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The Education of Alexandra Polier By / New York Magazine — Permalink On the evening of Thursday, February 12, as John Kerry had just chalked up his twelfth state-primary win in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, I was at a dinner party in Nairobi, hosted by my friend Matthew Rosenberg, an Associated Press reporter based in East Africa. | |
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Captain Ed: In a related twist, Alexandra Polier writes a compelling and sympathetic article in the New Yorker relating to the last breathless and unsubstantiated Kerry rumor. Gary Farber: Alexandra Polier, the young woman at the heart of the affair of the Kerry non affair, has a lengthy first-person piece,... Daniel Drezner: So in fairness, here's a link to Alexandra Polier's New York cover story on being at the eye of the media storm, and her subsequent efforts to find out how she got sucked into it. |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: I HOPE THIS IS THE LAST THAT WE HAVE TO READ ABOUT THIS — Here appears to be the definitive word on the mini-mini-sex... Ampersand @Amptoons: Check out this fascinating New York Magazine essay by a woman who was falsely accused by the press of having an affair with John Kerry. Brian Montopoli: Alex Polier, the woman falsely accused of being John Kerry's Monica Lewinsky, tells her story in New York Magazine this... |
| Also: Taegan Goddard | |
Kerry 'Flips Off' Vietnam Vet NewsMax.com — Permalink Democratic senator - and certain presidential nominee - John F. Kerry gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning, NewsMax.com has learned. | |
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Captain Ed: The ever-reliable NewsMax (hah!) ran a story today that my friends on the right just can't resist — that John Kerry, in... Tom Maguire: John Kerry reportedly gave the Vietnamese good-luck sign to fellow veteran Ted Sampley, and Newsmax was there! Stefan Sharkansky: Scripps Howard doesn't mention this, but there are other reports that Sen. Kerry did more with his finger than merely... |
Oliver Willis: Witness this howler of a story claiming that Kerry flipped the bird at Sampley while attending Memorial Day services. Emperor Darth Misha I: The real purpose of this post is, of course, to highlight yet another piece in the mosaic that is the disgusting... Charles Johnson: Kerry Flips Off Vietnam Vet — When the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry confronted the Democratic... |
Padilla Targeted High-Rise Apartments By / WaPo — Permalink Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in 2002 as he returned to the United States from Pakistan and accused of plotting to blow up radioactive "dirty bombs," had been trained at an al Qaeda weapons camp in Afghanistan and had met repeatedly with top leaders of... | |
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Digby: Here we have an American who was trained to blow up apartment buildings and maybe set off dirty bombs, but the only way... Jeff Goldstein: Enemy Combatant, Redux — From the Washington Post: [snipped quote] It's times like these that I'm glad the PATRIOT ACT... Cori Dauber: Perhaps simply because of his value as an American the simple fact is he was getting personal attention from the very... |
Joe Drymala: So Put Him On Trial Like Everyone Else — The DoJ just went public with a laundry list of activities that Jose Padilla... Tarek @LiquidList: Politics: No Dirty Bomb, No Justification for Illegal Detention, No Nothing — The Justice Department released a big... |
Making Hay Out of Straw Men By / WaPo — Permalink For President Bush, this is the season of the straw man. It is an ancient debating technique: Caricature your opponent's argument, then knock down the straw man you created. In the 2004 campaign, Bush has been knocking down such phantoms on subjects from Iraq to free trade. | |
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Ezra Klein: Check It. Yo. Tonight's must read: Dana Milbank on Bush's imaginary intellectual adversaries. The Poor Man: The War On Straw is joined. [snipped quote] Why does Dana Milbank hate Strawmerica? Kevin Raybould: In addition, Bush has been reduced to jousting with straw: "It is an ancient debating technique: Caricature your opponent's argument, then knock down the straw man you created. |
Digby: Turkey In The Straw — I like this article by Dana Milbank about Bush's tendency to make straw man arguments. Matt Yglesias: Straw — Dana Milbank's got an excellent story in today's Post about the president's nasty habit of burning down... Tarek @LiquidList: Other important items chronicling the Post's shocking discovery of mendacity in the White House: Dana Milbank's... |
Iraq & Militant Islam NRO — Permalink Saddam's al Qaeda links were a worthy rationale for toppling his regime. "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. | |
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Charles Johnson: Iraq & Militant Islam — In a long, detailed article, Andrew McCarthy lays out what we know to date about Saddam's possible connections to 9/11: Iraq & Militant Islam. Hindrocket: Today Andrew McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney who headed the terrorism prosecution of Sheik Omar Abdel... Mike Hendrix: Connections - again — None so blind etc: [snipped quote] No, they're not. Nor should they. |
Cori Dauber: So when you go through the evidence as it's been collected so far (and again, the 9/11 links is the weakest of all the... Clayton Cramer: More Discussion of Iraq's Links to 9/11 — This article is by "Andrew C. McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S... Stuart Buck: Iraq and Al Qaeda — Here's a useful summary of the evidence of ties between Iraq and 9/11. |
In Democratic Strongholds in N.J., Voters Not Yet Sold on Kerry By / WaPo — Permalink EDGEWATER, N.J. — Eugene Bradley does not swing. At 50, Bradley, an operations manager for Synagro, a waste management company, has been devoted to the Democratic Party for as long as he has voted. | |
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Tom Maguire: Hard to believe? Well, folks who read the Washington Post quickly can find supportive eye-witness accounts. Captain Ed: Trouble Brewing In New Jersey For Kerry — The Washington Post's Evelyn Nieves analyzes John Kerry's poor polling in New... Tarek @LiquidList: Lest we forget the Post's more visible stripes of late, here's a magnificently awful piece by someone named Evelyn... |
Dale Franks: So, if you see a Washington Post article like this about New Jersey, a traditionally Democratic State that Al Gore won in 2000 by 16%, will you feel good about your chances? Pejman Yousefzadeh: But this cannot be good: [snipped quote] Clearly, there is room for Kerry to make gains in New Jersey, but one cannot help but wonder why he has not done so already. Betsy Newmark: The Washington Post looks more closely at New Jersey and how close the election seems to be in this very Democratic state. |
