By any reasonable standard, 2005 was not only an embarrassingly bad year for President Bush, it was also one of the worst years any president has had since Nixon was forced from office in 1974. In just one year, the war in Iraq grew significantly more costly in both blood and treasure; the response to […]
Earlier this month, the New York Daily News reported an interesting tidbit about Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the Plame leak. The paper noted that Fitzgerald “said in a letter to Libby’s lawyers that many e-mails from Cheney’s office at the time of the Plame leak in 2003 have been deleted contrary to White House policy.” […]
The key to withdrawing American troops from Iraq is the training and preparation of Iraqi battalions who can protect the country, and battle insurgents, without U.S. support. Donald Rumsfeld said this week that the effort is “progressing” nicely. Is that true? It depends on how one defines “progress.” The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting […]
First up from this week’s God machine is a story that reminds us that all that stuff in the New Testament about peace is still pretty important to some church groups. (thanks to hark for the tip) A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of “raining […]
Guest Post by Morbo Some students at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania are upset because two weeks ago, in an effort to mock Black History Month, the College Republicans held a bake sale where they charged students different prices based on their race or gender. The Allentown Morning Call reported that 100 protestors held a march […]
Guest Post by Morbo I don’t know what’s worse — the fact that President Bush learned about the United Arab Emirates port deal from the newspapers or that his staff used that fact in his defense without shame. I planned to rant about it, but what more is there to say? This administration has so […]
The Dubai Ports World controversy, whether the criticism has merit or not, has clearly become a pretty serious imbroglio for the Bush administration. For the NYT’s Tom Friedman and the WaPo’s David Ignatius, among others, White House critics are racist and oppose the UAE deal because of anti-Arab animus. There’s probably no point in denying […]
The controversy over the Dubai Ports World deal didn’t begin in earnest until this week, so the pollsters have been a little slow in churning out data, but Rasmussen appears to be the first outfit to suggest just how unpopular the deal is. Just 17% of Americans believe Dubai Ports World should be allowed to […]
Particularly over the last week or so, there have been several national news stories about abortion, spurred by the Supreme Court’s announcement on Monday and the South Dakota legislature’s activities all week. AlterNet’s Deanna Zandt makes a good case that, at least as far as the politics goes, choice of words matter. It’s been frustrating […]
To follow up on a series of posts I did last August, I’m pleased to report that an evangelical abstinence-only program, called the Silver Ring Thing, will no longer receive funding from the federal government. In the settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union, reached today, the Department of Health and Human Services agreed to […]