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President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Florida White House — Permalink THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead and sit down, please. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's good to be back in Florida. (Applause.) I'm looking for my little brother, but he didn't show. (Laughter.) It's okay, I love him anyway. Plus, he's doing a great job as the Governor. | |
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Steve Soto: Bush Masters The Details On Social Security Benefit Indexing - Well, No — Yikes, courtesy of Kos, take a look at Bush... Tim Dunlop: It occured to me that maybe non-Americans are having trouble understanding the specifics of the debate, so I thought it... Digby: Jeebus H. Christ — [snipped quote] I'm sure the hand-picked audience broke into rapturous cheers and began drooling and... |
Atrios: Bush Explains His Plan — For Social Security: Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. Greg @TheTalentShow: Dumbing Things Down ...and when I say dumbing things down, I mean reeeeaaalllllyyyy dumb (via Digby) Richard TPD: In response to how his plan can fix Social Security: [snipped quote] And this man is emperor of the universe. Arghhh. |
| Also: Kos @DailyKos | |
Media Backtalk By / WaPo — Permalink Consumers used to get their news from newspapers, magazines and evening broadcasts from the three television networks. Now, with the Internet, cable TV and 24-hour news networks, the news cycle is faster and more constant, with every minute carrying a new deadline. | |
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Will Collier: Howard The Coward — Washington Post reporter and CNN host Howard Kurtz just finished an hour-long online chat. Hugh Hewitt: Jim Geraghty has posts on the Eason Jordan story here, here, and here. (UPDATE: And here.) Captain Ed: Howard Kurtz is in the middle of conducting his hour-long Media Backtalk live chat session. |
Michelle Malkin: And Washington Post/CNN media critic Howard Kurtz has just concluded his live online chat without breathing a word about Easongate. Jason Van Steenwyk: Unfortunately, America's foremost media reporter did not address the Eason Jordan issue even in passing - although he... Taegan Goddard: Update: Howard Kurtz says Executive Editor Len Downie "told me he had no information about Deep Throat being ill, not from Woodward or anyone else." |
Bush shows highest ratings in a year By / USA Today — Permalink WASHINGTON — Americans gave President Bush his highest approval rating in more than a year and showed cautious optimism about Iraq in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken days after historic elections in Iraq. | |
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Joe Gandelman: UPDATE: But George Bush is going into his powder-keg political battles with some renewered strength, according to a new... James Joyner: Bush Approval Ratings Highest in a Year — Bush shows highest ratings in a year (USAT) "Americans gave President Bush... Alexander K. McClure: New Gallup Poll — President Bush has a 57% job approval rating in a new Gallup Poll. This is his best score since last January. |
Paul @Wizbang: Bush shows highest ratings in a year WASHINGTON " Americans gave President Bush his highest approval rating in more than... Orrin Judd: POST-REALIGNMENT AMERICA: Bush shows highest ratings in a year (Jill Lawrence, 2/07/05, USA TODAY) "Americans give... Steve M.: We just had the Iraqi elections and the State of the Union and all Bush can muster is a 57% approval rating from Gallup? |
$2.5 Trillion Budget Plan Cuts Many Programs WaPo — Permalink President Bush plans to unveil a $2.5 trillion budget today eliminating dozens of politically sensitive domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection and business development, while proposing significant increases for the military and international spending, according to White House documents. | |
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Joe Gandelman: Let The Bitter Battle Begin — GWB's proposed budget is out — and it's going to be a battle royal because it's... Steven Taylor: The Budget Wars Begin — Via WaPo: $2.5 Trillion Budget Plan Cuts Many Programs [snipped quote] While, no doubt, if the... Noam Scheiber: Anyway, I was stewing about this when I read that Cheney had used this bit of trickery on Fox News yesterday. |
Barbara O'Brien: The Washington Post quotes Dick the Dick: [quote] "We are being tight," Vice President Cheney said yesterday.[end quote] Steve Antler: Are the reports correct? Are we really talking not about reductions in the rate of growth of spending, but genuine reductions in the absolute amount of spending? Max B. Sawicky: "TENS OF MILLIONS" — Quoth a Republican leader in the House, making conservatarians weep: House Majority Whip Roy Blunt... |
| Also: Ezra Klein | |
Meet the men who Britain and the US hope will take over the battle against Iraqi insurgents - if they live long enough Guardian — Permalink Silence enveloped Baghdad's police academy yesterday as 2,000 cadets filed into classes to sit a mid-term exam of multiple-choice questions. Brows crinkled over ticklish selections, such as how to respond to bombs. | |
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Michael Froomkin: Pop Quiz — Crooked Timber: Pop Quiz: From the Guardian, a sample from the test administered to recruits to the Iraqi... Kevin Drum: Wonder no longer. The Guardian has sample questions from a recent midterm. But there's also this: [snipped quote] Indeed. |
Kieran Healy: Pop Quiz — From the Guardian, a sample from the test administered to recruits to the Iraqi Police Force: Any act by... |
Building the New Iraq Army By / NRO — Permalink Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy (D. , Mass.) is at it again. This time — one week after proclaiming, "The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem [in Iraq]" — he rhetorically asks an audience at the University of Massachusetts, "If America can... | |
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Dale Franks: Rome Wasn't Built in a Day — Former Marine inafantry leader and paratrooper, W. Thomas Smith writes in NRO that all... |
Jeff Quinton: Educating Ted Kennedy — NRO: Building the New Iraq Army by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. [snipped quote] Full article here. |
Bush's Social Security Equation Comes Up Short on Money, Trust By / LAT — Permalink Is it already time for the White House to unveil Plan B on Social Security? That may seem premature, given both the infancy of the debate and President Bush's track record in passing his agenda. Without more of both, Bush appears to be headed for a crackup. | |
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Tom Maguire: Soc Sec - A Risk For Republicans — Ron Brownstein of the LA Times counts votes on Social Security reform, and doesn't find many. Matthew Yglesias: Ron Brownstein rightly notes that George W. Bush's habit of perennially screwing over Democrats who try to collaborate... Kevin Drum: Why should they bother cooperating this time around? In the New York Times, Edmund Andrews says that Bush's plans to cut the deficit in the past have been smoke and mirrors. |
Joe Gandelman: UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times' Ronald Brownstein sees Bush and his plan in clear trouble: "But even many of... Howard Kurtz: Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times is practically playing taps for the Bush effort: "Is it already time for the White House to unveil Plan B on Social Security? |
What Bin Laden Sees in Hiroshima By / WaPo — Permalink At a conference on the future of al Qaeda sponsored by Los Alamos National Laboratory last month, I posed a dark question to 60 or so nuclear weapons scientists and specialists on terrorism and radical Islam: How many of them believed that the probability of a... | |
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Wretchard: All for One and One for All — Steve Coll of the Washington Post (hat tip: Little Green Footballs) was at a conference... |
Charles Johnson: What Bin Laden Sees in Hiroshima — Here's an article by Steve Coll of the Washington Post that won't help you sleep at... |
Roemer withdraws from DNC chair race AP — Permalink WASHINGTON (AP) — Tim Roemer, the only remaining opponent of Howard Dean in the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Monday he's bowing out of the race — but he offered a warning to Democrats. | |
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Steve Soto: Dean Now Unopposed For DNC Chair As Roemer Drops Out — Howard Dean's lone remaining opponent for the DNC chairmanship, Tim Roemer, just dropped out of the race. Taegan Goddard: Dean Is Last Man Standing — Former Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) dropped out of the race for DNC chairman leaving Howard Dean as the only remaining candidate, the AP reports. |
