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Nationalists Propose Scottish Independence Question -- The Scottish National Party's leader and First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, used Wednesday's Burns Night celebrations to announce how he wants the 2014 independence referendum's question worded. The proposal is already setting off unionists on both sides of the border as they claim it is a leading question. Well, it is, and since he holds a majority in the Scottish Assembly, perhaps it's his right to ask "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?" Elections do have consequences. [27 January]
Fed Won't Hike Rates Till Late 2014 -- The US Federal Reserve has announced that it will keep the benchmark Fed Funds rate at almost zero until late 2014. Moreover, the Fed may engage in further quantitative easing to get the economy moving, "I don't think we're ready to declare that we've entered a new, stronger phase at this point," Chairman Ben Bernanke said. "If the situation continues with inflation below target and unemployment declining at a rate which is very, very slow, then ... the logic of our framework says we should be looking for ways to do more." This means inflation, while not dead, is hardly a concern, the US economy is going to grow anemically for quite some time yet, and the Fed will use what few tools it has left to boost that growth. [126 January]
Obama Lays out Election Strategy in State of the Union -- Last night's State of the Union speech delivered by President Obama was hardly memorable as a piece of writing. As usual, Mr. Obama brought his oratorical talents and pulled off a good performance. However, the material he had to work from was a journeyman's piece of wordsmithing and hardly something that will resonate across history. It was, in fact, a Clintonesque laundry list that set out markers for November's election. [25 January]
Police Need a Warrant to Track Suspects by GPS -- Any faith remaining in the US Supreme Court after the stupid and irrational decision in Bush v Gore (stop counting votes in an election?) was shattered in the inept and evil Citizens United case (one will admit a corporation has the same rights as a human when Rick Perry has one executed in Texas). So when the supremes vote 9-0 in favor of civil liberties, it is beyond a pleasant surprise. They did just that in stating that the police need a warrant to track someone using a GPS device attached to a vehicle. [24 January]
Gingrich Carries South Carolina, Still Trails in Delegate Count -- As expected, Newton Leroy Gingrich of Georgia secured a plurality of votes in the South Carolina Republican primary with 40.4% of the ballots cast. His margin of victory over Willard Mitt Romney, was 12%. Immediately, the chatter-boxes on TV proclaimed it a completely new ballgame. They are wrong. Winning here, losing there, these are sideshows. Focusing on individual states is like judging a basketball game based on who dribbles the best. The ballgame has always been to collect 1,144 delegates to the nominating convention. Mr. Romney, despite the South Carolina result, is still winning, [23 January]
Copyright 2011 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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