The Carpetbagger Report

First up from The God Machine this week is an interesting study about religious ministries and the increasing interest in some circles about public faith-based initiatives. To hear proponents, including the president tell it, ministries deserve taxpayer-financed contracts, not to fund religion, but to get results — religious charities, the theory goes, are simply more […]

Apparently, on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina ravaging the Gulf Coast, conservatives have decided they don’t want to talk about it anymore. GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Friday it is “time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station” and urged an end to the federal aid to the region […]

Guest Post by Morbo To mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, The Washington Post ran a “where-are-they-now” story about some of the major players. Featured prominently was Michael D. Brown, the notorious former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). If there were any justice in the world, Brown would have fled the […]

Guest Post by Morbo It pains me to see the Carpetbagger get so upset over William Kristol’s inane columns in “The Weekly Standard.” Poor CB can’t understand how Kristol can, in the face of all reality and objective evidence, continue to claim that George W. Bush is a successful president and one of the greatest […]

Guest Post by Morbo With Sen. Larry Craig (R-Some Public Restroom) poised to resign this morning, the senator is left to wonder what could have been. Usually, guys like Craig pay media consultants thousands to help them tweak messages and spin the news. What do they get for their money? Not much apparently. Consider Craig’s […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * As of this minute, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has not yet resigned. * A couple of hours ago, the Idaho Statesman reported, “Republican officials say Gov. Butch Otter will name Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to the Senate if Sen. Larry Craig resigns. But Otter’s spokesman Jon Hanian said the […]

Sen. John Warner of Virginia, one of the last remaining respectable Republican senators, announced today that he’s calling it quits after five terms. Warner said he still feels spry enough for the rigors of the Senate, but he did not want to push it for another six years. “I want to be fair to this […]

A few months ago, the NYT reported on the breathtaking questions job applicants at the Justice Department were asked at the behest of Monica Goodling, the DoJ’s liaison to the White House. Goodling wouldn’t just isolate registered Democrats as inherently untrustworthy, she would also quiz applicants for civil service jobs with questions that several U.S. […]

To be absolutely clear, there is nothing funny about attacks on Americans. Ever. That said, this has a certain gallows-humor quality to it. First the set-up… A military cargo plane carrying four members of Congress took evasive action and dispatched flares to avoid ground fire Thursday night after taking off from Baghdad. The lawmakers said […]

I suspect everyone, no matter what he or she thinks of the war in Iraq, can pretty much guess how the next funding debate is going to go. Dems will include a withdrawal timeline in the spending bill, and Republicans will filibuster. Unable to break the filibuster, Dems will grudgingly give Bush what he wants. […]