Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. began a two-day mission that he said was intended to “reestablish contact” with Iraqi leaders.
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New York Times
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Biden Visits Iraq, Underscoring Fragile Sovereignty
2 Jul 2009 | 5:13 pm -
Sanford Didn’t Improperly Use Public Funds, Official Says
2 Jul 2009 | 2:24 pmA South Carolina official said there was no evidence that Gov. Mark Sanford violated any law when he visited his mistress. -
For an Insider, a Lonely Road to Senate Run
2 Jul 2009 | 12:40 pmRepresentative Carolyn B. Maloney, a quintessential New York liberal, is fighting an uphill battle for the seat held by Kirsten E. Gillibrand. -
Congressional Memo: What’s So Super About a Supermajority?
2 Jul 2009 | 12:28 pmThe Democrats will be the first party in 30 years to have a 60-vote majority in the Senate. Now comes the hard part. -
News Analysis: To Critics, New Policy on Terror Looks Old
2 Jul 2009 | 12:22 pmObama administration officials see a fundamental difference between their approach and George W. Bush’s. Civil libertarians disagree.
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Washington Post
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Recriminations Over Sarah Palin Mask Deeper GOP Troubles
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmOn the same day Republicans surrendered a symbolically significant seat in the Senate, the Sarah Palin wars erupted again inside the party. Leaks followed by trash-talking followed by recriminations. -
Montgomery County Officials Seek Funding for Silver Spring to D.C. Bike Trail
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmCounty officials say they will push for capital funding in next year's budget to continue a long-delayed bike trail that would run from downtown Silver Spring to downtown Washington, a move residents say is overdue. -
ACLU Says Detainee Mohammed Jawad Was Tortured Into Confessions
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmThe American Civil Liberties Union yesterday accused the Obama administration of using statements elicited through torture to justify the confinement of a detainee it represents at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. -
Obama Holds Health-Care Forum in Virginia
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmPresident Obama offered a wonkish defense of his embattled health-care reform effort during an hour-long town hall meeting in Northern Virginia yesterday that featured seven questions, including one sent via Twitter and several from a handpicked audience of supporters. -
Sanford Resisting Pressure From Fellow Republicans to Resign
1 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pmSouth Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford defied calls for his resignation yesterday from GOP leaders, insisting he will remain in office even as his political fortunes dimmed in the wake of his admission that he secretly traveled abroad to meet a mistress.
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Daily Kos
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Late Afternoon/Early Evening Open Thread
2 Jul 2009 | 5:10 pmJon Stewart smackdown on Beck’s “bin Laden needs to attack America”: -
Health Care Rationing is Here
2 Jul 2009 | 4:20 pmThe debate on the health care bill is so often snagged on talking points that have been around since Truman. A government health care plan will lead to bureaucrats rationing our health care! "I don't think many Americans want to start having to wait in line [or] start getting government permission for procedures," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said last month on CBS's Face the Nation. All too often, reporters are willing to accept that hoary old chestnut as the end of the discussion, so when Scott Horsley at NPR takes a deeper look at that idea, it's... refreshing. But some doctors… -
Kurtz: Objectivity Impossible for Black Women?
2 Jul 2009 | 3:30 pmShorter Howard Kurtz: Well, ok, so none of the African American women who are reporters on the Michelle Obama beat have gotten interviews with her since the inauguration. And ok, so "no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murphy." But all these African American women are still probably going too easy on Michelle Obama. Because she's black! And they're black! And she's a woman! And they're women! As Adam Serwer says: More importantly, you would never ever see a media critic like Kurtz questioning the ability of white men to cover other white men… -
Jenny Sanford invokes Desmond Tutu on Mark's behalf
2 Jul 2009 | 2:41 pmIf you had any doubts about why Mark Sanford wanted to talk about his sex life, then this statement from his wife Jenny should clear them up: Columbia, S.C. - July 2, 2009- The last week has been very painful for me, my family and for the people of South Carolina. However, throughout this terrible ordeal, the incredible outpouring of kindness, support, and prayer I’ve received from countless friends and folks I have never even met has been truly uplifting. I appreciate that more than I can say. Please know that my sons and I are doing fine, given the circumstances. -
Washington Post says you're irrelevant on health care
2 Jul 2009 | 1:50 pmFrom the Washington Post flier selling access for money: "An exclusive opportunity to participate in the health-care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done." You have the second most important newspaper in the country feeding the Beltway conceit that anyone outside of the DC elite power structure is irrelevant, that only a powerful few will "actually get it done", and a little cash will help you "alter the debate". More: [Washington Post CEO and Publisher Katherine] Weymouth knew of the plans to host small dinners at her home and to charge lobbying and trade…
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DRUDGE REPORT
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[Headline] - Slide in Tourism...
Slide in Tourism... [Discuss] -
[Headline] - Los Angeles police under scrutiny in Jackson death...
Los Angeles police under scrutiny in Jackson death... [Discuss] -
Marines suffer first casualties in Afghan campaign...
Marines suffer first casualties in Afghan campaign... [Discuss] -
USA ready to shoot down NKorea long-range missile...
USA ready to shoot down NKorea long-range missile... [Discuss] -
[Headline] - DOWN ON THE 4TH OF JULY...
DOWN ON THE 4TH OF JULY... [Discuss]
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Talking Points Memo
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Deep Thought
2 Jul 2009 | 3:06 pmHow big does your house have to be before it's a compound? -
The Day in 100 Seconds: The Only Thing Worse...
2 Jul 2009 | 2:46 pmFull-size video at TPMtv.com. -
First Gubernatorial Reality Show
2 Jul 2009 | 1:03 pmGov. Sanford's wife releases a new statement. -
Berserk
2 Jul 2009 | 11:24 amWe have an update on this incident over the weekend in SD which was in equal parts bizarre, horrific and comic. A Sheriff's deputy got called to the home of two Democratic activists who were holding a fundraiser for congressional candidate Francine Busby. The complaint he was responding to was what appears to have been a bogus noise complaint called in by a neighbor who simultaneously yelling anti-gay slurs from outside the event (a lesbian couple hosted the event). So Deputy Marshall G. Abbott shows up at house and within a few moments he's literally going berserk, twisting the hosts' arms… -
Not the Sharpest Tool in Shed
2 Jul 2009 | 10:19 amYou may remember Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) as the guy who thought he'd stumped the Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary about the origins of oil. Now he's picked up the story about the EPA economist who's picked up climate science as a hobby but couldn't get his 'report' included in the Agency's official findings and thinks it's a scandal on par with Watergate.
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Washington Monthly: Political Animal
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Thursday's Mini-Report
2 Jul 2009 | 3:30 pmTHURSDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * Marines launched a major offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand River valley early today, described as "the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan." * As part of the offensive, one American soldier is believed to have been kidnapped, while another was killed in a firefight. * North Korea continues to fire short-range missiles of its East coast. * Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Iraq. * President Obama covered quite a bit of ground in an interview with the AP today. * Two years ago,… -
He's not crazy, he's just a little unwell
2 Jul 2009 | 2:35 pmHE'S NOT CRAZY, HE'S JUST A LITTLE UNWELL.... Well, there's a headline South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) probably didn't want to see in his state's largest newspaper: "Sanford's mental state questioned." While mental health experts are reluctant to pin a diagnosis on the governor, their observations of his behavior suggest a chemical imbalance, narcissism and impulsive behavior. [...] "That's a troubled man," said Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, a longtime Sanford ally who this year became frustrated at Sanford's refusal to take federal stimulus money. "You can see it in his eyes and his… -
Barton identifies 'Carbongate'
2 Jul 2009 | 1:50 pmBARTON IDENTIFIES 'CARBONGATE'.... Throughout his career, Rep. Joe Barton, the Republican congressman from ExxonMobil, has been something of an embarrassment. Part of the problem is his reflexive right-wing ideology. Another part is his well-deserved reputation for being the most pro-pollution lawmaker on the Hill. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of the congressman's record is the fact that he's conspicuously unintelligent. On a variety of subjects, on a variety of occasions, Barton has humiliated himself. Just in recent months, it's happened over and over and over and over again. With… -
The Original King of Irony strikes again
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pmTHE ORIGINAL KING OF IRONY STRIKES AGAIN.... Karl Rove cracks me up. Consider what he told Fox News this morning: "This White House has carried pre-packaged, organized, controlled, scripted events to a new height, and they're getting away with things that in any previous White House, the media would have eviscerated the press secretary and the White House for it." As a substantive matter, Rove was criticizing the president's forum in Virginia yesterday on health care policy. Amanda Terkel contacted the White House about the logistics of the event, and it turns out, Rove's criticism is just… -
WaPo scraps salon scheme
2 Jul 2009 | 12:10 pmWAPO SCRAPS SALON SCHEME.... When a major national newspaper schedules an event connecting lobbyists and policymakers in exchange for lots of money, there's only so much damage control the outlet can do. In light of this morning's revelations, the Washington Post's executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, said he is "appalled" by the proposed "salon," and said the newsroom will not participate in the event. "We do not offer access to the newsroom for money," Brauchli said. "We just are not in that business." The Post went on to tell staffers that the scheduled event was put together by the…
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The New Republic TOC
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In Praise Of The Congressmen Who Put Their Careers On The Line Last Friday
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmWASHINGTON--Hours before the House passed its cap-and-trade bill last week, freshman Democrats Tom Perriello and Frank Kratovil were pondering the political fallout of the votes they were about to cast in favor of a plan Republicans were denouncing as "cap-and-tax." -
Why A Half-Assed Climate Bill Is Probably Worth Supporting
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmAmong people who think we need strong, rapid action to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and avoid dangerous climate change—and I'm one of them—there's been a great deal of hand-wringing over whether or not to support the House climate and energy bill, which is now cruising on over to the Senate. -
Resignations, Frustrations, And 180 Degree Changes Of Opinion At DC's Most Controversial Publication
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmIn the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, the magazine's media critic Michael Wolff writes a surprisingly positive 3400-word column about Politico. Not everyone shares this glowing assessment of the web-print startup. Last month, Politico’s chief foreign policy writer David Cloud resigned after only six months on the job. “It wasn't a good fit for me,” Cloud told me by phone this afternoon. Cloud joined Politico in January. In making the announcement, Politico’s top editors John Harris and Jim VandeHei stressed that Cloud’s hiring represented Politico’s commitment to broadening its… -
TNRtv: Should We Expect Even More Adventurism From A Weaker Tehran?
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmIn the second part of a TNRtv series on Iran, Afshin Molavi, fellow at The New America Foundation and author of The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey To Freedom, warns that a weaker Tehran may actually mean a more aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East. -
Congress 2.0: It's 2009--Isn't It Time We Allow Senators Incapable Of Making It To Washington To Vote From Home?
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmThe news that Al Franken is finally going to the Senate has prompted all sorts of musing about the Democrats' new supermajority. But, in fact, the Democrats don't have 60 votes--and it's not even the fault of Independent Joe Lieberman, who's actually been a relatively loyal Democrat of late. No, the real impediments to Senate Democrats achieving a supermajority are staph infection and brain cancer.
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National Review Online
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Kudlow: June Jobs Tell a Bad Story
2 Jul 2009 | 1:03 pmAfter nine months of explosive monetary and fiscal stimulus, youd think economic recovery would be upon us. But the June jobs report tells a much different story. -
Williamson: A Garden of Piggish Delights
2 Jul 2009 | 10:01 amFifty reasons to oppose the Democrats new climate-change bill. -
Geraghty: Away from the Hill, in Annandale
2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 amObama's health-care circus. -
Editors: Missile-Defense Countdown
2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 amThe need for a sustained commitment to missile defense is urgent, and getting more so by the minute. -
Derbyshire: June Diary
2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 amJohn Derbyshire weighs on in the last months events.
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ProPublica: Government & Politics
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Many States Leave Federal Unemployment Money Unclaimed
2 Jul 2009 | 2:48 pmby Olga Pierce, ProPublica - A few governors were loud about rejecting stimulus funding for expanding unemployment insurance, but many states have quietly let their share of the funding sit in Washington. So far, only about half of the $7 billion included in the stimulus package has been claimed by states. (See our interactive map and chart.) What's more, about two-thirds of the funding that has been distributed has gone to states with existing laws, and not to states with newly expanded benefits. Four states have explicitly rejected the funding, but many others have so far failed to pass… -
Chart: Has Your State Left Federal Unemployment Money Unclaimed?
2 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pmby ProPublica Chart: Has Your State Left Federal Unemployment Money Unclaimed? by Olga Pierce, ProPublica -- July 2, 2009 As we detailed in our series with public radio's Marketplace, the U.S.'s patchwork unemployment insurance system -- each state has their own program -- features wildly varying levels of financing and benefits. The percent of unemployed workers collecting benefits also varies, from 22 percent in Washington, D.C., to 77 percent in Idaho. The stimulus bill, passed in February, includes $7 billion for states that expand their unemployment insurance to include new groups of… -
Help Identify Health Care Lobbyists on the Hill
25 Jun 2009 | 12:08 pmby Amanda Michel, ProPublica - Don't let the 80s hue of this photo fool you into thinking you're looking at a scene from years ago. It was taken last week by a National Public Radio photographer covering a June 17 congressional hearing on health care reform. The hearing was one of many happening on the Hill as committees began reviewing draft health care legislation. NPR has uploaded the pic to its Web site and is asking its audience to identify attending lobbyists. Health care lobbying is big business. So far this year, more than $1.4 million has been spent each day lobbying Capitol Hill on… -
Obama Boosts In-Home Services for the Disabled
22 Jun 2009 | 11:02 amby Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica - President Barack Obama announced today measures to increase the ability of people with disabilities to live at home, rather than in institutions. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Olmstead v. L.C., which said that making services for disabled people available only in institutions and not at home violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Scant progress has been made toward that goal, and disability advocates have been disappointed that the issue has not thus far figured in the administration's health care reform plans. -
Landmark Case: A Decade After Olmstead, Progress Slow on Disability Rights
19 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pmby Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica - May 1995: Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Lois Curtis against Tommy Olmstead, commissioner of human services in Georgia. January 1996: Elaine Wilson joins the case. March 1997: U.S. District court rules in favor of Curtis and Wilson, finding that "unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities is discrimination." State of Georgia appeals. November 1997: An appeals court upholds the ruling, saying Georgia discriminated under the Americans With Disabilities Act. June 22, 1999: The U.S. Supreme court rules in favor of Curtis and Wilson, finding that…
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New Majority - David Frum
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PALIN EXPOSED
2 Jul 2009 | 2:27 amAnother day, another leak from the wreckage of the McCain campaign. First Todd Purdum publishes a harsh piece in Vanity Fair on the Palin nomination, filled with harsh quotations from anonymous senior campaign sources -
THE COUP THAT ISN'T
2 Jul 2009 | 12:41 amOn June 28th, under the cover of darkness, President Manuel Zelaya was whisked out of the country by members of the armed forces and replaced. His supporters rallied to the streets, confronting soldiers and demanding the reinstatement of their democratically-elected leader -
DEATH BECOMES HIM
1 Jul 2009 | 6:55 amI always hated Michael Jackson's music. I find it tragic that this period of pop music will now be remembered as the Michael Jackson era when pop artists like Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, the Clash, the Jam or Madness will be remembered as having played secondary parts, when they were in fact much more creative than the Jackson who died a few days ago -
PAWLENTY: THE REAL WINNER IN MINN. SENATE RACE
1 Jul 2009 | 6:54 amThe Minnesota Supreme Court has awarded the Senate seat to Al Franken and Norm Coleman has conceded the race. Yet there is a more important story: the brilliant way Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty handled this race, both politically and ethically -
ACCOMPLICE TO AN ASSASSINATION?
1 Jul 2009 | 6:54 amOn July 13, 1989, three Iranian Kurds were shot to death gangland-style in Vienna
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Michelle Malkin
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Cap-and-Tax 8 Watch: Dave Reichert’s rationalization
2 Jul 2009 | 12:58 pmRead this post » -
Find an Independence Day Tea Party
2 Jul 2009 | 10:16 amIf you’re looking to celebrate Independence Day with other freedom-loving, limited-government activists, go to Tea Party Patriots for a list of more than 600 Tea Parties scheduled this weekend and beyond. [...] Read the rest » -
Outpouring of support for Dallas vet whose flags were torched
2 Jul 2009 | 9:12 amThey haven’t found the culprits yet who burned the U.S. [...] Read the rest » -
Washington Post: Laughingstocks and Let’s Make a Deal!; Update: “Salons” shut down
2 Jul 2009 | 8:29 amOuch, my sides hurt from laughing. [...] Read the rest » -
Stomach-turners of the morning
2 Jul 2009 | 7:11 amRead this post »
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Swampland - TIME.com
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Going To The Chapel, Take Two
2 Jul 2009 | 3:20 pmI know I'm a bit dim, but it sounds to me like the President confirmed my story about his church preference in a conversation today with a group of Catholic reporters. We have attended services at Camp David every weekend that we're there. I will tell you, by the way, that it is a wonderful little [...] -
What Is Ronnie Earle Up To?
2 Jul 2009 | 3:08 pmHilary Hylton, our reporter in Austin, passes along the following: Famous/infamous (depending on your point of view) Travis County DA Ronnie Earle, now retired, has filed papers with the Texas Ethics Commission as the first step to running for as a yet-to-be-announced statewide office. Supporters have been urging him to run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010. While [...] -
Where Unemployment Puts Obama Politically
2 Jul 2009 | 2:22 pmWalter Shapiro, over at Politics Daily, clearly summarizes the political situation President Obama inhabits, now that the vertiginous economic collapse seems to have slowed, and the long period of economic agony has begun, with continued job losses projected for many months to come. The president still needs to buy himself time with a lot of [...] -
A Senate Committee's Health Reform Bill
2 Jul 2009 | 11:55 amThe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has been struggling in the absence of ailing Chairman Ted Kennedy, has put out a full version of a health reform bill that solves many of the problems of its earlier versions and trial balloons. This amounts to enormous progress, largely creditable to Connecticut Senator Chris [...] -
Mark Sanford Abandons Book Plans
2 Jul 2009 | 9:39 amA statement just released from his would-have-been publisher: Sentinel has agreed to release Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina from his contract to write a book about fiscal conservatism, which was to be called WITHIN OUR MEANS and was scheduled for publication in March 2010. This is a mutual decision. We wish Governor Sanford the best. [...]
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Politico
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Capitol Hell: Worst states to govern
2 Jul 2009 | 5:09 pmServing as chief executive can be an unenviable task -- especially in these five states. -
Hospitals nearing a deal with W.H.
2 Jul 2009 | 5:08 pm3 hospital associations are closing in on providing $150 billion in savings to pay for health care reform. -
Sanford cleared in legal probe
2 Jul 2009 | 3:40 pmSanford is cleared of allegations that he may have illegally used taxpayer funds to visit his mistress. -
Where are the jobs?
2 Jul 2009 | 3:09 pmDems ask for patience but worry about 2010. -
Poll: High unfavorables for Franken
2 Jul 2009 | 11:41 amFranken generates strong feelings among detractors.
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USA Today: On Politics
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Should Mark Sanford resign as S.C. governor?
1 Jul 2009 | 1:04 pmWith more details of Gov. Mark Sanford's private life now public, at least six South Carolina newspapers and a growing number of his fellow Republicans are calling for him to step down. The Associated Press says that 14 of 27... -
N.Y.'s Maloney enters race for Senate seat
1 Jul 2009 | 11:55 amU.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney announced today she will challenge New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary next year, Gannett Washington reporter Brian Tumulty is reporting here. Gillibrand was appointed to the seat to replace Secretary of State Hillary... -
Strange bedfellows on the air
1 Jul 2009 | 9:07 amThe ad wars over the health care debate continue to heat up with more groups weighing in. This time, Families USA, one of the most influential outside groups in favor of an overhaul, has teamed up with the pharmaceutical trade... -
Rep. Waxman hospitalized in L.A.
1 Jul 2009 | 8:28 amJust days after navigating a massive climate change bill through the House, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has been admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for "routine testing," a spokeswoman tells the Associated Press. The spokeswoman, Karen Lightfoot, said... -
This won't be Al Franken's first Supreme Court confirmation hearing
30 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pmDemocrats have been keeping a seat warm on the prestigious Senate Judiciary Committee for Al Franken, in the hope that the drawn-out legal dispute over the Minnesota Senate race would end up in his favor. Now that it has, one...
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CNN
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New Sotomayor documents show rights group work
2 Jul 2009 | 3:05 pmNewly released documents from Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's service on the board of a Puerto Rican civil rights organization show the group opposed Robert Bork's nomination to the high court more than two decades ago. -
U.S. 'hits the pause button' on aid to Honduras
2 Jul 2009 | 2:37 pmThe United States put some teeth in its diplomatic signals to Honduras Thursday, stopping some aid programs temporarily to the Latin American country as it grapples with its two-president crisis. -
Obama says new job figures are sobering
2 Jul 2009 | 2:18 pmPresident Obama on Thursday called the nation's latest unemployment figures sobering, but said the economic recession is slowing. -
Gov. Sanford's wife: I'm willing to forgive
2 Jul 2009 | 1:12 pmSouth Carolina's attorney general said Thursday he expects a report showing whether Gov. Mark Sanford used any public money on private travels to be released soon. -
Estimate puts health care price tag at $611 billion
2 Jul 2009 | 11:51 amA health-care reform bill that includes a public insurance plan and requires employers to cover workers would cost $611 billion over 10 years, far less than previous estimates, according to a new analysis from Congress.
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Yahoo! News: Politics
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New Dem health plan has public option, lower cost (AP)
1 Jul 2009 | 9:29 pmAP - Democrats on a key Senate Committee outlined a revised and far less costly health care plan Wednesday night that includes a government-run insurance option and an annual fee on employers who do not offer coverage to their workers. -
GOP: 60 Votes Will Haunt Democrats at Ballot Box (CQPolitics.com)
1 Jul 2009 | 9:02 pmCQPolitics.com - Republicans say Democrat Al Franken's victory in the long-contested Minnesota Senate race opens a new line of attack against Democrats for 2010. -
Obesity rates rising, Mississippi's still fattest (AP)
1 Jul 2009 | 5:44 pmAP - Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers. -
US suspends military relations with Honduras (AP)
1 Jul 2009 | 5:36 pmAP - The Obama administration said Wednesday it has suspended joint military operations with Honduras to protest a coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya into exile. The U.S. withheld stronger action in hopes of negotiating a peaceful return of the country's elected leader. -
Lawmakers seek refuge in Capitol Hill sanctuary (AP)
1 Jul 2009 | 5:29 pmAP - For years, the brick facade of a three-story house near the Capitol has functioned as a shield for the lawmakers who live and pray there, offering sanctuary from the temptations of political life and discretion for those who succumbed.
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ABC News: Political Radar
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Obama Now Owns Bush's Broken Economy
2 Jul 2009 | 12:27 pmAmerica lost 467,000 jobs in the month of June. The sharp job loss that began during George Bush's presidency continues on Obama's watch. The new administration pushed through a stimulus plan aimed at jump starting hiring. But after fighting for... -
Obama Likes Mike Over Kobe
2 Jul 2009 | 10:28 amABC's Kristi Berner from New York: Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant may have won his fourth NBA title last month, along with his first playoff MVP trophy… but today he got dissed by the First Basketball Fan. The Associated... -
Wash Post: Saddam's Last Words To FBI
2 Jul 2009 | 8:25 amWhat did the imprisoned leader of Iraq say while being interviewed by the FBI? The Washington Post reports this morning (read here) that Saddam Hussein said he let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction because he wanted... -
'Unemployment rate much worse than the administration contemplated...'
2 Jul 2009 | 6:44 amSome quotes of the day...a good read before you head out of the office for the 4th... "There are now 14.7 million people unemployed. Since the start of the recession, the unemployment rate has risen 4.6 percentage points. If you... -
CLEM'S CHRONICLES: MICHAEL JACKSON/OBESITY/SANFORD
1 Jul 2009 | 6:27 pmHowdy-Clem Lane here with tonight's editorial doings......... MICHAEL JACKSON- --THE WILL-Michael Jackson’s will was filed today in a Los Angeles court. The 2002 document, gives his entire estate to a family trust and names his 79-year-old mother Katherine and his...