Judge: Bush Abortion Ban Unconstitutional By / AP — Permalink SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge Tuesday declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional, saying the measure infringes on a woman's right to choose. The ruling applies to the nation's 900 or so Planned Parenthood clinics and their doctors, who perform roughly half of all abortions in the United States. | |
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Steve Bainbridge: The partial birth abortion case — Before deciding whether the decision today striking down the ban on partial birth... Tgirsch: US Judge Finds Bush Abortion Ban Unconstitutional — This is good news for women's health, as well as for their rights:... |
Betsy Newmark: Now that a Clinton-appointed federal judge in San Francisco (!!) has struck down the law on partial birth abortion, look for that to become a campaign issue. Steven Taylor: Yeesh — Judge: Bush Abortion Ban Unconstitutional "A federal judge Tuesday declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act... |
GOP Takes Off Gloves in Bout of Budget Infighting By / LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Eclipsed by the furor over foreign policy, Congress' debate over the federal budget has slipped quietly into an impasse that is no garden-variety partisan standoff. It is a battle among Republicans over what their party stands for, analysts say. | |
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Kevin Drum: TAX CUTS vs. SPENDING CUTS...Responding to an LA Times story about internal Republican battles between the tax cutters... Jonah Goldberg: Here's how the LA Times (reg req'd) describes the debate: [snipped quote] Me:I suspect the Times is being more than a bit sensational. |
Adam Mordecai: From the LA Times: "Eclipsed by the furor over foreign policy, Congress' debate over the federal budget has slipped... |
Q: What's wrong with this picture? By / Dallas Morning News — Permalink Are the news media giving Americans an accurate picture of what's really going on in Iraq? Not according to the American people, who say they've seen too many photos of Abu Ghraib prison abuses. | |
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Cori Dauber: To that end he tries to find some that have come across the wires: almost a goose egg. (via Memeorandum.) Rod Dreher: WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? That's the question I ask in my Dallas Morning News piece this morning. |
Edward Driscoll: Meanwhile, Rod Dreher has a column on that very subject in the Dallas Morning News, and adds: [snipped quote] "And of... |
President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief Center for American Progress — Permalink From the beginning, George W. Bush has made his own credibility a central issue. On 10/11/00, then Governor Bush said: "I think credibility is important. It is going to be important for the president to be credible with Congress, important for the president to be credible with foreign nations." | |
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Kevin Raybould: 20 Bush Reversals — Center for American Progress has twenty Bush reversals: "OPEC BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER... The Poor Man: [UPDATE: Not really thematically consistant, but the Center for American Progress has a feature keeping track of George... |
Tim Dunlop: President Flubber — The latest Center for American Progress document keeping us up-to-date on Bush's flip-flopping on a range of policy issues is up and running. |
History tells us that most conflicts end in chaos By / Telegraph — Permalink History is useful. That, at any rate, is the theme of Alan Bennett's new play, The History Boys. History gets you into a good university. History gets you a good job. History is a key to cracking the secret of life. Or is it? | |
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Deacon: A little history, boys — Historian John Keegan writing in the Daily Telegraph marvels that the chaos which, history... James Joyner: Keegan: War is Chaos — John Keegan, who has been sidelined the past few weeks recovering from major surgery, weighs in... Marcus @HarrysPlace: How Wars End — Historian John Keegan reminds us that not all wars are like the second world war and that certain... |
Dale Franks: Crisis? What Crisis? Famed military historian John Keegan wonders what all fuss over unrest in Iraq is all about. Betsy Newmark: Read John Keegan's column on why some wars end more cleanly than others. "History is useful. |
Sunni Is Chosen as President; Governing Council Disbands By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 1 — A new Iraqi government reflecting the diverse ethnic and religious landscape of the country took shape today, ending weeks of bruising negotiations between Iraqi leaders, American administrators and the United Nations envoy here. | |
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David Adesnik: The article that goes along with it is almost as upbeat as the headline. After all, is there anything that the NYT approves of more than diversity? Edward _: Full sovereignty: "In his first public statements after his appointment, Mr. Yawar said he wanted the United Nations... |
Billmon: Strings Attached — The big story this morning was obviously the carefully scripted conclusion to the hit comedy series... |
Documents: Padilla Planned to Blow Up Apartments AP — Permalink WASHINGTON — Jose Padilla (search), a detainee held in U.S. custody, was training to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to a possible attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device, according to government documents. | |
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Emperor Darth Misha I: A bona fide choir boy, as this article sent to us by LC Mr. Minority proves. Or not. Cori Dauber: In any event the Justice Department is now saying much known about him is now being declassified, including the fact of... |
Clayton Cramer: Now it's news: [snipped quote] Pity Padilla's lawyer, who has to defend Padilla against allegations of terrorism, after Padilla talked about these plans to interrogators. |
Enron Traders Caught On Tape CBS News — Permalink (CBS) When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports. "Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire. | |
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Kevin Drum: ENRON AND CALIFORNIA...CBS News has obtained tapes of Enron traders gloating about how successfully they've gamed the... |
Gary Farber: HOW ENRON F**KED CALIFORNIA in their own words. What's far more devastating than to read these transcripts is to listen... |
Grading the President By / NYT — Permalink A few weeks ago, The National Journal, the highly respected and highly expensive Washington policy magazine, asked a dozen distinguished and politically independent economists to grade the Bush administration's economic performance. | |
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Andrew Sullivan: BUSH'S ECONOMIC RECORD: Josh Marshall and Noam Scheiber both lay into David Brooks over Bush's economic record. Tbogg: The NY Times publishes this by David Brooks on the same day that it publishes this by Paul Krugman. |
