Here’s my piece in The Los Angeles Times endorsing, sorta, the re electom of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Note I said Mayor. Not Governor.

Cambridge This what change looks like. Take a look at the overview of Barack Obama’s first budget overview and what we see is a dramatic shift in our national priorities.  This budget marks the definitive end of the Reagan Era. Rolled into Obama’s plan to stem the economc freefall, he has thrown in major health [...]

I’m on the road for a few days. Speaking at this conference. And hanging out with some old buds from the Good Old Days at the Chri Sci Monitor.

I’ve sure had some fun over the years making fun of George Lakoff. You will recall that after the Democratic debacle of 2004, Professor Lakoff became the equivalent of progressive sliced bread. He was hosted and toasted from college campuses to the Democratic congressional caucus as the guy who held the keys to unlocking progressive [...]

That was one helluva speech from Barack Obama. It simply doesn’t get much better than that. Where do I begin? First and foremost, it was GREAT for the first time in eight years to NOT see a snarling Dick Cheney hunching behind a bumbling, half-literate president. Wonderful it was to hear a president who spoke [...]

No, not Rumsfeld or Cheney. Not yet. But good news anyway. Former Salvadoran Defense Minister General Jose Guillermo Garcia has just been indicted by the Obama Justice Department on two counts of immigration fraud that could cost him ten years in prison or more. This is a wonderful development and could suggest, despite my manifold [...]

Monday Night I took a 3 day weekend so I’m still in idle mode tonight. I thought I’d import my latest “top 15″ list over from my Facebook page. This will allow me to avoid an otherwise painful post-Oscar post on how the Academy screwed Mickey Rourke and gave the Best Actor Oscar to Sean [...]

A weekend insta-rice-aroni-slumgullion of quickies: * Burri-gojevich.  As they said in Goodfellas, “He’s gone now… we did everything. He’s gone.” And, frankly not soon enough for me. This guy stunk like a week-old mackerel from the beginning. And now he’s finally about to be tossed. * Banking on Nationalization. As Lenin decreed: “To enable all [...]

“The numbers” as they call the major market indicators can certainly be depressing. But a different set of numbers, those of the birthdates of the so-called Millenial generation (1982-2003) are quite a different matter. The tectonic informational and technological shift we are experiencing coincides with an historic shift in generational attitudes. The young people of [...]

Spoiler alert if you haven’t already seen Frost/Nixon. Saw it Sunday afternoon with low expectations and found it to be about five times better than I expected. Far beyond the usual Ron Howard Mayberry Mush. To be exact: I loved every minute of it. There’s been some tinkering with the historical accuracy of the much-watched [...]

During the days of the Pinochet dictatorship there was that joke about the Chilean dictator going on a state visit to Bolivia, a long-time rival of his own nation. At a state dinner, the Bolivian President introduces his Chilean counterpart to Senor so-and-so,  Secretary of the Bolivian Navy.  Feeling slightly mocked by the leader of [...]

Three great posts these past few days from one of my favorite Web writers, Yoani Sanchez in Havana. Three things we take absolutely for granted remain forbidden fruit in the “First Free Territory of the Americas.” Reading. Writing. Watching. You don’t know what you have till it’s gone. Unless you’ve never had it. P.S. And [...]

Apparently, “veinte anos no son nada,” as Carlos Gardel famously crooned. Here we go again. Hugo Chavez is making a second stab Sunday at lifting presidential term limits, allowing himself to be re-elected an infinite amount of times. Twelve or fifteen years in power? A mere tick of the clock (at least by Fidelista metrics) [...]

I read this piece in Wednesday’s L.A. Times and it went down like a 5 day old tuna sandwich. Now, mind you, I like Jim Rainey and think he’s a good reporter (though I will poke him one more time for not doing a story on the decline of L.A. Weekly). But this is not [...]

Here’s the official birth certificate for NeonTommy.com Again, please visit us and bookmark us. And join our Facebook group “Neon Tommy.” Thanks. Now that we’ve got this baby lit up and glowing I might actually find some time for blogging!

I’m not a fan of bad news. But I have to admit that it was a true breath of fresh air to watch Barack Obama tonight go on national TV and speak honestly and openly about the economic catastrophe we are facing. Here was a president who didn’t flinch to talk about burgeoning soup kitchens, [...]

Come in through the revolving door. Exit through the revolving door. So it goes with Tom Daschle. Poor thing won’t become HHS Secretary. He’ll just have to go back to being a chauffer-driven $2 million a year non-lobbyist for a lobbyist law firm. Yes, Barack Obama screwed up. It’s not that Daschle might not have [...]

Clintons, Clintons, Clintons and Clintonistas everywhere we turn. One of them getting sworn in as Secretary of State while two others looked on. A Clintonista confirmed as Attorney General. More to come. One of the sleazy by-products of an otherwise inspiring Age of Obama. But there might be another, much more distasteful, reminder of the [...]