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First Read
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The Week Ahead: Obama's big trip
2 Jul 2009 | 3:03 pmTHE WEEK AHEAD: Obama's fourth major international trip takes him from Russia to Italy to Ghana, Congress is back, Al Franken gets seated and George W. Bush and Nancy Reagan birthdays. For our mailbox, submit your questions for next week in the comments section below. We might pick yours. By the way, this is an early Week Ahead, because we, at First Read, are taking tomorrow off. Happy Fourth of July! See you Monday....(read more) -
Budget woes in the states
2 Jul 2009 | 2:57 pmFrom NBC's Alex Beinstein, James Rankin, and Katelin SchartzThe economic recession has not hurt individual Americans across the country; it has also negatively affected state governments, which must balance their budgets. June 30 was the end of the fiscal year for most states, and here's a round up of headlines -- in the last couple of days -- that shed light on the challenges they're facing: Alabama“Recession Delays Alabama Tax Refunds”120,000 Alabama taxpayers will have to wait for their refunds due to declining revenue. Arizona“Brewer Rips Budget, Calls Special Session”Arizona… -
Kennedy committee releases health plan
2 Jul 2009 | 12:16 pmFrom NBC's Ken StricklandDetails on some of the most contentious elements of health-care reform were released today by one of Senate committees drafting the bill. The Senate Health Committee unveiled its plan for a public/government insurance program to compete with private insurers. And it also detailed the "play or pay" provision that would require companies to provide insurance coverage to their employees or pay fees to the government. Today's announcement, while significant, provides only a few new pieces in what has become a giant health-care reform puzzle. Several outstanding… -
Obama on Michael Jackson's death
2 Jul 2009 | 10:48 amFrom NBC's Scott FosterIn an on-camera interview today with the AP, President Obama was asked for his reaction to the apparent perception in the black community that he wasn't "respectful enough" to the death of Michael Jackson. The president responded that he knows "a lot of people in the black community, and I haven't heard that." (To recap: Obama's spokesman spoke on the president's behalf during a White House briefing last week, and the White House issued a written statement over the...(read more) -
Biden makes surprise visit to Iraq
2 Jul 2009 | 10:31 amFrom NBC's Mark MurrayThe vice president's office just announced that Joe Biden has arrived in Iraq. The visit comes just days after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country's largest cities. Here's the release: Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq to visit U.S. troops and to meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai. The Vice President will reiterate the United States’ commitment...(read more)
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Political Irony
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IV Stat
2 Jul 2009 | 3:28 am© Adam Zyglis Please Bookmark/Share » No related posts. -
The new thing the GOP wants us to be afraid of: the Metric System
2 Jul 2009 | 2:31 amIn an unintentionally ironic commentary on CNN, Republican John Feehery warns that now that the Democrats have a 60 seat majority in the Senate (with Senator Al Franken), we can expect such horrors as The Metric System (are you scared yet?)! What will this lead to? Soft drinks sold in liter bottles? Oh yeah, they already are. In fact, pretty much all industry has gone multinational, meaning that even US companies are metric. But we still stick with our unique and bizarre system of measurement, which means that our science students have a big handicap versus their international peers, everyone… -
USA Today, New York Times, and CNN need to fire their copy editors
1 Jul 2009 | 1:34 pmThe USA Today headline proclaims: Madoff ordered to forfeit $170B And the first line of the article says “Diisgraced financier Bernard Madoff has been ordered to forfeit over $170 billion, prosecutors said Friday.” Yes, they really did spell it “Diisgraced”. But the “bigger” point is that if Madoff actually had $170 billion to forfeit, that would have made him the richest person in the world (Bill Gates, who currently holds that title, is only worth $40 billion). USA Today needs to fire their copy editor. And to give you an idea of… -
The Hypocrisy of Mark Sanford
1 Jul 2009 | 12:24 pmThe latest installment of the Mark Sanford saga is that in his original confession about his lover in Argentina, he, uh, failed to tell the entire truth (he lied). Now he wants to “lay it all out” (as he inconveniently put it) and has added several additional romantic liaisons with his girlfriend that he failed to mention in his earlier confession, plus admitting that he has “crossed the lines” with other women in the past. Which begs the question: was he doing any of that crossing of lines back in 2002 when he made this campaign ad? When is a politician’s… -
Conservatives Gone Nuts: Wishing for another attack from bin Laden
1 Jul 2009 | 11:22 amThis is absolutely nuts: The quote from Michael Scheuer is “The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.” Glenn Beck agrees. In today’s Wall Street Journal is an opinion piece about how dysfunction helps the GOP. It brilliantly points out the hypocrisy of the current crop of Republican attack ads against health care reform. One ad (from fraud-tainted Conservatives for Patients’ Rights) says: Remember the $400 hammer? How ’bout that $600 toilet seat? Seems when Congress gets…
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Politics Daily
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Ruth and Bernie Madoff: Ignorance is Wedded Bliss?
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmFiled under: Economy, Woman UpEverything may finally be over for Bernie Madoff, but things are certainly not finished for anyone else. The victims of his scheme continue to hope that some of the money resurfaces, prosecutors have suggested that up to 10 more new charges could be coming down the pipeline, and then, of course, there is Ruth Madoff, who was evicted by U.S. marshals Thursday from her $7 million penthouse that she shared with Bernie Marriages have been in the news plenty this month: Sarah Palin and her "first dude" / trusted (and maybe only) advisor; Mark Sanford's grim… -
Obama/Disney Team Up and Google on Abortion: Politics Dailies - July 2
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmFiled under: Barack Obama, Economy, Abortion, Gay Rights, Sarah PalinEven the White House is now pessimistic about employment in 2010. I just learned what a "ScuttleButton" is. It's fun. And difficult. Mark Sanford traveled without his security detail 39 times so far in 2009. This article makes me think it would be fun to see who, between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, has promised to run an "open and transparent" government more, and who actually has followed through less. Google's weighing in on the abortion issue now? At least Pennsylvania State Sen. John Eichelberger would allow gay people… -
The Census Comes to Town! Michele Bachmann Locks the Door
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmFiled under: Republicans, Woman UpRepublicans are having a rough month. Not only is Mark Sanford sighing to anyone with five minutes and a notepad over his lost soul mate -- that would be Maria Chapur, not one of the "handful of women" he's had dalliances with over the course of his marriage -- but Rep. Michele Bachmann (R -Minn.) can't stop railing against her arch nemesis, the U.S. Census Bureau. Bachmann told The Washington Times that she will refuse to respond to the upcoming 2010 census with any information other than the number of people living in her house. Understandably, some of her… -
Presstitutes: All the News That's Fit to Pimp
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmFiled under: Woman UpTo my colleague Melinda Henneberger on the subject of The Washington Post's pay-to-play scandal and her dropped jaw: Word! Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments -
The Only Contest That Counts at Wimbledon
31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pmFiled under: Woman Up Even though the world is changing, not much has changed in the world of women's tennis. As Ria Misra laments, the spokesman for the All England Club has plainly stated, "Good looks are a factor" when scheduling matches for Centre Court at Wimbledon. Crowds will come to see lower-ranked players if they are judged eye candy. That's that. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)
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US forces target Taliban stronghold
2 Jul 2009 | 5:03 pmFighters say they will counter US offensive while Pentagon says still open to talks. -
Yemenia crash survivor returns home
2 Jul 2009 | 3:21 pmGirl who clung to floating debris for 12 hours is reunited with family in Paris. -
OAS seeks Zelaya reinstatement
2 Jul 2009 | 3:16 pmPressure mounts on Honduras as deadline to restore ousted president nears. -
N Korea fires series of missiles
2 Jul 2009 | 2:08 pmShort-range missiles launched from east coast, according to South Korean news agency. -
Obama: Russia must freshen outlook
2 Jul 2009 | 1:28 pmMoscow cautioned against using "Cold War approaches" in dealing with Washington.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST
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US Honduras Aid On Hold: State Department
2 Jul 2009 | 4:20 pmThe State Department said Thursday it has put much of the U.S. aid program to Honduras on hold pending a legal determination as to whether the overthrow of elected President Manuel Zelaya last Sunday requires an aid cut-off. The United States meanwhile is cautioning Mr. Zelaya against an early attempt to return home. -
Reese Schonfeld: SNAFU: Truck You, Detroit, or Tanks for Nuttin'
2 Jul 2009 | 4:10 pmLast month, InsideDefense.com informed us that the Joint Requirements Oversight Council of the DOD had "approved a new requirement" for 5,244 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles (MRAPs) for troops deployed in Afghanistan. "The original RFP [Request for Proposal] indicated the program could grow to include as many as 10,000 vehicles." The article added that "In May, the Army and Marine Corps awarded contracts for three production-representative vehicles to BAE systems, Oshkosh, Navistar and Forced Dynamics--a Forced Protection and General Dynamics Land Systems Team." Last… -
CIA Report Delayed Two More Months For Obama Administration
2 Jul 2009 | 4:02 pmWASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Thursday that it needs two more months to review an internal CIA report on the agency's secret detention and interrogation program before making it public, drawing criticism from civil libertarians who say it's past time for Americans to know how its government treated terrorism suspects. The Justice Department had originally said it intended to release the report in June as part of a lawsuit, but department officials now say they need until the end of August. The report by the CIA's inspector general questioned the effectiveness of harsh… -
Doug Stanton: Taking It To The Streets
2 Jul 2009 | 3:55 pmOf all the places I've been while talking to audiences about the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group and their story in Afghanistan, one of the most rewarding was an appearance before the 5th Group soldiers themselves at Ft. Campbell, their home, and the place from which they had launched their historic mission in Afghanistan in 2001. I was returning to the source of the story. Colonel Mark Mitchell, with whom I would later appear on stage in several different places to talk about the story, and the Special Forces soldiers' deployment in Afghanistan in 2001, had helped arrange the visit. -
Obama's AP Interview: Michael Jackson, Gitmo, Affirmative Action And More
2 Jul 2009 | 3:52 pmHighlights of President Barack Obama's interview Thursday with The Associated Press: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION The nation's first African American president said a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., doesn't close the door on thoughtful efforts at affirmative action aimed at maintaining diversity in the workplace or in college admissions. He cautioned that affirmative action "hasn't been as potent a force for racial progress as advocates would claim, and it hasn't been as bad on white students seeking admissions or seeking a job as its critics have said."…
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msnbc.com: Politics
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U.S. halts military relations with Honduras
1 Jul 2009 | 5:59 pmThe Obama administration says it has suspended joint military operations with Honduras to protest a coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya into exile. -
Obama pitches health plan, hugs cancer patient
1 Jul 2009 | 5:46 pmPresident Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. -
Sanford's revelations befuddle many
1 Jul 2009 | 4:08 pmSouth Carolinians are scratching their heads at their governor's soul-bearing declarations that he considers his Argentine mistress his "soul mate" but is trying to salvage his 20-year marriage. -
Group's records tell little about Sotomayor
1 Jul 2009 | 3:02 pmDocuments released by a Puerto Rican civil rights organization offer little evidence about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's role in the cases and causes the organization took up. -
Which Al Franken will show up in Washington?
1 Jul 2009 | 1:48 pmAl Franken arrives in Washington next week to claim a seat that stood vacant for half a year — but will he be the passionate, sometimes angry liberal or the cautious, serious politico?
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FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right
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This Post Brought to You by Poker
2 Jul 2009 | 4:37 pmI'll be boarding a plane in the next few minutes headed to Las Vegas, where I'll be for the next several days to conduct some research (yes, really!) for my book and to play in the World Series of Poker.I haven't played cards for 18 months or so, should you probably be happy if I happen to appear at your table. Nevertheless, for a period of about two and a half years starting in 2004, when the poker craze was at its peak and it was easy to find poor opponents, I was playing quite a bit and relied on poker as a secondary source of income, without which I probably would not have been able to… -
Destroying the Planet, Part II
2 Jul 2009 | 3:19 pmOver the weekend, we provided a graphic illustration of how much of the planet you could eliminate for a "budget" of 5 percent of global GDP. But what if, instead of having 5 percent to work with, you instead had 23.4 percent, or about 14.3 trillion dollars, which was the United States' share of world GDP in 2008 as according to the International Monetary Fund?It turns out that you could wipe out 5.3 billion people for this amount: all of Africa except Libya, all of South America except Venezuela, Mexico and the Rest of Central America, China, Southeast Asia (except Taiwan and Hong Kong), the… -
Cup O' Jolt, Or, How Americans are Tightening Those Belts
2 Jul 2009 | 6:18 amMany Americans are in dire economic straits: they lost their jobs, their homes have been foreclosed, their health care bills are skyrocketing, and creditors are hassling them. But even many of those Americans for whom none of the above apply are tightening their belts, as I discussed in a post earlier this week based on a recent Harris poll on how Americans are managing their assets.Starbucks Store Closures, 2008Now comes Harris with the release of other results from this survey, pertaining to consumption patterns. Not surprisingly, people are cutting back on, if not foregoing altogether,… -
Is Mike Huckabee the New Jesse Jackson?
2 Jul 2009 | 4:05 amMichael Barone has a fascinating insight that, dare I say, I'd never really contemplated before.Huckabee or a candidate with a similar profile can corner the votes of evangelical and born-again Christians and, starting with Iowa, can round up a significant number of delegates. It is conceivable that such a candidate, with the help of Republicans’ winner-take-all delegate allocation rules and if he continues to face multiple opponents, could accumulate enough delegates to win the nomination. But otherwise he is in the position of Jesse Jackson in the 1984 and 1988 Democratic contests, able… -
Obama Has a Health Care Plan?
1 Jul 2009 | 10:01 amCNN asked a stupid question and got a stupid result:From everything you have heard or read so far, do you favor or oppose Barack Obama's plan to reform health care?51% Favor, 45% OpposeOK, so in fact there's nothing stupid about the question at all. The public's response, likewise, is perfectly reasonable given the information they were provided.But a better question might be: what exactly is Barack Obama's health care plan? Does he have one?And if so, what's included in it? Is it the plan Obama advanced on the campaign trail, which had a public option but lacked an individual mandate? Is it…
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Media Matters for America - Latest Items
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O'Reilly fill-in Williams provides platform for global warming misinformation
2 Jul 2009 | 2:57 pmDuring a July 1 O'Reilly Factor discussion about whether "the liberal media" are helping President Obama "advance his energy agenda by spreading global warming propaganda," guest host Juan Williams advanced falsehoods about global warming. Williams did not challenge Fox News contributor Bernie Goldberg when he falsely claimed that if journalists "did some real reporting, they would find out that in the past 10 years, the world temperatures haven't gone up." But climate scientists reject the idea that the fact that, in most datasets, annual global average temperatures have not surpassed their… -
Jamison Foser: Howard Kurtz's wasted opportunity
2 Jul 2009 | 11:27 amHoward Kurtz is almost certainly the nation's best-known and most influential media critic. With a regular Washington Post column, virtually unlimited space on the paper's web site, and his own television show on CNN, all dedicated to covering the media, Kurtz has an unrivaled platform from which he can opine about the Fourth Estate. Unfortunately -- though perhaps not coincidentally -- that opportunity is wasted on Kurtz. Much has been written about Kurtz's (frequently undisclosed) conflicts of interest, his fondness for right-wingers like Michelle Malkin, and his tendency to give their… -
Wash. Times publishes op-ed promoting discredited "global cooling" claim
2 Jul 2009 | 9:23 amOn July 2, The Washington Times published a "commentary" by Cato Institute senior fellow Richard Rahn criticizing Congress for passing "the largest tax increase in American history this past Friday, under the claim it was a vote to save the climate." In the op-ed -- which was referring to the cap-and-trade energy bill recently passed by the House -- Rahn stated that "proponents claim this tax bill will reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, which are purported to cause global warming" and then responded to that claim, in part, by asserting: "None of the climate models predicted the unexpected… -
Hannity ignores CBO to attack cap and trade as regressive
2 Jul 2009 | 6:20 amDuring the July 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, stated that "[t]here's a new study from the Tax Foundation that shows, by a margin of 5-to-1, the cap-and-tax burden falls heaviest on the poor and the lower middle class." Host Sean Hannity added: "Poor, elderly, farmers." But the Tax Foundation's study did not consider the effect of the government's distribution of revenue generated by a cap-and-trade system to lower-income households. Additionally, Hannity and Reed ignored the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) June 19 analysis of the… -
Hannity repeats earmark falsehood to smear Obama
2 Jul 2009 | 5:04 amOn the July 1 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity again falsely claimed that Obama made a campaign promise of "no earmarks." Fox News contributor Karl Rove responded: "And, again, he broke that one." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, during his presidential campaign, Obama actually promised to reform the earmark process and cut wasteful spending, not to end all earmarks. Hannity has repeatedly made the false claim that Obama promised to ban all earmarks. On March 6, for instance, Hannity aired a clip of Obama stating, "We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by…
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Wide Angle
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Crossing Heaven’s Border: Video: Full Episode
2 Jul 2009 | 11:15 amIn the past decade, up to 100,000 defectors have crossed the waters of the Tumen and Yalu Rivers into northeast China to escape from North Korea, the world’s last closed Communist state. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of a few of them. -
World Links: North Korea Fires Missiles, India Decriminalizes Homosexuality
2 Jul 2009 | 10:42 amIndia decriminalizes homosexuality. In the historic ruling, the Delhi High Court says that “the inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone.” U.S. forces launch a major offensive to drive the Taliban out their stronghold in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The U.N. elects Yukiya, Amano, from Japan, to replace Mohamed El Baradei as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency when Baradei steps down in November. North Korea fires four short-range missiles amidst… -
Crossing Heaven’s Border: Introduction
1 Jul 2009 | 10:45 amAbout the Film In the past decade, up to 100,000 defectors have crossed the waters of the Tumen and Yalu Rivers into northeast China to escape from North Korea, the world’s last closed Communist state. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of a few of them. Crossing Heaven’s Border reveals the plight of North Korean defectors from the point of view of intrepid South Korean journalists who risk their lives filming undercover for ten months to capture the haunting stories first-hand. The reporters introduce us to a mother working in China as a tour… -
Crossing Heaven’s Border: Video: Refugee Escape Stories from Around the World
1 Jul 2009 | 9:44 amEvery refugee has a story. Fleeing wars, repressive governments, ethnic and religious persecution, they make often epic journeys, risking their lives to start anew. Last year alone, nearly 14 million people from around the world became refugees. More than 60,000 settled in the United States. Below are the stories of nine refugees. They’ve fled the war in Iraq, genocide in Rwanda, and religious persecution in Tibet. They’ve disguised themselves as bus drivers and fishermen, hiked through the Himalayas, and lived in the jungle. Click on a face to hear that person recall their… -
Crossing Heaven’s Border: Video: A North Korean Defector Speaks
30 Jun 2009 | 8:44 pmWatch the vivid story of a woman, Myong Hui Eom, who was a model North Korean citizen before being arrested for practicing Christianity, a crime punishable by prison, torture and even death. In this WIDE ANGLE web exclusive, she talks about her daily life in North Korea as a school teacher, a Christian, and finally as a prisoner. Edited together with rare footage shot in May 2009 by French cameramen Eric Lafforgue, Jean Louis Cruz and Alexandre Spalaikovitch, this interview lifts the Bamboo Curtain to shed light on daily life inside one of the world’s most closed regimes.
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The WIP: Byline portal + WIP Contibutors
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The Water Is Mine
2 Jul 2009 | 4:09 amby Yolandi Groenewald & Lynley Donnelly, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Scientists and environmentalists are worried that burgeoning coal mining in the Waterberg might not be sustainable -- or ecologically desirable -- with the little water available in the region already exploited to the limit. -
Who's A Low Level Terrorist? Are You?
2 Jul 2009 | 4:06 amby Emily Spence, Counter Currents, India - Recently, an American Civil Liberties Union report pointed out, "Anti-terrorism training materials currently being used by the Department of Defense (DoD) teach its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as ‘low level terrorism’.” -
Turks Defiant as Official Date for Anti-Smoking Ban Looms
2 Jul 2009 | 3:59 amby Josie Ensor, Daily Star, Lebanon - For hundreds of years the intoxicating tobacco haze of Turkey's water pipes has filled its air, making up part of the cultural landscape as much as the country's Blue Mosque or Grand Bazaar. -
Judaism Gets in Touch with Its Feminine Side
2 Jul 2009 | 3:23 amby Margaret Stoner, Jerusalem Post, Israel - Jewish leadership is beginning to show a softer, more feminine face, with women flocking to the pulpit and much of the Jewish world becoming more comfortable with the notion of female religious leaders. -
A Broken U.N. Promise In Congo
1 Jul 2009 | 5:53 amby Eve Ensler, Washington Post, USA - The women of eastern Congo are enduring their 12th year of sexual terrorism. The girl children born of rape are now being raped. What will it take for the United Nations to finally do something meaningful to stop the violence?
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NPR Topics: Election 2008
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'It's All Politics': NPR's Weekly News Roundup
25 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmIn the latest political podcast, NPR Washington Editor Ron Elving and Political Editor Ken Rudin discuss recent news from Sourth Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R).» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Bettye LaVette's Journey To The National Stage
23 Jan 2009 | 2:46 pmIf you've never heard of Bettye LaVette, the soul singer who belted out "A Change Is Gonna Come" with Jon Bon Jovi at the Inauguration Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan 18., you may be wondering why.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Analyzing The Text Of Obama's Inaugural Address
23 Jan 2009 | 6:10 amAlthough many Americans heard Barack Obama's inauguration speech, they probably weren't listening for plyptotons and catachresis — but Geoff Nunberg was.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Natasha Trethewey: If My Mom Could See Us Now
20 Jan 2009 | 12:24 pmNatasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book Native Guard. Her parents had an interracial marriage while it was still illegal in Mississippi, and Tretheway's poetry often draws on her childhood as a biracial child in the south.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Eric Foner On Post-Civil War Disappointments
20 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pmEric Foner, author of Our Lincoln, talks about the era following the Civil War in which former slaves were promised equal rights and citizenship. Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
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The Progressive
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Al Franken Interview
2 Jul 2009 | 5:53 amBy Stephen Thompson, September 2005 Issue Al Franken, From the Archives.read more -
Obama administration needs to maintain tough stance against Honduran coup
2 Jul 2009 | 5:52 amBy Teo Ballve, July 2, 2009 The Obama administration deserves praise for its response to the coup in Honduras. It sends a hopeful signal that Washington’s traditional support for such undemocratic power grabs has ended.read more -
Franken Needs to Keep Fighting
1 Jul 2009 | 9:46 amBy Matthew Rothschild, July 1, 2009 There really is no excuse now for not pushing a progressive agenda through, no excuse for offering half a loaf when we can now get the whole loaf.read more -
Mark Sanford needs to resign
1 Jul 2009 | 6:11 amBy Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, July 1, 2009 South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s confession of an extramarital affair has reignited old arguments over private behavior and the public trust. Sanford resigned from his position as head of the Republican Governors Association, but should he also surrender his gubernatorial seat?read more -
Take a Straight Person to Lunch
30 Jun 2009 | 9:47 amBy Kate Clinton, June 30, 2009 Heterosexuality is in crisis.read more
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Jack & Jill Politics
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Evening Open Thread
2 Jul 2009 | 4:40 pmGood Evening. Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too. And continue to have a peaceful day. -
Breaking News: Cynthia McKinney Arrested by Israeli Navy
2 Jul 2009 | 2:41 pmThere’s a weird media blackout on this story. I heard about it on Twitter. Here’s the deets with Cynthia’s phone call from detention above: Cynthia McKinney calls WBAIX from Israeli prison. She and 20 others where detained after being seized by Israeli Navy while in international waters. They were attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. To watch live updates, interviews, protests go to http://www.livestream.com/wbaix McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate, says that she had a suitcase full of crayons for Palestinian children in Gaza. -
Michael Jackson: Does It Matter If He’s Black Or White?
2 Jul 2009 | 2:31 pmThe video above is Tammy Johnson from RaceWire on Jackson’s death. Here’s the text that accompanies the vid: He tipped his hat and moonwalked across the stage like no one had ever before. Even Fred Astaire had to give Michael his props. But today, Thursday, June 25, the King of Pop is dead. Michael Jackson’s made his mark on the world, body and soul. But what we must not forget is that world marked Jackson as well. In his last days, assimilation and denial were sadly written all over his face. In death, we pray that peace finally finds the music man. I was in NYC and riding the… -
Afternoon Open Thread
2 Jul 2009 | 11:11 amThe Reverend Al Sharpton and a fan dance on stage during a public memorial for pop star Michael Jackson on June 30, 2009 at the Apollo Theater in the Harlem section of New York. AFP PHOTO/Stan Honda Good Afternoon. Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too. And continue to have a peaceful day. -
The Dems have 60 Senators=NO EXCUSES!
