Media

Critics of government say that the public sector is bigger now than it's ever been before and, in fact, swells larger in a nearly automatic fashion.

Representative John Dingell (D-MI), the longest-sitting member of Congress, introduced a bill Thursday designed to force the Supreme Court to reconsider its Citizens United decision. Along with at least ten co-sponsors, Dingell's Restoring Confidence in Our Democracy Act, would ban corporations and unions from making independent political expenditures. It would also subject Super PACs to the same contribution limits that exist with other PACs.

Americans are, for the most part, completely unaware of just who -- or what -- is funding the 2012 presidential campaign.

Just 25 percent of likely voters say they have heard "a lot" about outside spending this election cycle, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, while a huge majority said they have either heard little or "nothing at all" about outside expenditures by groups not associated with the candidates or campaigns.

The 2012 elections are on track to be the nastiest in recent memory. By the tail end of primary season, in May, 70 percent of all presidential campaign ads were negative, up from a mere 9 percent at the same point in 2008.

Prominent Jewish Republicans flew to Israel last weekend to join presidential candidate Mitt Romney on his overseas trip. Among them were casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam.

The Adelsons were in the audience Sunday when Romney gave a policy speech in Jerusaleum. And at a fundraising breakfast Monday, Sheldon Adelson sat by Romney's side.

It looks like the push from Amazon and Walmart for a tax on Internet sales may carry enough weight to win over (or at least neutralize) our lawmakers who are, for the most part, terminally squeamish about even the smallest tax. I was admittedly skeptical, but an Internet sales tax is an increasingly real possibility.

The July jobs report this morning was better than expected, but still bad news. The unemployment rate remains unchanged and the economy is barely treading water. The U.S. would need to create 5 million jobs just to get back to 2007 levels -- yet, of course, millions of young people have since graduated school and entered the workforce (or want to, anyway). So we are talking about a need for way more than 5 million jobs.

Oklahoma is suffering through an extended heat wave with temperatures topping 100 degrees or more every day since July 18th. The heat is so bad that it’s starting to melt street lamps in Stillwater. As the state suffers from extreme heat, its senior senator remains one of the leading climate deniers.

Last night, when U.S. swimmer Nathan Adrian, won the 100-meter Olympic freestyle by a fraction of a second, I reflected on just how valuable that sliver of advantage would be to Adrian. As an Olympic gold medalist, he'll make big money from endorsements and public appearances -- the kind of money that mere silver medalists don't get paid. America likes winners, after all, not also-rans.