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Blogosphere politics By / US News — Permalink Going into the 2004 election cycle, just about everyone said the Internet was going to change politics. But no one was sure how. Now we know. Browse through an archive of columns by Michael Barone. The first signs of change came from the Howard Dean campaign. | |
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Paul @Wizbang: Blogosphere Politics — For a member of the MSM, Michael Barone really "gets" the blogosphere: Blogosphere politics... Oliver Willis: Michael Barone Is An Idiot — Right-Wing Stupidity From up high at US News, the factually challenged Michael Barone says: [snipped quote] Barone, you're an idiot. Glenn Reynolds: MICHAEL BARONE: [snipped quote] It didn't have to be that way, though. |
Greg Ransom: MICHAEL BARONE — Blogosphere politics: "But the right blogosphere was different from the left. Betsy Newmark: Michael Barone explains the blogosphere to the uninitiated. Then he concludes what the effect of the blogosphere has been on politics. |
Explicit Photos Fan U.N. Sex Scandal By / LAT — Permalink UNITED NATIONS — A scandal about the sexual abuse of Congolese women and children by U.N. officials and peacekeepers intensified Friday with the broadcast of explicit pictures of a French U.N. worker and Congolese girls and his claim that there was a network of pedophiles at the U.N. mission in Congo. | |
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Michelle Malkin: The L.A. Times followed up on Ross's report today: "A scandal about the sexual abuse of Congolese women and children by... McQ: UPDATE: Annan sent a letter to the Security Council in which he's outlined "strict measures" taken to stem this... |
Joe Gandelman: Another Scandal At The UN by Joe Gandelman Another scandal involving the United Nations has surfaced — but this... Betsy Newmark: This is much more terrible than Abu Ghraib. I wonder if it will receive half the attention that Abu Ghraib did. |
Democrats Elect Howard Dean As Chairman By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - Democrats elected Howard Dean chairman of their national party on Saturday, casting their lot with a skilled fund-raiser and organizer whose sometimes caustic, blunt comments can lead to controversy. | |
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Joe Gandelman: The Democrats Bite The Bullet by Joe Gandelman The Democrats gave a new national face to its party yesterday by electing... Hindrocket: ABC News reports: [snipped quote] I think I'm beginning to understand. Dean thinks the Democrats should call themselves "pro-choice" instead of "pro-abortion." |
Steve Cieslewicz: Got Dean — Since it is now official, I'd like to say congratulations to Howard Dean. Jeralyn Merritt: Howard Dean Elected to Chair DNC — It's official, Howard Dean is the new Chair of the DNC. [snipped quote] Congratulations, Dr. Dean. |
Kopel: Media uneven in Churchill rumpus Rocky Mountain News — Permalink Which Denver media noticed the Ward Churchill story first? The winner, by a wide margin, was Westword. In 2002, the magazine briefly reported on the publication of Churchill's now-famous essay Some People Push Back in an issue of Green Anarchy magazine. | |
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Jeralyn Merritt: Report on Biased Ward Churchill Coverage — I'm surprised at Dave Kopel's Rocky Mountain News column today on media coverage of the Ward Churchill controversy. Glenn Reynolds: DAVE KOPEL rounds up coverage of the Ward Churchill affair in the Colorado media. |
David Kopel: Colorado Media Coverage of Ward Churchill — My latest media column for the Rocky Mountain News examines Colorado media coverage of the Ward Churchill affair. |
Neal Stephenson's Past, Present, and Future Reason — Permalink If you met the novelist Neal Stephenson a decade ago, you would have encountered a slight, unassuming grad-student type whose soft-spoken demeanor gave no obvious indication that he had written the manic apotheosis of cyberpunk science fiction (1992's Snow Crash, in which computer viruses start invading hacker minds). | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: Neal Stephenson (Link via InstaPundit.) And no, I am not saying that non-libertarians or non-libertarian-conservat ives are akin to terrorists. |
Glenn Reynolds: I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS INTERVIEW OF NEAL STEPHENSON by Mike Godwin in Reason to go online, and now it has. |
Hastert Warns Not to Hurry Overhaul of Social Security By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, warning that "you can't jam change down the American people's throat," has become the latest and most prominent Congressional Republican to call for more public education and debate before Congress acts on transforming Social Security, President Bush's top legislative priority. | |
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Steve Soto: House GOP Isn't So Gung-Ho To Push Ahead Full Speed With Privatization — Read this story in Saturday's NYT and you can... Joe Gandelman: Meanwhile, the Democrats are probably cheered by the Speaker of the House in effect saying: "Not so faaaaast!" |
Josh Marshall: The Times piece, by Robin Toner, focuses more on the public disagreement between the Speaker's office and Ken Mehlman at... Taegan Goddard: Quote of the Day — [snipped quote] — Speaker Dennis Hastert, quoted by the New York Times, on President Bush's Social Security reform plan. |
CNN Executive Resigns Post Over Remarks NYT — Permalink Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who was responsible for coordinating the cable network's Iraq coverage, resigned abruptly last night, citing a journalistic tempest he touched off during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos,... | |