Jeralyn Merritt: Tim Roemer has dropped out of the race for DNC Chair. It's curious that Roemer is still pitching that Dems need to be more inclusive and less divisive. |
States See Growing Campaign to Change Redistricting Laws By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - The politically charged methods that states use to draw Congressional districts are under attack by citizens groups, state legislators and the governor of California, all of whom are concerned that increasingly sophisticated map-drawing... | |
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New Donkey: Redistricting Reset — Adam Nagourney of the New York Times did a broad-brush review today of the widespread interest in redistricting reform across the nation. Hugh Hewitt: What a surprise: The GOP dominates Congress and can be expected to do so for years into the future, and suddenly the New... Taegan Goddard: Fed Up With Redistricting — "The politically charged methods that states use to draw Congressional districts are under... |
Chris Nolan: So Special — Yet another sign Gov. Schwarzeneger's redistricting plans are gonna fly: Today's New York Times where Adam... Chris Lawrence: Redistricting Roundup — Today's New York Times has a somewhat lengthy piece on efforts in various states to reform their redistricting processes. Rickheller @Centerfield: Redistricting Issue Is Hot — It may seem counter-intuitive, given that most congressional districts are now set until... |
Should We Jail Deep Throats ... By / LAT — Permalink I have little doubt that one of my former Nixon White House colleagues is history's best-known anonymous source — Deep Throat. But I'll be damned if I can figure out exactly which one. We'll all know one day very soon, however. | |
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Michael Demmons: Deep Throat About to Be Deep Sixed? by Michael Demmons Bob Woodward says that Deep Throat is dying. James Joyner: Watergate "Deep Throat" Gravely Ill — John Dean, easily the slimiest of the figures involved in the Watergate scandal... Avedon Carol: Hot stuff — John Dean, Should We Jail Deep Throats ... - Throat is rumored to be terminally ill, so Woodward may be naming him soon. |
Joe Gandelman: We Will Soon Know "Deep Throat's" Identity — We will soon learn the answer to one of history's biggest journalistic... Howard Kurtz: Washington Post Staff Writer — When Armstrong Williams appears on television, he is predictably pro-Bush. Betsy Newmark: John Dean (I'm amazed that he's still around) says that his deep sources within the Washington Post have told him that... |
| Also: Jeralyn Merritt, Jeff Quinton, Taegan Goddard, Kevin Drum, K. J. Lopez | |
A transformative president By / Townhall.com — Permalink George W. Bush — clumsily in the view of his critics, but with confidence self-evident to those who watched his State of the Union with clear eyes — sets out to transform America and the world. And is succeeding. Consider Social Security, the centerpiece of Bush's domestic policy this year. | |
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Joe Gandelman: "Michael Barone argues that George Bush is a "transformative President" a la FDR who is winning the Social Security... Betsy Newmark: Michael Barone knows more about the American electorate than anyone else I've read. And he thinks that Bush might already have transformed the electorate. The Big Trunk: A transformative president — Michael Barone takes the measure of President Bush in a column that deserves attention: "A transformative president." |
James Joyner: American Political Realignment? Michael Barone argues this morning that, "George W. Bush is a transformative president." Orrin Judd: TRANSFORMER, MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: A transformative president (Michael Barone, February 7, 2005, Townhall)... PoliPundit: The Numbers — Michael Barone surveys the political landscape: "On Election Day, John Kerry won 16 percent more votes than Al Gore did in 2000. |
Heflin withdraws challenge to Vo after investigative finding Houston Chronicle — Permalink AUSTIN - Former Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin today withdrew his election challenge after a fellow Republican who investigated the matter concluded that Heflin narrowly lost to Democrat Hubert Vo. | |
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Charles Kuffner: Heflin concedes — Talmadge Heflin has withdrawn his challenge after Discovery Master Will Hartnett recommended that it be dismissed. |
Byron LaMasters: Heflin Withdraws Election Challenge — Details to follow... Live Stream of the Heflin press conference here on live stream 8. |
Religious right fights science for the heart of America Guardian — Permalink Al Frisby has spent the better part of his life in rooms filled with rebellious teenagers, but the last years have been particularly trying for the high school biology teacher. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: See also, "Religious Right Fights Science for the Heart of America" from The Guardian. | bar.jpg |
Peter Burnet: BLEEDING KANSAS — Religious right fights science for the heart of America (Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, February... |
Saudi government foments religious hatred in U.S. Chicago Sun Times — Permalink What is happening in some American mosques, including a few in the Chicago area, is deeply disturbing. In certain Islamic schools, textbooks spit vitriol against Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims: "Be disassociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion." | |
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James Joyner: Update (1748) The Chicago Sun-Times comments on the same study: "Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis who were indoctrinated by this vicious Wahhabi ideology. Glenn Reynolds: OUR "FRIENDS" THE SAUDIS: Fomenting hatred in the United States. |
Bill Hobbs: Catching Up — If you read the Chicago Sun-Times this morning, or Instapundit, you learned about this today. |
Update 5: W.R. Grace Accused of Hiding Cancer Risk AP — Permalink W.R. Grace and Co. and seven high-ranking employees knew a Montana mine was releasing cancer-causing asbestos into the air and tried to hide the danger to workers and townspeople, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. | |
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Atrios: "Frivolous Asbestos Claims" — Frivolity: W.R. Grace and Co. and seven high-ranking employees knew a Montana mine was... |
Cookie Jill: "The indictment also accused grace and alan stringer, former manager of the now-closed mine, of trying to obstruct..." |
Poll: Iraqi elections give Bush boost CNN — Permalink (CNN) — The Iraqi elections that went "better than expected" produced a bump in President Bush's approval rating, according to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Between January 14 and 16, 51 percent of survey participants expressed approval of Bush's performance as president. | |
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James Joyner: Other coverage of the same poll: Poll: Iraqi elections give Bush boost (CNN) [quote] The Iraqi elections that went "better...[end quote] |
Ace: Freedom Pays a Political Dividend: Bush's Approval Rating Spikes — The SOTU had something to do with it, but more... |
The Right's Attack on Public Pensions By / LAT — Permalink Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says getting rid of public pension plans for California's state and local government workers is about helping to balance the budget. Peel back the budget wrapping on his plan, though, and you will find the governor's real agenda: the... | |
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Steve Bainbridge: The Right's Attack on Public Pension Funds — The LA Times op-ed page gave California Treasurer Phil Angelides a... Josh Marshall: Eyes wide open ... [snipped quote] That's from Phil Angelides, Treasurer of the state of California, in his opinion column in this morning's LA Times. |
Duckman GR: Kalifornia a test case for Privatization — I've been brooding on this subject for a while now, a couple of months... |
Deficit Worries Threaten Bush Agenda By / WaPo — Permalink In 1992, Ross Perot likened the federal budget to a patient spurting blood in an emergency room. "Step one is to stop the bleeding, and we are bleeding arterially," the independent presidential candidate declared at one of that year's debates. | |
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Frederick Maryland: Nussle: Bush Deficits Were Deliberately Created — In his story about the Bush budget deficits, the Washington Post's... |
Noam Scheiber: THE PRESIDENT'S IMAGINATION: This graf in today's Post almost made me laugh out loud: [snipped quote] This works on so many levels. |
