Dumbest … poll questions … ever

Fox News released a poll (.pdf) this week with many of the usual political questions one would expect to see right now — the 2008 presidential race, the war, etc. But, with the Super Bowl in mind, the network also asked respondents two of the strangest questions I’ve ever seen in a national poll. 35. […]

Rick Perry makes the right call on HPV vaccine

I’m certainly not in the habit of praising Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), but he clearly made the right call on an HPV vaccine. Less than a year after the FDA approved the vaccine that builds an immunity against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, Texas has become the first state to require all 11- and […]

This Week in God

First up from the God Machine is an annual poll published by Gallup on the role of religion in the United States. This year’s results included plenty of interesting data, but there was one part of the poll that stood out. Americans are divided in their opinions about the current level of influence displayed by […]

Snakes off the plane: Taking the FNC freeze out to the next level

Guest Post by Morbo I was pleased to read the Carpetbagger’s post about Sen. Barack Obama’s decision to stop talking to personnel from the Fox News Channel. It’s a welcome move, given that channel’s absurd and inaccurate “reporting” over the phony madrassa story. Now it’s time to take another step: Exclude these phony “reporters” from […]

Religion trumps simple decency in Florida

Guest Post by Morbo Here’s the most horrific story of the week: A woman in Tampa reported to police that she was raped. The police ran a background check on her, discovered two four-year-old outstanding warrants for non-violent felonies, and put her in jail. Wait, it gets worse: After the rape, the woman had been […]

Friday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * As if the war in Iraq hasn’t cost us enough, the Bush administration will ask for “another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday. The requests Monday, to accompany President Bush’s […]

‘Half of them are JAM’

I know there’s been a lot of Iraq-related news today, particularly in light of the NIE release, but I didn’t want to let this story get lost in the shuffle. It might be the day’s most important piece about the war. The U.S. military drive to train and equip Iraq’s security forces has unwittingly strengthened […]

Which NIE is Hadley reading?

At a White House press briefing today, NSA Stephen Hadley seemed to believe the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq was favorable to the White House’s war policy. “One of the things you should conclude from this NIE is the best plan is to have this plan succeed,” Hadley told reporters. Look, when it comes […]

It depends on what the meaning of ‘casualty’ is

What’s the best way to lower the number of casualties in Iraq? Easy, redefine “casualty.” Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of force health protection and readiness at the Defense Department, […]

Iran conflict on the horizon?

This is not at all encouraging. There’s so many things wrong with the report, it’s hard to know where to start. The US News Political Bulletin has learned Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly concerned that President Bush will order air strikes against targets in Iran in the next few months or even weeks. They […]