Guest post by Ed Stephan. In testimony May 26 before the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (chair John Cornyn, R-TX), Princeton University professor Douglas Massey, at the invitation of ranking Democrat Ted Kennedy, cited two decades of research which point to a fundamental contradiction in U.S.-Mexico relations: On the one hand, […]
Guest post by Ed Stephan. The White House seems to be happy with what’s going on in Iraq during recent weeks. Bush, augmenting his remarks with a Pat-Robertson’s semi-giggle, tells us he’s “pleased”. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said he was pleased with progress in Iraq more than two years after he […]
I’m going to be away from my computer today, so I won’t be able to post. However, for your reading pleasure, I’ve arranged for Ed Stephan, a Carpetbagger regular, to sit in for me. Ed, in addition to being a regular contributor to my comments section, is a recently retired professor at Western Washington University […]
Guest Post by Ed Stephan. Hillary Clinton recently stuck her neck out to propose looking for some “common ground” on the issue of abortion, actually going a step beyond her husband’s stated goal of making abortion “safe, legal and rare”. The GOP, which these days could serve as a prime example for Eric Hoffer’s brilliant […]
There was a point, in the late 1990s, when conservatives would frequently whine about “scandal fatigue.” Every time they picked up the paper, they’d say, there’d be another controversy surrounding Clinton’s White House. They insisted it was time to elect a Republican to help give the country a break after years of constant outrages. Most […]
There’s a fair bit of disarray among Republicans in Washington right now. They’re not all on the same page on a variety of legislative goals, including Social Security privatization, stem-cell research, an energy bill, the Patriot Act, and immigration, among others. It seems the GOP caucus needs something to get back on track, a priority […]
This story, brought to my attention by reader TJ and C&L, is just painful. The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue. The Tulsa Park and Recreation Board voted 3-1 Tuesday in favor […]
The civil libertarian in me knows full well that there’s nothing wrong with those accused of wrongdoing hiring legal representation. The partisan in me, however, finds it entertaining to see Tom DeLay hire a team of lawyers to help get him out of his current predicament(s). House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has beefed up his […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Polls showing Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D) leading Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum (R) last month were no fluke. A new Keystone Poll shows Casey leading 44% to 37% among […]
After 50 years of defrauding the public and poisoning their customers, the tobacco industry was poised to pay dearly for their crimes. Government experts had concluded that the nation’s largest tobacco companies should pay $130 billion, partly as punishment, but mostly to help reduce smoking in the U.S. Yesterday, however, we learned that the Bush […]