There were several key updates on the Plame scandal over the weekend, each of which suggest the investigation a) hasn’t gone away; b) has a number of prosecutorial options; and c) may include leaders at the highest levels. The New York Times got the ball rolling on Saturday when it noted that none other than […]
Harriet Miers is the first Supreme Court nominee in a generation not to have ever served as a judge at any level. She held elective office once — serving one term on Dallas City Council in the late 1980s. But what she lacks in judicial and lawmaking experience, Miers makes up for in unswerving loyalty […]
Multiple rumors were swirling last week about Harriet Miers being Bush’s top choice to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. For a change, the rumors were true. President Bush has chosen Harriet Miers, White House counsel and a loyal member of the president’s inner circle, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, a […]
This week, when Senate Dems split 22-22 on John Roberts’ confirmation vote, there was, shall we say, some consternation from grassroots activists, particularly online. In some circles this meant frustration; in others there was some debate over who should even wear the “D” label. In response to the concerns, Barack Obama wrote a fascinating item […]
Guest Post by Morbo In a recent letter to Harper’s magazine, a U.S. Green Party official made a number of suggestions for reforming American elections. Among them was dumping the “winner-take-all” system of American elections and moving toward some type of proportional government. I’ve been interested in that idea for a long time. The winner-take-all […]
Guest Post by Morbo If you’re like me, a newspaper headline like “Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’” is bound to get your attention. This story, from the Times of London, has been making the e-mail rounds lately. It deals with a study that appeared recently in the “Journal of Religion […]
Guest Post by Morbo The American Library Association’s annual “Banned Book Week” ends today. Just to torque off the kook right, consider reading one of the books on this year’s list. Here they are, with descriptions from the ALA: 1. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, religious viewpoint, being unsuited […]
Guest Post by Morbo Last week I spotted a headline on Yahoo News that made me gasp: “Student Expelled for Gay Parents.” “What morons,” I thought. “That school must want to get sued.” I assumed it was a public institution run by knuckle-draggers somewhere in the Bible Belt. But I was wrong on both counts. […]
Guest Post by Morbo I’m always wary of extrapolating too much from my personal observations. Too many personal prejudices can enter the picture, as well as that ever-popular human foible: assuming something is so because you wish it were so. With those caveats in mind, I’d like to say something about the anti-war march in […]
Guest Post by Morbo Reading the reports of former Federal Emergency Management Administration director Michael D. Brown’s recent appearance before a House panel made me realize more than ever why the Bush administration had to cut him loose: Not only is Brown an incompetent boob incapable of doing the job, he’s also a crummy liar. […]