Slowly but surely, the conservative drive to deny citizenship to babies born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents is generating widespread media attention. Whereas the proposal was initially fascinating only to conservative news outlets, now even the AP is covering the story. With more than 70 co-sponsors, Georgia Republican Rep. Nathan Deal tried […]
If you’re a high-ranking cabinet official responsible for helping operate secret prisons where detainees were tortured, and you get caught, it stands to reason that you won’t be a high-ranking cabinet official for very long. At least that’s the way it works in some countries. Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, whose ministry is accused of […]
Rick Klein had a good piece in the Boston Globe over the weekend on Dems embracing a wedge issue that, they hope, will do for them what anti-gay-marriage initiatives did for Republicans. New Year’s Day will bring the ninth straight year in which the federal minimum wage has remained frozen at $5.15 an hour, marking […]
When incumbent senators are gearing up for re-election, they usually spend the year before the race building up a campaign war chest. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is up in 2006, but he raised an underwhelming $26,690 in the third quarter of 2005, a tiny fraction compared to the totals of his similarly situated colleagues. It […]
When the Senate barely struck a deal on spending cuts last week, most of the attention emphasized the detrimental effect the cuts would have low-income families, specifically those who rely on Medicare, child-care programs, child-support enforcement funding, student loans, and foster care programs. As it turns out, though, not all of the provisions in the […]
All has not been well lately for military chaplains. There was the fiasco surrounding Capt. James Yee; the Navy’s punishment for dozens of military chaplains for offenses ranging from sexual abuse to fraud; and the Air Force Academy was rocked by a controversy regarding chaplains proselytizing and harassing religious minorities with official support. But James […]
That there will be Senate hearings to investigate Bush’s warrantless-search program is no longer an issue. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has made hearings a high priority, and, in addition to Senate Dems, several Senate Republicans have echoed the significance of a formal inquiry. But following up on the latest revelations about the administration’s […]
One can criticize the Bush White House for circumventing the law and creating a warrantless-search program, or one can defend the administration and conclude that the president has the authority. But leave it to Colin Powell to do both. Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Sunday that it would not have been […]
When it comes to presidential pardons, Bush can be a bit of a scrooge. President Bush has granted 11 pardons, bringing to 69 the number of clemency orders he has issued since taking office five years ago, the Justice Department said. Three moonshiners and a bank robber are among those pardoned, as is a Denver […]
Just a reminder, I’ll be filling in for Kevin Drum at The Washington Monthly for the next week or so. (My first post was yesterday, in case you were interested.) My plan is to publish posts here, as per the norm. Most, but not all, of the items will also be cross-posted over at The […]