Plenty of prosecutor purge palaver

There have been a variety of interesting updates on the purge scandal over the last half-day, so how about another round-up? * The document dump that was rumored for late yesterday afternoon has been put off until Monday. That’s for the best — late-Friday is the worst time for such things. * Also delayed was […]

This Week in God

First up from the God Machine this week is a major political defeat for James Dobson and his cohorts, in their effort to drive diversity of thought from the evangelical movement. The board of the National Association of Evangelicals has rebuffed leaders of the Christian right who had called for the association to silence or […]

I can bring home the bacon — well, maybe not

Guest Post by Morbo In my continuing effort to keep readers up to date on mundane things religious fanatics will not do, I present this story from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about Muslim store clerks who refuse to ring up packages of bacon. Hey, I’m not making this stuff up. First evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic […]

It’s time to repeal the Second Amendment

Guest Post by Morbo Last week, I wrote about deluded NRA members who actually argue that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to arm the citizenry in case it becomes necessary to overthrow the U.S. government. Some who responded to that post noted that a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., recently struck down […]

Friday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * More purge-related documents are expected this afternoon. I’ll have a full report in the morning. * Reuters: “The White House on Friday said no decision had been made on whether to let top political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress in the flap over U.S. prosecutor firings that is […]

‘There’s no report, there’s no investigation, and there are no sanctions’

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing with Valerie Plame Wilson produced plenty of fascinating insights, but my personal favorite was the grilling Dr. James Knodell, Director of the Office of Security in the White House, took from Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). First, a little background. There’s a […]

It depends on what the meaning of ‘loyal Bushies’ is

In January 2005, Kyle Sampson, soon to become the attorney general’s chief of staff, was following up on an idea he’d already discussed with Alberto Gonzales, and which Karl Rove had chatted with the White House counsel’s office about: purging prosecutors. In the email, which has the subject line “Re: Question from Karl Rove,” Sampson, […]

‘Anything’s possible’

When ABC News reported late yesterday that it was Karl Rove’s idea to fire U.S. Attorneys, it was interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it demonstrated a level of Rove involvement that the White House had previously denied. And second, the White House had argued that the idea originated from Harriet Miers, not Rove. […]

Validating Fox News vs. outreach to Fox News viewers

The LA Times’ [tag]Ron Brownstein[/tag] suggests today that [tag]Fox News[/tag] may be the most successful company in the history of capitalism to make triumph “with just a wink and a nod.” Brownstein then poses what has become Question #1 in the Democrats’ media conundrum: ignore the network or reach out to its viewers? Fox cloaks […]

Plame: ‘It was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit’

The Plame scandal has always been a tough one for the right to defend. The White House exposed the identity of an undercover [tag]CIA[/tag] agent, on purpose, during a time of war. Any way you slice it, that’s a pretty wretched thing to do, especially for a group of people who claim the high ground […]