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Tom Maguire: Taking The Icy Plunge — The NY Times delivers a comedy classic as it attempts to explain to its readers that a... Kevin Drum: At a private, off-the-record meeting at Davos he made an inflammatory accusation about the military killing journalists... Brian Stelter: > New York Times: "In accepting Mr. Jordan's resignation, CNN appeared intent on putting the episode behind it as... |
Lambert @Corrente: But get this gem of a quote, at the very end (naturally) of the Times story covering the fest: Which is here online,... Richard Reeb: Eason Eased Out — We are a little late on this fast-breaking story, but the New York Times reported this morning that... Jeff Jarvis: I would have to think that this morning, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CBS,... |
| Also: Cori Dauber, Jason Van Steenwyk, Greg Ransom, James Joyner, Jay Rosen, Michelle Malkin, Lorie Byrd | |
Ex-Detainee Says He Was Tortured By / NYT — Permalink SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 12 - Mamdouh Habib still has a bruise on his lower back. He says it is a sign of the beatings he endured in a prison in Egypt. Interrogators there put out cigarettes on his chest, he says, and he lifts his shirt to show the marks. | |
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Andrew Sullivan: MORE TORTURE: Yet another harrowing account of a terror detainee tortured in a secret prison by Pakistani and American soldiers. |
Jeralyn Merritt: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture — Great reads: Jane Mayer in the New Yorker on Outsourcing Torture, a... |
CNN's Chief News Exec Quits By / LAT — Permalink NEW YORK — Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive, who led much of the network's war coverage, resigned late Friday in the wake of contentious comments he recently made about journalists killed by U.S. troops in Iraq. | |
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Charles Johnson: Call on the Clue Phone for LA Times — The Los Angeles Times article on Eason Jordan's resignation is a glaring example... Greg Ransom: The LA Times: "CNN drew scrutiny from on-air cable commentators, radio talk-show hosts and Internet petitioners, some of whom called for a release of Jordan's exact words. Glenn Reynolds: The Los Angeles Times' story on Eason Jordan's resignation contains an error that suggests its writer wasn't very... |
Captain Ed: The LA Times Finally Covers Eason's Fables — The readers of the Los Angeles Times finally got informed of Eason's... Jay Rosen: The Los Angeles Times tells readers about Eason Jordan's resignation over the fallout from a story the Los Angeles Times never told its readers about. |
'Gannon' Interview: No Plame Subpoena, No Tie to White House, He Says By / Editor and Publisher — Permalink NEW YORK In a lengthy, wide-ranging interview with E&P today, former White House reporter Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, revealed that, contrary to many media reports, he has not been subpoenaed in the Valerie Plame/CIA case. | |
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Jason Van Steenwyk: Jeff Gannon — Well, it wouldn't be right for me, a media blogger, to ignore the Jeff Gannon story (although while... |
Ace: And speaks, in a lengthy interview with E&P. I haven't been this psyched since the sequel to Eddie and the Cruisers. |
The road to Howard Dean Economist — Permalink BACK in 2003, with Howard Dean way ahead of the pack in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the cover of the conservative National Review pleaded Please, nominate this man. The Democratic caucus-goers of Iowa were sensible enough to ignore this advice, consigning Mr Dean to third place. | |
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Steve Bainbridge: So let's turn to a trained pundit: The Economist's Lexington: "This is an extraordinary turn of events, particularly for Bill Clinton and pragmatic New Democrats. |
Taegan Goddard: Meanwhile, The Economist is right on target: "The Dean chairmanship shows how little Bill Clinton actually managed to change his party. |
God and Evolution By / NYT — Permalink An "analysis" of Democrats and Republicans from the Ladies' Home Journal in 1962 concluded: "Republicans sleep in twin beds - some even in separate rooms. That is why there are more Democrats." That biological analysis turns out - surprise! - to have been superficial. | |
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John Quiggin: The Garbage Gene — This piece by Nicholas Kristof encapsulates everything I don't like about 'evolutionary psychology', particularly in its pop mode. Orrin Judd: NONSENSE FROM ANY PERSPECTIVE: God and Evolution (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, 2/12/05, NY Times) [snipped quote] Here's a theory... |
Roger Ailes: Here's Pistof thinking deep thoughts: "There's still plenty of reason to be skeptical because Dr. Hamer's work hasn't been replicated, and much of his analysis is speculative. |
UN imposes sex ban Herald Sun — Permalink NEW YORK — UN peacekeepers have been banned from all sex with the local population in Congo because of widespread, continuing abuse of women and girls. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disclosed the new "non-fraternisation" regulations in a letter to the... | |
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Hindrocket: As we were reminded again by Tim Blair, who noted this Reuters story: [snipped quote] In most parts of the world, people do consider that line a fine one. |
Jan Haugland: Congo raped by the UN — Tim Blair notes this outragous statement reported by Reuters, related to the UN now banning all... |
Democrats Elect Dean as Committee Chairman By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - Howard Dean, once a grass-roots outsider, rode to an easy victory on Saturday to become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee with support from hundreds of party insiders and operatives he carefully cultivated during an uphill, two-month campaign. | |
