The Carpetbagger Report

What could make this week worse for Blackwater? If shooting Iraqi civilians and facing deportation pressure from the Maliki government weren’t quite enough, there’s also the looming investigation into illicit arms smuggling. Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees of Blackwater — the security firm accused of shooting dead up to 20 Iraqi civilians — […]

By any reasonable measure, Fred Thompson, the actor-lobbyist-presidential candidate, is off to a rough start. Particularly on policy matters, Thompson has been confused and uninformed about everything from Social Security policy to drilling the Everglades for oil to the 2005 Schiavo controversy. But this has to be my favorite. NBC’s “First Read’ reports that when […]

At a minimum, I can’t help but think Bill O’Reilly needs to get out more. He explained the other day, on the air, that he and Al Sharpton had dinner together in Harlem, and O’Reilly was amazed by what he found. Regrettably, he wasn’t talking about the food. “[W]e went to Sylvia’s, a very famous […]

I try not to get too worked up over the hassles of airport security. Officials are well-intentioned and trying to provide a crucial public service. But when federal officials maintain travel records on Americans that keep track of everything from destinations, to travel companions, to reading materials, one can’t help but wonder if some reasonable […]

First up from The God Machine this week is a disconcerting story out of Base Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq, where a U.S. soldier has found that his religious liberty is being squelched by his superior officers. A soldier in Iraq whose superior prevented him from holding a meeting for atheists and other non-Christians is suing […]

Guest Post by Morbo I monitor some websites that deal with creationism and “intelligent design” because, in my opinion, nothing the fundamentalists do makes them look more foolish than their refusal to accept evolution. Recently, the ID sites have been all atwitter because they have a new champion: Actor and alleged comedian Ben Stein has […]

Guest Post by Morbo The Salvation Army is perhaps the most overrated organization in America. Everyone gets a warm fuzzy seeing their bell ringers outside the Wal-Mart at Christmastime. Woe to anyone who dares to point out that this band of right-wingers in uniforms are just homophobic religious fundamentalist adept at tapping the public purse. […]

Guest Post by Morbo If judges are going to persist in denying an entire class of people the basic right to marry, they are going to have to come up with better arguments. “Marriage is about procreation” just isn’t cutting it. This week, the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest judicial body, upheld a […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Alas, no big surprise here: “The Senate rejected legislation Friday that would have ordered most U.S. troops home from Iraq in nine months, culminating a losing week for Democrats who failed to push through any anti-war proposal. The vote, 47-47, fell 13 votes short of the 60 needed to […]

Rudy Giuliani and John McCain each addressed the National Rifle Association’s national convention today, and both had their speeches interrupted. One was legitimate; the other probably wasn’t. McCain, for example, was talking about his support for the Bush administration’s Iraq policy when a couple of protestors interrupted his remarks. As the protestors were led out […]