2 Jul 2009 | 10:28 amFrom Booman Tribune: It’s Still About the Filibuster by BooMan Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:48:39 PM EST One of the things I think politicians are least inclined to do is to create problems for themselves on bills that will never become law. So, for example, so long as ‘centrist’ Democrats knew that the Employee Free Choice Act would never become law, they were all willing to vote for it. But, once it became clear that a united Democratic caucus and a Democratic president could pass the EFCA into law, several Democrats flipped and decided to oppose it. They didn’t want to…
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digg.com: Stories / Political News / Popular
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Rhode Island Senate Launches Study on Legalizing Marijuana
2 Jul 2009 | 4:31 pmWeeks after legalizing the sale of marijuana to sick people, lawmakers have voted to explore how much Rhode Island might collect in revenue if it were to make all sales of marijuana legal and impose a “sin tax” of $35 per ounce. -
How much do White House Staffers Make?
2 Jul 2009 | 2:50 pmIn this report is a list of the title and salary of every White House Office employee. Consistent with President Obama's commitment to transparency, this report is being publicly disclosed on our website as it is transmitted to Congress. This is where our money goes. -
The Lying, Cheating Federal Reserve
2 Jul 2009 | 9:51 amHow Much Money Inflation? Due to a policy of allowing banks to reclassify checking deposits as savings deposits, the Fed increased the money supply 70% from May '08-May '09. The increase in M1 is "only" 16%. -
Washington Post sells access, $25,000+ - Mike Allen - POLITI
2 Jul 2009 | 9:31 amFor a price, the paper offer lobbyists off-the-record access to "those powerful few." -
Daily Kos: Scientists Visit the Creation Museum
2 Jul 2009 | 8:20 amForeign scientists are speechless at the level of inanity proudly displayed.
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The Nation: Editor's Cut
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Obama in Moscow
2 Jul 2009 | 10:54 amOn Monday, President Obama heads to Moscow for two days of talks with President Dmitrii Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He also plans to meet with Russian opposition leaders and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and deliver what White House officials are billing as his third major foreign policy address--after his April arms control speech in Prague and his address in Cairo to the Muslim World. And today the White House confirmed that Obama will give an interview to Russia's leading opposition newspaper 'Novaya Gazeta.' This is very good news. In April, Russian President… -
Time to End False Bipartisanship
28 Jun 2009 | 2:41 pmGod I hope David Broder is wrong. "The President has told visitors," the 'Washington Post' columnist wrote last week, "that he would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52-48." The good news is that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is now talking about how bipartisanship may need to be redefined downward if the Democrats are going to pass meaningful healthcare reform. In a meeting with journalists last week, Emanuel proposed that healthcare legislation could be bipartisan without Republican… -
Obama: Refocus and Reset
23 Jun 2009 | 11:16 amAt a moment when the President is more popular than most of his signature policies, when weak-kneed Democrats threaten to bolt on healthcare reform and hypocritical legislators have turned Iran's election into a political football with little regard for the ramifications of their rhetoric for Iranian protesters, Obama worked hard to use his fourth press conference to refocus and reset the political debate. Keeping his cool (even while sparring with a handful of snarky reporters), Obama displayed moral realism and principled respect for the courage, dignity and sovereignty of the Iranian… -
Around 'The Nation'
23 Jun 2009 | 6:59 amAs I write today, turmoil and violence continue to roil Iran. Our Contributing Editor Robert Dreyfuss was on the ground in Tehran in the days before and after the election. He left Iran but is following the crackdown and protests; you can track breaking news at his blog The Dreyfuss Report, and see our slideshow, Iran on the Edge, for images from Tehran. In other news from 'The Nation' this week: Federal authorities in New Orleans have launched an investigation into the mysterious death of Henry Glover, a New Orleans resident who was found burned to death in the days following Hurricane… -
Americans for Financial Reform
19 Jun 2009 | 5:34 amIn April, President Obama delivered a speech in which he alluded to the Sermon on the Mount to describe the stronger, more just economy he envisioned: "We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand," he said. "We must build our house upon a rock." But the regulatory reforms he laid out on Wednesday do not fully accord with those eloquent words. Indeed columnist Joe Nocera accurately described President Obama's new plan in the 'New York Times' yesterday: "The Obama plan is little more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam rather than…
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Nukes & Spooks
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What an air strike in Afghanistan should look like
24 Jun 2009 | 2:12 pmToday, the Pentagon released a video showing an Apache carefully contemplating an air strike against suspected fighters in Afghanistan. On one hand, this is reassuring. After the May 4 bombing in Farah, in which the military acknowledges as many as 86 civilians may have been killed, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new commander in Afghanistan, wants to signal to everyone that he and his commanders are committed to using their air power judiciously. But how Pentagon officials decide when to release videos is problematic. When video serves the message they want to project – in this case that the… -
9/11 Commander among those killed in Metro crash
24 Jun 2009 | 1:42 pmI feared it the minute we heard the news that a Metro rail train crashed on the Red Line on Monday evening. We saw the grainy images on the television screen of the crushed train on the line near, and I wondered: Were there any soldiers, Marines, airman or sailors on board? After all, the train was coming from the direction of Walter Reed hospital, and most days it is impossible to ride Metro without seeing someone in uniform. As it turned out, there were at least two servicemen. One was Chaplain David Bottoms who serves at Walter Reed who reached out to the injured immediately after the… -
McChrystal changes how miltiary uses air power in Afghanistan
22 Jun 2009 | 3:22 pmWell, we now know what happened in Farah province. On Friday evening, the Pentagon released an unclassified version of its executive summary about the May 4 incident. The report is damning, in that spells out how the military violated its own rules of engagement and that those violations may have led to as many as 86 civilians killed. But today, there were some signs that the Farah incident is also leading to change. We heard out of Kabul today that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander there, has ordered his forces to apply more stringent rules to their use of air power when chasing… -
What happened in Farah province?
16 Jun 2009 | 3:11 pmToday at the Pentagon, I spent the day asking the following question: Are you or aren’t you? As in, is the military going to release an unclassified version of a report that examines how the U.S. forces in Afghanistan killed roughly 50 Afghans during a May offensive against the Taliban? The attack in western Farah province has become a national issue in Afghanistan, an indictment on U.S. tactics when it confronts Taliban fighting and hiding amongst Afghan villagers. For weeks now, the Pentagon has promised to release its findings, but to no avail. Yesterday, we wrote about the debate within… -
The Navy's "swordless graduation"?
15 Jun 2009 | 3:29 pmDear readers: Sometimes our job here at N&S is to dispel rumors, and today is such a day. There is one going around that President Obama – who spoke at the Naval Academy’s graduation ceremony on May 22nd – ordered USNA graduating cadets not to wear their dress swords out of security concerns. The suggestion is that the president is both a wimp, unpatriotic and has no appreciation for the nuances of military history. Indeed, some are dubbing it the “swordless graduation.” As it turns out, the rumor is not true. A Navy spokesperson tells us cadets have never worn their swords at…
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Wonkette
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A Children’s Treasury of Patriotic July 4 Videos
2 Jul 2009 | 2:35 pmSam the American Eagle was, of course, both the first blogger and the first warblogger, a creature so deeply patriotic that he figured out how to make his youtubes only appear on the American Wide Web. Yes, it’s almost the three-day Holiday Weekend, so let’s enjoy some cheap video clips to make us want to move to Canada all over again. The greatest Fourth of July in American History was the last one, in 2008, when Jesse Helms finally died. But, we later learned, even that was a lie, as he probably died on July 3 (Gay Satan Day) but his handlers decided to say July 4, for the… -
Mark Sanford’s Love Novel KILLED By Mean Old Conservative Publishers
2 Jul 2009 | 1:45 pmOnce upon a time, this nobody governor in, uhh, one of the southern states, but not a famous one like Florida, got a book deal. He was supposed to write about how to be conservative or something, A Southern Gentleman’s Guide To Being Conservative, but then this nobody governor turned into Mark Sanford, the Sparkin’ Thing, with his soulmate The Argentine Firecracker, and his nice wife The Kindly Wife Who Kept It Together, and basically we were in teevee miniseries territory, so of course Sanford’s publisher has killed his book. What? The New York Observer reports: As… -
‘Woop-Woop! That’s the Sound of da Ayatollah!’
2 Jul 2009 | 12:28 pmIf you thought Marion Barry could dance, think again! Because Al Sharpton is nimble as a ballerina. [Michelle Malkin] With all its student loans and Mongolian hordes of credit card debt, California is having a hard time paying the bills! But that hasn’t stopped the California State Legislature from jerkin’ the gherkin and debating into the wee hours about COW TAILS and other issues concerning cow anatomy, like, for example, why they have tails and we don’t? Sounds like a job for a new ad-hoc committee! Oh dear, Arnold Schwarzenegger IST SEHR ANGRY. [Hit & Run] Andrew… -
2 Jul 2009 | 11:41 am
2 Jul 2009 | 11:41 amHOBO KEN LAYNE TO WANDER BEACHES AND WRITE BOOK ABOUT CALIFORNIA: If the publishing industry isn’t officially dead yet, this is sure to kill it! At some point in 2010, HarperStudio will publish “a history of California’s culture, environment and politics framed by [Layne's] bravely idiotic solo hike up the entire 1,000-mile coastline of America’s weirdest, most populous state.” It will sell like hotcakes, as long as he publishes under the moniker “Meg McCabe.” [New York Observer, HarperStudio] -
Here’s Ann Coulter Saying ‘Senator Norm Coleman’ Again and Again, For No Reason
2 Jul 2009 | 10:50 amWatching this weirdly edited video clip makes us feel like we just downed a coffee mug full of Liquid Vicodin, but perhaps you people will get something deeper, or maybe your heads will explode, just like poor Al Franken’s … or, Senator Al Franken’s head, right? [The Connecticut Forum]
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Hot Air
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Honduras thug: Help me, Barack Obama, you’re my only hope
2 Jul 2009 | 4:56 pmAmerica is with you, Chavista douchebag! [...] Read the rest » -
Saddam told FBI: I bluffed on WMD because I feared Iranian nukes
2 Jul 2009 | 4:23 pmNot only is this old news, but it’s old news I’ve written about multiple times. [...] Read the rest » -
New GOP ad: The stimulus isn’t working
2 Jul 2009 | 3:32 pmFrom Boehner’s office, an odd, hokey first effort at pushing a meme that could deliver the House to the GOP if it’s still true next November. [...] Read the rest » -
Video: Michelle smacks WaPo for big pimpin’
2 Jul 2009 | 2:59 pmLike Stuart Varney says, the most amazing thing about this is that they actually put out a flier advertising the salons. [...] Read the rest » -
South Carolinians wonder: Is Sanford nuts?
2 Jul 2009 | 2:17 pmI don’t know. Is love “nuts”? [...] Read the rest »
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MOMocrats™
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A '10 Senate Race to Watch: Democrats Gillibrand and Maloney Vie in NY
1 Jul 2009 | 11:34 pmLeft, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY Right, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-NYFor liberal New Yorkers mulling the fall 2010 special election race to fill the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the declaration of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's (D-NY) campaign for it represents an interesting wrinkle. Under state rules governing a vacated Senate position, Governor Paterson chose Gillibrand to fill what had been former Senator Hillary Clinton's seat for a portion of the time remaining in her term when Clinton joined… -
Sarah Palin: When Reality is Irrelevant
1 Jul 2009 | 9:36 pmThere have been so many comments about this post on Facebook, that I decided to copy and paste them in here. Look below the fold.By now you've all heard about, and possibly read, this month's Vanity Fair piece about Sarah Palin by Todd S. Purdum, It Came from Wasilla. (If you haven't, go read it!) It's an expose about the train wreck that was the McCain-Palin campaign in the final few months. But this time, we hear a bit more than leaks about Sarah Palin being a "whack job," a "diva," or "going rogue." My favorite revelation? Apparently Palin's handlers started calling her the… -
Our Wind-Powered Future: Will Congress make it possible, or stand in the way?
1 Jul 2009 | 9:21 pmBefore finishing their debate on the ACES (American Clean Energy and Security) energy bill recently passed by the House, the Senate needs to take a look at this bit of breaking science news: Analyzing the latest and best weather data from sources around the world, a recent study by Harvard environmental science experts predicts that, using current wind turbine technology, with strategically placed wind turbines, the United States could generate 16 times the amount of electricity the nation currently uses. Let me repeat that for you: Some of the most respected environmental scientists in the… -
Two important anti-government protests - outside of Iran - that changed the world this month
27 Jun 2009 | 8:12 amWith all the media coverage of this month's courageous public protests against government corruption and election fraud in Iran, major clashes between protesters and governments in two other countries have unfortunately failed to garner the attention they also deserve:In the city of Shishou in central China, after local government officials initially refused to allow the family of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, who was found dead at a hotel under highly suspicious circumstances, to have an autopsy conducted on his body, a small group of local protesters surrounded the young man's body and refused to… -
Cynthia Davis is right: hunger is a motivator
25 Jun 2009 | 9:24 pmMissouri State Representative Cynthia Davis, a Republican from O'Fallon, a St. Louis suburb with a median income 60% higher than the state average, recently criticized the state of Missouri's summer free lunch program for impoverished children in her monthly newsletter, saying that she thinks "hunger can be a positive motivator" for kids. Cynthia Davis argues that parents who have been laid off during the recession ought to be able to make do without government assistance:Most parents put their children first, even ahead of themselves no matter what. If parents are laid off, that doesn’t…
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NPR
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Hundreds Of Calif. Homeless March For Land Rights
2 Jul 2009 | 12:47 pmIn Sacramento, hundreds of homeless demonstrate in hopes of securing land to sleep on. In recent months a tent city and a city shelter have closed. With laws that prohibit sleeping in public places, these individuals say it is now illegal for them to exist.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough Michael Jackson
2 Jul 2009 | 12:14 pmIt's been a week since Michael Jackson's death at 50 stunned the world. But seven days after the King of Pop stepped off stage and left us behind, it's clear we just can't seem to get enough of him.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Communities Cope With The Aftermath Of Violence
2 Jul 2009 | 11:17 amIn many communities, there's a convenience store where the owner was murdered, or a corner where a woman was attacked. In those places, the aura of past violence hangs like a shroud. Whether the violence is rare or regular, when it happens, it changes the neighborhood.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Mother, Son Tell Of Family Life During War
2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 amU.S. combat troops have begun to withdraw forces from Iraqi cities, marking a milestone in the six-year long occupation. As the situation in Iraq changes course, a new focus has centered on the social impact of the war efforts in the region. Iraqis Faiza Al-Araji and Raed Jarrar, a mother and son blogging team, explain how the past six years have changed the dynamics of family life in the region. Also, NPR's Ghassan Adnan reports from on the ground from Baghdad.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Debating The Burqa: Sarkozy Proposes Ban
2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 amFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa, a religious traditional covering, in public. American Muslim Mehded Maryam Sinclair explains why she appreciates the right to cover her face and head in public, while Muslim feminist and columnist Mona Eltahawy tells why she sees the garment as a source of oppression.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
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FamousDC
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Hyper Hill
2 Jul 2009 | 9:38 amFamousDC [Twitter ] District [love ] -
Who Let the Dogs Out?
2 Jul 2009 | 9:00 amTeam Boehner just released a pretty clever new web ad. You can’t go wrong with animals in YouTube videos. Just ask Nancy . Note: First office to use a monkey wins. -
The Coolest Kids in the Room
2 Jul 2009 | 8:05 amCongress is out of town … what should we talk about? How about we all talk about each other ? I heart Politico Michael Wolff: Beltway Boys But I used to hate them Gawker: Michael Wolff Used to Hate Politico I don’t heart Politico Alex Pareene: Politico is Revolutionary Says Man Who Should Just Be Writing About His [...] -
The Republican Wives Club
2 Jul 2009 | 7:45 amHere’s your mind-blowing fact of the day: However, Politico notes that "in the 14 years since that star-crossed class arrived in Washington espousing an agenda that placed family values at its core, no less than a dozen of its members have been caught up in affairs, sex scandals or in messy separations and divorces from their [...] -
Politico vs. The Washington Post
2 Jul 2009 | 6:23 amWhat a week. First we learned the ex-WaPo reporters, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, registered www.postpolitics.com and then sold it back to The Washington Post AFTER they started Politico. VF: Beltway Boys Harris and VandeHei had begun, early on, registering domain names, including postpolitics.com, which the Post, when it began to realize it might have to do [...]
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Electoral-vote.com
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Thu, Jul. 02 Electoral Vote Predictor
2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 amMaloney Will Challenge Gillibrand Permalink Despite repeated requests from the entire Democratic Party establishment to stay put--from the President on down--as well as her friends, Rep. Carolyn Maloney appears set to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in a primary next year. It will be a tough fight for her because party leaders are doing their best to cut off her sources of funding and isolate her in every way they can. The President has already said that he would actively campaign for Gillibrand in New York City, which is Maloney's base. While Maloney's argument is… -
Wed, Jul. 01 Electoral Vote Predictor
1 Jul 2009 | 4:00 amMinnesota Supreme Court Rules for Franken; Coleman Concedes Permalink In a ruling yesterday, the Minnesota state Supreme Court decided 5-0 that Al Franken (D) won the Nov. 2008 senatorial election and is entitled to an election certificate. He beat his opponent by 312 votes. The court rejected the claim by Norm Coleman (R) that the lower court made major mistakes and should be reversed. The court said: "Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally and is entitled under Minnesota Statute 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election. At 4 P.M. Minnesota… -
Mon, Jun. 29 Electoral Vote Predictor
29 Jun 2009 | 4:00 amThe Politics of Global Warming Permalink The House passed the Waxman-Markey bill Friday to take a first step in curbing global warming. The vote was 219 to 212. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), and John Sullivan (R-OK) did not vote. The CA-32 seat has been vacant since Hilda Solis resigned to become Secretary of Labor. For anyone who thought representatives were in Congress to do the best for their districts and the country, free of petty concerns like politics, this vote may be enlightening. All but eight Republicans voted "nay." This was probably the best they… -
Thu, Jun. 25 Electoral Vote Predictor
25 Jun 2009 | 4:00 amGov. Sanford Blows Chances for 2012 Republican Nomination Permalink Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), a deeply religious conservative Christian and frequently mentioned 2012 presidential candidate was caught with his pants down. Like Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), the married governor has admitted to having had an extramarital affair. The woman lives in Argentina and has been identified only as "Maria" so far. That pretty much ends any chances he might have had to be the Republican nominee in 2012. While Democrats don't care much about politicians having affairs, the Republican base cares… -
Tue, Jun. 23 Electoral Vote Predictor
23 Jun 2009 | 4:00 amNote: Updates will be sparse a few more days due to travel. Villaraigosa Will Not Run for Governor of California Permalink Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) has announced that he will not run for governor of California in 2010. He had been widely expected to be a candidate but his polls are way down and unemployment in Los Angeles is way up, far above the national and state averages. His personal life is also a mess. His marriage broke up as a result of his affair with a local television newswoman. In other words, Villaraigosa clearly realized that he had little…
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mcclatchydc.com: Politics
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'No evidence' Sanford committed a crime, S.C. official says
2 Jul 2009 | 4:57 pmCalling it "pretty dangerous territory" to even do the review, S.C. State Law Enforcement Division Director Reggie Lloyd said today there was no evidence of any crime in four trips made by Gov. Mark Sanford that included visits with an Argentine woman. -
Did hacker threaten Sanford and lover over affair?
2 Jul 2009 | 4:45 pmRIO DE JANEIRO — A television anchor who's the only journalist known to have spoken with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine lover since news of their affair broke last week said the couple received an e-mail threat from the person who hacked into her Hotmail account. -
White House close to deal with hospitals on cost cuts
2 Jul 2009 | 3:39 pmWASHINGTON — The hospital industry is close to a deal with the White House and congressional Democrats in which the industry would agree to federal funding cuts of $150 billion to $170 billion over the next decade to help pay for a health system overhaul, according to people familiar with the talks. -
Cost of bringing Michelle Obama to UC Merced? $1 million plus
2 Jul 2009 | 3:25 pmMERCED, Calif. — The total cost for last month's commencement ceremony at UC Merced has finally been tallied. -
Sens. Kennedy, Dodd unveil cheaper health care bill
2 Jul 2009 | 1:16 pmWASHINGTON — The Senate health committee's top two Democrats on Thursday rolled out a revamped plan to overhaul health care that would cost $611 billion over 10 years — far less than their previous version — but would impose a tax on many employers.
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MSNBC: MEET THE PRESS
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June 28: Axelrod, Romney, Graham, roundtable
28 Jun 2009 | 9:45 amTranscript of the June 28, 2009 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' featuring David Axelrod, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, David Brooks, E.J. Dionne, Mike Murphy and Dee Dee Myers. -
June 21: Netanyahu, Nunn, Thompson, Easton, Todd
21 Jun 2009 | 10:39 amTranscript of the June 21, 2009 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sam Nunn, Fred Thompson, Nina Easton and Chuck Todd. -
June 14: Biden, Murphy, Scarborough
14 Jun 2009 | 10:04 amTranscript of the June 14, 2009 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' featuring Vice President Joe Biden, Mike Murphy and Joe Scarborough. -
May 31: Leahy, Sessions, Owens, Schmidt, Mulcahy, roundtable
31 May 2009 | 9:24 amTranscript of the May 31, 2009 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' featuring Patrick Leahy, Jeff Sessions, Jim Owens, Eric Schmidt, Anne Mulcahy, Katty Kay, Brian Williams and Richard Wolffe. -
May 24: Durbin, Gingrich, political roundtable
24 May 2009 | 9:17 amTranscript of the May 24, 2009 broadcast of NBC's 'Meet the Press,' featuring Dick Durbin, Newt Gingrich, Rich Lowry, Michele Norris, Eugene Robinson and Chuck Todd.
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MyDD
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John Bolton: There's Never a Bad Time to Attack Iran
2 Jul 2009 | 3:46 pmAnother week, another John Bolton op-ed in a major newspaper, this time in the Washington Post, arguing for an Israeli attack on Iran. With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever. Iran's nuclear threat was never in doubt during its presidential campaign, but the post-election resistance raised the possibility of some sort of regime change. That prospect seems lost for the near future or for at least as long as it will… -
What About 60?