Noam Scheiber: DAVID BROOKS GETS THE BUSH TAX CUT WRONG: Josh Marshall puts his finger on the problem with David Brooks's column today:... Josh Marshall: In Tuesday morning's — Times, David Brooks has a column summing up Bush administration fiscal policy. |
Amorous Swedes to Get Emergency Condom Deliveries Reuters — Permalink STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish aid organization will roll out a new line of defense to the country's emergency services next week — the condom ambulance. From Friday, June 4, amorous couples can call the telephone number 696969 and a white van featuring a large red condom with wings as a logo will deliver them a packet of 10 prophylactics. | |
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Roger Kimball: I can't, but perhaps your antennae for this sort of thing are more sensitive than mine. Check out the story here. |
Clayton Cramer: Sweden: This Takes Laziness To A New Level — Are they going to turn down the sheets as well? |
A Plea for Enlightened Moderation By / WaPo — Permalink The world has been going through a tumultuous period since the dawn of the 1990s, with no sign of relief in sight. The suffering of the innocents, particularly my brethren in faith — the Muslims — at the hands of militants, extremists and terrorists has made it all the more urgent to bring order to this troubled scene. | |
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David Adesnik: President Musharraf of Pakistan has a column in today's WaPo that would be extremely persuasive if it weren't written by a corrupt dictator. Cori Dauber: For the most part it's a confused hash of ideas, but it has the kernel of something profoundly useful and important mixed up in there. |
David Allan Pell: Pervez Musharraf in the W Post:[snipped quote] (It almost sounds like he's channeling Tom Friedman.) LinkTo or Email Post |
A broadside in the war on blubber By / Telegraph — Permalink Just for a change in the old columnar diet, I thought I'd weigh in on Britain's obesity epidemic. But, on closer inspection, the war on blubber seems to be the war on terror by other means. | |
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Clayton Cramer: His column is well worth reading, not just for the data content, but also for the wit with which he dispatches pseudo-intellectuals into outer darkness. Betsy Newmark: Mark Steyn shows the connection between the war on obesity and anti-Americanism. Tim Blair: UPDATE. Mark Steyn writes : "In January the municipality of Carquefou in north-western France held a competition. |
Stefan Beck: Nannytollahs and Cheesy Wotsits — Mark Steyn weighs in on the War on Blubber, and its, er, broader implications: ... Marcus @HarrysPlace: For his efforts the Daily Ablution earned an Instalanche (a rush of new visitors to the site via an Instapundit link)... |
The Fallujah Brigade By / Opinion Journal — Permalink In Iraq, apparently no news is good news. Two months ago everyone was talking about Fallujah. Four American citizens had been brutally murdered, and then a raging mob dragged their bodies through the streets and strung them up from a bridge. | |
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Ted Belman: Sharon is trying to create the same in Israel — The Fallujah Brigade How the Marines are pacifying an Iraqi hot spot. Cori Dauber: ("Patience, grasshopper," was the phrase that most sticks in my mind.) So — was Fallujah really a success? |
Deacon: However, Brendan Miniter of the WSJ's Opinion Journal makes a plausbile case that our actions in pacifying Fallujah represent a success story. |
Judge Says Bryant Accuser Can't Be Called 'Victim' Reuters — Permalink DENVER (Reuters) - The woman who accuses Kobe Bryant of rape cannot be called a ''victim'' in court proceedings as the prosecution wants, the judge in the Los Angeles Lakers guard's sexual assault case ruled on Tuesday. | |
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Susanna Cornett: A rose by any other name... Here's a new wrinkle in the Kobe Bryant case: [snipped quote] My first reaction to this was that Kobe's defense team scored on this one. |
Jeralyn Merritt: The judge ruled the prosecution cannot refer to the accuser as a "victim.' This is the right decision. |
U.S.: Suspected 'dirty bomb' plot included plan to blow up apartments CNN — Permalink WASHINGTON (CNN) — Jose Padilla — the American citizen held in a U.S. military prison without charges since his arrest two years ago — admitted to training at al Qaeda camps and to having dealings with al Qaeda members, according to documents declassified by the U.S. government Tuesday. | |
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Jeralyn Merritt: Jose Padilla Evidence Revealed...and Disputed — "Dirty Bomb" Suspect and Bush administration-labeled "enemy combatant"... |
Captain Ed: UPDATE: CNN carries his lawyer's response (not Johnny Cochran, BTW): "But Donna Newman, Padilla's defense attorney,... |
A conversation with the governor: 'There's still a lot to learn' By / Sacramento Bee — Permalink When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor a year ago, he was change personified, and Californians wanted change. In general, he also represented a call for smaller government, lower taxes, a friendlier stance toward business. | |
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Ezra Klein: This interview with him is worth reading to get a feel for this fence straddling and RINO ideology: [snipped quote] So... |
Taegan Goddard: Meanwhile, Daniel Weintraub has a very interesting interview with Schwarzenegger. Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power Buy from Amazon.com for just $21.00 |
Army Investigates Wider Iraq Offenses By / WaPo — Permalink Over the past year and a half, the Army has opened investigations into at least 91 cases of possible misconduct by U.S. soldiers against detainees and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, a total not previously reported and one that points to a broader range of wrongful behavior than defense officials have acknowledged. | |
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TChris: Now we're learning more about the scope of the investigations. Billmon: Chapter and Verse — The Washington Post now counts at least 91 Army investigations into allegations of abuse against prisoners and/or civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
Jesse Taylor: Army Hates America; Is Asked To Stop Demoralizing The Troops — The Army revealed today that it is investigating 91... |
Then & Now By / NRO — Permalink Six days before the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the A&E network, to publicize its Memorial Day movie Ike, ran a reproduction in the New York Times of the Times's front page for June 6, 1944. | |
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Edward Driscoll: THEN AND NOW: David Lewis Schaefer and Mark Levin each look at The New York Times 50 years ago and today, and find some interesting parallels—and not surprisingly, divergences. |
Jesse Taylor: A Debate For The Pandagon Community — Is it possible to break grasping conservatives of the delusion that we are in World War II all over again in Iraq? |
