The ‘spiritual battle’ behind global-warming

Most days, it’s tough enough to talk about [tag]global warming[/tag] with unhinged lawmakers, confused presidents, and spectacularly dumb commercials from the oil industry muddling the discussion. But when we inject some far-right theology into the mix, it’s bound to get worse. James [tag]Dobson[/tag]’s [tag]Focus on the Family[/tag] sent an item to its membership yesterday, touting […]

Hardly the way to dispel the ‘puppet of the U.S.’ charges

Who wrote Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s speech before a joint meeting of [tag]Congress[/tag] yesterday? It’s probably safe to say the wordsmiths at the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] had a hand in the writing. It’s also worth remembering that this wouldn’t be the first time. To be sure, [tag]Maliki[/tag] stuck to the points the administration […]

End-times ‘expert’ talks to CNN — and who else?

Just to follow up on yesterday’s item, [tag]CNN[/tag]’s interest in characterizing recent world events as some kind of Biblical [tag]apocalypse[/tag] is quickly becoming ridiculous. As Media Matters noted, the network’s coverage is enough to wonder if it’s CNN or CBN. For the second time in three days, CNN featured a segment on the potential coming […]

‘Big Box’ store employees to get raises in Chicago

The growing “[tag]living wage[/tag]” movement, championed by unions and groups representing the working poor, scored a pretty significant victory yesterday in [tag]Chicago[/tag]. After months of fevered lobbying and bitter debate, the Chicago City Council passed a groundbreaking ordinance yesterday requiring “big box” stores, like [tag]Wal-Mart[/tag] and Home Depot, to pay a [tag]minimum wage[/tag] of $10 […]

‘It just feels like we’re driving around waiting to get blown up’

The Washington Post’s Joshua Partlow got the chance to spend four days with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division in Baghdad recently and came away with a key observation: there’s a serious morale problem among U.S. troops. Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos considered the simple question about morale for more than an […]

Michael Steele, what a kidder

I was kind of curious about how Maryland Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele would explain his comments that bashed the Bush White House and condemned this political party. In fact, I was just about convinced that the whole thing was a set-up. Steele made controversial comments he knew would generate lots of attention, with the […]

Let’s drop the ‘maverick’ nonsense, shall we?

I know there are still a few Dems out there who like [tag]John McCain[/tag]. They see him on [tag]The Daily Show[/tag], they find him charming, and they hear the far-right complain bitterly about him, and these Dems are left thinking, “McCain isn’t like his [tag]GOP[/tag] colleagues.” In case it wasn’t abundantly clear before, it’s well […]

So long, Specter signing-statement story

I got a couple of emails yesterday asking why I hadn’t mentioned Sen. Arlen [tag]Specter[/tag]’s latest vow to introduce legislation letting Congress [tag]sue[/tag] [tag]Bush[/tag] over “[tag]signing statements[/tag].” I didn’t because I was confident one of two things would happen — either Specter would back down (or accept some absurd “compromise”) or Specter’s [tag]Republican[/tag] colleagues would […]

Bush’s Treasury Department goes off-message — again

Two weeks ago, a [tag]Treasury[/tag] Department report made clear what was already pretty obvious: “tax cuts do not come remotely close to paying for themselves.” Yesterday, Treasury undermined the administration’s message on [tag]tax cuts[/tag] again, this time reporting that — surprise, surprise — the cuts have costly consequences. The federal government will need to either […]

‘This is a moment of truth for electronic voting’

A committee of National Research Council experts, which included prominent computer scientists and two former governors, began last year researching “the right questions” about [tag]electronic voting[/tag]. This week, the panel is presenting its results to the public. “Some jurisdictions — and possibly many — may not be well prepared for the arrival of the November […]