Let's Not Make the Same Mistakes in Iran By / WaPo — Permalink One year ago I told the Senate Armed Services Committee that I had concluded "we were almost all wrong" at the time of the Iraq war about that country's activities with regard to weapons of mass destruction — and never more wrong than in the assessment that Iraq had a resurgent program on the verge of producing nuclear weapons. | |
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Jesse Taylor: Repetitive But Gangsta — David Kay's column on the parallels between Iran and Iraq just has me waiting until the... Cori Dauber: With those two points in mind, take a look at Kay's caveats and warnings on intelligence about Iran's nuclear program. Laura Rozen: Let's hope Elliot Abrams invites David Kay for a chat. |
Kevin Drum: Why should we trust similar statements today about Iran? Matthew Yglesias: David Kay, last seen hunting for WMD in Iraq, warns in today's Washington Post that we shouldn't make the same mistakes... |
Group: Journalist in Iraq to be released AP — Permalink CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — An Italian journalist being held hostage in Iraq will be released in a few days, according to an Internet statement posted Monday in the name of the militant group alleged to be holding her. | |
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Kevin Aylward: Today we learn that she will soon be released.CAIRO, Egypt - An Italian journalist being held hostage in Iraq will be... |
Michelle Malkin: THE STRANGE ABDUCTION OF GIULIANA SGRENA — Looks like that Italian hostage in Iraq, an anti-war journalist who writes... |
OUTSOURCING TORTURE By / New Yorker — Permalink On January 27th, President Bush, in an interview with the Times, assured the world that "torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture." Maher Arar, a Canadian engineer who was born in Syria, was surprised to learn of Bush's statement. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: And after that, go on to Jane Mayer's New Yorker essay on extraordinary rendition. |
Sebastian Holsclaw: Extraordinary Rendition — At Katherine's request, an open thread to discuss the New Yorker article on Extraordinary Rendition. |
Breaking Ranks to Shun War By / LAT — Permalink HINESVILLE, Ga. — His sergeant called him a coward to his face. His chaplain sent him an e-mail saying he was ashamed of him. His commanders had him formally charged with desertion. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, who has served one tour of duty in Iraq, is refusing to serve another. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: Courage and conscience — This morning's Los Angeles Times finds the flip side of our insane general who thinks murder... James Joyner: Breaking Ranks to Shun War (LAT) [snipped quote] As Phil Carter notes, the fact that Benderman has already been in the... |
Phillip Carter: Coda: David Zucchino provides a pair of reports on conscientious objection in the Los Angeles Times worth reading too. |
Design for Living By / NYT — Permalink Bethlehem, Pa. — IN the wake of the recent lawsuits over the teaching of Darwinian evolution, there has been a rush to debate the merits of the rival theory of intelligent design. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: Stupidity for Dummies — One of the chief proponents of the so-called "intelligent design" (hereafter called "ID")... Edward _: In today's New York Times, Michael J. Behe, a professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University and a senior fellow... |
Joe Carter: ID in the NYT — Today's New York Times presents an editorial by Michael Behe that does what no major media outlet... Chris Mooney: Sad, Sad, Sad — Perhaps seeking to mark the death of evolution legend Ernst Mayr in the most inappropriate way... |
Cole v. Goldberg NRO — Permalink Juan Cole has made his intellectual insecurity clear. Juan Cole claims to be a major scholar. He is a tenured professor at the University of Michigan and the president-elect of the Middle East Studies Association. You wouldn't expect such a guy to be so thin-skinned and intellectually insecure. | |
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Juan Cole: Goldberg v. Cole Redux — Goldberg seems to like embarrassing himself, so he won't let go. Let us see what has been established. Glenn Reynolds: IT'S A COLE V. GOLDBERG SMACKDOWN! |
Tom Smith: Experts beware — This is what it looks like when an expert gets beat up by a smartish journalist. Ouch-o-rama. |
Arnold vs. Gerry Opinion Journal — Permalink Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will launch a sweeping effort at reforming California, a campaign almost as audacious and ambitious as his 2003 race for governor. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: John Fund covers Arnold's push today in OpinionJournal. Greg Ransom: SCHWARZENEGGER plans to raise $50 million dollars for a ballot box revolution to remake California — bypassing the leftist Legislature in Sacramento. Betsy Newmark: John Fund looks at Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to end the gerrymandering in California. |
Chris Lawrence: Update: More on this theme from John Fund at OpinionJournal.com. PoliPundit: Redistricting — The governator is moving ahead with an ambitious agenda: [snipped quote] From a national standpoint, the most interesting proposal is non-partisan redistricting. |
Going for Broke May Break Bush By / NYT — Permalink RARELY has a domestic policy proposal so monumental come down the pike with so little obvious reason for being. Opinion polls show no public clamor to change the Social Security system; citizens are not yet marching on the Capitol demanding that they be allowed to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in the stock market. | |
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Thomas Lang: Thus Kurtz's "jaw dropped" when his eyes caught sight of Confessore's byline in yesterday's Week in Review section. Stanley Kurtz: CONFESSION OF BIAS — My jaw dropped on Sunday when I saw that the analysis of the president's Social Security proposals... |
Avedon Carol: Nicholas Confessore has an article on SS in the NYT, Going for Broke May Break Bush, in which he says: RARELY has a... |
Ownership Society By / TNR — Permalink There's nothing remotely like the Super Bowl in American sports. Because of the toll football takes on the body, the final competition for the season's championship consists of one single game, rather than a series of games, as in baseball, basketball, and hockey. | |
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Jim Henley: TNR's Lee Siegel is not helping. Jim Henley, 08:39 PM |
Ann Althouse: Here's the free link to get to Lee Siegel's TNR essay about why football provides the perfect showcase for ads. |
Dean Opponent Bows Out of Chairman's Race By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - Tim Roemer, the only remaining opponent of Howard Dean in the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Monday he's bowing out of the race - but he offered a warning to Democrats. | |
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JD @SouthernAppeal: Wise words from Tim Roemer: He's no longer seeking the DNC chairmanship, and he has some interesting views on his party's future. |
K. J. Lopez: AND THEN THERE WAS...CHAIRMAN DEAN — Tim Roemer has dropped out of the DNC race. Such a ridiculous diaster—for Democrats and American politics. |
White House Letter: Why is Bush reading Tom Wolfe? Don't ask IHT — Permalink WASHINGTON If you ask the White House what President George W. Bush is reading these days, the press office will call back with the official list: "His Excellency: George Washington," by Joseph J. Ellis, "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow and, not least, the Bible. | |
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Chad The Elder: Living Vicariously? White House Letter: Why is Bush reading Tom Wolfe? |
Ed Driscoll: Preposterously Expensive, No Quality Control — Stefan Beck of The New Criterion, who have been all over the Ward... |
Iraqis Cite Shift in Attitudes Since Vote By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, Feb. 6 — With a hero who gave his life for the elections, a revived national anthem blaring from car stereos and a greater willingness to help police, the public mood appears to be moving more clearly against the insurgency in Iraq, political and security officials said. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: You'll find it on the front page of this morning's Washington Post: All of a sudden we've got a whole new crop of Iraqis... Steve M.: Washington Post today U.S. and Iraqi officials insist they are getting more tips from Iraqis about insurgent activity... Cori Dauber: An article in today's Post describes a mood shift similar to that which Filkins mentioned yesterday, but ties that mood... |
