionism and self-interest, as well as calling out the Court for its insane decisionof last week, and stopping just short of calling the rest of the Congressional Dems wusses ("solve problems, not run for the hills").  Pleasantly surprised on the pledge to end "don't-ask-don't-tell," but disappointed with the spending freeze.  Didn't anybody read (or hear their…

To say that the political events of the past year, which started out so promising, have turned out to be baffling, exasperating and discouraging would be like saying water is wet.   Sadly, when it comes to either end of the electorate's ideological continuum, it would appear that the inmates have taken over the asylum.  Except that nobody really knows where to find the keys or even realizes (much less acknowledges) that possession of them is a fundamental necessity.

First, let me address (and this is…

Please go to www.doctorswithoutborders.org to donate what you can for emergency medical relief services for Haiti. No established medical facilities remain intact--hospitals have been destroyed.  Your donation will be appreciated immeasurably, and the karma goes without saying.  (If you so choose, pick another legitimate relief organization, such as 1-800-REDCROSS or texting to 99099 to donate to the Red Cross, or choose www.directrelief.com, a low-admin-overhead org. funneling relief to Haiti).  Bob and…

Don't worry--I'm not turning pyromaniac on you. But Friday was the last night of Hanukkah.  Now, I'd been pretty good about lighting the right number of bulbs in the electric Menorah in the front room window each successive night (and had no problem obeying the Talmudic mandate to eat something fried in oil each night); but I'd been dilatory about lighting the actual candles at the proper time--I was out most evenings and nervous about letting actual flames burn in an empty kitchen.  Friday night…

Actually, that's not quite true--I claim three hometowns: Brooklyn, where I was born and raised; Seattle, where I basically became a "real" grownup; and Chicago, where a couple became a family and where I put down roots over 30 years ago (and where I've lived in my current house longer than I'd lived in either Brooklyn or Seattle).  This post will not really address Seattle--I haven't back recently enough to observe any distressing phenomena beyond the suburban sprawl, gridlocked traffic and skyrocketing…

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah--as we light that first candle (or for safety's sake, screw in that first lightbulb), so begins 2009's season of hope and light.  David Brooks (not normally one of my favorite columnists, given his center-right ideology) has a trenchant piece in today's NY Times on the history of the holiday.  

Far from being the near-secular equivalent of a Christmas for Jewish kids, the legend of the Miracle of the Oil, and a celebration of the rededication of the Temple and the…

Okay. I'll fess up and admit I stole that title from a blog-analysis section of today's New York Times.  But it's been the elephant in the room of political discourse for months now. 

At the start of the Obama Presidency, it was pretty clear that our shambles of an economy began on Dubya's watch and was aided and abetted by the actions of a mostly Republican government (including business-leaning SCOTUS decisions) whose mantra was "what's good for Wall Street is good for Main Street."  We went from making…