Yesterday’s cases before the Supreme Court on government-endorsed Ten Commandments displays produced some interesting fireworks, but also offered one of the most disturbing arguments I’ve heard in a long while. “If an atheist walks by, they can avert their eyes,” said Justice Kennedy, who also complained of society’s “obsessive concern with any mention of religion.” […]
A non-partisan GAO report last month detailed the fact that the military’s 12-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and has a negative effect on military readiness. Yesterday, Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) unveiled legislation to fix this nonsense. But instead of focusing on fairness or equality, Meehan chose a […]
How badly has Bush handled his “faith-based” initiative? Even Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum is fed up. Give Sen. Rick Santorum credit for persistence: The Pennsylvania Republican soldiers on with President Bush’s “compassion” agenda even when Bush himself retreats. In his speech Tuesday about his efforts to help the poor, Bush made no mention of […]
Republican opposition to even modest regulation of firearms is well established, but this is truly ridiculous. The [Arizona] House of Representatives voted Tuesday to let people carry weapons — including guns, grenades, rockets, mines and sawed-off shotguns — into schools, polling places and nuclear plants if they claim they’re only trying to protect themselves. Surprise, […]
I’m not sure why Sibel Edmonds’ concerns never gained national attention, but at least she’s starting to make a few powerful friends. As a quick refresher, Edmonds is a former FBI translator who was fired because she complained about inadequate translation procedures at the agency, which she believes contributed to the government being unprepared on […]
Some congressional Dems are so serious about following in the GOP’s re-redistricting footsteps, they’re making it a campaign issue for party leadership posts. Two of the three announced candidates for Democratic Caucus vice chairman are making a strong pitch to their fellow lawmakers that Democrats need to swipe a page from the Republican playbook and […]
Tom DeLay has always strutted with the confidence of a man who believes he’ll have his House seat as long as he wants it. As DeLay sees it, when he retires, it’ll be voluntary, not mandated by voters. Throughout his career, DeLay’s arrogance has been backed up by election results. Before 2004, he’d never faced […]
It’s been a pretty bad week for proponents of Social Security privatization. Everything that could go wrong did — and then some. The Senate GOP wants to put off privatization indefinitely, and the House GOP refuses to put their necks out unless the Senate moves first. The polls look bad for Bush, and are getting […]
Bill Frist, among other Senate Republicans, seems anxious not only to implement the “nuclear option,” but more importantly, to use it to intimidate Senate Dems. The Majority Leader wants Dems to believe he can move on the “nuclear option” whenever he wants, so they better not stand in the GOP’s way. The obvious point is […]
Dan Froomkin noted yesterday that Jeffrey K. Tulis, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “The Rhetorical Presidency,” recently explained that George Washington “was intent on establishing the precedent that the president was chosen to represent the whole country, not just his partisan supporters.” Things sure have changed from […]