2 Jul 2009 | 1:54 pmYglesias weighs in on the new Senate balance: In many respects the main significance of Franken's victory isn't that it brings us to 60 senators, it's that it increases by one the number of serious progressives in the Senate. But Franken or no, the balance of power still rests with a large block of centrist Democrats and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe on the other side. The situation by no means dooms Obama's agenda to defeat, but it does mean that legislative outcomes are overwhelmingly likely to be a fairly pale shadow of the agenda a majority of the public voted for last year. There's two… -
Grassley explains how you, too, can afford better health insurance
2 Jul 2009 | 12:41 pmSenator Chuck Grassley has been holding town-hall meetings around the state this week, and the Iowa Democratic Party highlighted a fun clip from his June 30 meeting in Waukon. A constituent wanted to know why his health insurance policy was so much more expensive than Grassley's, despite having less generous coverage. The senator advised the questioner to "go work for John Deere" if he wanted a better insurance policy. (Not too practical, since Deere has laid off workers in Dubuque, Ottumwa and the Quad Cities this year.) As Grassley tried to move on to the next question, the man continued to… -
Goodbye Mark Sanford
2 Jul 2009 | 4:51 amI have tried to stay away from the Mark Sanford story as best I could over the past week, but with the South Carolina Governor continually stepping in it, it's getting increasingly hard. Looking through the latest news, it's difficult to see how Sanford isn't done. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has backed out of a promise to release personal financial records to the media proving he did not use state money for trips to see his mistress. Charles wrote, "Governor Sanford should resign not because he is having an affair but because he misled his staff as to his whereabouts and breached his… -
Mitt Romney Urges the GOP to Stand Up to Obama
2 Jul 2009 | 1:36 amNow living in La Jolla, California, Mitt Romney has been keeping a low profile even as many think that the former Governor of Massachusetts is increasingly the heads-on favorite to win the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination. Certainly many of his likely opponents seem to be engaged in acts of political self-immolation. Certainly by staying out of the limelight, Romney seems to benefit. But on Tuesday, Romney was back at the Massachusetts State House for the unveiling of his portrait as the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth. In an interview with Fox News, Romney urged Republican to stand in…
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The Economist: Daily news and views
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A rising tide
2 Jul 2009 | 4:24 amThe unemployment rate in America reaches 9.5%, the highest in 26 yearsJUST when hopes were rising that the gloom may soon lift from the American economy, the government announced jobs figures on Thursday July 2nd that were much worse than expected. Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, 100,000 more than the average of forecasters' expectations. The unemployment rate in June rose to 9.5%, the worst since 1983 but lower than analysts had predicted. Unemployment is a lagging indicator, so even after the economy begins to grow again, the jobless tally is likely to rise for some time. -
Baltic martyrs for the euro
2 Jul 2009 | 12:35 amThe Baltic states are suffering deep recessions in their quest to reach the safe haven of the euro zoneThe Baltic states, despite facing double-digit falls in GDP this year, are striving to limit their budget deficits with a view to adopting the euro as soon as possible. Rather than pursuing devaluation and counter-cyclical fiscal policies, they are cutting wages to restore competitiveness and hoping that the euro will repair investor confidence. None of them, however, looks likely to meet the conventional benchmarks for euro-zone entry soon. As a result, unilateral euro-adoption or… -
Food for thought
2 Jul 2009 | 12:31 amAdding deliberate culinary insult to unintended injuryLast week’s column has aroused offence where none was meant. The aim—perhaps a bit fanciful, but it is summer after all—was to imagine menu items with names that reflect eastern Europe’s history and politics. Munchner Kloße [Munich dumplings], for example, would be a noxious dish cooked by Germans and force-fed to Czechoslovaks by Brits.But readers saw it as a patronising outsider’s attack on east European cuisine in general. How dare a newspaper published in a country that invented the chip butty and the… -
Hard talk, soft policy
1 Jul 2009 | 11:28 pmThe ECB has run a looser monetary policy than some might thinkTHE global economy has stopped sinking and central bankers are pausing for breath. On Thursday July 2nd, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its main “refi” interest rate unchanged, at 1%. The ECB’s rate-setting council has been chary of cutting rates closer to zero as policymakers elsewhere have done. Its reluctance to do more has attracted criticism, only some of it fair.The focus on policy rates may put the ECB in a bad light but these are no longer a reliable guide to the overall monetary-policy stance. If… -
Feeling free
1 Jul 2009 | 10:36 pmCelebrating semi-independence with a feast of whaleGIVEN the choice of subsisting on seal or whale I would plump for the former, without enthusiasm. A mouthful of seal flesh has little to recommend it, unless you are drawn to a slippery, dark, lamb-like meat that tastes as if it had been left to stew in a dirty aquarium. But neither is whale tempting: chewing its skin is like gnawing a strip of leather soaked in cod-liver oil. In either case, at least on the first encounter, a diner is likely to experience a faint sense of nausea. If you must have whale, cetacean biltong (whale jerky) is more…
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Democracy Now!
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John Pilger Calls UK National Health Service a Treasure, Blasts US Lawmakers for Being "in Bed with Powerful Interests" and Neglecting "Their Own People's Basic Human Rights"
2 Jul 2009 | 5:55 amWe play an excerpt of an extended interview with Australian investigative journalist, John Pilger. Speaking about the US healthcare system, Pilger says, “What is it about US legislators that they appear to be so in bed with such powerful interests, such as the insurance companies, that they can’t represent their own people’s needs, their own people’s basic human rights.” [includes rush transcript] -
Up in Smoke: How the Tobacco Industry Shaped the New Smoking Bill
2 Jul 2009 | 5:46 amPresident Obama signed into law a bill last week that gives the US government broad regulatory power over cigarettes and other tobacco products. Obama said the law would curb the ability of tobacco companies to market their products to children. But several public health professionals have come out strongly against the new legislation. They argue that it was largely shaped by Philip Morris, now called Altria Group, the largest cigarette company in the country. We speak with Dr. Joel Nitzkin, chair of the Tobacco Control Task Force of the American Association of Public Health Physicians. -
"Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City"
2 Jul 2009 | 5:31 amWe speak with NYU professor Greg Grandin about his new book, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City. The book tells the story of Henry Ford, the richest man in the world in the 1920s, and his attempt to build a rubber plantation and a miniature Midwest factory town deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. [includes rush transcript] -
Zelaya Vows to Return to Honduras Despite Threats of Arrest by Coup Leaders
2 Jul 2009 | 5:21 amThe ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has vowed to return to Honduras within the next few days in an attempt to reclaim power. Zelaya was forced out of office in a military coup d’etat on Sunday. He will reportedly return to Honduras accompanied by the OAS Secretary General, the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador, and the head of the UN General Assembly. But Roberto Micheletti, who was appointed interim leader by the Honduran congress, has given warning that Zelaya will be arrested should he return, regardless of who is traveling with him. We speak with Latin American historian… -
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
2 Jul 2009 | 5:11 amIrish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to us from her jail cell in Israel. She was taken into custody along with twenty others, including former US Congress member Cynthia McKinney, when the Israeli military boarded their ship in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. [includes rush transcript]
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NYT: The Caucus
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Republicans Question Sotomayor's Role in Puerto Rican Group's Legal Battles
2 Jul 2009 | 3:18 pmWhite House and G.O.P. senators disagree over whether Sotomayor can be closely tied to controversial lawsuits pursued by a civil-rights organization. -
Waxman Is Out of the Hospital
2 Jul 2009 | 3:04 pmCalifornia congressman, hospitalized after fainting in his office, is "in good spirits. " . -
Lead Found in White House Garden
2 Jul 2009 | 2:33 pmThe administration insists the levels are within acceptable limits. -
Bill Clinton to Headline Maloney Fund-raiser
2 Jul 2009 | 2:26 pmThe former president is the featured guest at a fund-raiser long planned for Maloney, but her more recent threats to challenge Gillibrand for the Senate puts Clinton in a bit of a pickle. -
Biden Begins His Visit in Iraq
2 Jul 2009 | 1:53 pmThe vice president has been tasked to be the top administration envoy to Iraq.
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Outside The Beltway | OTB
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Larry King Minutes
2 Jul 2009 | 11:51 amHugh Hewitt has come up with a brilliant meme: “LKM” stands for Larry King Minutes –the number of broadcast minutes that Larry King would devote to your death if it occurred today. Michael Jackson has set a very high standard, swamping all other coverage from Larry’s show and triggering hours and hours of extra programming from [...] -
Obama: Ricci “Moved the Ball” on Race
2 Jul 2009 | 11:01 amPresident Obama told the AP that the Ricci case “moved the ball” on race relations. President Barack Obama said Thursday the Supreme Court was “moving the ball” on affirmative action in this week’s decision favoring white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., but he added that the court had not ruled out the use of racial preferences [...] -
Stimulus?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:52 amAfter seeing today’s job report from the BLS I have to wonder, is the stimulus working? I’m thinking no. There are two possible explanations as to what is going on here. The initial forecast for unemployment was too optimistic. The forecast was fine, but the stimulus is just not doing what it is supposed to [...] -
Sarah Palin Pop Culture Celebrity
2 Jul 2009 | 9:14 amAs we discussed on last night’s edition of OTB Radio, Sarah Palin is a story that simply refuses to go away. Despite the campaign being long over and her return to Alaska, where she had managed to live without notice in the lower 48 for years, controversies surrounding her continue to crop up. Has a failed [...] -
Conscience of the Conservatives
2 Jul 2009 | 8:30 amMark Tapcott hath a point: [I]n a Beltway Confidential post Tuesday, I asked what is the difference between folks on the Right calling the eight Republican House members who voted for Obama-Waxman-Markey the “cap-and-traitors,” and the infamous “General Betrayus” ad bought by the Left’s Moveon.org in The New York Times. In no time at all, comments variously [...]
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Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
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The Battle Over the Burqa
2 Jul 2009 | 5:53 pmSince President Barack Obama in his recent Cairo speech made a tut-tutting remark about countries that restricted wearing religious garb in school, the controversy over the Muslim burqa has resumed in Europe. READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries July 1, 2009 Suddenly, a Trillion Dollars Is Too Expensive? July 1, 2009 Warming Up a New Politics? July 1, 2009 Political Foolishness and Teen Pregnancy July 1, 2009 It’s Obama’s War Now June 30, 2009 U.S. Troops Leave Iraqi Cities, but Unsettled Issues Remain -
Wall Street Pay Fattens as Rest of U.S. Suffers
2 Jul 2009 | 2:01 pmUnemployment rose to 9.5 percent last month, the highest level we’ve seen in 26 years. That’s a staggering 14.7 million people without jobs. As we enter the 20th month of this recession, unemployment is becoming a way of life for many, and a lot more people are looking beyond unemployment benefits to the safety nets reserved for the extremely needy. The New York Times: The pace of job losses quickened in June after slowing just a month earlier, casting a shadow over the Obama administration’s attempts to stanch months of declines in the labor market. The American economy shed… -
Newsweeklies on the Brink
2 Jul 2009 | 12:53 pmSo, Time and Newsweek have had to reinvent themselves in the face of flagging circulation numbers and built-in relevance issues (i.e., they were created at a time when there were too many newspapers, crazy as that sounds now), but as The Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn notes, there’s one weekly news digest that’s going strong while others falter. READ THE WHOLE ITEMRelated Entries July 1, 2009 Suddenly, a Trillion Dollars Is Too Expensive? July 1, 2009 Warming Up a New Politics? July 1, 2009 Political Foolishness and Teen Pregnancy July 1, 2009 It’s Obama’s War Now… -
Cynthia McKinney Detained in Israel
2 Jul 2009 | 12:47 pmFormer U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is being held in a detention center in Ramle, Israel, after venturing out to sea with about 20 other activists to provide aid to Gazans as part of the “Free Gaza Movement.” The ship Spirit of Humanity was intercepted by the Israeli navy before the group could reach its destination. McKinney will be sent back to the U.S. soon, the American Embassy said. CNN: Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney—who was aboard a ship the Israeli navy intercepted this week—is in a detention center and will be returned to the United States, the U.S. Embassy… -
Poll: U.S. Voters Split on Franken’s Win
2 Jul 2009 | 12:07 pmSo, Al Franken officially will become a senator next week, but given his long and bitter battle with rival Norm Coleman, not to mention his pronounced unpopularity among Republicans, it’s not entirely surprising that a Rasmussen Reports national poll released Thursday registered substantial voter displeasure at the prospect of Franken’s arrival on Capitol Hill. Politico: Less than a week before Senator-elect Al Franken (D-Minn.) is set to be sworn into office, a new national poll shows that 44 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of the former comedian and liberal radio…
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PunditMom
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Sorry for the Brief Delay
1 Jul 2009 | 2:59 pmSorry I didn't have a chance to write about the health care stuff I had planned for today. Between errands and getting an exciting last minute call from CNN with Rick Sanchez to talk about Jenny Sanford (!), with Rick Sanchez I ran out of time.But if you'd like something to read, I have a post that could be well worth your while! Think shampoo, free products and Visa gift card giveaway! Trust me, you'll be happy you spent a little time at PunditMom Reviews! -
Has Anything Changed When it Comes to Media Coverage of Adoption?
30 Jun 2009 | 7:43 amLast year at this time, I got all riled up about an article in Vanity Fair and its cover article on Angelina Jolie. As PunditGirl continues to work through the questions in her curious little head about the permanence of adoption and the questions that people sometimes ask her about our family, I was reminded of this post. I don't think anything has really changed when it comes to the politics of adoption or how many in the media write about our families, so I thought I'd dust this one off and see what you think -- has anything changed since I gave Vanity Fair the PunditMom"Stupidest Question… -
Jenny Sanford -- The Political Spouse Role Model for My Daughter
29 Jun 2009 | 8:24 amPersonally, I couldn't care less about the personal "antics" of so many politicians these days. It's not really important to my life how people like South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford characterizes "adventure travel."What does bother me a lot, though, is the money shot we so often see of the wives of philandering politicians -- standing by the side of their husbands, trying to show solidarity and the apparently elusive family values that so many of them talk about before they get caught doing something, well, not so family values-like.Why do I care? Because sooner rather than later, my… -
So Much I Didn't Know
27 Jun 2009 | 11:09 pmA friend forwarded this video in connection with some research she's doing for PunditGirl's school. The information is truly amazing, and makes me think about how when I graduated from law school 20 years ago, I thought I knew the world as it was going to be for much of my life.Yeah, I was SOOO wrong! -
Supreme Court Says School Strip Search Unconstitutional, But Where are the Consequences?
26 Jun 2009 | 4:21 amSix years ago, 13-year-old Savana Redding was called to the principal's office because another girl claimed she had given her prescription strength ibuprofen in violation of the school's strict "zero tolerance" drug policy. When school officials didn't find anything in Redding's backpack or other belongings, they ordered her to strip to her underwear and pull her bra and undies to the side, exposing herself, so they could make sure she wasn't hiding any pain relievers under her clothes.I can't even begin to imagine how humiliated and violated I would have felt as a young teen if that had…
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PunditGuy
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Michael Jackson is Dead
25 Jun 2009 | 3:33 pmMichael Jackson died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. According to TMZ, Paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back. He was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources say. -
Something’s Rotten in Argentina
24 Jun 2009 | 10:02 amUPDATE: Yep, I was right. Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having a marital affair. What an idiot. Previously… South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford resurfaced yesterday after mysteriously disappearing for seven days. His wife didn’t know where he was. His staff didn’t know, then did know, then didn’t know, then misled the press about it. What makes it even more strange is he missed Father’s Day. I know one thing. If I just took off and didn’t tell my wife where I was going and it just happened to be Father’s Day weekend, all hell would break loose. Yet,… -
North Korea: What If?
22 Jun 2009 | 2:40 pmWhile all eyes are on Iran, trouble continues to brew on the Korean peninsula. The regime in Pyongyang has ratcheted up their rhetoric significantly in the last few weeks. The latest threat comes in the form of a missile pointed toward Hawaii. Allegedly, Kim Jong Il has plans to fire a Taepodong-2 with a range of 4,000 miles on July 4th in the direction of the 50th state. What do we make of all this and why should we worry? We should worry about North Korea because Kim Jong Il isn’t a reasonable man. In fact, he’s a lunatic with a suicide wish. Kim Jong Il has proven over the… -
Another Republican Screws Up
17 Jun 2009 | 2:15 pmGreat…just great. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada resigned his Republican leadership post Wednesday, one day after confessing marital infidelity. Aides refused to answer questions about records showing that a woman on his political payroll received a promotion and a pay raise around the time he said the affair began in late 2007. Nor would Ensign or aides respond to reports of an earlier affair, in 2002. Ensign, 51, has said he intends to remain in the Senate. The Nevada lawmaker is a member of the Christian ministry Promise Keepers and has championed causes pushed by the GOP’s… -
Want an iPhone 3GS?
16 Jun 2009 | 8:54 pmBe prepared for long lines and shortages. Apple will officially begin selling its iPhone 3GS on Friday, but some analysts are predicting shortages that could leave some consumers disappointed. If advance orders are any indication, the demand for the iPhone 3GS may outstrip the at-launch supply. AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States, and Best Buy have sold out of inventories for Apple’s latest smartphone. Apple was still taking orders on its Web site Tuesday, but the June 19 delivery date is not a guarantee. Likewise, AT&T posted a message on its Web…
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Top Stories from CQ
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‘Secret’ Rome Meeting Recounted by AIPAC Spy Case Figure
2 Jul 2009 | 4:15 pmA few years back Sheryl Crow recorded a haunting song called “Three Days in Rome,” about a lover’s treacherous retelling of their affair in a novel. -
Franken Likely To Take Senate Seat on Tuesday
2 Jul 2009 | 2:56 pmSenate Democratic leaders are inching closer to seating Democrat Al Franken as the junior senator from Minnesota and clinching control, at least on paper, of 60 votes. -
White House Says GOP Request on Sotomayor ‘Not Relevant’
2 Jul 2009 | 1:38 pmThe White House on Friday pushed back against a GOP effort to tie Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to the work of a Puerto Rican legal advocacy group. -
Calling a Senator Can Be Music to Your Ears
2 Jul 2009 | 12:08 pmWant to contact a senator’s office by telephone? Chances are when you do, you’ll first listen to some “hold music” — just like when you’re waiting to talk to a customer service rep at the cable company. -
Radiation Detectors for New York: Earmark or Vital Homeland Security Need?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:28 amBoth Senate and House versions of next year’s Homeland Security spending bill contain federal funds for a program to maintain radiation detectors around New York City that the Obama administration wants to end.
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Think Progress
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Media Outlet Refuses To Run Republican TV Ad Filled With Misrepresentations Of Clean Energy Bill
2 Jul 2009 | 3:18 pmThis afternoon, Roanoke television station WDBJ-TV, announced they will be refusing to air a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) ad attacking freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA), citing factual inaccuracies. The NRCC had been planning to run television ads against Democratic members of Congress, like Perriello, who voted for the Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation that passed last week. After receiving information about the factual inaccuracies in the ad, the station pulled it from rotation. For any objective observer, the the ad is pulled out of thin air. The ads… -
Why are Palin, Perry and Jindal refusing to talk to Biden about the stimulus?
2 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pmIn a new article, Time’s Michael Scherer describes how Vice President Biden has been aggressively reaching out to mayors on the their use of stimulus money. “My rear end is on the line just like yours,” said Biden on a recent conference call with five mayors and county executives. “I’m the guy in charge of this deal. So if this doesn’t work, it’s me.” In a follow-up blog post, Scherer reveals that Biden has talked to “dozens of mayors and 47 of the 50 state governors about the Recovery Act”: One interesting fact that didn’t make it… -
DeMint Inadvertently Concedes That Public Health Insurance Option Won’t Take Over The Market
2 Jul 2009 | 1:25 pmA leading right-wing argument against offering a public health insurance option as part of any health reform initiative is that such a plan would drive private health insurance companies out of the market. The health insurance lobby group AHIP called a public option “potentially lethal” to their industry. Similarly, Republican Conference Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said in May that adding a public plan would be akin to asking mice to compete against an elephant. “There wouldn’t be any mice left after a while,” he insisted. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) recently… -
Kurtz: Can African-American women objectively cover Michelle Obama?
2 Jul 2009 | 12:31 pmIn his column today, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz devotes his column today to the question of: “Does Race Play a Role in Coverage?” He readily admits that “no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murphy,” but that doesn’t stop him from writing a 1,600-word article raising questions about black women: Rachel Swarns of the New York Times and The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan were among those herded behind the rope Monday. They and the other main beat reporters — Newsweek’s Allison Samuels,… -
Michael Scheuer: Obama Doesn’t Care ‘About Protecting This Country’
2 Jul 2009 | 11:36 amEarlier this week, former CIA operative and torture apologist Michael Scheuer appeared on Fox News, where he told Glenn Beck (who nodded in agreement), “The only chance we have” to repair our national security apparatus “is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.” Yesterday, on Alan Colmes’ radio show, Scheuer made similar comments about the national security stance of the U.S., saying that he doesn’t believe that President Obama wants to protect the country “if it costs him votes”: COLMES: You don’t…
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Slate Magazine
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Who decides how much White House staffers get paid?
2 Jul 2009 | 8:33 pmThe Obama White House recently released the salaries of its 487 staffers. The highest-paid administration staffer, the president's director of public health policy, David Marcozzi, earns $193,000, while salaries bottom out at $36,000. The president himself makes $400,000, a salary set by Congress. Two advisers, Michael J. Warren and Patricia G. McGinnis, forgo pay altogether. How does the White House decide who makes what?[more ...] -
The Washington Post's boneheaded—and aborted—plan to lobby for lobbyists.
2 Jul 2009 | 8:22 pmMike Allen's early-morning report in Politico that the Washington Post intended to sell access to its newsroom to lobbyists forced the paper's publisher and editor to back down from their plan at record speed. Allen reported that the Post had circulated a flyer offering "lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to 'those powerful few': Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and—at first—even the paper's own reporters and editors." The quoted cost of admission to these "Washington Post Salons," the first of which Post Publisher… -
What to do if you survive a plane crash over water.
2 Jul 2009 | 7:01 pmAgence France-Presse reported yesterday that Bahia Bakari, a 12-year-old girl from Comoros, is the lone survivor of Tuesday's Yemenia airlines crash. She clung to debris for 10 hours before being rescued. If your plane crashes and you find yourself floating in the ocean, what should you do?[more ...] -
This Is Why You're Fat and other great single-topic blogs.
2 Jul 2009 | 6:27 pm"Look at this fucking hipster" was a universally recognized gibe before it became a Web site. Anyone who's ever taken a stroll with a friend down Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn or accidentally veered into San Francisco's Mission District on a Saturday afternoon has had occasion to whisper these words. Look at this fucking hipster with the 1985 New England Patriots Super Bowl T-shirt and forearm tattoo of Ralph Nader. Look at that fucking hipster with the butterfly-collar paisley shirt, the sweater vest adorned with what looks like the face of Tony the Tiger, and those tie-dyed shoelaces borrowed… -
Slate's create-your-own-toy-movie contest.
2 Jul 2009 | 6:20 pmUpon the release of the near-unwatchable yet wildly successful Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I challenged Slate readers to come up with their own movie titles and tag lines based on a toy from their youth. And you rose to the occasion like a Jenga set. Here are some favorites from the hundreds of submissions that poured in over the past week. (Thanks to Slate interns Adrian Chen and Inci Atrek for helping me cull through the inbox.)[more ...]
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MoJo Blog Posts: mojo
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We're Still at War: Photo of the Day for July 2, 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 1:56 pmCameron Jessen works the controls of an EOD robot as his cousin, Michael Miller, watches through a protective mask. The two were at the 22d Chemical Battalion June 19 for the dedication of a conference room in the name of Cameron's father, Sgt. 1st Class Kevin P. Jessen, who was killed in Iraq. (Photo courtesy army.mil). -
Washington Postgate
2 Jul 2009 | 1:43 pmJournalistas in Washington and beyond the Beltway on Thursday were chortling over the news--brought to you by Politico--that the Watergate-famed Washington Post had cooked up a plan to hold private salons, where lobbyists and association heads could pay mucho bucks (up to $250,000) to wine and dine (or tea and snack) with Obama administration officials, lawmakers, and Post editors and reporters. Selling access! Both anti-MSMers and non-Post MSMers jumped on Washington's big-gun newspaper for this violation of journalistic probity. And before the story could make the evening news, publisher… -
If the Feds Botch Recovery.gov, So Goes the Stimulus?
2 Jul 2009 | 12:17 pmAlthough President Barack Obama pledged that taxpayers would be able to monitor "every dime" of the $787 billion dollar stimulus bill, a government website that is supposed to track the expenditures is off to a rocky start. Months after going live, Recovery.gov provides only sketchy information about government purchasing and is undergoing a rushed bidding process to be revamped. The problems that Recovery.gov faces are the central problems of the stimulus: The need to roll out projects quickly while meeting long-term goals and preventing taxpayer money from being wasted. From the… -
John Bolton: Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran
2 Jul 2009 | 9:44 amJohn Bolton says that Iranians' rejection of their rulers means now is as good a time as any for the Israelis to bomb Iran. I actually heard this argument bandied around last week by a friend who had heard it at a dinner with high-powered New York business and media types, but I couldn't really take it seriously. I guess I underestimated the Right once again. Is it any surprise that the man who joked about nuking Chicago and virulently supported the Iraq war thinks that bombing Iran will solve Israel's problems? The broader point is that Bolton does a lot to attack Obama's position but very… -
Obama Administration Backs Bush White House on Cheney Interview
2 Jul 2009 | 9:02 amWhen it comes to the Bush White House's decision to withhold from the public Dick Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the CIA leak case, the Obama administration says its predecessor did the right thing. And it's fighting hard to do the same. On Wednesday night, in another move that puts the administration on the side of secrecy over openness, Obama's Justice Department filed a memo supporting its ongoing opposition to a lawsuit requesting the release of the Cheney interview. This memo included a declaration from Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who said that if the…
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Crooks and Liars
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Washington Post Sells Access To Obama, Others To Lobbyists
2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 pmApparently the Very Serious People™ in the Village have a very different idea of journalism than they led us to believe. After their own columnist Dana Milbank lost his marbles and dignity over a DFH blogger asking a question, the Washington Post hits an all new low: For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier… -
Did you know that Red States lead in something? Guess what....