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Taegan Goddard: Dean Elected to Lead Democrats — Howard Dean, "once a grass-roots outsider, rode to an easy victory Saturday to become... |
Josh Chafetz: SIGH. THIS WAS NOT a bright move. |
Goodbye, Terry, Sorry We Lost NRO — Permalink Democrats pay tribute to their losing chairman. Here's the dilemma Democrats faced as they staged the enormous and expensive "Tribute to Chairman Terry McAuliffe" at Washington's National Building Museum Thursday night: How do you pay tribute to a man whose main legacy was losing elections? | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: DENIAL — Did Terry McAuliffe's goodbye party really go like this? [snipped quote] What's the point of having a goodbye party if it is going to be such a downer? Orrin Judd: WE'LL MISS HIM (via David Hill, The Bronx): Goodbye, Terry, Sorry We Lost: Democrats pay tribute to their losing chairman. |
PoliPundit: McAuliffe — As the Democrats prepare to welcome Howard "The Scream" Dean as their new party chairman, they gave a... |
Howard Dean Chosen to Lead Democratic Party Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Howard Dean, whose high-flying presidential bid collapsed in disarray one year ago, won the post of Democratic chairman on Saturday and will take up the job of leading the party back from November's election losses. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Chairman Dean — Well, it's official. I have my doubts about the wisdom of this course of action, as previously expressed. |
Vince Leibowitz: So, since it's Saturday and I obviously don't have anything else to do until later, I'll pick up a little slack by... |
Mom-to-be kills alleged knife attacker AP — Permalink FT. MITCHELL, Ky. — A nine-months' pregnant woman fought off and killed a knife-wielding woman who may have been trying to steal the baby, police said Friday. Police said Sarah Brady, 26, acted in self-defense in killing Katherine Smith on Thursday. | |
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Christopher Kanis: TRAGEDY AVERTED — Chicago Tribune | Mom-to-be kills alleged knife attacker [snipped quote] This could have easily turned... |
Michelle Malkin: MOM OF THE DAY — We'll have to see if this story holds up, but it's amazing if true: Mom-to-be kills alleged knife attacker [snipped quote] Hat tip: Spoons |
Brokerage Leaves Coalition By / WaPo — Permalink A large Midwest brokerage abruptly withdrew from a business coalition that backs President Bush's Social Security proposals after the AFL-CIO staged protests at two of the firm's offices and attacked it on the Internet. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Today's Washington Post, for example, reports that "A large Midwest brokerage abruptly withdrew from a business... |
Orrin Judd: Brokerage Leaves Coalition (Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, February 12, 2005, Washington Post) [snipped quote] It's Republicans... |
A View of Democracy, Forged in Totalitarian Prisons By / NYT — Permalink It is not every day a foreigner sees his book adopted by the greatest power on earth as its guiding philosophy in the conduct of global affairs. But that is what has happened to Natan Sharansky, an Israeli politician and a former Soviet dissident. | |
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Lambert @Corrente: [quote]We cannot rest until every person living in a fear society has finally won their freedom." (via Times) [end quote] (This is in the... |
Ann Althouse: In today's NYT, Roger Cohen writes about the Bush Administration's embrace of Natan Sharansky's book "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror." |
Sorry George, but Iraq has given you the purple finger By / Guardian — Permalink 'The Iraqi people gave America the biggest thank you in the best way we could have hoped for. "Reading this election analysis from Betsy Hart, a columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, I found myself thinking about my late grandmother. | |
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Norm Geras: Nay, oh me, oh my — Beside the online version of her piece in today's Groaniad, there's a picture of Naomi Klein laughing. |
Barbara O'Brien: Um, About Those Elections, III — This Guardian article by Naomi Klein is too good to miss. [snipped quote] Also in The Guardian: Two years in Iraq. | bar.jpg |
CNN's Chief News Exec Resigns By / WaPo — Permalink Eason Jordan resigned last night as CNN's chief news executive in an effort to quell a bubbling controversy over his remarks about U.S. soldiers killing journalists in Iraq. | |
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Jonah Goldberg: EASON JORDAN AND THE BLOGOSPHERE — Howard Kurtz's run-down is useful. Jeff Jarvis: The news judgment of the public : Howard Kurtz' Washington Post story is up. Paul @Wizbang: Update Howie Kurtz still hasn't figured out that Jordan isn't signing his checks any more. |
William J. Dyer: The announcement on the front page of today's WaPo — that CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan has resigned — prompted me to make good on that promise. Captain Ed: Kurtz Still Doesn't Cover The Whole Story — Not even the resignation of Eason Jordan will deter Howard Kurtz from... Joe Gandelman: CNN's News Chief Eason Jordan Quits — Whether he said the words that got him in trouble or not, CNN's Chief News... |
| Also: The Big Trunk, Hugh Hewitt, Glenn Reynolds, James Joyner, Jay Rosen, Michelle Malkin | |
Silicon Insider: R.I.P. Microsoft? ABCNEWS — Permalink Business reporters — like, I suspect analysts and venture capitalists — develop over time a set of diagnostic tools for analyzing the relative health of companies we encounter. This bag of tricks is mostly subjective, some of it no doubt unconscious, and we constantly test it against experience, most of it bad. | |
