Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Your (rapidly becoming weekly) rundown of articles, essays, graphs, etc. from the past several days that are worth a read:

• A long (almost 8,500 words) but captivating and detailed account of the mission that ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden.
• Facebook adds a new option for listing family members on your profile: Your “expected child” still in the womb.
• A squirrel-themed video called “The Spending Is Nuts” won the $100,000 first prize in Power Line’s competition for the creative project that “most effectively and creatively dramatize[s] the significance of the federal debt crisis.”
• The Economist’s man in Atlanta, a D.C. native named Jon Fasman, writes that living here has been a “happy surprise.”
• The head of the Technology Association of Georgia writes that, while “our prowess in technology is still, unfortunately, one of Georgia’s best kept secrets” and that the state still lacks “a plan…to attract and build investment firms” and bring much needed venture capital …

Continue reading ICYMI: Fetuses on Facebook, ‘The Spending Is Nuts,’ the Volt and dollar struggle mightily, and…an infield triple? »

Response to this feature last week was pretty good, so I’m trying it again today: a rundown of articles, essays, graphs, etc. from this week that are interesting but haven’t made it to my blog until now.

• Polls from so-called battleground states suggest President Obama’s re-election chances are worse than the national surveys would indicate.
• All the talk about spending cuts in the debt-ceiling debate ignores the fact that neither side is talking about anything more than slowing the growth rate of spending. And here’s a useful graph comparing the two plans by Speaker John Boehner and the one by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
• An astonishing chart showing the price of the average U.S. house in ounces of gold. It’s enough to make one consider selling gold and buying real estate — so long as you do it before banks reduce a lot of the housing stock by tearing down unwanted, foreclosed homes.
• Someone else argues the higher tax rates of yesteryear won’t solve Washington’s budget …

Continue reading ICYMI: Purple states, razing homes and the UAW heads south »

I might not actually be fishing — I’m not totally sure what my plans will be, besides running the Peachtree Road Race — but I do know that I’m taking off the week of July 4. I’ll be back on Monday, July 11. Until then, have a happy Fourth.

– By Kyle Wingfield

Continue reading Gone fishin’ »

My best wishes this Memorial Day to everyone who has served our country, whose family and friends have served our country, or who is simply grateful to all those who have served. Below, I’m republishing a piece I wrote last year about this annual day of remembrance. Wherever you are, whatever your politics, I hope you’ll find a way today to remember our fallen soldiers.

The train trip from Brussels lasted two hours, with a change at Liege. On most days, Welkenraedt was a sign post you blinked past on the way to attractions in Germany: Cologne, Monschau, the only Wal-Mart for 100 miles. On this Memorial Day, it was a place to stop.

A few dozen miles to the south lay the northernmost bulge from Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive in 1944. A couple of miles to the north, in Henri-Chapelle, lie the remains of 7,992 American soldiers who never made it out of Belgium.

A couple of miles was more than my wife and I had anticipated. A young woman sat behind the ticket window. Was there, we …

Continue reading Memorial Day: Greet them ever with grateful hearts »

On my blog, that is. I’m taking a few days off and will be back on Monday, April 11. We’ll have to wait and see whether the federal government wants to join me on hiatus.

Big stuff coming up next week, including the end of the legislative session. Be sure to rejoin me for it.

– By Kyle Wingfield

Continue reading The temporary shutdown begins today »

You can catch me, the AJC’s Political Insider Jim Galloway, and Tom Crawford of the Georgia Report on GPB’s “Prime Time Politics” tonight at 7. We’ll be discussing the federal debt and deficit, along with some state-related budgetary matters.

The first half of the 30-minute show is on the same topic, but will feature a panel of budgetary experts: Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition, Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institute and David Walker of the Comeback America Initiative.

(And…I think I just set a record for hyperlinks per word in a blog post…)

– By Kyle Wingfield

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Continue reading PSA / shameless plug / programming note »

As you may have surmised by now, I’m off today. I’ll be back Tuesday, March 1.

In the meantime, my column for Sunday’s print version of the AJC will be posted online by 7 p.m. today — and, as a bonus, I’ll also appear at that same time on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Prime Time Politics” show. The topic is immigration reform.

– By Kyle Wingfield

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Continue reading A couple of things coming up tonight »

I’m off to enjoy some family time — maybe even make an attempt at that peaceful Christmas-card image I was talking about downstairs — and will be back next Tuesday, Dec. 28. Until then, you’ll still be able to submit comments on most blog entries but they will all go through moderation before being posted.

But most important, I hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas.

– By Kyle Wingfield

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Continue reading Gone a-wassailin’ »

A little pre-holiday lightness that I hope everyone can laugh at, courtesy of The Onion.

Obama Outlines Moral, Philosophical Justifications for Turkey Pardon

(Sorry, the video won’t embed here, so please click the link to view it.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’ll “see” you back here Monday.

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NOTE: Beginning with this post, all comments will go to moderation until I’m back in the office Monday. Feel free to submit them, just know that there will be a delay in their posting.

Continue reading ‘This is no rubber-stamp turkey pardon’ (video) »

I’ll be back Monday, Oct. 11.

Continue reading Gone hikin’ »