Dates on Prison Photos Show Two Phases of Abuse WaPo — Permalink On May 1, a U.S. Army investigator took the stand in a criminal proceeding in Baghdad against one of the seven military police soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: Oddly enough, Brooks published this piece of cheerleading for war crimes two days before the Red Cross sent its report... Kevin Drum: Here are the key dates: [snipped quote] That's only two days. |
Rich Lowry: THE LATEST FROM ABU GHRAIB — The Washington Post has another big story about Abu Ghraib. David Adesnik: CALL IT A HUNCH: The WaPo has an interesting analysis of the time stamps on the Abu Ghraib prison photo. |
The 'Sock Puppet' Strategy MSNBC — Permalink June 7 issue - In Seattle they want their coffee strong and their salmon straight from the river, a yen for flavor that may explain why the air was buzzless in McCaw Hall when Sen. John Kerry unveiled his plan for bolstering American "security and strength for a new world." | |
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Steve Soto: My thoughts on this originated from several Howard Fineman dispatches from the campaign, and as Yuval noted in his... Yuval Rubinstein: Backhanded Compliment of the Year (So Far) Courtesy of Joe Trippi: [snipped quote] Zing! |
David Allan Pell: Newsweek offers up the Sock Puppet Theory described by an interviewee who had just listened to another careful Kerry... Taegan Goddard: The "Wait For Bush To Fall" Strategy — According to Sen. John Kerry's political advisors, the election "doesn't turn on... |
Judge rejects slave trauma as defense for killing By / Oregonian — Permalink HILLSBORO — A Portland lawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy. Randall Vogt is offering the untested theory, called post traumatic slave syndrome, in his defense of... | |
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H.D. Miller: Coming Soon to A Courtroom Near You — Yeah, the post traumatic slave syndrome defense didn't work this time, but that doesn't mean that desperate trial lawyers won't try it again. Pejman Yousefzadeh: NO WORDS — Nothing I say can possibly express my disbelief over this: "A Portland lawyer says suffering by African... Jonah Goldberg: Or so his lawyer claims: "HILLSBORO — A Portland lawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy. |
Eugene Volokh: Life imitates The Onion: The Oregonian reports: [snipped quote] (That last paragraph means, I'm pretty sure, that the... Jeff Goldstein: 3 Signs of the Apocalypse, or of something not quite the Apocalypse, but creepy nevertheless 1) Post-traumatic slave syndrome offered as murder defense. Clayton Cramer: Oh Come On — This is a defense that should be an embarrassment to any court, and any lawyer: [snipped quote] Let's see:... |
Iraq and the Conservative Crackup By / WaPo — Permalink Nothing succeeds like success and nothing fails like failure. In politics, this means that if a leader is seen as doing well, his side in the debate holds together and suppresses disagreements that are quite real but don't seem worth pursuing if they get in the way of winning. | |
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Dale Franks: Then and Now — E.J. Dionne writes that the War in Iraq is undermining George W. Bush's presidency, because things aren't going swimmingly. |
Jonah Goldberg: VICTORY IS OURS — E.J. Dionne delcares a "conservative crack up" today. The phrase has a fine pedigree going back years. |
California considers program to measure pollutants in people By / Knight Ridder — Permalink SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - What sort of potentially toxic chemicals are floating around in your body? Four parts per billion of pentachloronitrobenzene, perhaps? Trace amounts of dibutyl phthalate? And can they make you sick? Scientists aren't at all clear on the last question yet. | |
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Steve Antler: From the West Coast... Another milestone in the ongoing religious drive for absolute purity of all our precious bodily fluids. |
KJL: WILL YOU BE OUTLAWED? Just looking into the future, seeing the next Kyoto treaty... |
Jobs Loss May Affect Who Wins The Vote By / WaPo — Permalink CANTON, Ohio — Of all the places devoted to making and shaping metal in this weathered industrial city, few are as venerable as the tidy brick factory on Dueber Avenue. | |
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Zachary Roth: Echo Chamber — Didn't Make Sense the First Time, Doesn't Make Sense This Time In today's Washington Post, Paul Farhi... |
Steven Taylor: You Don't Say? Jobs Loss May Affect Who Wins The Vote |
Base yet to unify behind Kerry By / Washington Times — Permalink Democrats say they are more unified than ever in their determination to beat President Bush, but there have been desertions in the party's ranks by antiwar activists who back independent candidate Ralph Nader and grumblings from blacks and Hispanics who say Sen. John Kerry has taken them for granted. | |
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T.L.: Fact Check — Cherry-Picking Time at The Washington Times Writing in today's Washington Times, Donald Lambro furthers... |
Tim Graham: Washington Times reporter Donald Lambro notes today that certain hard-core Deaniacs are steering clear of Kerry in pursuit of a real white-flag-waver. |
WMD, R.I.P. By / Opinion Journal — Permalink A familiar news story: A hard-line government uses its powerful military to launch a unilateral pre-emptive strike. The United Nations and Europe are horrified, along with most of the American media. | |
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Ted Belman: WMD, R.I.P. Everyone now agrees it was right to attack Iraq pre-emptively. |
James Joyner: All Agree on Pre-Emption — L. Gordon Crowitz notes that, while it was roundly criticized at the time, everyone is now... |
In 5 Words by Langston Hughes, Kerry Aides Hear a Likely Campaign Slogan By / NYT — Permalink John Kerry's campaign has been a font of slogans and catch phrases, but few of them have caught on - even with him. Early on he offered a "better set of choices," then said he would make America "safer, stronger, more secure." | |
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Jesse Taylor: That having been said, I agree with Nathan Newman that John Kerry's new slogan, "Let America Be America Again", is a bit of a masterstroke. Bo Cowgill: KERRY CHOOSES NEW CAMPAIGN THEME: "Let America be America again." |
Nathan Newman: Let America Be America Again — This is a brilliant slogan for the Kerry campaign. |
This Time the Actor Is a Pol By / NYT — Permalink SUMMERLAND, Calif. — True, the parallels were unmistakable: a Republican actor and political neophyte storms to the California governor's mansion, promising that as an outsider he alone can clean up the fiscal mess in Sacramento. | |
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James Joyner: Reagan and Schwarzenegger — Lou Cannon, a veteran journalist and Reagan biographer, believes California's current... Ken Masugi: Lou Cannon on Reagan Vs. Schwarzenegger — Long-time Reagan observer Lou Cannon has it just right: This actor really... |