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Jeff Jarvis: See this example of Scoble responding to someone who smells rot in the company. |
Orrin Judd: HOPELESS IN A FREE MARKET: R.I.P. Microsoft? : After Dominating the Technology Industry for Years, is Microsoft Poised to Collapse? |
'01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United... | |
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Steven Taylor: Haven't We Been Down this Road Before? Via the NYT: '01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan. Roger Ailes: Read It And Weep — [snipped quote] (More here) |
Oliver Willis: '01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan [snipped quote] Rice said there was no advance warning of Al Qaed. |
Dem Says He's Open to Private Soc. Sec. By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON (AP) - A second Senate Democrat said Friday he was open to President Bush's idea of letting people divert some of their Social Security taxes to personal retirement accounts as Republican Party leaders tried to allay re-election fears among wavering GOP lawmakers. | |
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James Joyner: Two Senate Democrats Open to Private Accounts — Dem Says He's Open to Private Soc. Sec. Joe Gandelman: The White House is probably cheered by the news that a second Democrat is inching closer to supporting the President's... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: Even though Terry McAuliffe is safely gone from the political scene—at least for now—Democrats have new worries:... Paul @Wizbang: Dem Says He's Open to Private Soc. Sec. |
CNN News Executive Jordan Quits Amidst a Furor Over Remarks About Journalists Killed in Iraq By / AP — Permalink NEW YORK Feb 11, 2005 — CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amid a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq. Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy. | |
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Jude Nagurney Camwell: "- Eason Jordan LINK-ABC News" I realize this topic has been covered (very well, by talking dog today at American Street), but I have some additional comments I wish to relay. |
Greg Ransom: According to ABC News: [quote] Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy...[end quote] |
CNN Executive Jordan Quits Over Iraq Remarks Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan quit on Friday over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed in Iraq, possibly by U.S. forces, the television network said. | |
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Rebecca MacKinnon: I felt I had nothing further of substance to add since Wednesday morning. The resignation requires one final comment. Arthur Chrenkoff: CNN's not-so-exclusive — If Eason Jordan is really resigning (Update: he just did) over his recent comments that US... |
Cori Dauber: Reuters isn't exactly forthcoming about the details of what went into all this. Round-up of comments here. |
CNN's Jordan Resigns Over Iraq Remarks By / WaPo — Permalink Eason Jordan resigned last night as CNN's chief news executive in an effort to quell a bubbling controversy over his remarks about U.S. soldiers killing journalists in Iraq. | |
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Brian Stelter: Eason: Morning Newspaper Highlights > Washington Post: "Several CNN staffers say Jordan was eased out by top executives... |
Greg Ransom: This from WaPo's Howard Kurtz: "Jordan was being pounded hourly by bloggers, [leftists] as well as conservatives, who... |
How to Move Iraq Forward By / WaPo — Permalink The success of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq has created an exciting moment of opportunity. It matters greatly that Iraq's transition is a success. I am determined to make certain that the United Nations will play its full part in helping the Iraqi people achieve that end. | |
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Paul @Wizbang: Lesson Learned: How to Move Iraq Forward By Kofi A. Annan Saturday, February 12, 2005; Page A19 The success of the Jan... |
Orrin Judd: HEY, KOFI, GET THE DOOR: How to Move Iraq Forward (Kofi A. Annan, February 12, 2005, Washington Post) [snipped quote] The... |
CNN executive resigns after controversial remarks CNN — Permalink ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan resigned Friday, saying the controversy over his remarks about the deaths of journalists in Iraq threatened to tarnish the network he helped build. | |
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Susanna Cornett: Here it is. Rebecca MacKinnon: I think Eason Jordan resigned because he knew that if the Davos tape came out it would make the situation worse, not better. Captain Ed: CNN announced the resignation of Eason Jordan this evening as CNN's chief news executive, sending "shock waves" through... |
Cori Dauber: I know they've mentioned the Jordan resignation on their web site (buried it is more like it). Greg Ransom: The AP story is here and here. And here is CNN's version of the story. Kevin Aylward: ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan resigned Friday, saying the controversy over his remarks... |
| Also: Michelle Malkin, James Joyner, Jay Rosen | |
Doctors discover new HIV strain NYT — Permalink A previously unknown strain of HIV that is highly resistant to virtually all known drugs and appears to lead to the rapid onset of AIDS was detected in a man last week, New York health officials said Friday. | |
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Jan Haugland: New HIV strain resists drugs, develops AIDS in months — While medical scientists are struggling to beat back AIDS, the... Orrin Judd: JUST A LIFESTYLE CHOICE: Doctors discover new HIV strain (Marc Santora and Lawrence K. Altman, February 12, 2005, The... |