Charles Johnson: Iraq Moves Forward — Here's a very encouraging story from the Washington Post: Iraqis Cite Shift in Attitudes Since Vote. Captain Ed: The Washington Post files a report that demonstrates exactly what I meant in today's edition. Bill @INDCJournal: A Changing Climate — It looks like it's a good thing that elections weren't postponed because of security concerns |
| Also: Orrin Judd, Pejman Yousefzadeh, McQ | |
Cheney: Social Security Plan to Cost Trillions By / WaPo — Permalink Vice President Cheney acknowledged yesterday that the federal government would need to borrow trillions of dollars over the next few decades to cover the cost of the personal retirement accounts at the heart of President Bush's plan to restructure Social Security. | |
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Rickheller @Centerfield: Now, VP Cheney admits, it will be deficit-funded [snipped quote] As I've blogged before, it makes very little sense to me to save for the future by borrowing in the present. |
Lambert @Corrente: [quote]Trillions more after that," Cheney said in response to a question. (via WaPo) [end quote] So the concept is, that we borrow trillions of dollars and then gamble it on the stock market? |
There Is No Crisis! Huh? By / American Spectator — Permalink The most disingenuous of the relatively new tactics the opponents of Social Security reform have contrived is the "There Is No Crisis" (TINC) argument. Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot were among the first to popularize this argument, with their 2000 book, Social Security: The Phony Crisis. | |
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Chris Bowers: Check this out: [quote] Not A "Crisis," Just A "Problem." Washington Post editorialists recently wrote that Social Security "is less a crisis than a problem."[end quote] |
Kos @DailyKos: Talking points no-mans land — Ha ha, this Weekly Standard writer just got caught in talking points no-mans land. |
Leading Shiite cleric says new Iraq must embrace Islamic law By / USA Today — Permalink BAGHDAD — A high-ranking Shiite cleric who helped a coalition of religious parties to apparent victory in Iraq's elections eight days ago said Sunday that the new constitution must embody Islamic law. | |
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Oliver Willis: The Islamic Republic Of Iraq, Brought to You By America — Via The American Street, is this: [snipped quote] My emphasis on the hardcore religious fundamentalism. |
Hesiod @AmStreet: Steve DenBeste Suicide Watch — Jerry Falwell would be pleased. [snipped quote] Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark. |
When Jews wax anti-Semitic By / Boston Globe — Permalink THE EXPECTATION that a commentator's views must be in lockstep with his or her ethnic, religious, or sexual identity is always distasteful — particularly when blacks, women, gays, or Jews are labeled "self-hating" when they refuse to toe the perceived party line. | |
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Eugene Volokh: (Thanks to Cathy Young's column, which also criticizes Alterman on similar grounds, for the pointer.) |
Orrin Judd: ANTI-ERIC: When Jews wax anti-Semitic (Cathy Young, February 7, 2005, Boston Globe) [snipped quote] Seems a tad unfair to say he's anti-Semitic. |
Jobs Stronger Than You Might Think NRO — Permalink The establishment survey is not the best employment indicator. Throughout this economic expansion monthly job growth in the Labor Department's establishment survey (a.k.a. the payroll survey) has understated the strength of the economy and the labor situation. | |
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PGL: It seems that Kudlow has outsourced his employment cheerleading to David Malpass who writes: "Job growth for January in... |
Jesse Taylor: Malpasstice — Man, David Malpass. You are truly a visionary. |
The Reductions of the Left By / Dissent — Permalink The attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, lit up the global landscape. Not only in these two cities, but wherever the news and the pictures reached during the first hours after the planes struck-all over the planet, therefore-there were... | |
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Harry @HarrysPlace: It features an article from Norman Geras looking at The Reductions of the Left. |
Norm Geras: The Reductions of the Left — I have a new essay in the latest issue of Dissent magazine: [snipped quote] The rest is here. |
Spain: Assailants Have Left Consulate AP — Permalink BERN, Switzerland - Spain's foreign minister said Monday that three assailants who had seized its consulate in the Swiss capital have left the building and that it appeared to have been a robbery attempt. | |
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FrancoAlemán: CAME BACK five minutes ago from a long meeting in the other side of town, and when checking my blogreader I saw Cori... Jeff Quinton: Hostage situation over at Spanish consulate AP "Spain's foreign minister said Monday that three assailants who had... |
Cori Dauber: More Terrorism in Europe — Spanish consulate in Switzerland seized. |
Bush Budget Raises Drug Prices for Many Veterans NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 - President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said Sunday. | |
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Norbizness: (4) Take tax cuts for businesses and wealthy off the table. (4a) Start slicing entitlements for children and veterans,... |
Avedon Carol: Eat the vets, feed the rich, fatten the state — The New York Times reports that Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans. |
Newsweek Poll: Bush's Next Campaign By / Newsweek — Permalink Feb. 5 - Memo to George W. Bush. The good news, Mr. President: the American people are with you today on Social Security; it's in crisis and needs to be fixed. The bad news, Mr. President: move in any one direction to fix the system and you'll lose the backing of at least half the nation. | |
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Joe Gandelman: In fact, a recent Newsweek poll show a SPLIT on how to do it. |
Howard Kurtz: Another Poll Is In Newsweek's got some fresh numbers on the SS debate: "Memo to George W. Bush. |
Bush Sends Congress $2.57 Trillion Budget By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - President Bush sent Congress a $2.57 trillion budget plan Monday that seeks deep spending cuts across a wide swath of government from reducing subsidies paid to the nation's farmers, cutting health care payments for poor people and veterans and trimming spending on the environment and education. | |
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Steve Soto: Bush released his proposed Fiscal 2006 budget this morning, containing all the cuts and other consolidations necessary to demonstrate a passing interest in reducing spending. |
Jesse Taylor: Coming To Grips — In a rather backhanded way, I truly hope that Bush's current budget proposal passes, poor cutting decisions and all. |
Inferring the Obvious By / Weekly Standard — Permalink THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL which investigated CBS News's faked memos found no basis to accuse Dan Rather or Mary Mapes of political bias in connection with their roles in the offending 60 Minutes story about President Bush's National Guard service. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: Powerline's Monday contribution to WeeklyStandard.com comes from Paul Mirengoff: "Inferring the Obvious." Don't miss it. The Big Trunk: Inferring the obvious — Our second Daily Standard column is Deacon's "Inferring the obvious." |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: HOW TO FIND BIAS AT CBS — Paul Mirengoff—a.k.a. "Deacon"—points out that despite CBS's claims to the contrary, there... |
Bad News Donkeys By / WaPo — Permalink Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry spent much of last year telling voters how badly off they were. The economy had tanked, jobs had fled and George W. Bush (aka Herbert Hoover) "has caused these things to happen," the Massachusetts senator told the Detroit Economic Club in September. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: "BAD NEWS DONKEYS" — Fred Hiatt makes a very good point about the need for an optimistic message in a party's political pronouncements. Orrin Judd: THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT OF POWER: Bad News Donkeys (Fred Hiatt, February 7, 2005, Washington Post) Josh Marshall: This from Monday's column ... [snipped quote] Number of House Democrats who voted for the president's 2001 tax cut: 28. |
Matthew Yglesias: Hiatt On Social Security — I suppose one should be nice to the head honcho at The Washington Post editorial page, but... Betsy Newmark: Fred Hiatt has a good explanation of the Democrats' dilemma. They are in the opposition so they have to oppose what Bush does. |
