Okay, seriously, we allow the voters in two small states - Iowa and New Hampshire - are vastly overemphasized by our system. Voters in California - a far more important state than both Iowa and New Hampshire put together - have less influence on the choice. It make no sense. It’s not […]
Fallujah, Iraq lies in ruins. In the fight to take the city three years ago, U.S. forces reportedly damaged 60% of the city’s buildings, with 20% totally demolished including 60 of the city’s mosques. Of the city’s 50,000 homes, 36,000 were destroyed.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. “They made a desert and called it […]
So, opposition to the Blue Boutique’s new location is rapidly becoming the gift the just keeps giving - unfortunately they’re giving to comics, cynics and satirists.
Today’s Trib has a modern classic letter to the editor by Lynn F. Price of Salt Lake City:
. . . the concern is not just that teenagers will access the “adult” […]
From the Associated Press:
Thousands of Iraqis whose support for the U.S. war effort in Iraq has put them and their families in grave danger at home are being excluded from a new fast-track system aimed at speeding up refugee resettlement in the United States for American allies, officials said Thursday…
[T]hose who worked for private contractors, […]
The absurd controversy over the BB’s new location has all the hallmarks of a budding moral panic - there’s sex, an imagined threat to a morally vulnerable population, a public outcry, hysterical fears and mismanagement by elected official (I’m looking at you JT Martin!). All that’s missing in a feedback loop wherein false and inflated […]
Our government is broken. Not, perhaps, beyond repair. That remains to be seen. Casey Stengel warned us not to prophecy, particularly about the future. But with absolutely no doubt, we are suffering through perhaps our most dangerous time in world history with by far the worst president in the history of the United States of […]
The buzz about how bad the CNN YouTube debate was is smoking across the Internet. Even the Wingers are moaning (of course they are blaming CNN).
Firedog Lake has a good survey of the the Wingers pity party.
From the Weekly Standard
So, a good night for for the lowest denominator, a bad night for the […]
A day late, here’s my question for the CNN Republican YouTube debate.
I am Richard. I am from Draper, Utah, and how you answer this question will tell us everything we need to know about you. Do you believe every word of this book? Specifically, this book that I am holding in my hand, do you […]
December 1 is World AIDS Day. AIDS has been in the news recently as the UN has announced that they have been overestimating infections - worldwide the new estimate holds that 33 million rather than 40 million people are infected with HIV. In 2007, there were 2.5 million new HIV infections and 2.1 million deaths […]
The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released a survey entitled Journalists in Iraq: A survey of reporters on the front lines. This is important because the stories we read and see on TV are edited and controlled. We seldom get the opinion of the reporter, unless it’s someone like CNN’s Michael Ware– […]
This is a refresher for those of us who went into shock when George W. Bush lost the 2000 presidential election and went to the White House anyway. I think we can be forgiven, given our state of mind at the time, for not following all the details of the U.S. Supreme Court’s judicial […]
Here’s where I apologize for my snarky post a week ago, Huntsman Hunting for Good News in Baghdad. Governor Jon Huntsman made his third trip to Iraq over Thanksgiving, along with a delegation led by Senator John McCain. Before leaving, Huntsman promised to make his own independent assessment of the so-called “surge” that […]
I admit it - I’m hooked on BBc America’s Torchwood. I’m not the only one - apparently it’s their highest rated show. Last night’s episode Captain Jack Harkness was one of the best they’ve done yet, demonstrating their usual mix of sci-fi and character growth; Torchwood is also unique in having an openly gay man, […]
Over the weekend, I read Andrea Tone’s Devices & Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America. Tone tracks the history of American use and attitudes toward contraception - and records a striking and historic gap between the two. To sum up the history: the loudest voices in America seem to have always been opposed to the […]
I couldn’t write this any better myself, so I’ll quote Spencer Ackerman from Talking Points Memo this morning:
What? Permanent U.S. bases in Iraq? I’ve never heard of anything so absurd! Why, you — you — you conspiracy theorist! How can you be so shrill, so irresponsible, so, so, so…
Oh, wait.
Yes, after years of denial and […]
U.S. Scales Back Political Goals in Iraq, from the New York Times:
While Bush officials once said they aimed to secure “reconciliation” among Iraq’s deeply divided religious, ethnic and sectarian groups, some officials now refer to their goal as “accommodation.”
In a discussion yesterday on CNN’s “This Week at War,” Michael Ware in Baghdad said that American […]
I swore to myself - No conversations about politics over the holiday. Yeah, right. That worked out well.
The conversation turned to politics, covering a wide range of topics, including but not limited to immigration.
About midway through, I had an epiphany. Talk about immigration is occurring in the wrong frame - it is […]
Neocon “Prince of Darkness” Richard Perle was interviewed recently by BBC’s Stephen Sackur. Perle advocated an attack on Iraq in 2003 with utter disregard of the consequences, saying “I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.”
From Think Progress:
“I’m not happy about the way events […]
The Bush administration is ranked by historians as the worst ever in U.S. history, and they still have 423 days left in office. What to do? Try to rewrite history, of course.
In a cozy Air Force One interview with sycophant/columnist Kathleen Parker, President Bush made some interesting counter-factual claims:
“[W]e’ve got to support these […]
If you watch enough TV, ingest too many newspapers, and read a lot of blogs, my own and this one included, you get the impression the world is driving a flaming red Hummer in the fast lane to Hell. That may be true- but it depends on what Hell you’re talking about: the actual ones […]
|
US Soldiers in Iraq killed wounded |
