First up from The God Machine this week is a fascinating NYT item about a reverse-faith-based initiative involving prisons and religious rights. Apparently, the federal Bureau of Prisons has ordered prison chaplains to clear chapel libraries of any religious books, tapes, CDs, and videos that are not on a list of approved resources. Some prison […]
Guest Post by Morbo Fred Thompson has officially thrown his hat in the ring, and some people have noticed that he appears to be a pathetic lightweight who can’t articulate a coherent stand on many issues. Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus noted recently that Thompson often substitutes pithy sayings for actual policy stands. After six […]
Guest Post by Morbo I’ll admit I don’t recall the Senate career of Mike Gravel. I was a teenager then and wasn’t paying much attention to politics. But what I’ve read about him since then sounds impressive: He railed against the war in Vietnam, brokered a deal that helped end the draft and arranged for […]
Today is kind of an unusual day at Carpetbagger HQ, so I thought I’d give readers a heads-up. Saturday-contributor Morbo will be stopping by shortly with some words of wisdom. From there, I’ll have some posts, all of which will be posted by timer. (I mention this because, if a major news story breaks today, […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * There’s no such thing as the Petraeus report, but there is a new White House report: “The White House told Congress Friday that Iraqi leaders gained little new ground on key military and political goals, a discouraging assessment a day after President Bush announced that progress justifies keeping a […]
I’d be remiss if I neglected to mention that Alberto Gonzales, arguably the worst Attorney General in U.S. history, is signing off today after a scandal-plagued three years. As it turns out, we’re ready to see him go, and Gonzales is ready to walk away. After nine months of noisy controversy over his troubled tenure, […]
One of the more disconcerting facets to the debate over Iraq policy is the subtle realization that the White House doesn’t seem to understand what’s going in Iraq. Take this exchange on CNN this morning between John Roberts and outgoing press secretary Tony Snow. (TP has video) ROBERTS: How long are we going to be […]
I haven’t followed football in years, but apparently there was quite a scandal over the weekend when the New England Patriots were caught using sideline video to steal signals during a game against the New York Jets. It didn’t affect the outcome — the spying was discovered early on, and the Patriots won by a […]
I watched the president’s White House address on Iraq online, in part so I wouldn’t have to endure the talking heads’ analysis, but apparently, as soon as the speech ended, CNN’s Larry King got reactions from Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, and John McCain. I noticed today that Kevin Drum and James Fallows didn’t […]
I can never tell what’s going to cause a media feeding frenzy. Sometimes a politician will make a dumb joke and the media will pounce. Othertimes, a pol will say something completely outrageous, which generates a collective yawn. House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) comments on CNN the other day seemed like the kind of […]