Here are three New Year’s lists to begin the New Year with (hopefully) a smile.

Happy New Year to Everyone at The Planet 2010-2011

It has come to symbolize the bittersweet moment when the clock strikes the New Year, when we mark time passing. It is a poem in Scots dialect, set to a Scots folk tune, and a lot of us don’t think much about the words, or even know them. We all [...]

I am not a religious person in the least. In fact, I don’t believe in any god; but – unlike seemingly a fair few people of the liberal persuasion – neither do I feel the need to elevate any person, living or dead, to a god-like position. Everybody has feet of [...]

I’m winding down, so some pictures from around the National Mall and Downtown Washington. Not many to go!

I just finished reading AdLib’s piece The Cool Before The Storm, which contains the video of a speech President Obama made to Democrats right before the crucial vote on Health Care Reform.

Several thoughts came to mind. And I have some questions.

Nominate your favorite PlanetPOV posts of 2010!

“We want you all to know there will be no screening of any passengers today, or any other day for that matter.”

There was a major gasp that went through the crowd laced with whispered variations of the popular question phrase …..What the?

As reported in many publications all new and returning Democratic Senators have signed a letter pledging to have filibuster reform. Is it time to make a change, the first since 1975? What is the Planet’s POV?

Driving though the snow in a beat up Chevrolet,
Through the aisles we go, pushing people out the way……

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through DC, Not a leader was crying, not even John B; The tax cuts were hung by the wealthy with care, In hopes that some trickle down soon would be there; The Baggers were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of [...]

Need a quiet moment? Join me at the national house of prayer.

Halfway down the mountain between my house and town is a stretch of road that looks like it ends in a house.  It doesn’t of course, rather it curves in front of it like the arced track of an amusement park ride.  The people who live there are Charlie and [...]

Three phases of my life (so far) as represented by the foods I ate.

A vexillophile’s delight, join me up the hill for a bit of cardio and international diplomacy on Embassy Row.

American democracy is under attack; tyrants wielding money as free speech and power have taken over.  America grew strong on democracy through the hard work and sacrifice of the American people and the people have thrived on the fruits of the democracy they have created.  In recent decades those fruits have been poisoned [...]

During the holiday season, the Christmas manger scene is an important symbol for those who believe that the birth of Jesus was the birth of their Savior. It also has importance for those who are only culturally Christian but view the nativity scene as another symbol that takes its place [...]

Happy Holidays, god jul, Feliz Navidad, Frohe Weihnachten, Joyeux Noël, boldog karácsonyt!!!

AdLib : Night! AdLib : The public has such a corporately-crea ted short attention span, that would be hard to change. kesmarn : If only we could get the public off their roller coaster, AdLib! Good night again! AdLib : Night all and thanks for another enjoyable and intriguing edition [...]

We’re often told by our politicians that “It’s just not the right time,” to do the right thing in full. It’s time for that excuse to expire.

Time Out For OT – Vol 13

Chances are good that you’ve never heard of Cambridge, Ohio. It’s a tiny hamlet located in eastern Ohio, near the West Virginia border, that happens to be my ancestral home. My maternal grandparents, along with relatives and fellow immigrants from the same region of Lebanon, made their way over in [...]

My mother’s oldest brother never voted in his life. He went to his grave, having never cast a vote for a single politcal candidate, Democrat or Republican. That didn’t stop him from having opinions though, about every man who ever sat in the White House, and he could have voted [...]

Loads of people are in high-gear whine mode about the deal cut in Washington by the President with the Republicans last week. One of the lesser ad hominems being thrown at the President at the moment is the accusation that he’s morphed into a Republican at last. I beg to differ. [...]

These guys remind of Daniel Plainview promising the people of Little Boston that they will become rich if they let him drill on their land. Only after he’s walked away with millions and their left with a pittance do they figure out how they have been bamboozled.