2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 pmFrom my pal Lisa Derrick: Family Values? Red States Lead in Divorce, Teen Pregnancy and Online Porn What is astounding is the New York Times chart which takes politicians out of the mix and breaks it down into the values that the Right espouses: Anti-divorce, anti-porn and anti-teen sex. Well gosh, even with my admittedly and embarrassingly bad math skills, it's clear that eight out of the ten states with highest rates in the categories of divorce, teen pregnancy and online porn usage were states where McCain came out ahead in the 2008 election. Ahhhh, help...we need more teabaggers to save… -
The Situation is Bleak. As Economy Still Bleeds Jobs, Experts Predict Another Jobless Recovery
2 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pmFirst, the bad news: WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy's road to recovery will be bumpy. The Labor Department report, released Thursday, showed that even as the recession flashes signs of easing, companies likely will want to keep a lid on costs and be wary of hiring until they feel certain the economy is on a solid ground. June's payroll reductions were deeper than the 363,000 that economists expected. However, the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4… -
How I helped drive Sarah Palin crazy by digging into her past
2 Jul 2009 | 2:00 pmYou can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! DOWNLOADS: (399) PLAYS: (2611) My first week on the job here at Crooks and Liars, I went on CNN Newsroom with Rick Sanchez to talk about an investigative piece co-written with Max Blumenthal about Sarah Palin's longtime dalliances with Alaska's far-right elements, particularly the secessionist Alaska Independence Party. At the time, the McCain campaign blew us off publicly. And unfortunately, none of our colleagues in other media settings picked up on the story and asked further questions about the issues it… -
U.S. Launches Offense Against Taliban in Afghanistan; Pakistan Blocks Militants At Border
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pmWith this escalation, the mess in Afghanistan becomes the Democrats' war - and Obama's. Good luck with that, fellows: American marines and Afghan troops poured into southern Afghanistan today in the first major test of Barack Obama's strategy to wrest the initiative from the Taliban. Daybreak brought the sporadic crackle of gunfire but no immediate heavy fighting as the offensive in Helmand province began shortly after 1am local time near the village of Nawa, about 20 miles south of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Insurgents in Helmand – a Taliban stronghold – have for years put up…
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Scholars and Rogues
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New phone ‘apps’ make it easier for pols to stray
2 Jul 2009 | 4:52 pmSanford case shines a spotlight on the central paradox of marriage. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford not only played fast and loose with the institution of marriage, but with email. However, help keeping affairs secret has arrived for not only politicians, but all of us. AshleyMadison.com just released apps for mobile phones and the Blackberry. Jeremy Caplan reports for Time that because they’re “loaded up from phones’ browsers, they leave no electronic trail.” For those unfamiliar with it, AshleyMadison is a matchmaking service for married individuals. -
The Weekly Carboholic: Cassava, sorghum yields drop, toxicity rises with more CO2
1 Jul 2009 | 10:18 pmCassava, sorghum yields drop, toxicity rises with more CO2 Differences between aerosol effects in models vs. observations largely explained Methane clathrates proposed for energy and carbon sequestration Cassava and sorghum are tubers that form the protein base for hundreds of millions of people. But while there’s a great deal of protein in the plant, there’s also cyanide in the plant’s leaves. Whether the leaves are poisonous or not depends partly on how much protein there is - more protein means that the cyanide is less toxic and the plants are safe to eat for man and… -
Wednesday TunesDay special: something for Lily Allen fans
1 Jul 2009 | 2:39 pmClick here to view the embedded video. -
Business: changing a corporate culture, buses and monkeys
1 Jul 2009 | 8:29 amBusiness stuff two days in a row. How about that? So this morning’s lecture explains why fixing a broken corporate culture has something to do with angry, disoriented monkeys driving a bus on the sidewalk. Sorta. -
Senator Claire McCaskill tweets to weaken ACES (updated)
30 Jun 2009 | 9:16 pmSenator Claire McCaskill of Missouri is calling for a further weakening of the American Climate and Energy Security Act (ACES) that passed out of the House last week. Of course, that’s not what she calls it. Sen. McCaskill twittered last week: I hope we can fix cap and trade so it doesn’t unfairly punish businesses and families in coal dependent states like Missouri. (emphasis mine) I can’t help but wonder what happened to the Senator who dared mention that oil prices shouldn’t be allowed to fall too far at the Rocky Mountain Roundtable, Session 2, Part 3, during the…
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Power Line
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Coup are you? part 2
2 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pmOctavio Sánchez is a lawyer, former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras. His Christian Science Monitor column on the events in Honduras is "A 'coup' in Honduras? Nonsense." Sánchez writes: Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d'état. That is nonsense. In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of… -
Administration, Lobbyist, Journalist: Who Can Tell the Difference?
2 Jul 2009 | 5:52 pmThe news cycle these days is like time-lapse photography. Stories are born, flower and pass out of sight again in a matter of hours. For that matter, the Washington Post's "Salon" program didn't last much longer than that. Blink, or take a day off from the computer, and you've missed it. Here, via The Examiner, is the invitation that the Washington Post sent to lobbyists for companies in the health care industries; click to enlarge: The mind boggles: the Post wants lobbyists to bring "your organization's CEO or executive director" to a "salon" at the home of Post publisher Katharine Weymouth. -
Judge not. . .
2 Jul 2009 | 2:23 pmI was in the car with my parents 40 years ago this month when we heard the news that Ted Kennedy had driven his car off of a bridge, after a night of partying, killing a young woman. My father said nothing. I thought "this means Kennedy will never be president." My mother said, "where was [his wife] Joan." When a public figure gets caught in a sex scandal, women naturally seem to focus on the aggrieved wife. These days, the main issue is how she will react. It varies. Some stand next to their husband at the press conference, some don't. Some say they aren't "standing by their man," but end up… -
Malta was worth a conversion
2 Jul 2009 | 2:05 pmPresident Obama has nominated Douglas Kmiec to be the U.S. ambassador to Malta. If the past is any guide, there's a good chance that Malta will soon be described on someone's website bio as a terribly important place attended to by a long and distinguished line of foreign diplomats. UPDATE: A reader reminds me that the Knights of Malta is a prominent Catholic group that dates back to the crusades. So the nomination stikes me as a great move by Obama -- he pleases Kmiec for services rendered without giving him anything of substance. -
Gray skies are going to clear up?
2 Jul 2009 | 12:51 pmAs John shows below, the unemployment numbers released by the Labor Department today provide strong evidence that the Democrats' stimulus package has not succeeded thus far in curbing unemployment. Indeed, notwithstanding the Democratic over-promising, it was always difficult to see how the package could curb unemployment in the short term. Whatever potential such a package might have positively to affect the unemployment rate, any such positive impact was never going to kick in for many months. That's one of the reasons why a cut in the payroll tax would have been preferable. However, Bob…
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Informed Comment: Global Affairs
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Does the state have the upper hand?
20 Jun 2009 | 12:56 pmCrossposted with From the Field.Judged by firepower and control of the communications network it does seem to have the open hand. But this is not a one-sided contest at all. Provided the demonstrations are not geographically limited to one or two cities, there are several factors that favor the protesters even if they only deploy in smaller numbers in the days to come:Dealing with civil disturbances is a labor intensive work. The natural response is to arrest the leaders and cut their communications, but those steps do not seem to be working to this point. People who are sufficiently inspired… -
The Failure of the Iranian Model
20 Jun 2009 | 11:39 amTwelve years ago, with the election of Khatami as President of Iran, it became obvious that in large cross sections of the Iranian society the revolutionary zeal has petered out. The clergy was determined to keep the revolution that brought it to power alive and prevent its moderation and for that aim went to great length to limit free elections and democracy. With Ahmedinejad’s first (and only) election there was an attempt to revive its zeal internally and, as is customary with revolutions, project it outwards by linking it with local grievances, in this case, in Lebanon and the Occupied… -
State of Decay
12 Jun 2009 | 8:51 amMy new piece is up at The Review (National), State of Decay. It argues, by taking a longer historical look at the idea of Pakistan, that the relationship between the provinces and the federal govt. determine what the future for Pakistan holds :Twenty years of military dictatorships, under Ayub Khan and Zia ul Haq, cemented the rule of the few over the many. Their policies led to the emergence of specific grievances by sub-nationalist groups in Baluchistan and Sindh. In the decade of Pervez Musharraf’s rule, these tensions grew dramatically, and pushed the state into a greater alienation… -
THE SPECTACLE OF COMPARISON
26 May 2009 | 9:28 amBY PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM“Tiananmen’s anniversary unimportant to China’s youth,” laments the Los Angeles Times. “Tiananmen now seems distant to China’s students," opines the New York Times. With the approach of the twentieth anniversary of June 4, 1989, there have been a spate of news stories comparing young people in China today with the students who protested at Tiananmen, and the comparison is usually not a flattering one. Apathy has replaced activism. Propaganda has replaced knowledge. Today’s youth are characterized as the “stupid generation,” or at best, “hip but… -
ZHAO ZIYANG AND TIANANMEN
17 May 2009 | 8:41 pm(from the Bangkok Post, May 18, 2009)Zhao spotlights all of the culpritsBy: PHILIP J CUNNINGHAMThe release of Zhao Ziyang's memoirs may not settle, once and for all, the degree of culpability, if any, that 1989 Beijing student activists bear for the tragic outcome of an otherwise uplifting and peaceful movement.But the former secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party's last words on the topic serve as a powerful reminder that the lion's share of blame for the brutal and completely unnecessary military crackdown in June 1989 falls on Li Peng and a handful of party hardliners who, as Mr…
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The Lang Report
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25 Jun 2009 | 12:27 pm
25 Jun 2009 | 12:27 pm -
Inside Baseball, and Heroes?
21 May 2009 | 9:47 amThe 2009 baseball season is well underway. Nostalgic thoughts arise for baseball fans that grew up worshipping their sports heroes. They used to seem bigger than life to us and we wanted to be like them and play center field for one of our favorite teams. But were they all heroes, and will some become legendary for the wrong reasons? And will more false heroes emerge during the 2009 season? -
RANDI RHODES IS BACK!!!
26 Apr 2009 | 6:29 pmSometimes the news is good…..but this time IT’S GREAT! Randi Rhodes is coming back to Radio! May 11th at 4pm, Randi will be filling the airwaves on Green960 Online and the initial response has been more then terrific. Especially here at The Lang Report where our reader have been out of their minds, outraged over her disappearance. If you’ve never heard of Grenn960 Online, it is a community of progressive political thinkers featuring nationally syndicated “talkers.” It is one of America's most successful brands for time-shifted, on-demand audio venues. -
Madoff to Plead Guilty to Fraud Charges this Week
28 Mar 2009 | 6:34 amBernard Madoff, accused mastermind of a $50 billion investment fraud, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges next week, three months after his arrest shocked his customers worldwide. -
President Obama’s First 100 Days – HOT LINKS Week 9
24 Mar 2009 | 7:33 pmPresident Barack Obama continues to show the world that he can deal with a multitude of monumental issues without breaking a sweat. Here are links to the hottest stories this week.
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The Daily Dish: Andrew Sullivan
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Face Of The Day
2 Jul 2009 | 5:32 pmA U.S. Marine from 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. keeps an eye out to where enemy fire is coming from during the start of Operation Khanjari on July 2, 2009 in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan . The Marines are part of an operation to take areas in the Southern Helmand Province that Taliban fighters are using as a resupply route and to help the local Afghan population prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. By Joe Raedle/Getty. -
What Now?
2 Jul 2009 | 4:53 pmAckerman reports on a press conferance by Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council:[If] a compromise can’t be found, then the opposition enters a new phase, having to face a choice between accepting Ahmadinejad and moving to a more radical position. “There are people loyal to the system, who don’t want to bring the system down but at the same time believe the system is quite imperfect [and wish to] ensure the system changes through peaceful means,” Parsi said. If they fail, “then we face a significantly more radical movement in Iran, with more bloodshed than we’ve… -
Quote For The Day II
2 Jul 2009 | 4:18 pm"[Palin] is not a serious candidate for the presidency. She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she hasn't. She has to stop speaking in clichés and platitudes. It won't work. It could work for eight weeks if you're the number two candidate, as she was last year. But even so, she got singed a lot in that campaign. You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency,"- Charles Krauthammer.--PA -
Playing The Aid Card
2 Jul 2009 | 3:50 pmGreg Weeks, who runs a blog on Latin American politics, has been all over the situation in Honduras. Apparently, "U.S. aid is contingent on whether or not a coup is a 'military coup.'" The U.S. is waiting until Monday to decide whether to cut it off entirely:My first impression is that this could very well ease Zelaya's arrival on Saturday. It is a public warning that aid may well be suspended if things go badly over the weekend. Like if the Honduran police tackle Cristina Fernandez and Rafael Correa in order to grab Mel Zelaya. It is also a signal that the U.S. likes… -
"Baring Its Fangs," Ctd.
2 Jul 2009 | 3:34 pmAl Giordano defends himself again via e-mail: The reader who accuses me of "twisting the news" is playing the game of Twister here, and the contortions of fact are staggering. He says I am part of some big media cabal that "won't show one picture" of the protests in favor of the coup. Funny, but I posted a photo on June 30, describing the pro-coup rally as "a decent sized – but not all that impressive considering all the power at its command - crowd." I also pointed out that in the photo appears General Vasquez, who led the coup, on stage next to…
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mcclatchydc.com: Washington
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U.S. taking cautious approach to Honduras political crisis
2 Jul 2009 | 3:46 pmWASHINGTON — When the ousted president of Honduras hit Washington this week demanding a return to power, he got meetings with a White House adviser and a top U.S. diplomat. -
Sens. Kennedy, Dodd unveil cheaper health care bill
2 Jul 2009 | 1:16 pmWASHINGTON — The Senate health committee's top two Democrats on Thursday rolled out a revamped plan to overhaul health care that would cost $611 billion over 10 years — far less than their previous version — but would impose a tax on many employers. -
Medicare reimbursement rates need fixing, Obama says
1 Jul 2009 | 4:24 pmWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said in an interview Wednesday that he'd like to revise the Medicare reimbursement rates that currently shortchange the San Joaquin Valley. -
Jones: No more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year
1 Jul 2009 | 4:03 pmWASHINGTON — After hearing a "drumbeat" for more troops, White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones has told U.S. commanders in Afghanistan that they won't get any more troops this year beyond what President Barack Obama already has promised. -
Obama expands program to aid borrowers who're 'underwater'
1 Jul 2009 | 3:32 pmWASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday expanded efforts to help Americans struggling with distressed mortgages refinance at lower interest rates, even if they owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are now worth.
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WSJ.COM
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State Says Sanford Didn't Misuse Funds
2 Jul 2009 | 5:34 pmGov. Mark Sanford didn't misuse public money for trips to visit his Argentine mistress, state investigators concluded. -
Troubles Plague Cyberspy Defense
2 Jul 2009 | 5:27 pmThe flagship system designed to protect the U.S. government's computer networks from cyberspies is being stymied by technical limitations and privacy concerns. -
Airline Case Shows Antitrust Stance
2 Jul 2009 | 5:24 pmThe Justice Department's belated attack on a plan by two airlines to cooperate within a larger alliance of air carriers heralds a more aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement. -
U.S. Launches South Afghan Offensive
2 Jul 2009 | 5:23 pmThe U.S. military launched a major operation in southern Afghanistan, an early test of the Obama administration's new strategy for beating back the resurgent Taliban. -
Senate's Health Plan Is Less Costly
2 Jul 2009 | 5:03 pmA Senate health-care proposal would keep more people in employer-sponsored plans and cost far less than an earlier version that drew criticism.
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Lew Rockwell: The LRC Blog
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When Obama socializes medicine, take your baby to Mars!
2 Jul 2009 | 5:15 pmWomen & Children’s cares for Ontario ‘miracle baby’ One-week-old Ava Isabella Stinson — all 2 pounds of her — has made quite a dramatic entrance into the world. First her birth. Last Thursday, her parents, Natalie Paquette and Richard Stinson, rushed to a Hamilton, Ont., hospital, where she was born 20 minutes later — more than three months before her due date. She weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces at birth. Then came another complication that doctors couldn’t treat — there was no room at the inn for Ava in the Hamilton area. Lack of any empty beds in a neonatal unit in… -
Book Banning Courtesy of Copyright Law
2 Jul 2009 | 1:35 pmIn Reason: Copyright Should Last Half A Century I mentioned libertarian writer Cathy Young’s advocacy of a 50-year copyright term in discussing the looming book-banning of a Catcher in the Rye sequel based on copyright. Well, the judge has made her decision and banned the book. Yep. Here, in America, land of the free, home of the brave, we are literally banning books–and what’s worse, this is due to a law that many libertarians support. Congratulations, Ms. Young, and other pro-IP libertarians. Shame, shame. Question: if being pro-war is not enough to revoke your libertarian… -
The Church is No Sancturary from US Police State
2 Jul 2009 | 1:04 pmPastor Jose Elias Moran was preparing for an early Wednesday prayer service yesterday (July 1) at the Iglesia Profetica Peniel in Webster, Texas when he was informed that a member of his congregation had been stopped by the police. Out of concern for the church member, Pastor Moran went out to inquire what had happened, only to have the officer, Raymond Berryman, snarl at him to go back inside. According to witnesses, when Moran tried to explain, “I’m the pastor,” Berryman grabbed at his shirt. According to Berryman’s official account, Moran pushed him and then fled… -
Kealey on Government-Funded Science
2 Jul 2009 | 8:32 amThere’s a (90-minute) video of Terence Kealey giving a recent talk about whether science is a public good. I do not believe that there are goods that the market can not provide, but Kealey’s research in this area reveals that the argument of science as a public good is not supported by any evidence, on the terms of mainstream economics. He makes his point early in the video, but the whole thing is worth watching. During the question period, topics such as higher education and patents come up. He gives a great accurate description of Copernicus’ discovery, which is a story… -
Re: Patriotism
2 Jul 2009 | 8:06 amChris: A dictionary definition informs us that the word “patriotism” means not simply a love of one’s country [and is "country" synonymous with "state"?], but to favor one’s own country above all others. This leads to the moral dilemma - and conflicts - noted by many others: “our” patriots go off to fight and kill “their” patriots. If patriotism is a virtue, isn’t the young man who kills and dies for the “enemy” equally virtuous and, if so, what does the vacuous Karl Rove offer to resolve that obvious dilemma? My principal…
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ABC NEWS
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Marines Launch Huge Afghan Offensive
2 Jul 2009 | 4:04 pmThousands of U.S. Marines launch major military operation in Afghanistan. -
Obama: Putin Has 'One Foot in Old Ways'
2 Jul 2009 | 4:03 pmAP Interview: Putin has 'one foot in old ways,' Obama says on Russia trip eve. -
Jenny Sanford: She's Standing by Her Man
2 Jul 2009 | 3:08 pmJenny Sanford open to forgiveness; probe finds governor did not misuse funds. -
Watch ABC's Political Webcast 'Top Line' Online at Noon, Mon.-Fri.
2 Jul 2009 | 1:52 pmFriday: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D–RI) will discuss the latest developments in health care legislation; and the New York Times' Mark Leibovich will discuss political news of day. -
In War of the Worlds, Who's President?
2 Jul 2009 | 1:34 pmReport says current system is inadequate in the face of a catastrophic attack that would kill multiple individuals in the line of succession.
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National Review: The Campaign Spot
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President Obama May Be Getting One Right . . . for...
2 Jul 2009 | 2:52 pmClosing Velocity finds a bit of reason for good cheer this Fourth of July:amp;nbsp;Michael McFaul, special assistant to the president and senior White... . . . -
It Takes More Than Throwing Tea Into Boston Harbor
2 Jul 2009 | 2:25 pmThis Fourth of July, a lot of grassroots activists will be holding their second round of tea parties -- 612 at last count. If you attend one this week... . . . -
Wow, the Market's Bad, and Hey, New Michael Jack...
2 Jul 2009 | 2:06 pmHmmm. The New York Stock Exchange extends trading an extraamp;nbsp;15amp;nbsp;minutes in order to "execute customer orders impacted by system irregula... . . . -
Obama: Stop Blaming Me for the Economy, I Just Got...
2 Jul 2009 | 12:41 pmObama, moments ago, responding to unemployment hitting the highest it's been in 26 years: "It took us years to get into this mess, and it will take mo... . . . -
Sanford Watch: State Law Enforcement Reports . . ....
2 Jul 2009 | 11:33 amI have yet to hear from anyone in South Carolina circles who strongly believes that Gov. Mark Sanford should not resign. With his latest round of comm... . . .
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Fox News: Election HQ
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Tax Revenue Drop Fuels States' Financial Crisis
2 Jul 2009 | 4:08 pmSeveral states are entering the first weekend of the fiscal year and July Fourth holiday without a budget in place and facing the prospect of government shutdowns and program cuts. -
Bill Clinton to Raise Money for Congresswoman Challenging Senator Backed by Obama
2 Jul 2009 | 3:02 pmBill Clinton has not endorsed in the race, but his efforts to help Rep. Carolyn Maloney could be seen as a snub to Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and the Obama White House. -
Obama Administration Delays Release of CIA Report on Bush-Era Anti-Terror Program
2 Jul 2009 | 2:52 pmThe Justice Department had originally said it intended to release the report in June as part of a lawsuit, but department officials said Thursday they need until the end of August. -
Obama Administration Plans to Use NSA to Defend Civilian Agency Networks
2 Jul 2009 | 2:05 pmThe program will only review data going to or from government systems, Department of Homeland Security officials told the Washington Post, which first reported the story. -
RAW DATA: South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford's Statement
2 Jul 2009 | 1:26 pmThe following is the written statement released Thursday by South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford addressing her husband's affair.
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The Atlantic: Marc Ambinder
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The Democratic Party's Health Care Ad
2 Jul 2009 | 1:40 pmThe Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America are looking to raise money from supporters with a new TV ad promoting health care reform. Though they're asking for money to put the ad on air, the DNC isn't hurting for cash, unless you compare it to its GOP counterpart. The DNC has $12.1 million in the bank, with $5.6 million owed out, as of its latest financial disclosure. It could probably air the ad now if it wanted to, but sending it around to supporters makes for a better fundraising tool--and the RNC, by contrast, has $21.5 million with no debt. The ad went out to supporters… -
No Swimming Pools Or Frisbee Golf
2 Jul 2009 | 11:56 amTime's Michael Scherer illustrates Joe Biden's task in keeping stimulus spending in line. For the White House, it's critical that the $787 billion gets spent efficiently and appropriately, and it's worth noticing that we haven't heard as many rumblings about ridiculous pork projects as one might expect from a spending initiative of this size: there haven't been any major bridges to nowhere or Woodstock museums--though Sen. Tom Coburn outlined 100 examples in a report this month that, he says, are questionable. But stimulus critics seem more concerned with government borrowing and debt, and… -
Washington Post Draws Fire With "Salon" Series
2 Jul 2009 | 9:58 amUPDATE: Post CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth has canceled the series of dinners, saying, "Absolutely, I'm disappointed...This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom."The Washington Post found itself the object of much criticism this morning after Politico's Mike Allen reported on a Post "salon" series, promising private, off-the-record, non-confrontational dinner discussions with Obama administration officials, members… -
Is Mike Huckabee The New Jesse Jackson?
2 Jul 2009 | 9:04 amMichael Barone has a fascinating insight that, dare I say, I'd never really contemplated before.Huckabee or a candidate with a similar profile can corner the votes of evangelical and born-again Christians and, starting with Iowa, can round up a significant number of delegates. It is conceivable that such a candidate, with the help of Republicans' winner-take-all delegate allocation rules and if he continues -
Californians Are Sinking Themselves
2 Jul 2009 | 8:55 amThe world's eighth-largest economy has just gone belly-up. When midnight tolled on Tuesday night with legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still deadlocked over how to resolve the state's staggering $24 billion budget shortfall, California became unable to pay its bills. The state will have to begin issuing IOUs to its creditors as early as Thursday. It is the worst budget crisis in the state's modern history.
