The tragedies and the incidents of violence against civilians in [tag]Iraq[/tag] are nothing short of breathtaking. Consider these news items, just from the last 48 hours: [tag]Ishaqi[/tag]: “The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians…. According to the Americans, the […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Colorado’s gubernatorial race got a lot clearer yesterday when the Secretary of State’s office said that that Republican [tag]Marc Holtzman[/tag] did not collect the necessary petition signatures to get on the August […]
How desperate is the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag]? The president is actually giving in to James [tag]Dobson[/tag]’s demands, and will publicly promote a [tag]constitutional amendment[/tag] to [tag]ban[/tag] [tag]gay marriage[/tag]. [tag]President[/tag] Bush will promote a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on Monday, the eve of a scheduled [tag]Senate[/tag] vote on the cause that is dear to his […]
I’ve heard about awkward combinations of religion and politics, but this is ridiculous. The [tag]Republican[/tag] state convention in Hempstead, L.I., opened, as many do, with a prayer. But the [tag]invocation[/tag] from Msgr. [tag]Jim Lisante[/tag], a Long Island pastor and Fox News commentator, cut right to the chase. Lisante opened with a call to Republicans “to […]
We’ve known for a while that [tag]abstinence[/tag]-only policies are costly, inaccurate, and ineffective. But in case those minor details weren’t enough, it’s also worth remembering that teenagers [tag]lie[/tag] about their [tag]sexual[/tag] history. Teenagers who take pledges to remain [tag]virgins[/tag] until marriage are likely to deny having taken the pledge if they later become sexually active. […]
Long-time readers may recall [tag]Tracy Henke[/tag], the Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the [tag]Department of Homeland Security[/tag], was one of 17 Bush cronies to receive controversial recess appointments in January. The Bush White House insisted she had to be on the job immediately, and the Senate […]
Roll Call reported late yesterday that one of [tag]Bill Frist[/tag]’s many fiscal faults drew a modest fine from the [tag]Federal Election Commission[/tag]. The Federal Election Commission levied an $11,000 fine on the [tag]campaign[/tag] [tag]committee[/tag] of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) for its failure to properly report a $1.44 million [tag]loan[/tag] taken out more than […]
The WaPo’s Dan Froomkin and Slate’s John Dickerson wrote items today on one of my favorite subjects: Bush’s dishonesty. Both used the recent example of the president [tag]lying[/tag] about former Treasury Secretary John Snow’s resignation to explore presidential “[tag]fib[/tag]s,” “[tag]misstatement[/tag]s,” and “[tag]deception[/tag]s,” and to question why the word “[tag]lie[/tag]” just doesn’t make it into print […]
I can appreciate the multi-faceted, complex foreign policy challenge posed by Iran, and yesterday’s announcement about qualified negations is multi-layered. Did the administration attach conditions that officials expected the Iranians to reject? Is there a power struggle between Cheney and Rice? Will the U.S. stick with European negotiators, or take Germany’s advice and talk to […]
Today, officially, is the start of [tag]hurricane[/tag] [tag]season[/tag]. With this in mind, Nancy [tag]Pelosi[/tag]’s office released a really good report (.pdf) about on where we are nine months after [tag]Katrina[/tag]. The report is well done, but as FDL noted, it’s also terribly discouraging. * Up to $1 billion dollars in [tag]waste[/tag] and [tag]fraud[/tag] for housing […]