Joe Gandelman: A New Twist On HIV/AIDS Research by Joe Gandelman Since Dean's World has become the Internet's hub for detailed... |
College Official Resigns Over Speaker AP — Permalink CLINTON, N.Y. (AP) - The head of a gender studies program at Hamilton College has resigned after igniting a furor by inviting to the campus a professor who likened the Sept. 11 victims to Nazis. | |
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McQ: UPDATE: In related fall-out, the Director of Gender Studies at Hamilton College (the college which invited Churchill to... |
Charles Johnson: Night of the Resignations — Nancy Rabinowitz, director of the Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and... |
CNN News Executive Eason Jordan Quits AP — Permalink NEW YORK — CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq. Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy. | |
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Kevin Drum: On Friday, CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, resigned following reports that he had said U.S. troops were deliberately targeting and killing journalists in Iraq. Patrick Ruffini: Eason Jordan Quits — The resignation of a CNN big makes the deposal of a nobody reporter one step removed from a blogger look like a rather small accomplishment, don't you think? Greg Ransom: When the blogosphere has lock-on, journalists tremble. The AP story is here and here. And here is CNN's version of the story. |
Steve M.: Well, Eason Jordan has quit his job at CNN, and after observing the near-monomania of the conservative commentariat on... Dale Franks: New News — CNN Exec Eason Jordan has resigned. We haven't talked much about that here, except once, in passing. Ginny @ChicagoBoyz: Drudge and the blogs report Eason Jordan resigned (a competent newsman, he recognized Friday evening as the best time to put out such stories). |
| Also: Digby, Joe Gandelman, Acidman, Scott Sala, Jason Van Steenwyk, John Hawkins, Glenn Reynolds, Tom Biro, Jay Rosen, Jan Haugland, Michelle Malkin, Charles Johnson, Deacon, James Joyner, Jeff Jarvis, Bill @INDCJournal, Dean Esmay, Eugene Volokh, Mike Rappaport, Chad The Elder, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Ed Driscoll, Jayson @PoliPundit | |
Prostitution, Rapes Run Rampant ABCNEWS — Permalink Didier Bourguet, a U.N. official from France, is pictured here in an image found on his hard drive, which was obtained by ABC News. Also on the hard drive were thousands of photos of him having sex with hundreds of young Congolese girls. (ABC News) | |
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Michelle Malkin: Last night on ABC's 20/20, one of the MSM's best investigative reporters, Brian Ross, broadcast a damning segment on Bourguet and the festering U.N. sex scandal. Kevin Aylward: Senior U.N. officials were secretly recorded consorting with prostitutes and even loading them in U.N. vehicles... Glenn Reynolds: ABC NEWS REPORTS ON U.N. SEX CRIMES IN THE CONGO: [snipped quote] There will be a story on 20/20 tonight. |
McQ: More on the UN's literal rape of the Congo — The UN continues to prove its not up to the job: "Widespread allegations... Ace: The UN: We're Not Just About Billion-Dollar Corruption Schemes. We Also Rape Children. What would we do without the UN? |
Eason Jordan vs. the Blogosphere NRO — Permalink The heat is on. This week on CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer I asked three influential U.S. senators about the CNN scandal regarding news executive Eason Jordan. To recap, at last month's economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jordan publicly accused the U.S. military of deliberately targeting journalists in order to assassinate them. | |
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Jude Nagurney Camwell: Larry Kudlow claims that CNN has been trying desperately to make the story go away. Michelle Malkin: Larry Kudlow's all over the story now on his cool new blog and latest NRO column. So is Scarborough. Larry Kudlow: New NRO Column — My new column is up at NRO: Eason Jordan vs. the Blogosphere The heat is on. |
Robin Burk: Larry Kudlow lays out the consequences: "This tawdry tale has been reported, for the most part, only on the... Greg Ransom: LARRY KUDLOW — Eason Jordan versus the blogosphere: "Seeing as the blogosphere's reporting has moved into the upper... |
Pakistan pays tribe al-Qaeda debt BBC — Permalink Pakistan says it has paid 32m rupees ($540,000) to help four former wanted tribal militants in South Waziristan settle debts with al-Qaeda. Military operations chief in the region, Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, said the payments were part of a peace deal signed on Monday with tribesmen. | |
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Avedon Carol: Or at least this is the first time they've admitted it. That's our "friend" Pakistan, all freedom-loving and so on. Joe Gandelman: Our Friend Pakistan Gives Money To Al Qaeda — Subtitle this one "Your U.S. Foreign Aid At Work": [snipped quote] Why... Skippy: the bbc: [snipped quote] that's a lot of rupees! |
Laura Rozen: Liberal Oasis points to this BBC report today that says Pakistan admits that it has paid the equivalent of half a... Jan Haugland: Pakistan helped pay off Al-Qaeda debts — Pakistan admits it has paid $540,000 to help tribal 'militants' pay off debts... Lambert @Corrente: Hey, what are friends for? WTF? [snipped quote] Can someone explain why this would be a good idea? |
| Also: Mathew Gross | |
Seminary ousts president for performing daughter's gay wedding AP — Permalink The New Brunswick Theological Seminary has ousted its president and reprimanded him for officiating at his gay daughter's wedding. The school's board of trustees said the Rev. Norman Kansfield, 64, performed the ceremony in Massachusetts. | |