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Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
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Quote of the Day
2 Jul 2009 | 8:00 am"There's something in Hillary as a model for me, because Hillary, well she came in with a different kind of celebrity obviously. But there was a kind of skepticism where she had to prove herself a certain way and also prove not to be a kind of a show horse, but to be a work horse. And so I want to... put my head down and get to work when I get there." -- Senator-elect Al Franken (D-MN), quoted by Minnesota Public Radio, on lessons he can learn from Hillary Clinton. -
Palin Emails Show Infighting
2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amCBS News: "Internal campaign e-mails exchanged three weeks before Election Day offer a rare look at just how frustrated then Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had become with the manner in which top McCain campaign aides were handling her candidacy. The e-mails, obtained exclusively, also highlight the power struggle and thinly veiled acrimony that pervaded the relationship between Palin and the campaign's chief strategist, Steve Schmidt." -
Sanford Shed Security Detail 39 Times This Year
2 Jul 2009 | 6:14 amSouth Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) left the Governor's Mansion "without a security escort, 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times," according to The State. "The frequency with which the governor shed his security detail has fallen under scrutiny after his secret trip earlier this month to Argentina." -
The Fall of the Class of 1994
2 Jul 2009 | 5:42 amGov. Mark Sanford (R) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) have more in common than being part of sex scandals: They were also members of the famed Republican Class of 1994, swept into the House of Representatives in a massive electoral wave that pushed Democrats out of power for the first time in decades.However, Politico notes that "in the 14 years since that star-crossed class arrived in Washington espousing an agenda that placed family values at its core, no less than a dozen of its members have been caught up in affairs, sex scandals or in messy separations and divorces from their spouses that,… -
Cracks in Obama's Approval Rate?
2 Jul 2009 | 5:34 amA new Quinnipiac poll finds that while President Obama's job approval rating remains stable overall -- currently at a politically healthy 57% to 33% -- his disapproval has risen 8 to 10 points among several key demographic groups. Said pollster Peter Brown: "Those who liked President Obama the most from the start - African-Americans, Democrats, women -- still like him by the same margins, but a chunk of voters who were undecided have decided he's not their cup of tea. Among independents, men, white Catholics, white evangelical Christians and Republicans, his numbers have fallen. He still has…
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BBC News: Politics UK Edition
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Osborne facing expenses inquiry
2 Jul 2009 | 3:31 pmShadow Chancellor George Osborne's expenses are to be investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. -
Brown condemns 'personal attacks'
2 Jul 2009 | 2:36 pmGordon Brown criticises personal attacks in politics as the spending row between Labour and the Tories continues to rage. -
Minister in Tory homophobia claim
2 Jul 2009 | 2:23 pmCulture Secretary Ben Bradshaw angers Tories by saying "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches". -
Cameron tells councils to open up
2 Jul 2009 | 12:25 pmDavid Cameron urges council leaders to be more open about how they spend money, in a "new era of Google government". -
Probe urged into ex-Turks leader
2 Jul 2009 | 11:14 amThe former leader of the Turks and Caicos Islands should face a criminal probe over alleged corruption, a report concludes.
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CBS News: Politics
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White House Delays Release of CIA Report
2 Jul 2009 | 4:00 pmObama Administration Says it Needs Two More Months to Review Report -
Police: S.C. Gov. Sanford Didn't Break Law
2 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pmSouth Carolina Law Enforcement Says Governor Did Not Illegally Use State Funds To Visit Mistress -
Does Race Play a Role in Coverage?
2 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pmWashington Post: Black Reporters on the Beat of Michelle Obama Write Mostly With Enthusiasm and Admiration For First Lady -
"Angry" S.C. 1st Lady: I May Forgive Him
2 Jul 2009 | 2:30 pmJenny Sanford Says It's Up to Her Unfaithful Husband to Save Their 20-year Marriage -
White House Garden Tests Positive For Lead
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pmLead Levels Found at Garden Do Not Appear to Be at Dangerous Levels; Still Safe to Grow Produce
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TOWNHALL.COM
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Carol Platt Liebau: What ObamaCare Really Means
1 Jul 2009 | 7:02 pmThere's no doubt that President Obama can create a government health care program that covers everyone, and costs little. The problem? You'll have to wait forever to use it.England and Canada have the type of system... -
Jillian Bandes: Public Support for Sotomayor Drops After Ricci
1 Jul 2009 | 2:02 pmCurrently, 37% of Americans don't think she should be confirmed, and 39% think she should be. Two weeks ago, 34% were opposed to her confirmation, and 42% were in favor of it.Rasmussen -
Kevin Glass: Wal-Mart Looks Out for Number One
1 Jul 2009 | 1:58 pmPlayers in the health care reform debate are abuzz today with news of Wal-Mart's support of a mandate that all employers in the United States provide health insurance to their employees. The Left has trumpeted this as... -
Carol Platt Liebau: Enough. Please, Just Go.
1 Jul 2009 | 1:35 pmMore South Carolina politicians are urging Governor Sanford to resign. They're right. His weird behavior, irresponsibility in leaving the state incommunicado, possible use of taxpayer funds to facilitate his affair,... -
Chris Regal: Best of the Blogs
1 Jul 2009 | 12:02 pmDave Kooker has some unflattering things to say about the proposed health care reform.Why is it that a document, which has guided our nation to become the most powerful country on the planet, is usurped by those who no...
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the TOWN HALL weblog
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Curiouser and Curiouser Said Alice To Herself
1 Jul 2009 | 4:32 pmIt is getting harder and harder to make sense of life on this side of the Looking Glass. Let me see if I can get this clear. It would be wrong for the United States to “meddle” in Iranian elections, even if half the people in Iran are begging for support. BUT it is okay to tell Israel where they can and can not build houses. Meddling with a regime that has been killing Americans for 30 years bad. Meddling with a loyal US ally good. Criticizing the Mullahs who have been killing US soldiers in Iraq for 6 years now is wrong. Criticizing the Democratic ally is right. … -
Interesting Items 6/29 -
1 Jul 2009 | 4:30 pmHowdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy - In this issue: 1. Crap & Trade 2. Science 3. Kensington 4. Iran 5. Drone Strike 1. Crap & Trade. Nancy Pelosi’s House passed 1,200 – 1,500 page Waxman – Markey (or Taxman – Malarkey) Cap & Trade legislation Friday. It is intended to control carbon dioxide emissions here in the US as a way to control manmade global warming. The legislation marks the first time the US government – now completely out of control under the leftists and a fascist majority in congress – has dared to designate a vital part of… -
No More Evil Empires, Mullahs et al
24 Jun 2009 | 10:03 amThe current occupant of the US Presidency should learn from President Reagan on dealing with tyrannies. “In 1983, Ronald Reagan used a word to describe the Soviet Union that some of his advisors who wanted engagement with the Soviets wished he wouldn’t use. It will anger the Soviet leaders, they said. It will make negotiations impossible. But Reagan used the word anyway. He called the Soviet regime “evil.”" -
Interesting Items 6/22 -
22 Jun 2009 | 3:56 pmHowdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy - In this issue: 1. More IGs 2. Palin 3. Durbin 4. Iran 5. Climate Report 6. Cheerios 1. More IGs. As the week ended, evidence surfaced of the Obama administration obstructing and removing two more Inspectors General. The first was the IG assigned to monitor the TARP program payouts. He has uncovered a large amount of questionable spending and asked for supporting documentation from Geithner’s Treasury Department. Treasury has stonewalled the request, refusing to provide the information. The third IG was at the International… -
Iran June 2009 - America November 2012
20 Jun 2009 | 7:55 pmIRAN JUNE 2009 – AMERICA NOVEMBER 2012 Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler Friday, 19 June 2009 Massive electoral fraud to re-elect a president, massive public protests against the fraud, massive repression by the regime of the protestors - including beatings and killings.That’s what’s happening in Iran in June 2009. It could also be what will happen in America in November 2012.One of the dots connecting the two is a 74 year-old guy named Gerald Walpin. That’s Walpin as in Walpin Gate, the emerging scandal over Zero’s illegally firing him as Inspector General for the…
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Jerusalem Post
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Qatar squashes independence of free press advocacy group mere months after it opened
2 Jul 2009 | 6:34 pmDirector and staff of Doha-based resign amid pressure from gov't. -
Dialogue is key for new US Muslim envoy
2 Jul 2009 | 6:28 pmFarah Pandith says young Muslims are interested in their futures, not in US foreign policy. -
'Fatah detainees told to bring own food'
1 Jul 2009 | 10:49 pmOfficials cite Hamas money shortage, say at least 500 Fatah supporters recently detained in Gaza Strip. -
PA okays joint Dead Sea contest bid
1 Jul 2009 | 1:11 pm"Settler involvement" had kept Palestinians from contending with Israel, Jordan in 'New 7 Wonders.' -
Cleric: Muslims should visit Jerusalem
1 Jul 2009 | 7:52 amSenior Palestinian religious leader withdraws a previous fatwa, urges believers to visit holy city.
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Mother Jones
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How to Deal with America's Empire of Bases
2 Jul 2009 | 11:30 amThis story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. The U.S. empire of bases — at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise — just got a good deal more expensive. As a start, on May 27th, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur, than the Vatican-City-sized one the Bush administration put up in Baghdad. The State Department was also reportedly planning to buy the five-star Pearl… -
Sunscreen's Shady Business
2 Jul 2009 | 2:50 am"DON'T BE A PALEFACE!" That was the slogan for an iconic 1958 Coppertone ad—the one with the frisky puppy tugging at the pigtailed girl's bathing suit, revealing her perfect tan line. Not anymore. In the past 30 years, the incidence of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, has jumped 159 percent, and in just the past decade, the number of Americans diagnosed with skin cancer has increased by nearly a third. Epidemiologists blame several factors—ozone depletion, migration to the Sunbelt, the popularity of tanning beds and tropical vacations. Whatever the reason,… -
Round Wheel Rolls!
1 Jul 2009 | 2:09 pmThis cartoon requires Macromedia's Flash Player. If you don't see the cartoon above, download the player here. Mark Fiore is an editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a web site featuring his work. -
Refusing to Comply
1 Jul 2009 | 1:52 pmThis story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. On May 1st at Fort Hood in central Texas, Specialist Victor Agosto wrote on a counseling statement, which is actually a punitive U.S. Army memo: "There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect." Ten days later, he refused to obey a direct order from his company commander to prepare to deploy and was issued a second counseling statement. On that one he wrote, "I will not obey any orders I deem to be immoral or… -
Can This Man Save the Planet?
1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 amEditor's Note: Last week, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the climate change bill on a 219 to 212 vote, with 44 Democrats voting against it. This was both a victory and a warning sign for the Obama administration, for it shows that President Obama may have a tough time assembling a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Watching this with great interest has been Todd Stern, the administration's climate change envoy, who needs strong legislation out of Congress to strengthen his position in the ongoing international negotiations for a global climate change treaty. Here's a…
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The McLaughlin Group
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Video Podcast for the week of : 6/26/09
25 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmVideo Podcast for the week of : 6/26/09 -
Audio Podcast for the week of : 6/26/09
25 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmAudio Podcast for the week of : 6/26/09 -
Audio Podcast for the week of : 6/19/09
18 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmAudio Podcast for the week of : 6/19/09 -
Video Podcast for the week of : 6/19/09
18 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmVideo Podcast for the week of : 6/19/09 -
Video Podcast for the week of : 6/12/09
11 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmVideo Podcast for the week of : 6/12/09
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Raw Story Breaking News
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Sponsored: Afghan girls get acid in their faces. Click to help...
2 Jul 2009 | 5:37 pmSponsored: Afghan girls get acid in their faces. Click to help... -
Russia, George in new confrontation
2 Jul 2009 | 5:20 pmFears that tense face-off on Ossetian border could lead to renewed war. -
Italy criminalizes illegal immigrants
2 Jul 2009 | 5:17 pmItaly criminalizes illegal immigrants -
Sea ice at lowest in at least 800 years
2 Jul 2009 | 5:14 pmIce cores, ships' logs show ice around Greenland never this low in last 800 years. -
Senator: Honduran coup 'fighting for the same values we cherish'
2 Jul 2009 | 3:41 pmSenator: Honduran coup 'fighting for the same values we cherish'
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TPM Election Central
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DNC Ad Attacks McConnell In Kentucky -- A Peculiar Choice
2 Jul 2009 | 3:15 pmThe Democratic National Committee has this new TV ad in Kentucky, set to run on cable in the Lexington and Louisville media markets, attacking Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for having supported the Bush agenda, and now obstructing the Obama agenda: "But this year -- when it came to supporting legislation to create and protect Kentucky jobs -- he said," the announcer says, followed by audio of McConnell's voice: "No." To be perfectly blunt, this seems like an odd choice of how to spend party resources. McConnell was just re-elected in 2008, and his home state of Kentucky voted for… -
Family Research Council Ginning Up Opposition To Gay Appointee At Dept. Of Education
2 Jul 2009 | 2:29 pmThe Family Research Council has embarked on a new public relations effort against a particular Obama Administration appointee, Kevin Jennings, saying he should not be in his new position at the Department of Education because of his previous position in private activism -- as executive director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Jennings is set to begin his new job on Monday, as Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for the Department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, after his appointment was announced about a month ago. And this week, FRC launched a… -
Presented By:
2 Jul 2009 | 2:29 pm -
Will Obama Strike A Deal With The Hospital Lobby?
2 Jul 2009 | 1:55 pmIn recent weeks, the Obama administration has struck a number of deals with several health care industry stake holders, and they may be on the brink of another breakthrough. The hospital industry is close to a deal with the White House and congressional Democrats in which the industry would agree to federal funding cuts of $150 billion to $170 billion over the next decade to help pay for a health system overhaul, according to people familiar with the talks. The deal, which isn't final, could be announced within days. A critical feature is an agreement on phasing in the Medicare and Medicaid… -
Snowe: Give The Private Insurance Market Another Shot
2 Jul 2009 | 1:20 pmEarlier this week, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) came under fire from liberal health reform advocates for restating her opposition to offering a national public insurance option as an immediate feature of comprehensive health care reform. In an interview with the Associated Press she explained her reasoning. "If you establish a public option at the forefront that goes head-to-head and competes with the private health insurance market ... the public option will have significant price advantages." As I noted previously, this is a sort of strange critique of the public option--what's so bad about an…
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Guardian: UK Politics
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Patients at risk from 'unsafe' NHS trusts
2 Jul 2009 | 4:05 pm• MPs condemn obsession with performance targets • Up to 10% of admissions to hospital may suffer harmPatient safety has been put at risk through "disastrously unsafe care" in a handful of NHS trusts, and insufficient progress is being made in improving services, a critical parliamentary study warns today.As many as one in 10 patients who enter hospital may suffer harm, the Commons health select committee reports, while annual payouts for NHS medical negligence have climbed to more than £630m.Health service managers have become obsessed by government-imposed performance targets, the MPs… -
Merrie lark in the country
2 Jul 2009 | 4:05 pmI don't suppose the countryside was ever really idyllic, but it must once have been a more agreeable place than it is now. Every month Commons questions about agriculture bring us a world of misery in which farmers battle with falling prices, rising costs, rapacious supermarkets, EU bureaucracy, bizarre livestock diseases, and to cap it all, Defra, which is up there with the Home Office and transport as one of the most hopeless government departments.I wonder sometimes how a memoir of a country childhood, written perhaps in 2050 but describing the present day, might go. All the jargon could… -
Small businesses need post offices
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmThe government faces an extraordinary challenge in the future because it has failed to save the future of Royal Mail today (Mandelson abandons plan for part-privatisation of Royal Mail, 2 July). Small businesses depend on a well-functioning postal service. Delaying the modernisation of Royal Mail is not going to make it more efficient, nor is leaving the huge pensions deficit to grow bigger. Although post offices are not part of the postal services bill, the 2,500 post office closures over the past year have had a detrimental effect on Britain's small firms - any more closures would be a… -
Diary
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmHe fought the law and the law won. Maybe he needs another lawyerSo without the salvation of a successful appeal, Ronnie Biggs will die in jail, having never fully expressed remorse for the Great Train Robbery. He said in his autobiography that the violence was "regrettable". Was that not enough? This is a travesty. What we know is that the old villain had admirable legal representation, for he took as his advisor, Giovanni di Stefano, friend to Saddam Hussein, adviser to Slobodan Milosevic, admirer of Osama bin Laden, trusted advocate for Nicholas van Hoogstraten. That Jack Straw chose not to… -
Aircraft carriers are a cost-effective way of deterring conflicts
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmSimon Jenkins (As soldiers die, the MOD is stockpiling for the cold war, 1 July) condemns the new aircraft carriers as relics of the cold war and instead suggests making exclusive preparation for Afghanistan-type operations the principal driver of British defence acquisitions. Given his previous opposition to open-ended, costly and messy campaigns of this sort, this seems bizarre. Simon should be supporting aircraft carriers, since the task of these versatile ships is to help prevent such awful conflicts happening again; they also provide the conditions in which smaller ships can maintain…
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ThinkProgress: Matthew Yglesias
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Endgame
2 Jul 2009 | 3:14 pmThursday is the new Friday: — New strategy for Afghanistan involves eating lots of goat; sounds delicious. — Bad Paintings of Barack Obama (via). — Has Jenny Lewis gone too far? — The labor market is incredibly horrible. — IMF launches SDR-denominated bonds, don’t tell Michele Bachman. I revisited The Get Up Kids’ last night, and they wrote a lot of bad songs! But “Don’t Hate Me” is good and I love “Mass Pike” though your mileage may vary according to whether or not you used to drive on the Mass Pike a lot with your first serious girlfriend. -
Harry Reid’s Not Into Twisting Arms
2 Jul 2009 | 2:26 pmVia Brad Plumer, Harry Reid lays out his approach to leadership: Reid says he expects the tactic of gentle persuasion to work best, given the size of his Senate Democratic flock and the political divergences within it. “I don’t dictate how people vote,” he said in an interview this month. “If it’s an important vote, I try to tell them how important it is to the Senate, the country, the president … But I’m not very good at twisting arms. I try to be more verbal and non-threatening. So there are going to be—I’m sure—a number of opportunities… -
The Tangible Value of Jason Kidd
2 Jul 2009 | 1:44 pmJason Kidd (wikimedia) Rick Bucher writes about the enduring value of Jason Kidd: “His value is in the intangibles now as much as anything,” one Western Conference scouting director says. “He gets guys to play at a higher level. He’s played in the Finals; he’s won gold medals. He was really the guy that set the tone last summer in Beijing.” I think this is an Andris Biedrins case—a player who is in fact valuable in ways that can be fairly easily quantified, and who’s generally recognized to be valuable, but whose value people insist on making a… -
The Decline of Blogging
2 Jul 2009 | 12:56 pmLaura at Apartment 11D offers an excellent précis of the ways in which the blogosphere of today lacks much of the charm of the blogosphere of four or five years ago. I would say that there are compensating benefits to the new, more professionalized, more institutionalized blogosphere. But it really is different and the change has been for the worse in many ways. -
Wal-Mart and the Employer Mandate
2 Jul 2009 | 12:14 pmWal-Mart in West Hills, CA (wikimedia) I just wanted to briefly re-address the issue of Wal-Mart’s joint call alongside the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress for an employer mandate combined with a “trigger mechanism” to control health care costs as part of an overall health reform package. Various reform skeptics have sort of pushed back against progressives touting this by observing that, hey, Wal-Mart is probably doing this because they think it will give them a business advantage. To which one can only say: I certainly assume so!
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The Plum Line
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Happy Hour Roundup
2 Jul 2009 | 2:11 pmDid a Virginia TV station yank a GOP ad attacking Dems over the climate change bill because it’s false? “Roanoke TV Station Refuses to Air False NRCC Attack on Perriello,” blares a release just out from the DCCC about the ad, which was dubbed “wrong” by a fact-checking outlet for the way it characterizes Dem Rep Tom Perriello’s vote for the bill. Jeffrey Marks, the general manager of WDBJ in Roanoke, confirmed the ad was no longer running, but refused to confirm it had been pulled over its veracity. “We have not characterized why the commercial is not… -
Breaking: Joe Sestak Is Running For Senate! Again!
2 Jul 2009 | 12:20 pmBecause this blog is devoted to chronicling every twist and turn in Joe Sestak’s thinking as he decides whether to challenge Arlen Specter, it’s imperative that we bring you the latest: Sestak has now said he’s going to run for Senate. Again. It’s not easy to keep track, so let us catch you up. Yesterday Sestak made a splash by telling a local paper that he is “going to get into the race.” After that, his spokesperson seemed to pull that back, saying that in fact he had not definitively declared that he’s going to run. But now comes the latest, in an… -
Franken Win, Climate Change Helping Fundraising For Dems?
2 Jul 2009 | 11:07 amSeems there may be a side benefit to Al Franken’s victory: The increased likelihood of realizing the Dem agenda could be helping galvanize rank-and-file Dems to open their wallets and give the national party more money. A DCCC source sends over a fundraising email that’s about to go out containing this interesting factoid about their fundraising numbers on Tuesday, the day Franken won: Thanks to you, we didn’t just meet our June 30th grassroots fundraising goal — we shattered it by raising an astounding $1.2 million. Your astounding show of support on Tuesday alone… -
The Press Corps Versus The White House, Part Two
2 Jul 2009 | 10:13 amWas yesterday’s health care town hall meeting with President Obama overly staged, as some reporters now argue? This question is the latest at the core of an emerging argument between the press and this White House — a debate over whether violating established press corps protocol is justified for what the White House believes are worthy and innovative ends. That was the core disagreement over that now-legendary “staged” question from an Iranian. Now the argument has erupted over the town hall meeting. CBS News’ Chip Reid took the lead yesterday morning, insisting… -
McCain And Palin Personally Approved Internal Email Hunt For Leakers, Campaign Manager Says
2 Jul 2009 | 8:32 amJohn McCain and Sarah Palin both personally approved an intensive internal search of the emails of top campaign staffers in order to determine who had been leaking damaging information about Palin to reporters, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt just told me in an interview. “John McCain and Sarah Palin were both informed that we were doing this in an attempt to catch the person,” Schmidt told me, referring to his decision to undertake the email search, which has been the topic of fierce controversy since it was revealed yesterday. Schmidt’s revelation sheds new light on…
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Watchblog: Democrats
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Green Concrete
29 Jun 2009 | 1:17 pmFor years I have been skeptical of the whole idea of "clean coal." Capturing the carbon from coal-fired plants and sequestrating it in the ground or in the ocean seemed expensive and foolhardy. But now I am a believer. I just read about a process for sequestrating the CO2 in the most unbelievable place: concrete!Making concrete is the third largest source of CO2. According to the EPA making a ton of concrete makes about a ton of CO2. Terrible. But an outfit called Calera analyzed the concrete making process: Basically, concrete is comprised of rock and cement; the cement is obtained by… -
Team America, &#$% Yeah!
25 Jun 2009 | 3:06 pmIt astounds me that people actually think America is the world’s police force and by extension Obama it’s President. But that is exactly how many people continue to see America’s relationship with other countries. And it is this belief that has lead to our disastrous foreign policy and diminished reputation around the globe. Even with Obama putting a new face on the American brand and beginning to wash away the ugly stains of our recent past, people still want us to meddle in the affairs of other sovereign nations as if they are our children and we must constantly keep a thumb on them… -
Mark Sanford's Worst Infidelity
25 Jun 2009 | 3:36 amAs newsworthy as being a social conservative who doesn't act with the courage of his convictions is, the matter of what made and still makes Governor Sanford's behavior problematic, is not the breach of his marital promises to his wife, but the breach of his responsibilities to his constituents.The infidelity, as far as I'm concerned, is a mere aggravating factor, not the crime itself. It only makes things stranger, the subterfuge more pathetic in its embarrassing convolution. Nonetheless, his real offense against South Carolinians is the incredibly poor judgment this surrender to immoral… -
Run for the Hills, It's the Moderates!
23 Jun 2009 | 12:18 pmThe way insurance companies, Republicans, and others would have it, a public option is a radical plan, which will destroy the superior private options. But with three quarters of the American public on the side of a public option, we have to ask ourselves whether its the destruction of a superior option, which is what those people are afraid of.The logic, as the president lays it out is clear. If it's an option, not something forced on them, people want a public alternative. If they feel that it is inferior to what they got, they won't go for it. You have take a particular leap of logic… -
Tehran Tea Parties
21 Jun 2009 | 5:12 pmLikening the recent protests in Iran to the “tea parties” in America is just more dangerous rhetoric by desperate Republicans. The protests in Iran are the manifestations of a fed-up, highly democratic people coming face to face with the abortion of their democratic process. Deep-seeded political tensions between progressives and conservatives in Iran have no political parallel to anything going on in America. David Thomas, a Republican senator from South Carolina, suggested the knee-jerk reaction of an eviscerated Republican party and its base is even in the same universe as the Iranian…
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Watchblog: Republicans
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Obama Agenda: Failure to finish
24 Jun 2009 | 1:22 amThe only failure in anything that is attempted is the failure to finish what you start. For Obama to gain credit, at this moment, he will have to make the economy his priority. If he cannot get the economy back on it’s feet, get people back to work, and turn a backward spiral around, he will not be able to make any other project a success, or gain support for it. Health Care Reform, for millions of people out of work, is like tossing daisies at a coffin; it’s a nice sentiment, but it serves no purpose.The issues in Iran and North Korea are over-shadowing his abilities to fully concentrate… -
Want to Write for This Column?