Taegan Goddard: And in the six months since Arnold Schwarzenegger took office, the comparisons with Ronald Reagan have been staples of his news coverage," Lou Cannon writes. |
Narrow loss will do, says Diedrich in S.D. By / The Hill — Permalink SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Republican congressional hopeful Larry Diedrich is effectively conceding defeat in today's South Dakota special House election before the polling booths even open. | |
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Jesse Taylor: Stephanie Herseth's Distinguished Competition — I'll be happy if I'm a minor loser. Kos: Diedrich concedes defeat — Apparently testing some newfangled form of GOTV, Larry Diedrich conceded defeat hours before the polls even open. |
John J. Miller: HILL EROSION — Republican Larry Diedrich expects to lose today's special House election in South Dakota, against Democrat Stephanie Herseth, says The Hill. Taegan Goddard: Diedrich Hopes For Narrow Loss — Larry Diedrich (R) "is effectively conceding defeat" in Tuesday's South Dakota special... |
The Expanding Blogosphere By / American Journalism Review — Permalink When political bloggers bay in the blogosphere, do political reporters hear them? The answer, I quickly learned, depends on four factors: how you define "political blog"; which political bloggers you mean; which political reporters you mean; and—not to go all Bill Clinton on you—what the meaning of "hear" is. | |
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Tbogg: Well, I always thought they were "stroking it"... I don't have much of an opinion about the content of this article... Ezra Klein: The Best and the Most Familiar — The American Journalism Review has a good — if very long — article on blogs. Dan Gillmor: Political Blogs and the Election Landscape — The American Journalism Review has a long, nuanced article this month... |
David Adesnik: While bloggers may argue about whether journalists listen, Rachel Smolkin actually went out there and asked a whole lot of actual journalists whether they make time for blogs. Jan Haugland: Blogosphere feedback — AJR's Rachel Smolkin has a very interesting article on the relationship between blogs and... Will Baude: This article, which I just found via Jacob Levy, is better than the Times piece, though it still doesn't really answer any of those questions. |
| Also: Kevin Drum, Daniel Drezner, Jacob T. Levy, Glenn Reynolds | |
Science of hot air By / The Australian — Permalink THE consequences of global warming portrayed in The Day After Tomorrow are so absurd that even the hysterics in the US green movement reportedly feared audiences would laugh it out of the cinema. However, the scientific proponents (and massive financial beneficiaries) of the greenhouse effect are more hopeful. | |
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Amy Phillips: The Australian reports that the movie's science is "so absurd that even the hysterics in the US green movement... |
Tim Blair: The Australian's Alan Wood theorises: [snipped quote] Stupid kids. They actually listen to teachers these days? |
Kidnappings Bleed Iraq of Doctors By / LAT — Permalink BAGHDAD — Five months pregnant, Khalida Hussein lies dying in a Baghdad hospital, a malignant brain tumor sapping her ability to walk, eat and speak. There's perhaps one doctor in Iraq talented enough to save her life: a neurosurgeon ranked among the best in the Middle East. | |
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Digby: Kidnappings Bleed Iraq of Doctors [snipped quote] The good news is that 14 clinics have fresh paint and 8 have new office chairs. |
Mark Kleiman: I have just one tidbit to add to the able coverage from Kevin Drum and The New Yorker: It occurs in paragraph 32 of a... |
Last widow of a Civil War veteran dies AP — Permalink MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) — Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died on Memorial Day, ending an unlikely ascent from sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. She was 97. | |
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Dean Esmay: Last Civil War Veteran Widow Dies — The last living widow of a veteran of the U.S. civil war recently died. Gene @HarrysPlace: Living link to Civil War dies — The last surviving widow of a veteran of the American Civil War has died at 97. |
Michael DeBow: Last Confederate widow dies on Memorial Day. Alberta Martin was 97. |
Obama gets early boost from voters Chicago Tribune — Permalink Though the U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois has months to go, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll finds Democratic nominee Barack Obama holding a lopsided lead over Republican Jack Ryan, who also must overcome a serious perception problem with voters. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: I am entirely opposed to Obama's policies and politics, but there is no denying that he as an impressive candidate, as the polls make clear. Taegan Goddard: In Illinois, Obama Takes Command — "Though the U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois has months to go, a new Tribune/WGN-TV... |
Christopher Kanis: ILLINOIS SENATE RACE — I know it's early, but as of now, Obama leads Ryan by 22. I'm surprised it's that lopsided this far out. Jerome Armstrong: Obama the #1 takeaway for the Dems in the US Senate — A new Tribune/WGN-TV poll finds Democratic nominee Barack Obama... |
Schwarzenegger Sees Money for State in Punitive Damages By / NYT — Permalink Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new budget aims to raise almost half a billion dollars by taking 75 percent of the punitive damages that juries in California award to plaintiffs. In the process, he proposes to limit the fees lawyers can charge their clients and to protect defendants from multiple punitive awards for similar conduct. | |
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Dwight Meredith: The New York Times notes that the Governor estimates that his proposal would generate about $450 million per year in revenue for the state. |
Alex Tabarrok: Punitive damages — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to tax punitive awards at a 75% rate. |
Fighting Music of World War II By / Insight — Permalink New York City, 2004. It's a quarter to 8, and legendary guitarist Les Paul is prepping in his dressing room at Iridium, a hip jazz club on Broadway where he performs two concerts with his five-piece band every Monday night. | |
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Edward Driscoll: A LITTLE LATE FOR MEMORIAL DAY, but there's a terrific new article on Insight Magazine's Website about Les Paul and the fighting music of World War II. |
Charles Johnson: Fighting Music of World War II — One of my idols, Les Paul, remembers the Fighting Music of World War II. (Hat tip: Geepers.) |
The Source of the Trouble By / New York Magazine — Permalink For critics of the Iraq war, the downfall of Ahmad Chalabi occasioned a hearty, unapologetic outpouring of Schadenfreude—a loud cheer for a well-deserved knee to the administration's gut. In fact, it was possible to detect a bit of this spirit on the front page of the New York Times. | |