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James Joyner: Seminary President Ousted for Performing Daughter's Gay Wedding — Seminary ousts president for performing daughter's... Andrew Sullivan: MORE FAMILY VALUES: A seminary president is fired for marrying his own daughter. Because she's gay. |
Glenn Reynolds: So imagine my shock when I read this headline on Andrew Sullivan's site: "A seminary president is fired for marrying his own daughter. |
Labour reveals election pledges Guardian — Permalink Tony Blair today unveiled Labour's six election pledges as he toured the country's key marginal constituencies by helicopter, revealing one pledge in each as he made his way to the party's spring conference in Gateshead. | |
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Kevin Drum: Over on the right is the unveiling of the Labor Party's 2005 "pledge card," a cheap and cheerful list of six things the Laborites say they stand for. John Cole: Kevin Drum might be on to something with his observation of the British Labour Party's pledge card: "I have some advice... |
Sam Rosenfeld: Kevin Drum makes all the right comparisons between the British Labour Party's nifty new branding gimmick and the U.S... |
Mr. Bush's Personal Accounts WaPo — Permalink WHETHER SOCIAL Security is in "crisis" or not, everyone agrees that the system faces a deficit. There is less agreement, however, on whether the personal Social Security accounts advocated by President Bush in the State of the Union speech would reduce the funding problem. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: This morning's Post easily matches my low expectations. Tarek @LiquidList: I don't know why, but I'm absolutely convinced that Fred Hiatt will do anything to lipstick up the pig that America is stuck with for the next four years. William Swann: Washington Post on Social Security — The new Washington Post editorial amounts to an endorsement of the concept of private market accounts. |
Kevin Drum: I'd like to meet them someday. Today they come out in favor of private accounts for Social Security. DeLong: Department) What seemed to me to be the two most egregious passages in a very misleading and shameful editorial: ... |
On Message By / TNR — Permalink The Democrats had their rebuttal to the State of the Union address last week; yesterday Al Qaeda offered its own. Ayman Al Zawahiri, the organization's number two, broadcast a recorded message about five minutes in length on Al Jazeera around noon, eastern standard time. | |
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Laura Rozen: Meantime, Joseph Braude, writing in The New Republic, parses the broadcast on al Jazeera yesterday by al Qaeda's #2,... The Big Trunk: Coincidentally, the email this morning includes a message from Joseph Braude directing us to his fascinating New... Orrin Judd: WELCOME TO WALKER'S WORLD: On Message (Joseph Braude, 02.11.05, New Republic) [snipped quote] While the comparison to the... |
James Joyner: Al Qaeda Rebuts State of the Union Address — Joseph Braude, author of The New Iraq: Rebuilding the Country for Its... Daniel Drezner: As Reuters put it, the tape "blasted the 'U.S. concept of freedom,'" In TNR Online, Joseph Braude translates and analyzes the text of the message. Pejman Yousefzadeh: DECONSTRUCTING AL QAEDA — Joseph Braude checks out Ayman al-Zawahiri's latest rant against the United States and the general concepts of freedom and reform. |
Poll Shows Drop in Bush's Job Approval By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - The public's confidence in President Bush 's job performance and the nation's direction has slipped in the opening weeks of his second term, particularly among people 50 and older, according to an Associated Press poll. | |
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Jesse Taylor: Screw Point 2009 — Bush's approval rating: 45%. Bush's Gallup-adjusted approval rating in two weeks: 61%. Frederick Maryland: New Poll: Good News and Bad for Bush — A new poll just released by the Associated Press has both good and bad news for President Bush. Taegan Goddard: Bush's Approval Drops — [snipped quote] according to an Associated Press poll. |
Joe Gandelman: Bush Poll Numbers Start To Erode — A new poll suggests President George Bush's support is starting to slowly erode as... Skippy: the asspress poll sez: "the public's confidence in president bush's job performance and the nation's direction has... Atrios: Red Alert — Uh-oh "WASHINGTON - The public's confidence in President Bush (news - web sites)'s job performance and the... |
Senate Approves Measure to Curb Big Class Actions By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 - Handing President Bush a significant victory, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure on Thursday that would sharply limit the ability of people to file class-action lawsuits against companies. | |
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DavidNYC @DailyKos: Sadly - though this comes as no surprise - the bill passed the Senate by a large margin (72-26), with only Democrats voting against it. Howard Kurtz: The Bush agenda is starting to move, as the New York Times reports: "Handing President Bush a significant victory, the... Susan Madrak: SCREW THE LITTLE GUY — I've been remiss in not bringing this to your attention. |
Jeffrey Dubner: The provision can probably best be read as of a piece with regulatory rollback, the effort to unseat the civil service... Jacob Sullum: Class Action Action — Although I don't buy the constitutional justification for federal limits on medical malpractice... |
Democrats Aren't Giving Bush a Break This Term By / LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — In style and substance, Democrats are mounting a much more aggressive and unified opposition to President Bush than they did following his election in 2000. | |