Web Search Sites See Clicks Add Up to Big Ad Dollars NYT — Permalink When the year's largest television audience convenes for the Super Bowl on Sunday, advertisers will be spending an estimated $2.4 million for each 30-second cinema-quality commercial. | |
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Jeff Jarvis: The Times on Friday gave front-page coverage to the incredible rise of Google's ad revenue on the back of both search... |
Terry Heaton: The Friday New York Times featured a front-page article on the advertising enormity that is Google and tells the... |
Stories From the Inside By / NYT — Permalink "During the whole time we were at Guantánamo," said Shafiq Rasul, "we were at a high level of fear. When we first got there the level was sky-high. At the beginning we were terrified that we might be killed at any minute. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: Start, as Armando suggests, by sending each of them a copy of Bob Herbert's column on Guantanamo, demanding that they... Dan Gillmor: A Continuing Stain on America's Honor — "Bob Herbert (NY Times): Stories From the Inside. |
Steve Clemons: Because these grafs in today's column by Bob Herbert puts that entire Peter Gottwald-hosted dinner in a new light:... Armando @DailyKos: I suggest you begin by reading and considering Bob Herbert's column today and consider the gross abuse of human rights... |
The Drought Breaks By / Opinion Journal — Permalink The drought that has gripped Afghanistan for the past several years may finally be breaking: In the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, about 3 1/4 inches of rain fell in Kandahar over a two-day period. . . . Rainfall for December was four times the normal amount for the month. | |
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Cori Dauber: Good News From Afghanistan — You should, of course, read the whole thing, since as we've discussed, there are now so... Arthur Chrenkoff: Good news from Afghanistan, 7 February 2005 — Note: Also available at the "Opinion Journal" and Chrenkoff. Glenn Reynolds: Fortunately, Arthur Chrenkoff is rounding up what reporting is available. |
Joe Gandelman: The Quiet, Unpublicized Successes In Afghanistan — Arthur Chrenkoff has another collection of tidbits overlooked,... Pejman Yousefzadeh: AND NOW, FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE . . . Chrenkoff! FrancoAlemán: Well, Arthur Chrenkoff certainly does, and this is why he delivers his ninth roundup of good -and underreported- news coming from the country. |
Some in U.S. voting with their feet By / NYT — Permalink VANCOUVER, British Columbia Christopher Key knows exactly what he would be giving up if he left Bellingham, Washington. "It's the sort of place Norman Rockwell would paint, where everyone watches out for everyone else and we have block parties every... | |
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Ace: You Hoseheads They still claim they want to leave the US, but they seem to be using Alec Baldwin's rather slow-moving travel-agent to arrange things: [snipped quote] Finally! James Joyner: Some Blue Staters Moving to Canada — Some in U.S. voting with their feet) (IHT) [snipped quote] Well, don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out. Mitch Berg: Leaving the Sandbox — Some of the overly-emotional Democrats that felt their worlds had been yanked from under their... |
Joel Foreman: Seems folks here in the USA are still considering a move to Canada in the wake of Mr. Bush's November victory. Captain Ed: Good Riddance To Sore Losers — The International Herald-Tribune reports on the continuing efforts of a small number of... Orrin Judd: Some in U.S. voting with their feet (Rick Lyman The New York Times) [snipped quote] A loss of population would indeed... |
Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 - President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said Sunday. | |
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Barbara O'Brien: Wait, it gets better. Headline in the New York Times: "Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices on Many Veterans." Michelle Malkin: HERE COMES ANOTHER DECEPTIVE DEMOCRAT TALKING POINT — The New York Times reports today that the Bush Administration... Atrios: Bush Hates Veterans — Budget drastically increases their cost of healthcare. |
Captain Ed: Robert Pear and Carl Hulse offer up this slanted look at the new budget under the headline "Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans." DavidNYC @DailyKos: Today provides just the latest outrage: "President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many... |
Police chief splashes out on new logo because the old one 'discriminated against short-sighted people' By / Telegraph — Permalink Sir Ian Blair, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has ordered that the force's motto be changed, at a cost of many thousands of pounds, because the old one featured joined-up writing that "discriminated against short-sighted people". | |
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Peter Burnet: FROM THE "HUMANS ARE SCUM" FILES — Police chief splashes out on new logo because the old one 'discriminated against... |
Stephen Pollard: Off to a great start — Good to see Sir Ian Blair is getting his crime-fighting priorities right. Dear me. |
IT'S HELLO AGAIN BOYS! Sky News — Permalink Pin ups - including posters of Page Three girls - will once again grace the walls of sailor's cabins after the Navy lifted a ban on the pictures. Images of topless girls - a unwritten tradition on Britain's warships - had been banned in case they offended staff. | |
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Arthur Chrenkoff: In related news, British Navy has rescinded their recent ban on the skin on the ships; British sailors will be again... |
Jan Haugland: Now the navy has lifted the ban. But the UK's Naval head honcho Admiral Sir Alan West has reversed the rules that caused waves when they were made in December. |
Bush's Official Reading List, and a Racy Omission By / NYT — Permalink If you ask the White House what President Bush is reading these days, the press office will call back with the official list: "His Excellency: George Washington" by Joseph J. Ellis, "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow and, not least, the Bible. | |
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Taegan Goddard: Bush's Unofficial Reading List — The New York Times notes that "if you ask the White House what President Bush is... Nathan Hallford: In Good Company: So, the President enjoys Tom Wolfe's latest, as well as Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. |
Ken Masugi: President Bush: Master of Charlotte's Universe — The NY Times' Elisabeth Bumiller snidely dismisses any possible good... |
Bush's Big Bet: Risking His Capital By / Newsweek — Permalink Feb. 14 issue - In the abbreviated genealogy of wristband empathy, "Live Strong" yellow was first, followed by pink for breast cancer, blue for tsunami relief and olive green for the troops in Iraq. Now Rock the Vote, a youth-oriented grass-roots group, hopes to make a new jewelry statement. | |
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Josh Marshall: This new article in Newsweek contains a brief reference to TPM as a blog covering the Social Security debate. |
Kos @DailyKos: And, if Fineman can be believed, they'd rather wait until Fall before making any proposal: [snipped quote] There's no reason for Democrats to make that first move. |
Bill Moyers: There is no tomorrow Minneapolis Star Tribune — Permalink As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half the U.S. Congress before the recent election — 231 legislators in total and more since the election — are backed by the religious right. | |
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Captain Ed: Moyers gave a speech at Harvard that the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published as an opinion piece, celebrating an award from an environmental group. |
Hindrocket: Bill Moyers Smears a Better Man Than Himself — On January 30, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published as an op-ed the text of a speech by liberal commentator Bill Moyers. |
Prof: More 9/11s May Be Necessary CBS News — Permalink (CBS/AP) A professor who likened World Trade Center victims to a notorious Nazi suggested to a magazine that more terror attacks may be necessary to radicalize Americans to fight the misuse of U.S. power. | |
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Jeff Goldstein: Ward the Marxist beaver: an update on academic freedom — From CBS/AP: "In an interview Ward Churchill gave with Satya... Ace: Ward Churchill: We Need More 9-11's — Surely there's nothing at all seditious about openly calling for further... Jonah Goldberg: WARD CHURCHILL — Thinks we need more 9/11s. Again: What is wrong with the University of Colorado? |
