Ordinarily, the White House will announce controversial news late on Friday so as to avoid negative media attention. Using the same logic, however, Christmas Eve is even better than a Friday. The administration announced yesterday that it would open up 300,000 acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest for logging and other development. The timing of […]
In Green Party circles, debates have been ongoing for months about what to do with Ralph Nader. Some want him to run a serious campaign, others don’t want him to run at all so they can focus on beating Bush, and still others want a half-hearted effort in states that are likely to be uncompetitive. […]
News that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is giving up his WMDs has prompted many of Bush’s fans to credit the strength and wisdom of the president’s foreign policy for the good news. Nathanael at I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts, a terrific blog, explains that no one should be too quick to praise Bush for […]
Howard Dean and Wesley Clark may still be needlessly bickering over whether Dean offered Clark the VP slot on the Dem ticket, but in the meantime Bob Graham is desperately trying to get Dean’s attention in the hopes of getting a similar offer. (You hoo! Howard! I’m over here! I’m from Florida! Which has 27 […]
It’s been almost two full weeks since I’ve heard anything about one of my favorite political stories of the season — the GOP efforts to illegally bribe Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) during the November House vote on the Medicare bill. The trail had, unfortunately, come to an apparent end. We were able to narrow the […]
Last week, Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey and current chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, suggested that he may be prepared to place some blame for the attacks inside the Bush administration. “There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in […]
The latest poll from the Washington Post/ABC News shows Howard Dean with a commanding lead over the Democratic presidential field. While I have little doubt that Dean is the frontrunner, the methodology behind this poll is troubling. The results from the Post poll were as follows: Dean — 31% (up from 20%) Gephardt — 9% […]
While I don’t celebrate Christmas, I certainly don’t begrudge my friends or family members who do. That said, this story struck a chord with me. Labor unions in the Czech Republic demanded Monday that stores stop playing Christmas carols incessantly or pay compensation for causing emotional trauma to sales clerks. Some stores here play the […]
I was both relieved and pleased to see over the weekend that Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has announced that he is giving up his country’s weapons of mass destruction and will close down its nuclear development program. After two decades of being an international pariah, Gaddafi appears ready to rejoin the international community. To put […]
During the second presidential debate in the fall of 2000, moderator Jim Lehrer brought up an issue that frequently goes unmentioned, but has an immediate and direct impact on one out of every six people in the United States. “[B]oth of you have talked much about Medicare and health care for seniors,” Lehrer said. “What […]