TODAY'S PAPER
42° Good Morning
42° Good Morning

Middle East war room

Middle east
Mideast policy was so much easier when all it had to do was demonize Saddam, Khomeini and Qaddafi etc..

Obamacare wins

ACA
That Sen. Ted Cruz has availed himself of his arch-nemesis (Obamacare) is unsurprising. His wife took leave from her job – and benefits – to help Ted “run for President,” so faced with the choice of the crushing cost of COBRA, the high price of buying health insurance on the open insurance market, or enrolling under an Affordable Care Act plan, they naturally chose the least expensive, most comprehensive one for their family.

Embarrassing

GOP
I know that a lot of my Republican friends think the President somehow embarrasses them overseas. But it is the 47 Senators (and now – inexplicably – one Governor Jindal) who by sending a meddlesome and incoherent letter to Iran have committed an actual thing to for us to be embarrassed about.

The squeegee guy

Giuliani
When you begin remarks with “I know this is a horrible thing to say,” you should probably stop there. But at a recent political event, Rudy Giuliani continued with coded speech questioning President Barack Obama’s love of country. The ex-mayor’s antics are a brusque reminder of a less hospitable era in New York City history.

War authorization

War
There is zero doubt that ISIS needs to go away, but the President’s request for war powers is troubling since as our “partners” in that effort are egregious violators of human rights. Besides if there’s one thing a political cartoonist should be cynical about, it’s a declaration of war.

Union broken

SOTU
It’s full steam ahead in America – But here’s hoping that one of the coaches is a bar car.

Be proud America

Obama
During this past week of angst and rage over immigration policy, I noticed that obituaries for director Mike Nichols noted that he was an immigrant who spoke no English when he arrived as a child from Germany. I wasn’t born here either, so I can tell you firsthand that looking in from the outside, America’s draw is very strong. We must remember to be proud of that.

Climate change cooperation

Climate change cooperation
Republican politicians have now mysteriously, and collectively, agreed to begin all answers about humans’ impacts on climate change with the phrase “Well, I’m no scientist, but…”. Strangely enough, there are, in fact, actual scientists with whom they could easily consult. And even more oddly, a vast majority of those scientists have come to the conclusion that we HAVE had an effect on climate change. Puzzling, but then, “I’m no Republican politician…”

Repeal has no appeal

ACA
As imperfect as Obamacare — also known as the Affordable Care Act — is, there are a lot of Americans who really need and use it. Politicized calls for repeal should probably take that into consideration. And, of course, they won’t.

Health insurance headaches

Obama
​A year into the Affordable Care Act is undoubtedly revealing to a whole new segment of the population that health insurance is no panacea.