Does anyone like the surge?

With Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen replacing Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Wall Street Journal noticed an interesting trend among top military officials. Adm. Mullen, like many of his four-star colleagues on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was skeptical of the decision to send additional U.S. […]

This Week in God

The God Machine is focused on just one jaw-dropping religion story this week — a piece from the Florida Baptist Witness about Lt. Michael Peyton, the military chaplain assigned to the Blue Angels precision flying team. “One of the rules of thumb in the Navy’s chaplain corps is just the power of presence of the […]

O’Reilly blames TB scare on ‘secular progressives’

Given what we know of Bill O’Reilly, I guess this was inevitable. On the June 1 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, discussing the recent news that attorney Andrew Speaker traveled by airline while infected with an antibiotic-resistant strain of tuberculosis, host Bill O’Reilly asserted that the “the story comes down to … philosophy […]

Reflections on the wasted life of an unrepentant racist

Guest Post by Morbo Some religious people I know insist that there is goodness in all people. We all carry a spark of the divine within us, they argue, and therefore no life can be without some worth and dignity. I respect the people who hold this view, but I must disagree with it. Some […]

Friday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Gen. Peter Pace’s successor as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is not exactly a non-controversial choice. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), for example, said, “While I have deep respect for Admiral Mullen’s distinguished service, his view that this is a ‘generational war’ will not do […]

‘It’s Subpoena Time’

There’s been a bit of a lull in getting testimony from White House officials — most notably, Karl Rove — on the prosecutor purge scandal. Today, the NYT suggests it’s time to stop waiting and start subpoenaing. Congress has now heard from everyone in the Justice Department who appears to have played a significant role […]

No-confidence vote coming Monday

Finally, a reason to look forward to Monday. The Senate will hold a “no confidence” vote on embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this Monday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, announced. In a statement released Friday, Schumer said if all senators followed their conscience, “this vote would be unanimous.” “However, the president will certainly exert pressure […]

For some reason, we’ll always have Paris

I don’t always agree with the WaPo’s Howard Kurtz, but today’s column about a certain media phenomenon was exactly right. OMG Paris Hilton got out of jail early, like, how did that happen and who does she think she is and how can being confined to a totally rad Hollywood mansion really be, um, punishment? […]

Robert Bork, tort-reform advocate, files slip-and-fall lawsuit

It’s certainly not funny when someone falls and hurts themselves, but the politics of this is kind of amusing. Robert Bork , the one-time U.S. Supreme Court nominee, has sued the Yale Club for negligence. He is seeking $1 million in damages for injuries he sustained from a fall at the club last year. […] […]

A one-man Armey

I’ve raised a fuss, on more than one occasion, about prominent pols failing to acknowledge their mistakes. With that in mind, I most certainly should be willing to acknowledge my own. I suggested a few days ago that former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), who joined Time’s Swampland blog for a temporary stint, was […]