23 Jun 2009 | 3:25 amWould you like to write articles for this Column? Good writing skills, a word processor to check spelling and grammar, and a blog of your own (or another web site where your writing can be reviewed), will get you considered for a role as a WatchBlog writer. Click here to apply if you are interested in volunteering political perspectives, philosophy, and news, from a Republican or conservative vantage point. -
Destroying America
21 Jun 2009 | 12:48 pmLiterally. The Obama administration wants to bulldoze entire swaths of American cities in order to re-engineer them. The next logical step is forced re-locations.Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. ~telegraph.co.ukEven I would not have dared suggest that Obama would already be moving forward with the physical destruction of America so soon. Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached… -
Obama’s Decision: Right or wrong
19 Jun 2009 | 3:20 amAyatollah Ali Khamenei sided with Ahmadenajad and declared the election of last Friday a “definite victory.” He further stated, “If the difference is 100,000 or 200,000 or 1 million, one may say fraud could happen. But how can one rig 11 million votes?” Eleven millions votes might be hard to rig in a country where web sites were not shut down, where people could use their cell phones with ease, or where foreign press was allowed to observe the countries reaction to the election, but all of these, according to widespread reports through the American media, have been taken away from the… -
History Doesn’t Repeat, but it May Rhyme
18 Jun 2009 | 6:13 amI love my American heritage of freedom and I believe, maybe naively, that liberty is the natural state of humankind, even if most humans still do not enjoy it and we face real world constraints on our actions worldwide. In the 1980s, the communist empires were cracking. President Reagan needed to negotiate with the regimes withholding freedom from the people of Eastern Europe, but he also never forgot whose side we were on. We negotiated with the rulers, but stood with the people. Many people in the U.S. questioned this stand. They said it was empty rhetoric at best, or maybe even dangerous.
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Watchblog: Third Party & Independents
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Why Are Homosexuals Safer In China Than The US?
29 Jun 2009 | 7:34 pmMany have said that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing were China’s coming out party to the world, but did you know about China’s real coming out party? In Shanghai this past June there was a successful gay pride parade carried out by the local LBGT (Lesbian Bisexual Gay Transgender) community. Although many out there can argue whether or not the existence of a LBGT community in China is advancement, no one can argue with the fact that a community such as this receiving greater freedom and tolerance is a sign of the Chinese government loosening control over individual rights. On closer… -
House Passes Energy Climate Bill
26 Jun 2009 | 12:50 pmThe House narrowly passed what has long been considered to be an impossible bill to push through during a recession. It was bi-partisan in its passage, as 8 Republicans voted for it, and 44 Democrats voted against it. However, this sweeping energy innovation and climate protection bill, faces a short life as it heads to the Senate later this year. Conservatives have been railing at fever pitch that this bill will tax businesses out of existence or into moving overseas, and consumers will wind up footing thousands of extra dollars per year in energy costs. Of course, to arrive as such stark… -
Want to Write for This Column?
25 Jun 2009 | 5:01 amWould you like to write articles for this Column? Good writing skills, a word processor to check spelling and grammar, and a blog of your own (or another web site where your writing can be reviewed), will get you considered for a role as a WatchBlog writer. Click here to apply if you are interested in volunteering political perspectives, philosophy, and news, from a 3rd Party or Independent vantage point. -
Health Care, Profit vs. Non-Profit
23 Jun 2009 | 1:04 pmThe lines are drawn in all manner of peculiar and gerrymandered shapes around the issue of health care. Seems nearly everyone talking about it is attempting to obfuscate the core issue at hand: For Profit vs. Not-For-Profit health care insurance in America. Incumbents are getting loads of promises, threats, and campaign money for their war chests on this issue. The core issue: The government is a not-for-profit organization. Virtually all private health insurance providers in America are for-profit. Profits are passed on to consumers as part of the price of their policy premiums. Investors,… -
Red Provinces vs. Blue Provinces in Iran.
17 Jun 2009 | 6:43 amWe all hope that the people of Iran can rise up long enough to get a positive reaction from the government or even to follow through with another revolutionary sweep to power by a new generation, but a question persists. Are there really enough wealthy and middle class progressive Iranians to hold onto power in Iran? If you take the demographics of Iran’s electorate and their ideological leanings you can begin to see a familiar political playing field. Iran is a completely different political landscape from the United States, but during this era of social change and rapid cultural…
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Thomas P. M. Barnett
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10 Reminders for Obama on His (Somewhat Useless) Trip to Russia
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amThe cold, post-Cold War truth about Putin's -- er, Medvedev's Moscow? It doesn't matter as much it used to. But if Obama's got his wits about him next week, he'll pretend like it does. Continuing reading this week's World War Room column for Esquire.com. -
A good sign of success in the Army's rapid evolution toward its SysAdmin past/future: the counter-skewering of straw men has begun
2 Jul 2009 | 4:53 amNATIONAL WEEKLY EDITION: "Countering the Military's Latest Mantra: It's possible that the 'counterinsurgency' isn't responsible for progress in Iraq," buy Celeste Ward, Washington Post, 25-31 May 2009. An uninspired op-ed that "breaks" the wisdom that's become so conventional as to be stale: Maybe the surge wasn't just about better counterinsurgency ops?!?!?! A long-time (20 months constitutes a long time in my book) political adviser to Gen. Chiarelli, Ward says it wasn't really an insurgency so you can't credit COIN. Her argument is akin to the "hybrid war" perspective: look closely enough… -
The soft sell on AFRICOM is the best sell
2 Jul 2009 | 4:52 amNATIONAL WEEKLY EDITION: "On Rough Seas: A U.S. program to train regional navies aims to promote stability off a volatile coast," by Karin Brulliard, Washington Post, 25-31 May 2009. This is the stuff my Enterra colleague Harry Ulrich (USN, Admiral, retired) started while he was in Naples, "owning" most of Africa for European Command. Great stuff and the right way to prove our intentions with Africa Command--namely, local capacity building. -
Latest length of Great Firewall delayed
2 Jul 2009 | 4:47 amARTICLE: After Outcry, China Delays Requirement for Web-Filtering Software, By MICHAEL WINES, New York Times, June 30, 2009 China yields some on the Green Dam--for now. -
Jobs, jobs, jobs
2 Jul 2009 | 4:45 amARTICLE: Key in Afghanistan: Economy, Not Military, By Bob Woodward, Washington Post, July 1, 2009 This is why we're getting such great traction with Combatant Commands on Development-in-a-Box™. Jobs aren't just the exit strategy, they pave the path to victory--no matter who provides them.
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TIME: The Page
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43 4th
2 Jul 2009 | 2:03 pmBush heads to Woodward, Okla., for his first post-White House Independence Day. -
Senator Franken Coming Next Week
2 Jul 2009 | 2:01 pmMinnesota Democrat expected to take the oath of office Tuesday. Photo op with Majority Leader Reid planned for Monday. -
Jenny Sanford Speaks Out
2 Jul 2009 | 1:20 pmSays her husband's behavior was "inexcusable," but is open to forgiving him. "Mark has stated that his intent and determination is to save our marriage.... for the sake of our boys I leave the door open to it." Read the full statement here. -
Camp David Trip Shortened
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pmWhite House postpones the president's departure for the Maryland mountain retreat until Friday. Expected to be back at the White House Saturday for July 4 festivities. -
ON THE SUNDAY SHOWS
2 Jul 2009 | 12:40 pmThis Week: Biden. Roundtable with Liz Cheney, Matthew Dowd, Cynthia Tucker, George Will. Face the Nation: Adm. Mike Mullen, Sens. Grassley, Schumer. Fox News Sunday: Mullen, Rep. Boehner. State of the Union: Colin Powell, Mullen, Jordan's Queen Noor. Meet the Press: Preempted by Wimbledon.
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Foreign Policy: Passport
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Fire up the grill!
2 Jul 2009 | 3:32 pmA group of chefs attempt to beat the world record in barbecuing steaks in the southern German town of Bubach-Calmesweiler on August 9, 2008. The chefs grilled 1235 steaks on the 15 square metre large grill and made their way in to the Guinness book of records.Passport is taking a long weekend so there'll be no blogging tomorrow. See you all on Monday. Happy Fourth of July. TORSTEN SILZ/AFP/Getty Images -
Convert to theism, win the trip of a lifetime
2 Jul 2009 | 3:30 pmIt sounds like the beginning of a joke," writes The Guardian. "What do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room?" I initially thought the answer had something to do with light bulbs, but it turns out this is part of the premise of a new Turkish game show: Viewers of Turkish television will soon get the punchline when a new gameshow begins that offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire?Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit… -
Chinese baby girls trafficked overseas
2 Jul 2009 | 2:44 pmThe BBC reports that infants in southern China have been taken from parents who exceeded the two-child policy for rural families. Officials exact a fine of $3,000 from parents that breach family-planning laws, an amount that is several times a local farmer's annual income. According to an investigation by the Chinese Southern Metropolis Daily, over 80 baby girls were "confiscated" from families in Guizhou province that could or would not pay the fine, taken into orphanages and later adopted by couples from across Europe and the United States. The fees extorted for adoption totalled… -
Saddam interrogation highlights
2 Jul 2009 | 12:32 pmNew documents released this week under the Freedom of Information Act give unprecedented insight into interviews with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The declassified summaries were acquired by George Washington University's National Security Archive and are available at their Web site, but we did some rooting around in there and now present you with some revealing excerpts: Hussein continued the dialogue on the issues relating to the significant threat to Iraq from Iran. Even though Hussein claimed iraq did not have WMD, the threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not… -
Australian race attacks: no end in sight
2 Jul 2009 | 10:58 amThe Times of India reports a total of 81 confirmed attacks on Indian citizens, mainly students, in Australia since May 23. The New South Wales state government and police admit a reluctance among Indian populations to report crimes against them, alluding to what is potentially a much larger figure. The attacks are believed to be both "recessionist" and racist in nature. The violence has prompted a patrol of Indian men along Melbourne's suburban train system to protect other Indians from attack. The attacks were condemned by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last month, who…
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Salon: How the World Works
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Watching the defense contractors
2 Jul 2009 | 1:03 pmLast summer, the Department of the Navy contracted with a California-based outfit called Security 20/20 to buy $9,232 worth of bicycles for use in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Security 20/20, also known as Security Pro USA, advertises Fuji Police Patrol bicycles at its Online Security Super Center, for $549.99 a piece. Security 20/20 can also assist customers of all kinds in getting their hands on bomb detection equipment, body armor, stun guns, riot and crowd control products and much, much more. It's your one-stop online shopping center for homeland security products! I know all this might sound… -
A lesson in White House economic Kremlinology
2 Jul 2009 | 10:39 amSimon Johnson, the notoriously indefatigable critic of the Obama administration's approach to resolving the financial crisis, suggests today in the New York Times that a split is emerging between Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner on economic policy. The two "are not on convergent paths," he writes, while suggesting that Summers is moving toward a more Wall Street-adversarial position closer to that of David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. This theory will no doubt cause consternation for those for whom Summers is the root of all neoliberal deregulatory evil. But at best, Johnson's column is thinly… -
America gets laid off, Goldman Sachs employees get a raise
2 Jul 2009 | 8:09 amThursday brings us a rare labor market two-fer: Both the non-farm payroll report for the month of June, and the weekly new jobless claims data. An incurable optimist might be able to find some room for encouragement in the jobless claims report -- both new and continuing claims appear to be continuing a downward trend, but you'd have to be Doctor Pangloss to feel anything resembling happy: The Department of Labor reported 614,000 new jobless claims in the week ended June 27. That's still a very big number, and a bad omen, going forward. As for the non-farm payroll report -- the consensus… -
Even Amish values aren't recession-proof
2 Jul 2009 | 3:20 amSay it ain't so -- even the Amish fell victim to the seductive lures of the boom-time economy. Such is the hook of a depressing Wall Street Journal article by Douglas Belkin, "A Bank Run Teaches the 'Plain People' About the Risks of Modernity." For some, the good life is a hot tub on the back porch and plasma HD flat screen. In a 20,000-person community of Amish in northern Indiana, fancy Dutch Harness horses and carriages lined "in dark velvet and illuminated ... with battery-powered LED lighting" were the definition of living large. But no matter what your value system, when the economy… -
The baby-steps plan to stop global warming
1 Jul 2009 | 2:33 pmOne of the squishier defenses of why we should try to be enthusiastic about the passage of a neutered energy-and-climate-change bill is the "baby steps" argument. In other words: Get this not-very-good bill passed, and then improve it, step-by-step, until it approaches something resembling acceptability. I say "squishier" because anyone who makes this argument (including me) is asking critics to take it on faith that there will be a: the will to keep working on it, and b: that such an evolutionary process is actually possible. Encouragingly, The New Republic's Bradford Plumer, who I am…
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Culture Kitchen
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Stephen Colbert declares Jeff Goldblum dead
30 Jun 2009 | 12:53 pmThe Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Jeff Goldblum Will Be Missed www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum Last week a huckster from Australia declared Jeff Goldblum had died in New Zealand and media all around the world proceed to repeat the hoax. I actually saw on @Twitter that, contrary to the reports, the man was in New York City filming a tv show. Well, Stephen Colbert milked it for all what it was worth. Watch how they play up the "if it was on @Twitter, it must be true" meme. And witness what true comedic talent is as Jeff, to wit,… -
Minnesota Supreme Court Opinions : Call him SENATOR Al Franken
30 Jun 2009 | 11:52 amAbout time Coleman v. Franken (PDF of case A09-697)was decided and in this case, unanimously: 1. Appellants did not establish that, by requiring proof that statutory absentee voting standards were satisfied before counting a rejected absentee ballot, the trial court's decision constituted a post-election change in standards that violates substantive due process. 2. Appellants did not prove that either the trial court or local election officials violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. 3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded additional evidence. 4. -
To the people complaining about the lack of people of color at #PDF09
29 Jun 2009 | 1:51 pmThe Personal Democracy Forum conference is in full force right now and people retweeted poignantly Andrew Rasiej's morning lament about the lack of black and brown faces in the crowd. Among the tweets, Cheryl Contee's stood out because, as a woman of color, she mused maybe young people needed to have some fellowships to make it to the conference. That would be nice, but ... I mean, really? The lack of young black faces in the crowd is the problem? Seriously? Here's my question because am looking at the problem from the place of a woman who has to 16-20 hrs on web development projects to put… -
Wanna be starting something? Let's break Twitter with a #blackout
29 Jun 2009 | 1:24 pmOne of the unknown little snowflakes of the Christian Conservative movement twitters: The current trending topics make me sad for America.. Her twitter friend, a genius that goes by Sum_Dum_Guy (and in the process gives all homeschoolers a bad name) agrees that BET and/or black music related topics trending on Twitter somehow are the thing of massive doses of anti-depressants. It's why they are both featured in OMG! BLACK PEOPLE!, a Tumblr page dedicated to collecting all the "OMG! theres black people on twitter" comments that seem to have arisen out of the intense twittering of people… -
The irony of brown-skinned white supremacists
29 Jun 2009 | 12:17 pmWhite supremacists come in all colors and Michelle Malkin absolutely proves it --along with Clarence Thomas, by the way. Never mind that Judge Sotomayor was part of a unanimous appeal in the Second Circuit that wanted to uphold precedent. Never mind that Sotomayor and all the other judges felt for the firefighters and were sympathetic to their cause (aka, had empathy), yet they still were looking at the facts based on legal precedence. Never mind that Justice Ginsburg, in her dissent believes that "The Courts' order and opinion ... will have no staying power" (pages 55-56 of PDF of SOTUS…
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TechRepublican.com -
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140 Words or Less: Effective Online Video
2 Jul 2009 | 10:33 amEarlier this week I sat down with Richard Sales, Video Producer at Autumn e-media, based out of Nevada, and had a candid conversation about what makes an effective online video. While Richard is a professional with tools and resources at his disposal to create high quality video, I asked him to answer my questions in a way that the novice would understand. You probably recognize most of Richard's work. He was the producer of every one of the NRSC's web ads last cycle. According to Richard these are his biggest accomplishments while at the NRSC: In 2008, the NRSC propelled far beyond the DSCC,… -
The Second Cup: Fire Up Your Donors
2 Jul 2009 | 6:20 amOn Fundraising Widgets Hi, Mister Campaign Fundraiser Technician? Yes, you. I don’t care if you work in a campaign, or just sell your services to campaigns. I’m talking to you. We at RedState.com do enjoy asking our readers to give money to candidates. When a good Republican needs help, we want to find that help. And one thing you guys have already figured out is that nifty website widgets draw attention and can fire up donors. The Linguistics of ReTweets I’ve done a bunch of research into the characteristics of ReTweets in an effort to understand what makes them viral. ReTweets are the… -
45 Days
1 Jul 2009 | 5:01 pmThis past Friday, on a conference call with the RNC Digital Action Team, Todd Herman gave insight to a new RNC initiative to revamp its website & digital content. Earlier today, I linked to this video at Bivings of Todd’s speech at Tuesday’s Personal Democracy Forum – in which Todd continued to expand on his vision for the RNC’s online team – including a re-launch of GOP.com in 45 days. You don’t have to wait for the beta to launch in July. The GOP.com rebuild starts with YOU. If you have a creative video project already underway or in the works, the GOP wants to promote it… -
The Second Cup: RNC's Next Steps
1 Jul 2009 | 8:06 amIntersection of Politics and Internet Continuing to Grow According to a recently released survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 55% of the adult population are now what Pew classifies as “online political users,” or, people who go online to either get information about politics, or to get involved in the political process. When taking a look at the demographics of this group, several key things jump out: 1. Online political users are not overwhelmingly young. While online political users do skew younger than the general adult population, it is not a group dominated by… -
5 Things I Learned at PDF
1 Jul 2009 | 7:47 amEarlier this week, I bolted up to NYC for my third annual Personal Democracy Forum. This year's conference was bigger and badder then ever with over 1,000 of my closest tech & politics nerds in attendance. Indeed, the crowd size started to show, with some panels filling to capacity and ushers turning people away. DAG certainly contributed to the growth. The last two years, it was only David and I at PDF. This year six daggers attended. As always, there were a number of excellent panels and thought-leaders (and some not so great ones too) - but for those who couldn't make it up or were too…
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millennial makeover
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Young Iranians: Takes more than Tweets to Make a Revolution
25 Jun 2009 | 5:02 pmSeventy percent of Iranians are under 30.These young people have twice the presence in the population of that country as America's largest generation, Millennials (born 1982-2003), has in ours.In the immediate aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election, text messages became the tool for organizing post-election protests. Hundreds of thousands of tweets provided more, if not clearer, information about what was happening each day than traditional media. Opposition and government Facebook pages poured out dueling messages on the Internet. It suddenly seemed as if not only had American… -
Millennials Meet the Great Recession
21 Jun 2009 | 10:19 amIt’s a daunting time to be entering the workplace. Today’s young adults—like their great-grandparents eight decades earlier—are graduating from high school and college and starting careers at a time when the American economy is shedding jobs at a record pace. This newest adult generation, dubbed The Millennials, is known for its optimism and sense of personal confidence. But will those traits survive the new economic realities? Recent survey results suggest the answer is a resounding “yes.” Millennials are demonstrating remarkable resilience in the face of an economic crisis, even… -
Obama's doing better than Washington thinks
19 Jun 2009 | 8:50 amIn Washington perception is often reality and, based on the reported results of two new surveys, one by the New York Times and CBS and the other by the Wall Street Journal and NBC, the perception du jour in DC is that President Barack Obama has lost ground because of public concern with government spending, the deficit, and, perhaps most of all, the General Motors "bailout." The New York Times story on its survey is even headlined, "In poll, Obama is seen as ineffective on the economy.But a look beneath the headlines to the survey data itself indicates that New York Times writers, or at least… -
Republicans Gringo Strategy
11 Jun 2009 | 10:55 amIn a recent posting on his Web site, Nate Silver raised the possibility that the Republican Party could more effectively compete in the 2012 and 2016 elections by turning its back on Hispanics and attempting to maximize the support of white voters in enough 2008 Midwestern and Southern blue states to flip them red. This would involve positioning the GOP as the non-Latino party by "pursuing an anti-immigrant, anti-NAFTA, 'American First' sort of platform.'" The Republican Party rode similar exclusionary strategies to dominance of U.S. politics during most of the past four decades.But America… -
Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio? Millennials know the answer
1 Jun 2009 | 5:52 pmBaseball's reputation hasn't been under such a cloud since the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919. Just as Sen. George Mitchell's report identified 104 steroid users among today's big leaguers, nine decades ago a number of players, including some of the game's biggest stars, were widely reputed to be substance abusers.Back then, as now, team owners put so much emphasis on short-term gains that they threatened to undercut the game's viability. Players, absorbing this "every man for himself" attitude, even conspired to fix a World Series.While we haven't quite reached that level of venality today, one…
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Patrick Ruffini
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Sanford Shouldn't Resign
25 Jun 2009 | 12:09 amThat title is provocative, and deliberately so. I'd like to play Devil's Advocate and argue that blindly going along with the Dump Sanford crowd could seriously damage Republican elected officials' ability to weather future, hopefully less serious storms.At the core of the Sanford and Ensign episodes is the cloud of "hypocrisy" that hangs over any Republican who strays from the bonds of their marriage. (Quickly forgetting that all who commit adultery are hypocrites, having taken a solemn vow of marriage.) Because Democrats are perceived as more socially libertine, they get off easier.This is… -
Change Requires Accountability
18 Jun 2009 | 8:11 pmWhen the #AllBarackChannel realizes something is going wrong, it's probably time to pay attention: Obama's spending proposals and a record-breaking national debt inherited from President Bush that is projected to grow could be Obama's political Achilles heels, and one reason he often underlines fiscal prudence as a top priority.The percentage of people in a Pew Research Center poll out today who expressed approval for the way Obama is handling the economy slipped to 52 percent from 60 percent in April.Recent NBC/Wall Street Journal and CBS/New York Times polls showed that nearly six in 10… -
Does Money Even Matter in Elections Anymore?
9 Jun 2009 | 8:34 pmIn Virginia today, this lost: How many times do I have to say it? In the modern campaign, early money and establishment support matters far, far less than it used to, and could actually turn out to be a handicap -- particularly when money becomes the story. Campaigns like McAuliffe's that are focused above all else on money, and that put out self-congratulatory press releases about their "grassroots organization" and their Noah's Ark of big-name consultants, frequently forget that money can't buy two other M's: message and momentum. As a campaign manager, I'd much, much rather be… -
Sotomayor Isn't Roberts
29 May 2009 | 2:32 amThe debate over whether and how much Senate Republicans should oppose Sonia Sotomayor is grinding along. I personally don't think it's the worst thing in the world if Republicans got more aggressive than they currently seem to be comfortable with, and for the following reasons. Not Blowing the Whistle on a Solid Liberal Like Sotomayor Creates a Bad Precedent for Decades to Come. The left is trying to spin the Sotomayor nomination as a pick in the mold of what moderate conservative John Roberts was to Bush -- a moderate liberal "slam dunk." In reality, she is more like the liberal Sam… -
Local Obama Organizers Struggle to Keep the Movement Alive
24 May 2009 | 7:05 pmDuring the election, the groups functionality on My.BarackObama.com was a remarkably efficient way to communicate to Democratic activists on the local level. Republicans wanting to volunteer for McCain-Palin signed a sheet at county victory headquarters, and might or might not get a call back. If you wanted to get plugged into the Obama campaign, all you had to do was sign up to your local group online, and a local organizer would send out regular e-mails with volunteer opportunities, which if printed out would be something like 10 pages long. Ever since, the group listservs have served as an…
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National Journal Blogometer
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7/2: Is HELP On The Way?
2 Jul 2009 | 11:26 amLiberal bloggers are praising the revised health care plan released by the Senate HELP Committee, which includes a public option and carries a price tag of roughly $600B over 10 years (which is significantly cheaper than the estimated $1T cost... -
7/1: Sixty Senators
1 Jul 2009 | 10:40 amWhile liberal bloggers are extremely critical of ex-Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-MN) actions over the past eight months, they're pleased that he finally conceded and allowed Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to be seated. Now the netroots are discussing the political implications... -
6/30: Reeejected!
