meme orandum
| Fresh brewed news plus stewing views |
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JEALOUS KERRY FUMES AS DEM BOOSTS HILL By / New York Post — Permalink WASHINGTON — A fuming John Kerry had "daggers in his eyes" after a fellow Democrat promoted Hillary Rodham Clinton for president — suggesting the 2004 loser is green with envy at a potential rival. | |
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John @PowerLine: Kerry Wants A Mulligan — The New York Post's Deborah Orin has an amusing account of John Kerry's anger over Senator... Betsy Newmark: Deborah Orin reports that Kerry is angry at how the Democrats seem to already be lining up behind Hillary. Orrin Judd: KERRY ON: JEALOUS KERRY FUMES AS DEM BOOSTS HILL (DEBORAH ORIN, 4/23/05, NY Post) [snipped quote] You know, there's a... |
Joe Gandelman: If John Kerry's Looks Could Kill — Message to John Kerry: Temper, temper, if this New York Post piece is to be... James Joyner: JEALOUS KERRY FUMES AS DEM BOOSTS HILL (New York Post) [snipped quote] Poor Kerry. Pejman Yousefzadeh: I have a feeling that might be the Republican motto after reading this: [snipped quote] As of yet, we have no indication... |
Altered Pledge of Allegiance stuns students By / Washington Times — Permalink DENVER — The students in Vincent Pulciani's seventh-grade class were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance this week when they heard the voice over the intercom say something they'd never heard before, at least not during the Pledge. | |
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Norbizness: There is a lesson here: The students in Vincent Pulciani's seventh-grade class were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance... Ann Althouse: As The Washington Times reports: "The students in Vincent Pulciani's seventh-grade class were reciting the Pledge of... Joe Gandelman: Pledge Of Allegiance Change Furor In Colorado — So exactly how haywire has the movement to insert P.C. into every facet of American life gone? |
Avedon Carol: The WashTimes has a story about an unexpected alteration in their routine: The students in Vincent Pulciani's... James Joyner: Altered Pledge of Allegiance stuns students (Washington Times) [snipped quote] Obviously, re-writing the Pledge is outside the purview of a school guidance counselor. Susanna Cornett: Sigh — You just wish people would actually think sometimes. |
| Also: Tyler Cowen, Orrin Judd, Michelle Malkin | |
A High-Tech Lynching in Prime Time By / NYT — Permalink Whatever your religious denomination, or lack of same, it was hard not to be swept up in last week's televised pageantry from Rome: the grandeur of St. Peter's Square, the panoply of the cardinals, the continuity of history embodied by the joyous emergence of the 265th pope. | |
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Al Rodgers: Meet the Corporate Press: An All Catholic Clergy lineup to discuss the new Pope [no joke] Update [2005-4-23 21:34:30 by... |
Armando @DailyKos: Frank Rich has some thoughts: [snipped quote] Hateful lying extremist bigots embraced by the Republican Party. |
Tory fury as BBC sends hecklers to bait Howard By / Telegraph — Permalink The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader. | |
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Iain Murray: Fair and Balanced — So the BBC has admitted sending three hecklers to disrupt a Conservative campaign meeting. |
Tully @Centerfield: Media Bias in Britain — Tory fury as BBC sends hecklers to bait Howard "The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging... |
LETTER TO READERS: Albom's column to return Detroit Free Press — Permalink Detroit Free Press management has completed its internal review of an April 3 Mitch Albom column that contained inaccurate information by describing an event that had not yet occurred. Albom will resume writing columns for the Free Press. | |
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Atrios: Albom "Disciplinary Action" — What, did he have to write "I will not be hack" 100 times on the blackboard? Jim Romenesko: Albom disciplined, column will return to Detroit Free Press — Detroit Free Press Mitch Albom Free Press publisher and... |
James Joyner: LETTER TO READERS: Albom's column to return (DFP) [snipped quote] I wholeheartedly agree with the decision but am befuddled by the inadequacy of the DFP's explanation. Ed Cone: Albom wrist slapped. |
Top Army Officers Are Cleared in Abuse Cases By / WaPo — Permalink An Army inspector general's report has cleared senior Army officers of wrongdoing in the abuse of military prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere, government officials familiar with the findings said yesterday. | |
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Phillip Carter: A Command Performance — The latest Army IG report clearing senior officers of wrongdoing in connection with Abu Ghraib... Jo Fish: Abu G-Rape — So, it looks like Preznit Abysmally Amoral's toady in Iraq gets a free pass on any responsibility for Abu Ghraib. |
Steve Soto: Pentagon Says Abu Ghraib Wasn't Their Fault — Is anyone really surprised that Rummy's whitewashed final investigative... |
Investigator Decries Oil-for-Food Probe By / AP — Permalink NEW YORK - A senior investigator from Paul Volcker's independent committee into allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program criticized his former employer Saturday for misrepresenting the grounds for his resignation earlier this month. | |
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Roger L. Simon: UPDATE: Oil-for-Resignations — Key UN Oil-for-Food investigator Robert Parton, whose resignation several days ago was... |
John @PowerLine: Today Parton rejected that explanation. |
Released E-Mail Exchanges Reveal More Bolton Battles By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 23 - Recently declassified e-mail messages provide new details of the bruising battle that John R. Bolton, then an under secretary of state, waged with analysts at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002 as he sought... | |