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James Joyner: Continued... Update (1015): In somewhat related news, LAT's Ron Brownstein argues that the Democrats are much more unified now than at this point in Bush's first term. Steven Taylor: Brownstein on the Democrats — Writes Ron Brownstein of the LAT: Democrats Aren't Giving Bush a Break This Term "In... Orrin Judd: PRECINCT 13: Democrats Aren't Giving Bush a Break This Term: Dean's likely rise to power is another sign the party is sharpening its differences with GOP. |
Howard Kurtz: But that doesn't mean the Dems are rolling over, says the Los Angeles Times: In both style and substance, Democrats are... Pejman Yousefzadeh: INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT EACH TIME — Having decided that... |
Did Kim Jung Il miscalculate? By / Christian Science Monitor — Permalink North Korea declared itself a nuclear power on Thursday. The Stalinist state coupled a unilateral admission of possessing nuclear weapons with the assertion that it would not take part in "six-nation talks aimed at ending the [nuclear arms] crisis," on the Korean peninsula. | |
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Daniel Drezner: The Christian Science Monitor has a round-up of global press reaction. Pejman Yousefzadeh: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER . . . But oh, how painful this must have been! |
Orrin Judd: IF CHINA WANTS TO BE A RIVAL WHAT DO WE CARE ABOUT THE FALLOUT? : Did Kim Jung Il miscalculate? |
Attacks in Iraq Kill at Least 21 People By / AP — Permalink BAGHDAD — A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, a police official and witnesses said, while masked men sprayed gunfire into a crowd at a bakery in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the capital, killing at least nine people, police said. | |
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Cori Dauber: And, and? An very disappointing piece from the Washington Post reports on the first results in from the Iraqi election. Tarek @LiquidList: Like the fact that our military is desperately undermanned for the ever-widening portfolio of wars and future wars, but somehow can't get beyond the whole gay discrimination thing. |
James Joyner: Islamic Parties Carry Iraq Local Vote — Islamic Parties Carry Iraq Local Vote (WaPo, A10) [snipped quote] That religious... |
Carter ends silence, praises Iraqi voting By / Washington Times — Permalink Former President Jimmy Carter, who predicted that elections in Iraq would fail and in the past year described the Bush administration's policy there as a quagmire, this week ended 10 days of silence to declare the historic Iraqi vote "a very successful effort." | |
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James Joyner: Jimmy Carter Ends Silence, Praises Iraqi Voting — Carter ends silence, praises Iraqi voting (WaTi) "Former President... Steve Bainbridge: Ten days late (and the proverbial dollar short?) breaks silence on Iraq vote. Must have been a very bitter pill for him to swallow, after predicting disaster. Orrin Judd: Carter ends silence, praises Iraqi voting (Robert Stacy McCain, 2/11/05, THE WASHINGTON TIMES) "Former President... |
Captain Ed: Finally, some light must have shown through, as Carter now acknowledges that he was dead wrong on Iraq's elections Scott Sala: Jimmy Carter OK's Iraqi Elections — After 10 days of silence, Jimmy Carter finally came forward to speak on the Iraqi elections. |
U.S. refuses one-on-one North Korea talks By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON — The Bush administration said Friday that it wasn't interested in one-on-one talks with North Korea about its nuclear programs outside the six-party negotiations involving the communist nation's neighbors. "It's not an issue between North Korea and the United States. | |
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Daniel Drezner: [UPDATE: Deb Riechmann reports for the AP that Scott McClellan rejected this demand at the White House press briefing. Pejman Yousefzadeh: SABER RATTLING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES — Whatever the bluster being put out by North Korea, no one in the West should bend... |
Steve Soto: Obviously this latest maneuver by Pyongyang was aimed at getting the Bush Administration to pull out of the multilateral talks that were underway, and to deal directly with them. |
Bush Threatens to Veto Changes in Medicare's Drug Benefit By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - President Bush threatened today to veto any changes Congress might make in Medicare's prescription drug benefit, which becomes available in January 2006 to millions of elderly and disabled people. | |
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Steven Taylor: The "V" Word — Via the NYT: Bush Threatens to Veto Changes in Medicare's Drug Benefit [snipped quote] He actually uttered the word in public and everything. |
Oliver Willis: Hollow Man — George W. Bush Dear Leader said this today: [snipped quote] George W. Bush has never vetoed a bill in the entire time he's been President. |
Under Yalta's Shadow By / NRO — Permalink On February 11, 1945, World War II's "Big Three" — Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin — ended their final summit in the Crimean seaside town of Yalta. | |
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JoelL @SouthernAppeal: Read it here. Greg Ransom: CAN we ever escape from the Yalta legacy of FDR? |
Orrin Judd: THE DAY THE WAR WAS LOST: Under Yalta's Shadow: The forgotten legacy. (Arthur Herman, 2/11/05, National Review) [snipped quote] What a waste. |
