The American Prospect’s weblog, Tapped, had a terrific item yesterday about some controversial research indicating that publicly-financed tuition vouchers to religious and other private schools helps African American children. As Tapped explained, Paul Peterson, a long-time advocate of public aid for private schools, published a study showing “that black students who had won in a […]
I remember about three years ago, President Clinton would frequently make jokes about the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a president from being elected more than twice, and how much he resented its presence in the Constitution. There was probably a kernel of truth in his jokes, but no one seriously ever talks about repealing the […]
Former Senator Carol Mosley Braun, who claims to be a Democratic presidential candidate, quietly released her Q1 fundraising totals yesterday. The grand total for the first quarter of 2003? $72,000. Only Carol Mosley Braun could make Dennis Kucinich look like a real candidate. After all, when he reported $180,000, I thought no one could do […]
In the midst of Rep. Barbara Cubin’s (R-Wyo.) outrageous remark last week suggesting that all black people are drug addicts, it was almost too easy to overlook the legislation being debated in the House at the time. The bill under consideration when Cubin made her now infamous comparison dealt with a Republican effort to protect […]
Since I mentioned all the fundraising totals for the other Democratic presidential candidates, I thought I’d mention that Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), easily the oddest of the field, collected an under-whelming $180,000 in the first quarter of 2003. That’s less than a fifth of what Bob Graham (D-Fla.) collected, and Graham was recovering from major heart […]
Many thanks to Carpetbagger’s friend, let’s call her Buffy, for giving him a heads up on a great article in today’s Salon. (Thanks, Buff) As the Salon article explains, the “spoils of war” are being divvied up by powerful American interest groups. While you’d expect that to include competing contractors vying for lucrative military contracts, […]
Last week I mentioned my “admiration” for Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the former Iraqi Information Minister, who consistently offered unintentionally hilarious — if not entirely credible — analysis of how well Iraq was doing in the war. Alas, when Hussein’s regime fled Baghdad, al-Sahhaf’s wacky media briefings came to a permanent end. I’m pleased to report, […]
All indications are that the biggest fights of the war in Iraq are done. To be sure, there will be isolated fights and incidents as some semblance of order is restored, but major bombing campaigns — including carpetbombing and “shock and awe” — have ceased to be necessary. “I would anticipate that the major combat […]
Illinois Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald will reportedly not seek re-election next year. As campaign news goes, this is pretty huge. The story broke in this morning’s Chicago Tribune (no link available) in a story that said Fitzgerald told close associates yesterday that he had “no fire in the belly” to seek a second term. The […]
Following up on my earlier post on increasing U.S. threats against Syria, it’s interesting to see major players already lining up as hawks and doves on a possible war. Like the early stages of diplomacy regarding Iraq, people are not necessarily falling into predictable camps. Most notably, Lawrence Eagleburger, Secretary of State for the first […]