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Brian Montopoli: Finally, for those who can't get enough of how the Bush administration and the New York Times got suckered about weapons... Angry Bear: For more on Miller, see Franklin Foer's New Yorker New York Magazine story, "The Source of the Trouble. Atrios: Our Dear Judy — It's New York Magazine's turn. Is there a bigger tool than Bill Keller? |
Juan Cole: Miller as Chalabi Stenographer — Franklin Foer's profile of Judith Miller of the NYT and the way in which her... Kevin Drum: THE MILLER CHRONICLES...Since Judith Miller and her prewar WMD "reporting" are Topic A at the moment, I suppose I'm... |
AP: Miners Drawn to Illegal Congo Uranium By / AP — Permalink SHINKOLOBWE, Congo - Business is booming in the mining zone that supplied uranium for the atomic bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — despite a decree by Congo's president banning all mining activity here. | |
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Charles Johnson: Congo Uranium Business is Booming — Here is a sentence that should send chills down your spine: SHINKOLOBWE, Congo -... |
Josh Marshall: A real front in the war on terror, and virtually a one-sided battle ... [snipped quote] See the rest here. |
Kerry Visits Portsmouth After Vietnam Tribute AP — Permalink PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Democrat John Kerry (search) ventured in to Republican leaning Virginia on Monday with a Memorial Day pitch targeting military families and a charge that President Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam." | |
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Jeff Goldstein: Memorial Day leftovers — My plan here was to take John Kerry to task for using a Memorial Day event as an opportunity... |
Judith Weiss: [ UPDATE: Contrast with Kerry's speech. ] Gerard van der Leun on the uncoolness of the military, in this oh-so-cool age. |
Defence chiefs come clean on abuse By / Sydney Morning Herald — Permalink Senator Robert Hill and General Peter Cosgrove in Parliament yesterday . . . the minister admitted Red Cross complaints last year painted a "grim picture" of detention practices. Photo: Penny Bradfield | |
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Kieran Healy: Australia and Abu Ghraib — John Howard's government gets sucked further in to the Iraqi torture scandal. |
Tim Dunlop: The latest example is in regard to when and what Australian officials new about the abuse and torture perpetrated by US... |
The Real Story of Fallujah By / Opinion Journal — Permalink When Bravo Company of the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment led U.S. forces into the heart of Fallujah in the predawn hours of April 6, I was the only journalist present. It had been Bravo Company of the "First of the Fifth" that had been first inside the citadel of Hue in Vietnam in February 1968. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: AN INSIDE VIEW OF FALLUJAH — Robert Kaplan has been traveling with the Marines in Iraq, and has some firsthand... Betsy Newmark: Robert Kaplan has the real story of how we've handled the situation in Fallujah and blames the administration for not having better publicity about what we've been doing in Iraq. |
Hindrocket: What Happened in Fallujah — Robert Kaplan was with the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment when it led the... |
Normandy Gathering, and the Mistrust, Then and Now By / NYT — Permalink PARIS, May 30 -Franklin Roosevelt loathed Charles de Gaulle and de Gaulle loathed him back. The Free French leader, was given only two days notice that 150,000 American and other foreign troops were coming by sea and air to the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944, and de Gaulle was not allowed to take part. | |
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Tom Maguire: Hint: Colin Powell is cited as having noted that "many NATO countries are already in Iraq, and many others do not have... |
Cori Dauber: Because, you see Yet even as they celebrate the Atlantic powers' greatest achievement, many will be mourning their greatest debacle: the failure to forge a common strategy on Iraq. |
A Former President's Mad Dash to 80 By / Time — Permalink Former President George H.W. Bush is the only person on this planet who can casually prowl by jet, ship and train the upper reaches of power from London to Beijing, dine intimately with heads of state, call the President of the U.S. when he wants, e-mail any... | |
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Betsy Newmark: Hugh Sidey, chronicler of presidents for decades, looks in on Geroge Bush (41) as he approaches his 80th birthday in a couple of weeks. |
Tom Schaller: His name? George H.W. Bush, who turns 80 on June 12, in an interview with Time magazine's Hugh Sidey. |
Big budget poll bounce for Howard By / The Australian — Permalink JOHN Howard and the Coalition have bounced back to an election-winning lead three weeks after the budget - their best position since Mark Latham took over as Labor leader. | |
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Arthur Chrenkoff: "The Australian" reports on the latest opinion poll: "In what appears to be a delayed reaction to the budget, there has... |
Tim Blair: Chris Sheil on May 25: [snipped quote] And Newspoll today: [snipped quote] These polls will continue to swing around before the election. |
Focus Swings to Vietnam, With a Roar WaPo — Permalink A younger generation of war veterans swept into town yesterday, shifting the tone of the city's Memorial Day celebrations from the long-ago heroism of World War II to the still-raw wounds of Vietnam. | |
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Glenn Reynolds: READER JED KANE sends this update from Washington, along with a couple of photos: [snipped quote] Kane is certainly right... |
James Joyner: Rolling Thunder Endorses Bush — WaPo — Focus Swings to Vietnam, With a Roar "A younger generation of war veterans... |
French have much to be humble about Sydney Morning Herald — Permalink The republic's inglorious military history leaves it on the wrong side of debate about proper use of force, writes Gerard Henderson. Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy in north-west France, which began the liberation of much of Western Europe from Nazi Germany rule. | |
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Glenn Reynolds: GERARD HENDERSON: On the anniversary of D-Day, the French have "much to be humble about." |
Tim Blair: Gerard Henderson writes: "Here's hoping this D-Day kick-starts some modesty on the part of the French political class. |
Audrey Hepburn 'most beautiful woman of all time' PA — Permalink Pefection personified ... experts have voted Audrey Hepburn the most naturally beautiful woman of all time. Film legend Audrey Hepburn was yesterday named the most naturally beautiful woman of all time by a panel of experts. | |
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Thorley Winston: From the "who needed a poll to tell us this" department, Audrey Hepburn is declared the most beautiful woman of all time. Betsy Newmark: Check out this list of the 100 most beautiful women. I am quite content with Audrey Hepburn as the most beautiful woman in history. |