Tom Paine: And yet...and yet...with the kerfuffle at its height, he goes and says something like this. Glenn Reynolds: Meanwhile, Churchill is showing his usual diplomacy: "A professor who likened World Trade Center victims to a notorious... |
U.N. Follies; You Couldn't Make This Stuff Up By / The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies — Permalink Is the United Nations attempting self-parody? How else to explain the announcement that a panel has been elected to decide which complaints will be heard by the UN Human Rights Commission at its annual meeting in Geneva this spring — and that three of the five members are Cuba, Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia? | |
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Dean Esmay: Human Rights by Dean The latest travesty out of the United Nations: Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Saudi Arabia now get to decide... Cliff May: So isn't it time to consider alternatives? My Scripps Howard column makes that argument. |
Roger L. Simon: Cliff May says this is UN self-parody, which indeed it would be if there were anything left to parody. (hat tip: SJ) |
Marking Down Bin Laden By / NYT — Permalink A few weeks ago it was reported that the Bush administration was considering doubling the reward for the capture of Osama bin Laden from $25 million to $50 million. I totally agree with readjusting the reward for bin Laden's capture, I just think the Bush team has the number totally wrong. | |
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Belle Waring: Airmiles — Could anything be more "Airmiles" than the suggestion that we start an essay competition to foil Bin Laden? |
Matthew Yglesias: Thomas Friedman. Maybe someone should tell me that plenty of al-Qaeda members already went to school in the West. |
Hunger for Dictatorship By / The American Conservative — Permalink Students of history inevitably think in terms of periods: the New Deal, McCarthyism, "the Sixties" (1964-1973), the NEP, the purge trials—all have their dates. | |
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Digby: Interestingly, some of the most pointed criticism of this nature is now coming from the right: A reader alerted me to... Orrin Judd: WHEN THE GROUNDHOG SEES ITS FORESHDOW IT MEANS SIX MORE WEEKS OF OBLIGATORY NAZI REFERENCES: Hunger for Dictatorship: War to export democracy may wreck our own. |
Susan Madrak: MORE ON THE F-WORD — From American Conservative:The last weeks of 2004 saw several explicit warnings from the antiwar Right about the coming of an American fascism. |
Patriots Win 3rd Super Bowl in 4 Years By / AP — Permalink JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Some dynasties are pretty, some are perfect. The New England Patriots never worry about style points. The Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years with a dominant second half Sunday, wearing down the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: UPDATE: Well, that was . . . er . . . interesting. I got the point spread right, though not the score and it wasn't overtime. |
Mitch Berg: Now King and Red Are is Going To Be Insufferable — All roads lead to Boston. CORRECTION: King wants no part of it! |
U.S. Redesigning Atomic Weapons By / NYT — Permalink Worried that the nation's aging nuclear arsenal is increasingly fragile, American scientists have begun designing a new generation of nuclear arms meant to be sturdier and more reliable and to have longer lives, federal officials and private experts say. | |
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Art @Centerfield: However, this foreign policy falls flat when America is held to that standard. |
Laura Rozen: "Worried that the nation's aging nuclear arsenal is increasingly fragile, American scientists have begun designing a new... |
Bush Is Said to Seek Sharp Cuts in Subsidy Payments to Farmers By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 - President Bush will seek deep cuts in farm and commodity programs in his new budget and in a major policy shift will propose overall limits on subsidy payments to farmers, administration officials said Saturday. | |
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Sam Rosenfeld: I would strongly caution everyone to interpret the news of massive cuts to farm subsidies in the president's budget proposal very, very skeptically. New Donkey: Well, take a look at the latest leak of soon-to-be-announced initiatives in the administration's proposed budget, an attack on large farm subsidies. McQ: Farm Subsidies on the block Now if it only comes true: "President Bush will seek deep cuts in farm and commodity... |
Charles Bird: So it's welcome news that the second term president is promoting a cut in the growth of agricultural subsidies. DeLong: [quote]'It will allow farmers and ranchers to plan and operate based on market realities, not government dictates.'" "2/5/2005:...[end quote] Chris Lawrence: Dja v all over again — Steven Taylor links a New York Times piece detailing plans by President Bush to ask Congress to... |
| Also: Alex Tabarrok, Glenn Reynolds, Atrios, Ezra Klein, Michael Froomkin, Todd Pearson, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Greg Ransom | |
Weighing defeat, Kerry sees lessons to guide future Boston Globe — Permalink WASHINGTON — Pained but not bowed, Senator John F. Kerry promised in an interview with the Globe last week to apply the lessons of a presidential campaign that he portrayed as ''so much bigger and more complex than people think" to bolster a Democratic Party that he indicated he might seek to lead again. | |
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Betsy Newmark: When you read the Boston Globe interview with Kerry you can really see why he is thinking of running again. Howard Kurtz: John Kerry sits down with the Boston Globe for some post-election musings: "Kerry offered a wide-ranging assessment of... Avedon Carol: Kerry claims he learned from the election. That is, he learned the things from this campaign that the rest of us learned in 2000. |
Patrick Ruffini: The Lonely Guy — John Kerry continues his Rehabilitation 2005 Tour with a meandering, on-the-record chat with the lads at the Boston Globe. Captain Ed: In an interview with the Boston Globe, Kerry insists that his full military records have been made public, and... William J. Dyer: Kerry: "I didn't flip-flop on anything" — By far the funniest line I've read since the 2004 election comes from the... |
| Also: James Frederick Dwight, K. J. Lopez, Chris Bowers, Orrin Judd, Taegan Goddard | |
Suddenly, It's 'America Who?' By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq — Through 22 months of occupation nd war here, the word "America" was usually the first word to pass through the lips of an Iraqi with a gripe. Why can't the Americans produce enough electricity? Why can't the Americans guarantee security? | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: Dexter Filkins carried this colonialist nostalgia to greater levels of absurdity: Getting Iraqis to take charge of their... Judith Weiss: [quote] Through 22 months of occupation and war here, the word "America" was usually the first word to pass through the lips of an Iraqi with a gripe.[end quote] McQ: There's a new mood in Iraq — Or at least Dexter Filkins of the NYTimes has found that to be true: "Through 22 months... |
Paul @Wizbang: Very good thing indeed... Suddenly, It's 'America Who? Cori Dauber: I mention this because Dexter Filkins, the Baghdad bureau's most depressing writer, has a piece in the Week in Review... Betsy Newmark: John Burns has a very optimistic report on the new attitude that many Iraqis have since the election. |
| Also: Roger L. Simon, James Joyner, Orrin Judd, Gregory Djerejian | |
Media are easy marks Toledo Blade — Permalink HISTORY repeats itself, Karl Marx said, "first as tragedy, second as farce." In the days immediately following Iraq's historic election, two videotapes from "insurgent" groups were distributed to the news media. One purported to show an American soldier being held hostage. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: One of the country's best columnists, Jack Kelly, surfaces the Eason Jordan scandal in print. (HT: Powerline.) Cori Dauber: Maybe Print Shall Lead the Way — Powerline notes that another mainstream outlet picks up the Eason Jordan story, but... Glenn Reynolds: Meanwhile, here's a column on the subject from Jack Kelly in the Toledo Blade. And Hugh Hewitt is all over this story, too. |
Michelle Malkin: Jack Kelly's column on the media as anti-U.S. military dupes is here. And via Powerline, we learn of a new group blog dedicated to Easongate. Jan Haugland: Columnist Jack Kelly notes how the mainstream media are all too eager to fall for the terrorists' hoaxes, to refer to a... Ed Driscoll: Meanwhile, the story of Jordan's serial smearing of US troops is beginning to slowly percolate outside the Blogosphere. |