COLUMBIA PROFS FOR TRUTH By / New York Post — Permalink COLUMBIA University Presi dent Lee Bollinger has an other headache on his hands, The Post has learned. A group of professors on campus is releasing a report today that is highly critical of the university's handling of charges of anti-Semitism and classroom intimidation — and especially of the committee that Bollinger set up to investigate. | |
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David Bernstein: What is it with elite universities and internal investigations with preconceived results? Glenn Reynolds: MORE DEVELOPMENTS AT COLUMBIA: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing. (Link to the report here, via Ryan Sager). |
Judith Weiss: Note how no one in the audience called Scheuer on his s**t. UPDATE: The latest on the Columbia U faculty bias case. |
Why the Palestinians Came to the Table By / WaPo — Permalink It is now conventional wisdom that the new opening to a Middle East peace is a result of Yasser Arafat's death. This is only half true, and it misses the larger point. Arafat's death was a necessary condition for hope, but not a sufficient one. | |
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Charles Johnson: Why the Palestinians Came to the Table — Charles Krauthammer sees cause for cautious optimism in recent Middle East developments: Why the Palestinians Came to the Table. |
FrancoAlemán: LA MUERTE DE ARAFAT no es lo nico que explica la esperanza hacia la paz en Oriente Medio, afirma Charles Krauthammer,... |
Give Iraq's Voters The Nobel Prize For Peace By / Opinion Journal — Permalink The Nobel Peace Prize Committee will announce its 2005 winner in October. I think that this year the voters of Iraq should receive the Nobel Peace Prize. They have already won the world's peace prize by demonstrating in a single day a commitment not seen... | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: DANIEL HENNINGER IS A GENIUS — Here is why: [snipped quote] Of course, it may be more appropriate to give the Iraqi voters a Nobel Freedom Prize. |
Glenn Reynolds: THIS SEEMS LIKE A GREAT IDEA: Give Iraq's voters the Nobel Peace Prize: [snipped quote] Makes sense to me. |
NYC Health Officials Find New, Virulent HIV Strain (Update2) Bloomberg — Permalink Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) — New York City doctors have discovered a previously unseen strain of HIV, which appears to be resistant to three of the four types of anti-viral drugs that combat the disease, and progresses from infection to full-blown AIDS in two or three months, the health department said. | |
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Clayton Cramer: Why Do So Few Stories Like This Involve Straights? Especially if homosexuals aren't really that much different than heterosexuals? |
Jane Galt: Double-plus ungood — Doctors have discovered a new strain of AIDS that is resistant to three out of four of the major... |
Bush Vows to Veto Changes to Medicare Drug Benefits By / WaPo — Permalink In the face of mounting Congressional concern about the projected costs of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, President Bush today vowed to veto any attempts to limit it. "I signed Medicare reform proudly," he said. | |
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Radley Balko: From the Washington Post: [snipped quote] Still waiting for the condemnation from limited government conservatives. |
Ramesh Ponnuru: BUSH — Not exactly a profile in courage here. |
Arthur Miller, Legendary American Playwright, Is Dead By / NYT — Permalink Arthur Miller, one of the great American playwrights, whose work exposed the flaws in the fabric of the American dream, died Thursday night at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 89. The cause was congestive heart failure, said Julia Bolus, his assistant. | |
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James Joyner: Arthur Miller, Legendary American Playwright, Is Dead (NYT rss) "Arthur Miller, one of the great American playwrights,... |
Josh Chafetz: ARTHUR MILLER, RIP. |
CNN: Jordan 'not clear' in Iraq remarks By / Hollywood Reporter — Permalink NEW YORK — CNN on Thursday sought to quell the media frenzy enveloping executive Eason Jordan over remarks he made during a conference last month in Davos, Switzerland, suggesting that he believed U.S. troops were deliberately firing on journalists in Iraq. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: The Hollywood Reporter account of Eason Jordan's Davos pratfall (HT: Instapundit) does not include any reference to his... |
Glenn Reynolds: UPDATE: Looks like, as predicted, the story's broken out: [snipped quote] No, indeed. |
Churchill met with Gadhafi Rocky Mountain News — Permalink This is not the first time Ward Churchill has disagreed with the U.S. government's idea of who is, and is not, a terrorist. In April 1983, Churchill went to Libya to meet with Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The U.S. government had banned travel to Libya two years earlier, saying Gadhafi supported terrorism. | |
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Charles Johnson: Anti-American Prof Met With Gadhafi — The Ward Churchill story keeps getting more outrageous; today the Rocky Mountain... |
Clayton Cramer: So now we have the interesting case of Professor Ward Churchill, who was hired as a professor in the ethnic studies... |
Debt and Taxes By / American Prospect — Permalink The long-term insolvency of President George W. Bush's budget strategy is obscured by outrage — otherwise justified — over gratuitous and spiteful spending cuts. These cuts are real enough, but they are the battle the Bush administration would prefer to fight. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Writing in TAP Online Max Sawicky makes some familiar points: [snipped quote] But here's my question (inspired either by... |
Max B. Sawicky: PROSPECTING — For The American Prospect, how Bush defunds Social Security. You've heard it here before. |