Mitch Berg: But Does Powerline Cover This? Audrey Hepburn was declared the most beautiful woman of all time. Tim Blair: BEAUTY THROUGH DEPRIVATION — An Evian-sponsored panel has named history's most naturally beautiful women. |
And for His Next Feat, a Billionaire Sets Sights on Bush By / NYT — Permalink Under the soaring dome of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, the financier George Soros delivered a blistering attack on President Bush that was interrupted by applause from the graduating students at Columbia University's international affairs school. | |
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Tom Maguire: The paper of record has it all, and prints it on Memorial Day, which may be the slowest news day of the season. |
Harley: And now? Read all about it here. |
From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity WaPo — Permalink It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine. Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry "has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all" and said the senator... | |
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John Rosenberg: Bush-Critical Washington Post Article Outruns Its Evidence — Yesterday's Washington Post has a long page one article... Nick Confessore: The Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Jim VandeHei revisited the issue of negative advertising in this article yesterday. Kevin Raybould: Bush Has Nothing to Run On — The Bush Campaign is the most negative in history "Scholars and political strategists say... |
David Allan Pell: We are still in the early stages of the campaign, but the Bush team has already served up nearly 50,000 negative and often misleading ads. C. D. Harris: Ad-dlepated — The Bush campaign responds to Dana Milbank's front page hit piece article that calls their ads "unprecedented" in their negativity. Betsy Newmark: Check out Powerline for lots of refutation of the weekend Washington Post story accusing the President of running an unprecedented number of negative and misleading ads. |
| Also: Mark Kleiman, Taegan Goddard, Noam Scheiber, Deacon, Digby, Oliver Willis, Harley, Jon Henke, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Jesse Taylor, Tom Schaller, Josh Marshall, The Poor Man, Kevin Drum | |
U.S. is lost in Afghanistan By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink The handful of valiant American warriors fighting the ''other'' war in Afghanistan is not a happy band of brothers. They are undermanned and feel neglected, lack confidence in their generals and are disgusted by Afghan political leadership. | |
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Blackfive: Bob Novak, whacko reporter guy, completely misrepresents the 25th Infantry Division's plans and actions in Afghanistan. Tom Schaller: And as Bob Novak also points out in his column today, Bush dare not mention Afghanistan either, where his support among... |
Greyhawk: Yikes! Sombody is handing us a load. Is it little Bobby Novak? : [snipped quote] Or brother Hook? Atrios: Lost in Afghanistan — It didn't take a genius to figure out that this administration didn't have any intention of genuinely following through in Afghanistan. |
Progress in Iraq By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Have you read the encouraging headlines from Iraq? "Monthly U.S. Combat Deaths Down by Half in May" is one. "Radical Shiite Cleric's Militia Decimated in Holy Cities" is another, and finally: "Iraqi Leaders, Defying U.S. and U.N. Dictates, Choose Prime Minister." | |
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Glenn Reynolds: WILLIAM SAFIRE'S Memorial Day column is worth reading. Clayton Cramer: The News That You Probably Aren't Seeing On TV — From William Safire's column: [snipped quote] And that tells the story. |
Captain Ed: Addendum: William Safire seems to get more news than Wes Clark. Perhaps the general should read more than Mother Jones for information. Betsy Newmark: William Safire looks at the big picture in Iraq. "Have you read the encouraging headlines from Iraq? |
Why Hawks Should Be Angry By / WaPo — Permalink Zell Miller, the plain-spoken quasi-Democrat from Georgia, took to the Senate floor earlier this month to bemoan all the fuss about the prison abuse scandal. "Here we go again, rushing to give aid and comfort to the enemy," he complained. | |
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Tarek @LiquidList: Atrios noted that something apparently shifted in the little mind of Fred Hiatt and compelled him to notice all the... Atrios: Who Woke the Post? From Hiatt: "Bush could have responded differently. He could have embraced the heroes such as Spec. |
The Poor Man: And Fred Hiatt can't stand it anymore either. "Bush could have responded differently. He could have embraced the heroes such as Spec. |
Taking the High Road, the Low Road and Maybe a Boulder or Two By / NYT — Permalink When George W. Bush fell off his mountain bike and banged up his face the week before last, the world took modest note of the president's new hobby. What it did not know was that over the past three months the 57-year-old chief executive, sidelined from... | |
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Bill Hobbs: Bike-Rider-In-Chief — Today's New York Times takes a look at the bike-riding habits of President Bush and John Kerry. Tom Maguire: Naughty Elisabeth — Elisabeth Bumiller of the NYTimes delivers A Tale of Two Bikers, covering the bicycling thrills and spills of John Kerry and George Bush. |
Susan Q. Stranahan: Unfortunately, all she found there was her arm. Hence, her treatise on the bicycling habits of George W. Bush and John... Ezra Klein: Making Miller Look Good — This is the stupidest damn article I have ever read. What's happening to the Times? |
Cheney office denies role in Halliburton deal CNN — Permalink WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Dick Cheney's office denied Sunday that he was involved in a coordinated effort to secure a multibillion dollar Iraq oil deal for Halliburton, his former employer. | |
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TChris: An e-mail from an Army Corps of Engineers official in March 2003 refers to Douglas Feith's approval of a decision to... Matt Davis: So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that when he said he played no role in the no-bid contracts for Halliburton in Iraq, he was lying his ass off. |
Nathan Newman: Time Magazine found this memo showing that the VP coordinated Halliburton getting the multi-billion dollar contract for... |
Political Briefs Houston Chronicle — Permalink WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry enjoyed a quiet day off the campaign trail on the Sunday before Memorial Day, riding a bicycle through the city's Georgetown neighborhood that he calls home. | |
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Captain Ed: Libertarian Nonsense No Threat To Two-Party System ... Again — Jon at QandO points out that the Libertarian Party has... |