THE TRUTH ABOUT WAR By / New York Post — Permalink IN San Diego on Tuesday, I had the privilege of sitting beside Lt.-Gen. Jim Mattis, a Marine who knows how to fight. We were on a panel discussing future war. And Gen. Mattis, a Marine to the marrow of his bones, spoke honestly about the thrill of combat. | |
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Michelle Malkin: Ralph Peters writes a passionate defense of Mattis in this morning's New York Post: "The language wasn't elegant. Betsy Newmark: Ralph Peters has a great defense of Lt. General Jim Mattis. "War does scar some men. James Joyner: Mattis Redux: The Truth About War — Military analyst Ralph Peters was on the panel with Lt. Gen. Mattis, in which the latter joked about how it's "fun to shoot some people." |
Captain Ed: Let's Play "Guess Who Talks Like General Mattis" — Ralph Peters writes a passionate defense of Lt. General Jim Mattis in today's New York Post. Dale Franks: Veteran Honesty — Ralph Peters has the final word on Lt Gen Mattis' blunt comments in Sand Diego last week. K. J. Lopez: WAR AIN'T PRETTY — Ralph Peters: [snipped quote] Mac Owens has more here. |
Transcript for Feb. 6 MSNBC — Permalink PLEASE CREDIT ANY QUOTES OR EXCERPTS FROM THIS NBC TELEVISION PROGRAM TO "NBC NEWS' MEET THE PRESS." This is a rush transcript provided for the information and convenience of the press. Accuracy is not guaranteed. In case of doubt, please check with: | |
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Jon Henke: SENATOR TED KENNEDY [February 6, 2005] "...we need a strategy and why we need a policy that is going to permit the American to bring our troops home with honor." Jonah Goldberg: RUSSERT V RUMSFELD — Sorry for the long post but it seems worth it: "(Videotape, December 8, 2004): SPC. THOMAS... Lorie Byrd: If you don't catch it, check out the transcript here. |
Atrios: Today: [snipped quote] Timmah's referring to the notion that because life expectancy was much lower in 1945, people only lived long enough to get 15 months worth. John Cole: Today, the old drunk was on Meet the Press: "MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, there is a difference. Orrin Judd: Transcript for Feb. 6 Guests: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. (Meet the Press, Feb. 6, 2005) [snipped quote] Glug, glug, glug.... |
Birth of a Salesman: Pitching Social Security By / WaPo — Permalink George Bush wants to retool Social Security badly enough to visit Fargo in February. He comes in on a roll — fresh from his inauguration, an election in Iraq and a well-received State of the Union speech. It's even sunny and warm here, like the president himself, who is in a hot sales mode. | |
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Gene @HarrysPlace: The Washington Post reported on a recent Presidential visit to Nebraska to promote his Social Security plan. Atrios: Dear Leader: In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, "I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters." |
Riggsveda @AmStreet: The leader of the Freep world as infomercial. That's right, your Ownership Society is just a pyramid scheme. PoliPundit: Birth of a Salesman — Meet George W. Bush, salesman extraordinaire. (link via Viking Pundit) |
Bush to Propose Billions in Cuts LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — President Bush will propose a 2006 budget Monday that, despite record spending of about $2.5 trillion, will call for billions of dollars in cuts that will touch people on food stamps and farmers on price supports, children under Medicaid and adults in public housing. | |
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Virginia Postrel: Maybe Hugh Hewitt (your one-stop source for Easongate coverage) would like to hit the LAT for its negative take on the subject. Radley Balko: A wink in the right direction... President Bush's plan to cut farm subsidies is welcome news and all, but you'll have to... |
Orrin Judd: YOU CAN HEAR THE TINY LIBERTARIAN HEARTS FLUTTERING: Bush to Propose Billions in Cuts (Joel Havemann and Mary Curtius,... |
A New Flying Force By / Time — Permalink In his state of the union address, President Bush singled out federal air marshals—undercover armed agents who fly on U.S. airlines—for helping make "our homeland safer." But he neglected to mention a flying security force that has quietly grown even larger than the marshals: the nation's pilots. | |
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Glenn Reynolds: ARMED PILOTS — THE GOOD NEWS: "Two years ago, the Federal Flight Deck Officer program began training pilots who wanted to carry guns on flights to protect the cockpit. Stephen Green: Flying at the Speed of Government — This seems like good news: [snipped quote] Of course, as the heroes of Flight 93... |
Mitch Berg: The federal program to train and authorize airliner pilots to carry firearms while flying has been training and... Nick Gillespie: Whole story here. |
Chasing the Long Tail By / TCS — Permalink Back in October of last year, Chris Anderson of Wired magazine created a powerful meme — the concept of "The long tail". His article discussed how e-tailers such as Amazon and Netflix are changing how we think about inventories of books, DVDs and CDs; and how... | |
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Glenn Reynolds: LONG TAILS AND HIGH TRUST: Ed Driscoll looks at the blogosphere in light of Chris Anderson's formulation. Stephen Green: Required Reading — Ed Driscoll on "the long tail," the blogosphere, and the future of communications. |
Ed Driscoll: Chasing The Long Tail — When I profiled Hugh Hewitt for Tech Central Station last month, Nick Schulz, who is TCS's... |
The One-Sentence Iran Policy By / WaPo — Permalink The Bush administration is conducting a "policy review" toward Iran that is provoking a swirl of questions in the capital's national security wonkdom. Here's mine: How do you review something that does not exist? | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Jim Hoagland. If Bush is willing to revise all the basic principles of his approach to foreign policy, we'll be able to lick that Iran problem. Laura Rozen: Update: Jim Hoagland has more on the administration's Iran policy review — "how do you review something that doesn't exist?" |
Barbara O'Brien: Jim Hoagland writes in today's Washington Post about Bush diplomatic policy toward Iran: "Years of American fumbling... |
Religious hatred, Saudi-style By / Boston Globe — Permalink IN WHICH country are Muslims being taught the following lessons? ''Everyone who does not embrace Islam is an unbeliever and must be called an unbeliever. . . . One who does not call the Jews and the Christians unbelievers is himself an unbeliever." | |
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James Joyner: Some particularly outrageous quotes (collected by Jeff Jacoby): "Everyone who does not embrace Islam is an unbeliever and must be called an unbeliever. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: , Jeff Jacoby has a column in today's Boston Globe about an important new Freedom House report entitled "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques." |
Barbara O'Brien: And in the Boston Globe, rightie columnist Jeff Jacoby gets all upset about the same Islamic hate-speak I wrote about Friday. |
Bush Proposes Cuts to Scores of Programs By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - President Bush 's $2.5 trillion budget is shaping up as his most austere, trying to restrain spending across a wide swath of government from popular farm subsidies to poor people's health programs. | |
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Stephen Green: Sloppy Reporting — Some ledes are beyond parody: "WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's $2.5 trillion budget is shaping up as his most austere. Greg Ransom: WILL BUSH finally act to the slow the growth of federal spending taking place on his watch? Big Ag won't be happy. |
Oliver Willis: He's going to screw the weakest among us to appease his masters. [snipped quote] There's an opportunity for a brave Democrat here. |
Who's Counting on Social Security? Not We Twenty-Somethings By / WaPo — Permalink People my age are as likely to believe in Social Security as they are in Santa Claus. And, if you ask me, it would be equally naive for a twenty-something to believe in either one. | |
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Chris Lawrence: Social Security for thee but not for me — Today's WaPo carries an interesting op-ed on social security from one of the paper's junior writers, Laura Thomas. Todd Zywicki: Twenty-Something on the Future of Social Security: Today's Washington Post has an interesting column by Laura Thomas from a Twenty-Something on the future of Social Security. |
Kevin Drum: What brought this to mind was an op-ed in the Washington Post today by Laura Thomas, a 25-year-old news aide in the Style section. |
