Midday Magazine on WAMC

Ever since the establishment of our democracy, citizens of the United States have demonstrated both pleasure and disgust with their government by exercising their right to vote.

By all rights, President Barack Obama should have been beaten handily by Mitt Romney.  Usually, an incumbent President wins if the economy is doing well --- think of 1996 when Bill Clinton was re-elected, think of 1972 when Richard Nixon was re-elected.   If the economy is not doing well, an incumbent President loses:  Think of Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H, W. Bush in 1992.  There are “close calls” in this analysis – the two that come to mind are the successful re-election campaigns of Ronald Reagan in 1984 (which resulted in a landslide victory) and George W.

Where is my America?  The nation of rugged individualists has ceded its position to those who embrace the command economy. Moreover, a failed record doesn’t mean very much when media panjandrums use barrels of print to boost the fortune of their desired candidates.

Massachusetts is facing huge budget deficits in its highway and mass transit systems. The Patrick administration is likely to call early next year for higher taxes and tolls.  The state, meanwhile, is putting millions of dollars more into a major transportation project in western Massachusetts.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

The United States Public Interest Research Group has released its 27th annual report detailing unsafe toys and how parents can protect their children from dangerous products on store shelves. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Yesterday, the US PIRG Education Fund Released the 27th annual Trouble in Toyland Report. Across the country, coordinators discussed the report, shared safety guidelines for consumers purchasing toys for young children and provided examples of toys on store shelves that could present safety hazards.

      Maybe it is the proximity of Thanksgiving that has gotten to me - but here is a really positive take on the year in politics:

The good guys won. And I don't just mean the President got re-elected.

There was more to it - so let's take a closer look at two specific aspects of the political landscape.

First - democracy was elevated.

Yes -- that may sound crazy after all the bile and nasty TV ads that buffeted us this year. At the fringe the ugliness was there, as it will always be unfortunately.

This commentator has always believed that age was never a guarantor of complaint or bad manners nor was it an established signal for curmudgeonly behavior.  So it’s especially upsetting to find oneself setting a graphic example of what he has criticized.

The Governor of Massachusetts has submitted a request to the state’s Commissioner of Higher Education that  formerly undocumented students living in the Commonwealth receive in-state college tuition at public universities and community colleges. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

A professor at Cornell is at odds with a major internet search engine: he accuses Google of helping the gas lobby support hydraulic fracturing.  Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas looked into that allegation...

In a 2011 Cornell University study, Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology Robert Howarth warned that extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale via hydrofracking could do more to aggravate global warming than mining coal.  Howarth's findings were published in scientific journals as well as The New York Times.'

One new film that is sure to be high on this year’s Oscar buzz list is David O. Russell’s SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. While the film is predictable, it also is insightful and extremely entertaining. Its characters are flawed but likable, and are ever so human.