I don't believe the arts can, or should, stand on their own. Even more worrisome than Romney's statements themselves is the ideology from which they spring up. The arts are not nonpartisan.
For the final push of this campaign Mitt Romney is trying to reinvent himself as a moderate, less-scary Republican. And the press is helping him at every turn.
Mitt Romney is the poster child of big business expediency, where truth is less important than closing the deal. And if he gets elected we'll see a reprise of the Wild West days that ended in the 2008 crisis.
Reporters covering this election deserve nothing but contempt from the public. It is their job to highlight the issues that will matter to people's lives, not to help push the agenda of corporate America.
In this century, the news business has gone from straight and unbiased news to bending over backwards to flat on your back. Political parties are already irrelevant in this country. Is the press next in line? Or is it already there?
Although the "town meeting"-style debate isn't conducive to sharp give-and-take with Romney, look for every opportunity to nail him. Indignance doesn't come naturally to you, but you have every reason to be indignant on behalf of the American people.
Satirical news outlet The Onion recently featured a piece with the headline "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama." Satire, to be an effective form of constructive social criticism, has to be based on some truth, and this premise isn't really all that far-fetched.
If enforcing rights to public records carries with it a risk of having to pay the government's legal fees and costs, the California Public Records Act will be a dead letter.
When I heard on Sunday that Arlen Specter had died, I sought solace in rummaging through personal remnants of our 30-year friendship.
So how is it possible that Mitt Romney can even be considered for the most important job in the world? How can Paul Ryan even be considered for the spot next in line?
I have no quibble with others' religious beliefs. Those who choose to accept Eben Alexander's interpretation of his experiences are welcome to do so, as far as I'm concerned. There is nothing scientific about Alexander's claims or his"proof."
We put together a list of all these places, be it online or offline, where you can watch tomorrow's debate. And who else will be there with you, cheering on the beautiful misery of it all:
Looking at the pictures published by CBS, AP, NBC and the NYT, it appears as if Paul Ryan rolled up his sleeves and helped clean up after a meal served at an Ohio soup kitchen.
While there were indeed things that Raddatz did right, this debate could have been much more useful for voters than it was. Her performance as moderator, and the debate's overall structure, deserve further scrutiny.
These past warm months have been especially riddled with revelations of academic dishonesty. And the scandals have been extensively covered by the media.
Tomorrow morning, the Social Security Administration will post on its website the size of the Cost of Living Adjustment for 2013. Here are eight things that journalists -- newspaper, radio and TV reporters, editors, bloggers and TV anchors -- need to know.
The campaigns are so caught up in messaging that they aren't seeing that this moment requires real leadership and specific solutions, not spin and mud-slinging.
John O'Toole, 2012.16.10