The Real 'Arab Street' By / WaPo — Permalink The turnout in last Sunday's Iraqi elections surprised even the most optimistic observers in the Middle East. Reading Arab newspapers during the weeks before the vote, one could hardly escape the expectation that the adventure of holding elections in Iraq was certain to be a fiasco. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: The Op-ed You Actually Need To Read Amr Hamzawy on the real Arab street. Gregory Djerejian: More on the Arab World's Burgeoning View of the Iraqi Elections — Amr Hamzawy of Carnegie: "The turnout in last... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: SURPRISE! Greg Djerejian reports on the astonishment of the Arab world regarding the elections in Iraq. |
Democracy Has to Start Somewhere By / NYT — Permalink IT'S now a week since Iraqis flooded the streets for their first free election in decades, and America, midwife to the birth of Arab democracy, is still in relieved thrall. Sunni clerics urged boycotts; the French dripped ridicule; terrorists promised to wash the streets with the blood of anyone foolish enough to cast a ballot. | |
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Jeanne D'Arc: I'm pretty sure it's intended to be the former, since the New York Times used it yesterday, along with photos of... Roger L. Simon: The front page of this morning's New York Times "Week in Review" has two (!) articles that are more or less sympathetic... |
Cori Dauber: But somehow, even though the upshot is a piece that probably tilts more to the hopeful side, the writer still has to... Gregory Djerejian: [quote]Ponder the first sentences of one dispatch from this newspaper's archives: "United States officials were surprised and...[end quote] |
Birth of a Democracy By / Weekly Standard — Permalink ALL RIGHT. LET US make an analytical bet of high probability and enormous returns: The January 30 elections in Iraq will easily be the most consequential event in modern Arab history since Israel's six-day defeat of Gamal Abdel Nasser's alliance in 1967. | |
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Wretchard: Reuel Marc Gerecht, writing in the Weekly Standard, takes the diametrically opposite view. Orrin Judd: AND THE SHI'A SHALL LEAD: Birth of a Democracy: Soon the whole Middle East will see Iraq's national assembly at work. |
Laura Rozen: Gerecht: "Let us make an analytical bet of high probability and enormous returns: The January 30 elections in Iraq will... |
The Dems' Week from Hell By / Weekly Standard — Permalink THE DEMOCRATS' WORST WEEK AND a half since Black Tuesday (November 2, 2004, when the U.S. election returns came in) began on January 18, when Barbara Boxer took on Condi Rice in the Senate, and ended on Black Sunday (January 30, 2005, when Iraq held its first free election). | |
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Deacon: The Democrats as they really are — Please don't miss this brilliant column by Noemie Emery in the Weekly Standard on the Democrats' week from hell. Betsy Newmark: Noemie Emory describes the week from Condoleeza Rice's nomination hearings to the election in Iraq as the Democrats' Week from Hell. |
Orrin Judd: IT'S THE TRUTH, THEY JUST THINK IT'S HELL: The Dems' Week from Hell: They're in a hole, and they keep digging. Pejman Yousefzadeh: FROM BAD TO WORSE — Quoth Noemie Emery: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing. |
Jack Kelly: The impotent insurgents Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Permalink History repeats itself, Karl Marx said, "first as tragedy, second as farce." In the days immediately following Iraq's historic election, two videotapes from "insurgent" groups were distributed to the news media. One purported to show an American soldier being held hostage. | |
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Kevin Aylward: Thank You Jack Kelly... I though I was the only one who noticed that the fake hostage story, the alleged terrorist... |
Shannon Love: So I wake up this morning to find , courtesy of Steven Den Beste, that I part of my post on ActionFigureGate was quoted... |
Leading Shiite Clerics Pushing Islamic Constitution in Iraq By / NYT — Permalink NAJAF, Iraq, Feb. 4 - With religious Shiite parties poised to take power in the new constitutional assembly, leading Shiite clerics are pushing for Islam to be recognized as the guiding principle of the new constitution. Exactly how Islamic to make the document is the subject of debate. | |
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Randall Parker: The harder core Islamist Shiites in Iraq want a more Islamic constitution now that they appear to be headed to electoral victory. Barbara O'Brien: This is according to Edward Wong in today's New York Times. Ezra Klein: A Brave Old World — Is Iran the future of Iraq? |
Steve Soto: A story in today's NYT indicates that the PNAC cabal and George W. Bush are about to fail in their obsession of forcing western capitalist democracy upon Iraq. Nathan Newman: In the most extreme version of constitutional review, Shiites are suggesting: "all proposed laws should be reviewed by a... Oliver Willis: Leading Shiite Clerics Pushing Islamic Constitution in Iraq [snipped quote] The "election" would never have happened... |
Cheney: 'I will not run' for president Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday categorically ruled out a run for the White House in 2008, even if asked by the Republican president who recruited him back into government. | |
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K. J. Lopez: "IF NOMINATED, I WILL NOT RUN..." No Cheney 2008. But was anyone really wondering? |
Frederick Maryland: CNN reports: [snipped quote] Those last four words come as a great comfort to me and, I trust, to so many of us. |
Iraq Shiite leaders demand Islam be the source of law AFP — Permalink NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq 's Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and another top cleric staked out a radical demand that Islam be the sole source of legislation in the country's new constitution. | |
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Charles Johnson: Not a good development but not entirely unforeseen, Ali al-Sistani takes off his moderate disguise: Iraq Shiite leaders demand Islam be the source of law. |
Barbara O'Brien: Followed by: "Iraq's Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and another top cleric staked out a radical demand... |
Team Rice, Playing Away By / WaPo — Permalink Condoleezza Rice's first overseas trip as secretary of state may coincide with a moment of historic opportunity in the Middle East, but the timing couldn't be worse for her inner football fanatic. Since the dawn of the Super Bowl, when Rice was 12, she never has missed a kickoff. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: I might add that the individual fourth in line to the Presidency of the United States is also a big football fan and... |
Ann Althouse: But it's from Washington Post article about how much Condoleezza Rice loves football. (The specific reference is to Jim Brown.) |
Cheney won't run for president, not even if begged Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney Sunday categorically ruled out a run for the White House in 2008, even if asked by the Republican president who recruited him back into government. | |
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Joe Gandelman: Department of DUH by Joe Gandelman It must be a very slow news day: [snipped quote] In other words, Mr. Cheney: 1)Doesn't... |
Taegan Goddard: Cheney Will Not Run — Vice President Dick Cheney "categorically ruled out a run for the White House in 2008, even if... |
Iran Rejects What It Calls Rice's 'Threats' Reuters — Permalink TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was impervious to remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who accused Tehran's "unelected mullahs" of a dismal human rights record and covering up efforts to build a nuclear bomb. | |
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Evariste: Iranian officialdom is belligerent towards what it terms Condoleeza Rice's "threats". |
Roger L. Simon: [Isn't it already?-ed. I guess. ] UPATE: Some, undoubtedly, will be opposing Rice in '08. |
The Munchies By / NYT — Permalink In 1962, the painter and film critic Manny Farber coined the phrase "termite art" to describe small-scale work with an obsessive bent. This month, the Chelsea gallery LMAKprojects is offering a strangely literal twist on this idea: for the inaugural exhibition... | |
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Steven Taylor: I mean, aside from getting your face in NYT, I guess: The Munchies [snipped quote] Granted, I am no doubt an obtuse... Orin Kerr: That Age-Old Question: Is eating drywall really art? |
Ann Althouse: Back in the days when I was an artist, I used to get really angry when artists got attention for doing things like this. |