Leid Stories

Leid Stories - 10/25/13

So, What Have We Here?: Rating Obama and His Administrations (Part 2)

Owing to the incredible response to yesterday’s program, we continue the conversation to accommodate those with profound thoughts to share.

Almost a year into his second term, President Barack Obama’s tenure can hardly be described as smooth sailing – the current crisis in Washington a case in point. The “liberal” Democrat was at a 69-percent approval rating after his first year in office (Gallup poll, Jan. 22, 2009), but times have changed. Recent polls are indicating a huge loss of love for the nation’s leader.

What accounts for this?

Leid Stories conducts its own “poll” of listeners’ perceptions and analyses of Obama and his two administrations. Among other things, they will be asked whether their view of him in his second term has changed, and if so, in what way(s); what they consider his greatest achievement and his greatest failure to date; and, on a scale of 1 to 10, how they would rate his performance in office.

 

Leid Stories - 10/24/13

So, What Have We Here?: Rating Obama and His Administration

Almost a year into his second term, President Barack Obama’s tenure can hardly be described as smooth sailing – the current crisis in Washington a case in point. The “liberal” Democrat was at a 69-percent approval rating after his first year in office (Gallup poll, Jan. 22, 2009), but recent polls are indicating a huge loss of love for the nation’s leader.

What accounts for this?

Leid Stories conducts its own “poll” of listeners’ perceptions of Obama and his administration. Among other things, they will be asked whether their view of him in his second term has changed, and if so, what accounts for the change; what they consider his greatest achievement and his greatest failure to date; and, on a scale of 1 to 10, how they would rate his performance in office.

Leid Stories - 10/23/13

New Party Aims to End “Plantation Politics” in New York

Emulating the spirit of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party of the civil-rights ’60s, the recently formed Freedom Party in New York City has trumped considerable odds against it and in a short time has accomplished much: It has qualified for ballot status and is fielding two candidates (for mayor and for public advocate) in the Nov. 5 general election.

It is the beginning of a two-tiered plan with a long-term aim, says today’s guest, “Attorney-at-War” Alton H. Maddox Jr., the party’s founder and strategist. Ultimately, he says, it’s about developing effective political alternatives for disfranchised constituencies, mostly of people of color, and putting an end to “plantation” politics.

Maddox details the party’s “Plan A” and “Plan B” for the general election and beyond.

Leid Stories - 10/22/13

What’s Your Side of Their Story? Share It on Open Forum!

No doubt you’ve been following major issues and events in the news and have a bone or two to pick with the media’s coverage of them. 

Here’s your chance to share your side of their story on Leid Stories’ “Open Forum,” the gathering place for the exchange of information, opinions and ideas.

Leid Stories - 10/21/13

The Crisis in Washington, As Seen From the Outside In

 

The temporarily averted crisis over the debt ceiling, government shutdown and Obamacare still has Washington mired in the partisan politics of blame. But with a budget deadline looming, the battle lines once again will be drawn around deep cuts in the federal budget.

Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., says the biggest fiscal policy crisis confronting the Obama administration has gone unaddressed for five years.

Bill McInturff, cofounder of Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public-affairs research firm and “the leading Republican polling company,” according to The New York Times, interprets the short- and long-term impact of the Washington fiasco via opinion polls and surveys.

Leid Stories - 10/18/13

Democrats and Republicans Feast on Pork at Debt Ceiling Banquet

 

Old habits die hard in Washington. When it comes to earmarks – the proverbial “bacon” to be brought home – old habits don’t die at all.

 

The down-to-the-wire agreement Senate leaders worked out Wednesday to avert the catastrophe of a default on the government’s $17-trillion debt burden had several “surprise” projects in it that most legislators in the House and Senate didn’t know they had approved – pretty much like how Obamacare legislation was passed.

 

In crisis there is opportunity, and it appears Democrats and Republicans seized the opportunity during their closed-door negotiations to dine high on the hog. Billions of dollars approved for pork-barrel projects, and it’s a mystery how they were budgeted for and by whose authority.

Leid Stories - 10/17/13

And the Scuzzbucket Business of Politics Goes On

Senate leaders pressed the pause button on The Great Default and Debt Ceiling Crisis yesterday, allowing furloughed “nonessential” government workers to return to work (with back pay); authorizing operating funds for the federal government through Jan. 15; extending its borrowing power through Feb.7; and mandating congressional agreement on a long-term budget plan by Dec. 13.

The Democrats are dizzy with their strategic victory. Republican opposition crumbled with infighting and negative press; they slinked away with income verification for those receiving subsidies for Obamacare as their prize.

Neither party has clean hands in this debacle, says Leid Stories; in fact, it proves how much alike they are in their ruthless pursuit of power.

Leid Stories - 10/16/13

Current Fiscal Crisis Is Also A Crisis of Confidence in Government.

Time for A National Referendum on Congress?

 

The fiscal debacle in Washington has proven one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt: Even when the government has shown itself to be continually in breach of the public trust and a threat to the welfare of citizens, said citizens have no real means to stop the abuses heaped upon them or to compel the government to obey their will.

 

Leid Stories discusses the issue of what rights, if any, Americans have to protect themselves against a renegade, intractable government and whether there should be a constitutional provision that certain major pieces of legislation, such as the Affordable Care Act, should require a direct vote (referendum) by the people.

Leid Stories - 10/15/13

It’s Open Forum, the Antidote to Closed Minds!

Share your views on issues and events you think warrant depper discussion and debate. It’s Open Forum on Leid Stories; you take the discussion where you want it to go.

Just so you know, the most brilliant people on the planet will be listening to you. Make it impossible for them to find holes in your argument.

Leid Stories - 10/14/13

The Two-Party System: The Lesser of Two Evils; The Evil of Two Lessers

Has it not become abundantly clear that the two-party system will continue to give us more of what we’ve been getting – having to choose between the lesser of two evils and the evil of two lessers?

In this protracted political stickup the people lose. We’re mere hostages to these marauders, and they know that we’re either unwilling or way too scared to break free.

Yet, it’s our best and only option.