Jon Henke: Losertarians — Well, the Libertarian Party has finished it regularly scheduled excercise in futility, and they've only... |
Tracking Why We Went to War By / WaPo — Permalink Heard any good rationales for the war lately? If not, maybe you ought to talk to Devon Largio, a new graduate of the University of Illinois, who says her research turned up 23 different rationales offered by the Bush administration in the year following the Sept. 11 attacks. | |
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James Joyner: 23 Reasons for the War — William Raspberry reports that Devon Largio, a new graduate of the University of Illinois who... |
Cori Dauber: MORPHING — The study by a U of I college student finding 23 rationales for war with Iraq used by the administration —... |
Common Sense and Computer Analysis By / WaPo — Permalink Irrational paranoia about computer technology threatens to shut down an entire front in the war on terror. A prestigious advisory panel has just recommended that the Defense Department get permission from a federal court any time it wants to use computer analysis on its own intelligence files. | |
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Jan Haugland: Heather Mac Donald is convinced that privacy advocates have been going crazy, and that they are hurting the services and... Mary InLosGatos: Nevertheless, there are some on the right (our budding Gestapo) that call this concern an "irrational... |
Cori Dauber: It's harder to accept the fact that we need to act now to arm the intelligence community with the tools it needs to see the dots it's supposed to be connecting. |
Black Writers Seize Glamorous Ground Around 'Chick-Lit' By / NYT — Permalink It prompted viewers across the country to plunk down hundreds for Manolo Blahniks, convinced them that gold nameplates and giant silk flowers were must-have accessories and proved, time and time again, that nirvana could be found in an eight-ounce cosmo. | |
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Oliver Willis: Another Win for Equality — I think it's a good thing that black women can write books that are as much brain-candy as an author of any other race. |
Cori Dauber: Leaving the feature writers to run wild on the front page. Not just once, but twice. |
Key to Success By / TNR — Permalink In March 2003, Americans thrilled to televised scenes of U.S. forces moving into Iraq. Well-spoken soldiers, modern equipment, and embedded reporters suggested a sense of purpose, competence, and courage that resonated across the country. | |
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Captain Ed: However, in his essay in The New Republic, Clark endorses a series of proposals more rooted in fantasy than reality and... |
David Adesnik: A cover story in the Washington Monthly. A share of the cover from TNR's special issue on Iraq. What is it that Wes Clark wants to say? |
Democrats Eye Janklow's House Seat WaPo — Permalink Democrats hope tomorrow's special election in South Dakota will switch the state's only House seat to Democratic hands. The seat became vacant in January when William J. Janklow, the former Republican governor, resigned after he was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and had to go to prison. | |
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Taegan Goddard: The Washington Post notes that "regardless of the outcome," Herseth and Diedrich "are expected to face each other again in November's election for a full term." |
John J. Miller: So why hasn't he gone to South Dakota to help Larry Diedrich, the Republican candidate in tomorrow's special election for the state's single seat in the House of Representatives? |
Terror Suspects Beating Charges Filed in Europe By / WaPo — Permalink BERLIN — The defendant, a Tunisian man with a bushy beard, sits inside a bulletproof glass box in the courtroom. Since his arrest more than a year ago, German authorities have declared the suspect, Ihsan Garnaoui, to be a terrorist and a threat to national security, a man who plotted attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets here. | |
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Jan Haugland: Terrorist suspects beat prosecution in Europe — The legal battle against terrorism is failing in Europe. |
Cori Dauber: The strategy hasn't worked out well. And it comes with a price. |
A Saddam Souvenir By / Time — Permalink When Saddam Hussein was rousted from his spider hole in Dawr, a town near Tikrit, by U.S. soldiers last December, Iraq's fallen dictator was clutching a pistol. He is now in detention at an undisclosed location, being questioned by American authorities and awaiting charges for war atrocities and crimes against humanity. | |
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Brian Montopoli: Time says that the pistol that Saddam Hussein was holding when he was captured in that spider hole last December "has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." Jan Haugland: Now the gun, mounted and unloaded, is in the posession of President George Bush, who reportedly is very proud of it. KJL: SADDAM'S PISTOL IS AT 1600 PENN. AVE. |
Jon Henke: Quick Hits — A few scattered thoughts that don't require a full post..... *** From the Time story about Saddam's pistol - now in the White House: Non-Sequitur Alert! Mathew Gross: Memorial Day — He gets a pistol; we get 810 dead. And increasingly, they're from the Reserves and National Guard. David Allan Pell: The Gunfighter — One presumes that special visitors who are connected enough can hear the whistling theme song to Clint... |
Arab militia use 'rape camps' for ethnic cleansing of Sudan By / Telegraph — Permalink "In the evening, the Janjaweed attacked. The area was full of crying from every direction, and shooting," says Ilham Isaak Abakker Abdullah. Aged 13, and light-voiced, she wears a pink dress and scarf and hasn't shown her face in weeks. | |
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Clayton Cramer: Too Depressing To Read—But You Need To Know — It's about the widespread use of rape camps by Arabs as part of their campaign of ethnic cleansing. Michael DeBow: "Arab militia use 'rape camps' for ethnic cleansing of Sudan" From the Telegraph: "After 50 years of conflict that... |
Glenn Reynolds: MORE NEWS FROM THE SUDAN: [snipped quote] And yet Sudan is on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and nobody seems to care much about what's happening in Darfur. Andrew Stuttaford: SUDAN — I wonder how this story is being covered in the Arab press, so conscious now of human rights in the wake of Abu Ghraib. |
Clashes in Najaf and Kufa Put the Cease-Fire in Peril By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, Monday, May 31 — A cease-fire between American forces and insurgents loyal to a rebel cleric appeared to be unraveling as fighting erupted Sunday and early Monday in the centers of the cities of Najaf and Kufa. | |
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Billmon: Jumping the Gun — It looks like Shi'a insurgent leader Moqtada Sadr has been targeted for a little Saddam-style law... |
Andrew Olmsted: ; Iraqi Politics & Polls; More connections between Iraq and al Qaeda; Spotlight on Abu Ghraib; How to support the... |