30 Jun 2009 | 10:57 amConservative bloggers are portraying the SCOTUS' 5-to-4 ruling in the Ricci case -- which reversed an appeals court decision joined by SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor -- as a sharp repudiation of Sotomayor's legal judgment. While acknowledging that Dems "certainly have... -
6/29: RINO-Hunting
29 Jun 2009 | 11:28 amConservative bloggers are furious that 8 GOP Reps. voted in favor of the climate change bill, which narrowly passed the House in spite of an aggressive lobbying campaign led by Americans For Prosperity and righty blogs. Conservative bloggers are denouncing... -
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Jed Lewison
26 Jun 2009 | 12:03 pmToday the Blogometer talks to Jed Lewison, who blogs at Daily Kos and the Jed Report. (If you're looking for Friday's edition of Blogometer, click here). Where did you grow up? I mostly grew up Seattle, but I was born...
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Roll Call: Politics
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Sununu Decides Against 2010 Senate Bid
Former Sen. John Sununu (R) will not run to succeed retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (R) in New Hampshire in 2010, according to the Associated Press. -
Maloney, Sestak Set to Challenge Democratic Establishment
Two House Democrats moved even closer to challenging incumbent Senators in primaries next year, according to local media reports Wednesday. -
Poe's Campaign Fined $25,000 by FEC
The campaign committee of Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) recently agreed to pay a $25,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission for failing to properly report receipts, disbursements and cash-on-hand figures during the 2004 cycle, according to an enforcement agreement released Thursday. -
FEC Fines Lawyer $155,000
The Federal Election Commission has fined a Pennsylvania lawyer $155,000 for illegally funneling campaign contributions to former Democratic leader Dick Gephardt's (Mo.) presidential campaign in 2004. -
NRCC Targets 13 House Democrats on Climate Vote
The National Republican Congressional Committee announced Wednesday that it is targeting 13 House Democrats this recess with weeklong radio ads and automated calls for their votes on last week's energy bill.
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The Bare Knuckled Pundit
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A Very Constitutional Coup
2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 amBy Juan Diego Zelaya, The Washington TimesJune 29, 2009 During the past 3 1/2 years, my country has lived through a sad satire of governance. Influenced by the No. 1 promoter of 21st-century socialism, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, our... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Daily Cartoon - Washington, We Have A Problem....
2 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Daily Cartoon - Firewoman Nancy to the Rescue!
1 Jul 2009 | 5:00 am[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Daily Cartoon - Indisputable Science
30 Jun 2009 | 6:00 am[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
What If Obama Did Want to Help Iran's Democrats?
30 Jun 2009 | 5:00 amThe CIA is no longer in the business of influencing politics abroad. By Gabriel Schoenfeld, The Wall Street Journal June 29, 2009 Thus far, debate over American policy toward Iran has revolved around President Barack Obama's various responses.... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Open Left - Front Page
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NYC Mayoral Forum Liveblog
2 Jul 2009 | 2:13 pmBy Josh Bolotsky & Justin Krebs As promised earlier today, we're liveblogging from the Working Families Party's Mayoral Forum, at the Hotel Trades Council Union Hall in midtown Manhattan. We'll be joined by two leading Democratic candidates, Bill Thompson and Tony Avella, and the incumbent Michael Bloomberg. If you have any questions, comments or thoughts for us, please let us know in the comments, and we'll try to reflect those interests in our coverage. You can also watch it live here. 7:55 Thompson finishing up. They all handled themselves respectably. People are ready for… -
We Could Get The Third Stimulus Wrong
2 Jul 2009 | 12:00 pmOriginally posted by Harry Moroz at DMIBlog. As state governments across the country grappled this week with painful decisions about tax increases and service cuts to close budget deficits, stimulus watchers raised serious concerns about the deleterious effects that these deficit-closing measures will have on economic recovery. Stephanie Kelton pointed out that "Jobs that are being created (or saved) through the left hand of the Obama stimulus package are disappearing at least as rapidly as the right hand slashes billions from state budgets." Indeed, state and local government purchases… -
Where The Senate Stands On A Public Option
2 Jul 2009 | 10:21 amBased on the news reports, public statements, and grassroots voter contacts generated from Stand With Dr. Dean, here is a chart detailing where the entire Senate stands on a public option. While we still haven't received many clear answers on our campaign to make every Senator give specifics on what type of public option they support, the overall progress on the public option is pretty good. We are now up to 38 "yes" votes, only 12 away from enough to pass a public option through reconciliation. And, in the best news of all, the Senate HELP committee plan, that includes a public option and is… -
467K Jobs Cut in June; Jobless Rate at 26-Year High
2 Jul 2009 | 7:45 amAs fladem notes in QH. But, hey, I'm really glad that the big banks are making money again. No doubt it will all trickle down to the rest of us soon. -
Blogging the NYC Mayoral Forum Later Today
2 Jul 2009 | 7:36 amby Justin Krebs Later today, the Working Families Party will be hosting a Mayoral Forum for the two leading Democratic candidates, Bill Thompson and Tony Avella, and the incumbent Michael Bloomberg. You can watch it live here. Additionally, Josh Bolotsky and I will be covering the event live. You can find the coverage here at Open Left at 5:30pm eastern. Any issues in particular you want us to pay attention to?
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The Nation: Editor's Cut
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Obama in Moscow
2 Jul 2009 | 10:54 amOn Monday, President Obama heads to Moscow for two days of talks with President Dmitrii Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He also plans to meet with Russian opposition leaders and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and deliver what White House officials are billing as his third major foreign policy address--after his April arms control speech in Prague and his address in Cairo to the Muslim World. And today the White House confirmed that Obama will give an interview to Russia's leading opposition newspaper 'Novaya Gazeta.' This is very good news. In April, Russian President… -
Time to End False Bipartisanship
28 Jun 2009 | 2:41 pmGod I hope David Broder is wrong. "The President has told visitors," the 'Washington Post' columnist wrote last week, "that he would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52-48." The good news is that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is now talking about how bipartisanship may need to be redefined downward if the Democrats are going to pass meaningful healthcare reform. In a meeting with journalists last week, Emanuel proposed that healthcare legislation could be bipartisan without Republican… -
Obama: Refocus and Reset
23 Jun 2009 | 11:16 amAt a moment when the President is more popular than most of his signature policies, when weak-kneed Democrats threaten to bolt on healthcare reform and hypocritical legislators have turned Iran's election into a political football with little regard for the ramifications of their rhetoric for Iranian protesters, Obama worked hard to use his fourth press conference to refocus and reset the political debate. Keeping his cool (even while sparring with a handful of snarky reporters), Obama displayed moral realism and principled respect for the courage, dignity and sovereignty of the Iranian… -
Around 'The Nation'
23 Jun 2009 | 6:59 amAs I write today, turmoil and violence continue to roil Iran. Our Contributing Editor Robert Dreyfuss was on the ground in Tehran in the days before and after the election. He left Iran but is following the crackdown and protests; you can track breaking news at his blog The Dreyfuss Report, and see our slideshow, Iran on the Edge, for images from Tehran. In other news from 'The Nation' this week: Federal authorities in New Orleans have launched an investigation into the mysterious death of Henry Glover, a New Orleans resident who was found burned to death in the days following Hurricane… -
Americans for Financial Reform
19 Jun 2009 | 5:34 amIn April, President Obama delivered a speech in which he alluded to the Sermon on the Mount to describe the stronger, more just economy he envisioned: "We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand," he said. "We must build our house upon a rock." But the regulatory reforms he laid out on Wednesday do not fully accord with those eloquent words. Indeed columnist Joe Nocera accurately described President Obama's new plan in the 'New York Times' yesterday: "The Obama plan is little more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam rather than…
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Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
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In praise of ... Ezra Nawi
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmHe is a rarity, even among that most endangered of species, the Israeli peace activist. Born in Basra to an Iraqi Jewish family, Ezra Nawi lives on the modest wages he earns as a plumber. As such, he comes from the same background which generates the hardline views in Israel. So he was speaking to his own kind when he told laughing border police who had just demolished Palestinian Bedouin shacks that all they would leave behind was hatred. Not content with the Bedouin shacks, the prosecuting authorities are now trying to demolish Mr Nawi's life by threatening him with a prolonged stay in… -
Labour: Beyond U-turns and YouTube
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmGrass doesn't grow under the heavy roller. In characteristic cricketing terms, Clem Attlee described the lot of Anthony Eden in serving under Churchill. It is not just big personalities but also the grind of governing itself which can crush green political shoots. Long-in-the-tooth ministers acquire defensive instincts, fearing that anything admitted to be wrong with the world will turn out to have been their fault, and terrified that every fresh thought they have will be damned as a humiliating retreat.Labour has executed an extraordinary series of body swerves this week, most of them… -
These outrageous slurs undermine our mission in Congo
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmUN peacekeepers are rooting out perpetrators of sexual violence, not supporting them, says Alan DossEve Ensler describes the suffering of Congolese women and girls subjected to rape and other unspeakable acts of sexual violence (On the heels of catastrophe, 19 June). Monuc, the UN peacekeeping mission that I lead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is supporting a joint operation known as Kimia 2 with the Congolese Army (FARDC). Kimia 2 is aimed at neutralising the FDLR, an armed group led by former leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that has for years been among the main perpetrators… -
Afghanistan: Operation Hope in Hell
2 Jul 2009 | 4:01 pmThe most optimistic assessment of the war in Afghanistan is a sober one. Nearly eight years of fighting have taken the can-do shine off serving commanders. Can't do, or don't have enough troops to do, is more often the message - and even General Jim Dutton, the deputy commander of Nato forces, admitted last week that the Taliban had fought British troops to a stalemate in Helmand. So the news yesterday that the US had launched its biggest operation since Fallujah, sending nearly 4,000 marines into the lower Helmand river valley, should be assessed by concrete results, not high hopes. There… -
Not just pills and condoms
2 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pmMessages on preventing pregnancy and disease have left better forms of contraception ignoredThe vast majority of women in the UK spend more than 30 years of their lives trying to avoid becoming pregnant. Contraception has been available free from the NHS since 1974 and today there is a choice of 15 methods, so it would seem that avoiding pregnancy should be straightforward. Yet the evidence demonstrates otherwise, with about one in five conceptions ending in abortion.An understandable preoccupation with the UK's high levels of teenage pregnancy has had the unfortunate consequence of…
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Wired: Danger Room
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China Looks to Undermine U.S. Power, With ‘Assassin’s Mace’
2 Jul 2009 | 1:32 pmCould China wipe out an American military advantage with a simple black box? Joshua Cooper Ramo’s thought-provoking book The Age of the Unthinkable challenges all kinds of conventional thinking about everything from venture capital to military strategy. One section caught my eye in particular, about how the Chinese might neutralize American air superiority, using a type of weapon known an “Assassin’s Mace.” The specific device in question is an unassuming little case; how worried should we be? U.S. airpower depends on the ability to overcome surface-to-air missile… -
Bomb-Detection CEO Named New Darpa Boss
2 Jul 2009 | 11:12 amMechanical engineer and defense entrepreneur Regina Dugan has been named the new director of Darpa, the Pentagon’s premier research arm. Dugan will now be in charge of more than $3.2 billion of high-risk science and technology projects — everything from thinking computers to shape-shifting machines to soldier telepathy. “Regina Dugan is precisely the dynamic leader Darpa needs to open new technology frontiers and transition revolutionary technologies to serve our nation’s interests,” Zachary Lemnios, director of Defense Research and Engineering, says in a statement. Back in mid-May,… -
Video: Pentagon’s Robo-Hummingbird Flies Like the Real Thing
2 Jul 2009 | 10:33 amMilitary-backed researchers have built a tiny drone that looks and flies like a hummingbird, flapping its little robotic wings to stay in the air. So far, the mock bird, built for Pentagon mad-science division Darpa, has only stayed aloft for 20 seconds at a time. But that short flight was enough to show the potential of a whole new class of miniature spies, inspired by nature. Darpa just handed AeroVironment, makers of the winged “nano air vehicle,” another $2.1 million to build a hummingbot 2.0. Ultimately, Darpa program manager Todd Hylton says in a statement, he’d like… -
Is North Korea Prepping Fourth of July Fireworks?
2 Jul 2009 | 7:01 amNorth Korea fired off a pair of short-range missiles today — Reuters is now reporting a third — and speculation now centers on whether Pyongyang is planning a more dramatic test of a long-range missile that could, in theory, reach Hawaii. Three years ago, North Korea ratcheted up tensions in the region with a series of missile tests, including the launch of a long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. That Taepodong-2 launch was a failure: The missile cracked up less than a minute after launch, but the North Koreans continued to pursue intercontinental ballistic missile technology. So can… -
Five for Fighting 7/2/09
2 Jul 2009 | 6:32 am* Double-drone attack in Afghanistan * Jones: no more troops this year * How to: build an Air Force from scratch * “Spanish boffins develop bat-like sonar-vision superpower“ * Cell phone vigilantes strike
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The Swamp
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Washington Post's own regretted story
2 Jul 2009 | 11:10 amby Mark Silva Access. Washington runs on it. And plenty of people will pay dearly for it. But when the publisher of the Washington Post, a paper that has devoted considerable resources to rooting out and exposing the sale of influence in the nation's capital, learned that access to her own proposed "salons'' with members of the Obama administration and others was going for as much as $250,000, she pulled the plug. "This should never have happened,'' said Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth. Who better to tell this tale than the Post's own Howard Kurtz, media critic and star of TV's Reliable… -
Biden in Iraq: Withdrawal on track
2 Jul 2009 | 10:45 amby Mark Silva and updated Vice President Joe Biden made an unannounced landing in Iraq today for a two-day series of meetings with Iraqi leaders and U.S. troops. The traveling pool report from the ground says that Biden "will try to reestablish contact with Iraqi leaders and try to help foster efforts at political reconciliation.'' More to come from that front. The White House sayys Biden will meet with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai. "The vice president will reiterate the United States' commitment to… -
White House 'seeding' the press?
2 Jul 2009 | 7:30 amby Mark Silva When hunters seed a field, they are guaranteed of getting some birds to shoot. It's considered bad form. When the White House seeds questions from the public, or from the press, that raises another question of form. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was peppered with questions this week about the White House's practice of picking out people whom the president calls on at his so-called "town hall'' meetings, such as the one on healthcare Wednesday in Annandale, Va., and the White House alerting reporters that they might be called on at a presidential news conference -… -
Unemployment: 9.5 percent
2 Jul 2009 | 6:55 amby Don Lee The nation's unemployment rate edged up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June as employers slashed nearly a half-million jobs over the month across a wide spectrum of industries, the Labor Department reported today. The disappointing report provided fresh evidence that the jobs' market remains deeply troubled despite signs in recent weeks that the economy is climbing out of its worst recession since the Great Depression. June's jobless rate rose just a notch, from 9.4 percent in May, a much smaller pace of increase than past recent months. But it appeared more discouraged… -
Healthcare: 'Universal,' $600 billion
2 Jul 2009 | 5:40 amby Mark Silva If they can remove the word "trillion'' from the table, and add the word "universal'' to it, congressional leaders may have a shot at reviving the healthcare reform debate in Washington. And Senate leaders say they have done both with a new draft of legislation in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) report a 10-year cost of just over $600 billion on a bill which the Congressional Budget Office says should ensure health coverage for 97 percent of all Americans. Now, if they can remove the word fee --…
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Why Tuesday?
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PDF09 Photo Essay
1 Jul 2009 | 1:15 pmPhotos below of Joe Trippi, shot of the panel I was on, shot of the audience from my POV at the panel, Lindsay Hamilton from Rep. Isreal’s office, and the books of two of our advisory board members, Trippi and Andrea Batista Schlesinger. For a pic of me with Rep. Steve Israel and Steve Grove of YouTube, check out this post. -
Rep. Steve Israel: Why Tuesday? Correspondent
30 Jun 2009 | 4:48 pmFor those of you looking for the episode of our vlog with U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) after he mentioned it at the Personal Democracy Forum today, look no further. For a photo of yours truly with Rep. Israel from this afternoon at PDF09, see below (I’m at left, Rep. Israel is center, and Steve Grove of YouTube is at right). For more photos from PDF, click here. Previously: U.S. Rep. Becomes Why Tuesday? Correspondent Weekend Voting Act Introduced! -
Greetings From PDF09
30 Jun 2009 | 8:34 amI’m here! Be sure to come see the online video panel I’m on at 2PM ET in breakout room B. You can also follow along with me on the Why Tuesday? Twitter feed, and you can also become a fan of Why Tuesday? on Facebook. -
What Is Why Tuesday?
29 Jun 2009 | 7:31 amGreetings to those finding us by way of Personal Democracy Forum 2009. Our Executive Director Jacob Soboroff is speaking June 30th on the panel Online Video: Lessons from the Obama “Idea Factory” and 2008 Campaign. This video sums up who we are and what we do. It was produced for Current TV by John Carluccio and aired on TV and on Virgin America. -
Personal Democracy Forum 2009
22 Jun 2009 | 10:14 amJoin me and many friends of Why Tuesday? next week at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City. You might remember we were there last year, too. I’ll be speaking June 30th on the panel Online Video: Lessons from the Obama “Idea Factory” and 2008 Campaign. While I’m there, I’ll be tweeting on the Why Tuesday? twitter account, so follow along! This year’s conference is focused on the theme of “We.gov” and all the ways campaigns, elections, media, advocacy and governance are becoming more open, participatory and collaborative. Keynote speakers…
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Confederate Yankee
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Thomas: Obama Worse Than Nixon
2 Jul 2009 | 5:07 amWizened White House Press Corps gnome Helen Thomas says that the current administration's attempts to control the press is the worst she's seen: "I'm not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the... -
Changes in Latitude
29 Jun 2009 | 1:42 pmI'm in West Palm Beach this week on vacation. Blogging will be light, the Bacardi cold, and the water warm.... -
Pissing Away America's Promise: Cap and Trade Passes 219-212
26 Jun 2009 | 4:25 pmON CSPAN.com (not link yet) HOUSE PASSES ENERGY BILL, 219-212 Today The House has approved passage of the American Clean Energy & Security Act by a vote of 219 to 212. The climate change bill, a legislative priority of Pres.... -
Amazon Closes Associates Program in North Carolina Over Tax Concerns
26 Jun 2009 | 4:12 amVia email this morning, another classic case of tax-and-spend Democrats costing American jobs through short-sighted greed. We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This... -
Alleged Moonwalking Pedophile Dies; World Forgets Obama Won't Use The Insurance Plan He Intends to Force Down Our Throats
25 Jun 2009 | 3:53 pmPardon me for keeping some perspective....
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Ace of Spades HQ
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John Bolton: Israel Should Bomb Iran's Nuke FacilitiesIsrael's Submarine Force: Already On It, Hoss
2 Jul 2009 | 7:35 pmThe Mustache of Silvery Justice speaks. Only those most theologically committed to negotiation still believe Iran will fully renounce its nuclear program. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has a "Plan B," which would allow Iran to have a "peaceful" civil nuclear... -
Barney Frank: Hey, Let's Take the Small Amount of Supposed Profit from TARP Repayments and Put it Right Into Subsidizing More Housing
2 Jul 2009 | 4:20 pmI say "supposed profits" because the profits are a pittance compared to the huge TARP expenditures, and only represent profits on the first wave of repayments -- which, for all we know, may also be the last round of repayments.... -
Quinnipiac Poll: Obama Losing Independents
2 Jul 2009 | 3:12 pmHow the Cookie in Chief crumbles: While President Obama's approval-to-disapproval numbers after months in office remain a more than respectable 57 percent to 33 percent, his standing among independents has moved in a negative direction by a net 12 points,... -
Oops
2 Jul 2009 | 2:49 pmSorry about that, folks. Looks like we had a drive fail. Second one this week. Fortunately, this server has hardware RAID, so we didn't lose anything. Unfortuntely, the drive had a whole lot of crazy to get out of its... -
Wonderful: Obama Released Iran-Backed Terrorist Who Killed American Soldiers for... Dead Bodies of Murdered Brits; Planning to Release Another One, Too
2 Jul 2009 | 2:47 pmNegotiating with terror networks. For corpses. Which is the stock in trade of terror networks. On Jan. 20, 2007, five American soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded in Iraq. As Bill Roggio relates at the Long War Journal, it...
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Betsy's Page
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Barney Frank doesn't ever change
2 Jul 2009 | 6:32 amBarney Frank has successfully downplayed the connection between his encouragement of Fannie and Freddie to make mortgages to minorities and the poor and our financial meltdown. Sure the right-wing bloggers and conservative journalists point this out, but he keeps on doing what he's always been doing. So here he comes yet again to try to repeat some of the same policies that got us into this -
The ugly origins of the Ricci firefighters case
1 Jul 2009 | 9:57 amMichael Barone reminds us of how the Ricci case originated. After it turned out that 19 whites and one Hispanic had gotten the highest scores on the qualifying exam, a despicable racemonger went to work to get the results thrown out.Ricci is also something else: a riveting lesson in political sociology, thanks to the concurring opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. It shows how a combination of -
Rising costs in health care
1 Jul 2009 | 9:20 amThomas Sowell explains why health care costs are rising in the United States.Most political and media discussions of medical care have an air of unreality reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. There is an abundance of catch-phrases but remarkably few coherent arguments.Let's start at square one. Why is there alarm about American medical care? The most usual reason given is because its cost is high -
Debunking health care myths
1 Jul 2009 | 6:35 amGeorge Newman writes a valuable clip-and-save column in the WSJ today attacking many of the arguments that a pro-public option health care reform bill have been proposing. Here are a few of his arguments.- "The American people overwhelmingly favor reform."If you ask whether people would be happier if somebody else paid their medical bills, they generally say yes. But surveys on consumers' -
So when will that stimulus start taking effect?
1 Jul 2009 | 6:29 amRick Klein of ABC notes that the administration has started to move the goalposts now claiming that we shouldn't expect to see the effects of the stimulus in the summer and fall.However, that wasn't what they used to be claiming. When it passed they had a much quicker horizon for when we'd see the impact. In fact, earlier they had claimed that we were already seeing the effects.But top Obama
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Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir
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07/02/2009
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07/01/2009
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06/30/2009
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06/29/2009
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06/28/2009
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Riehl World View
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Obama's Right Track Wrong Track Numbers
2 Jul 2009 | 4:07 pmAfter reading Ed's post on the new Rasmussen poll, I clicked through to the poll item. This is interesting in light of an April CBS item. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say the country is heading in the right direction. Now, back to April via CBS. It would appear the honeymoon is over and people have begun to move below the superficial, pegging Obama's policies to his popularity. He was able to escape that only so long as he didn't really have much in the way of policy, relying more on rhetoric to sustain his numbers. I guess talk is cheap after all. WASHINGTON (CBS) ― For the first time in… -
The Public Option
2 Jul 2009 | 3:33 pmFred Bauer takes a look at a recent poll on a public option for health care. -
NJ Tea Party Schedule
2 Jul 2009 | 3:24 pmThis below from World Net Daily's list by state. Note the Summit gathering is tomorrow from 3 - 6 pm. There's a mention of the Margate party herethat suggests a time on the 4th. Say hello to Lucy if you hit the Margate beach! Also, there are 11 various NJ event scheduled, not all of them Tea Partyies, according to this. It includes upcoming protests of Chris Smith and Jon Corzine. Margate – Saturday, July 4, time to be announced, Washington and Amherst Avenue Jackson – Saturday, July 4, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., John F. Johnson Park, Kierych Memorial Drive, just south of S. Cooks Br. Rd. -
Appel Explains Andrew's Obsession
2 Jul 2009 | 2:59 pmWriting at The Dish, Patrick Appel attempts to rationalize Andrew Sullivan's obsession over Trig Palin's birth. But there is a problem with this rationale. I suspect With few writers around to counter Andrew's analysis, he wasn't cut short and forcefully rebuked before things got out of control, and he was therefore free to construct his own narrative. For that to be true, one would have to assume that reality doesn't exist. Just because Andrew has lost touch with it doesn't make it go away when cobbling together a narrative of observable events. And I'm not convinced Heisenberg really… -
Access: WaPo Selling Its Assets
2 Jul 2009 | 8:41 amUpdate: Obama's Lewinski?? ha! Whatever it takes in a bad economy while your business model is tanking? For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors. Politics Daily has word on an internal WaPo memo in response. Without the newsroom, much of the value is lost. I guess WaPo wasn't planning on covering it?? ha What a sad joke. The paper's editor, Marcus Brauchli,…