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Kevin Drum: BOLTON AND CUBA....Douglas Jehl writes in the New York Times today about "recently declassified" email exchanges between John Bolton's staff and various intelligence officials. Orrin Judd: Released E-Mail Exchanges Reveal More Bolton Battles (DOUGLAS JEHL, 4/23/05, NY Times) "Recently declassified e-mail... |
Laura Rozen: Newly declassified Bolton emails reveal that it was not just Christian Westermann who objected to Bolton's Cuba hysteria, but the NSA, DIA, and other US intelligence agencies. |
Most Condoms in India Used to Make Saris AP — Permalink NEW DELHI — Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex, most of the others are used to make saris, toys and bathroom slippers, a newspaper reported Saturday. The condoms are valuable to manufacturers because of the lubricant on them. | |
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Jan Haugland: Speaking of unsafe sex: Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex, most of the others are used to make... |
Acidman: they make good balloons, too — I've never liked wearing them, but condoms have many uses other than what they were designed for. |
Hijacking Christianity . . . By / WaPo — Permalink The American flag was appropriated by the political right wing years ago. Now the Christian right is trying to hijack religion. This time it shouldn't be allowed to happen without a fight. | |
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Paul @PowerLine: King's column moves beyond the issue of judicial confirmations to make a general claim that the Christian right is trying "to hijack religion." Jo Fish: What he Said — Colbert King. |
Barbara O'Brien: Andy goes on, but isn't any less clueless. So instead of reading Andy, try this Colbert King column. |
Uncle Dick and Papa By / NYT — Permalink It was a move so smooth and bold, accomplished with such backstage bureaucratic finesse, that it was worthy of Dick Cheney himself. The éminence grise who had long whispered in the ear of power and who had helped oversee the selection process ended up selecting himself. | |
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Cliff May: What appears to be a Maureen Dowd column this morning is surely a parody of a Maureen Dowd column. Peter Burnet: FORGET ERIC AND JULIA... Uncle Dick and Papa (Maureen Dowd, New York Times, April 23rd, 2005) [snipped quote] ...our... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: THERE SHOULD BE A NATIONAL CLIFF MAY APPRECIATION DAY — He reads Maureen Dowd so the rest of us don't have to. |
Rice Ordered Release of German Sent to Afghan Prison in Error By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 22 - A German citizen detained for five months in an Afghan prison was released in May 2004 on direct orders from Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, after she learned the man had been mistakenly identified as a terror suspect, government officials said Friday. | |
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Atrios: Proud to be an American — A charming tale: ASHINGTON, April 22 - A German citizen detained for five months in an Afghan... |
Jeralyn Merritt: The New York Times reports today it was Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice who ordered his release five months after his wrongful imprisonment in an Afghan jail. |
GOP Volunteer Probed on Role at President's Speech By / WaPo — Permalink The U.S. Secret Service is investigating whether a Republican volunteer committed the crime of impersonating a federal agent while forcibly removing three people from one of President Bush's public Social Security events, according to people familiar with the probe. | |
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Lambert @Corrente: MBF watch: Which Republican "volunteer" ejected the Denver Three? Those "overzealous volunteers"! The Republicans are so plagued with them! |
Laura Rozen: A Bush volunteer who threw three people out of a Denver rally is being investigated by the US Secret Service for... |
State of Hibernation Is Induced in Mice By / WaPo — Permalink Scientists have induced a state close to suspended animation in a mammal for the first time, a long-sought achievement that could lead to a host of medical advances for people. | |
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Tom Smith: Law students can achieve this state spontaneously — Seriously, quite an intriguing development. |
Steve Antler: UPDATE: More here. The tiny bits I remember from my childhood Gilbert chemistry set suggest these experiments involve easy-to-produce gasses. |
Cheney Backs End of Filibustering By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 22 - Vice President Dick Cheney plunged the White House into the judicial confirmation battle on Friday by saying he supported changing the Senate rules to stop the Democrats from blocking judicial nominees and would, if needed, provide the tie-breaking vote. | |
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Steve Soto: As Frist Eases Off Until May, White House Pushes Nuclear Option — After telling Harry Reid just last week that he would... Taegan Goddard: White House Backs End of Filibustering — Vice President Dick Cheney "plunged the White House into the judicial... |
Dr. Steven Taylor: The Stage is Being Set… …for a showdown via the NYT: Cheney Backs End of Filibustering [snipped quote] As is his right as President of the Senate. |
Double trouble for Halliburton By / Asia Times — Permalink NEW YORK - The Halliburton corporation, already the Iraq war's poster child for "waste, fraud and abuse", has been hit with a new double whammy. A report from the US State Department accuses the company of "poor performance" in its US$1.2 billion contract to repair Iraq's vital southern oilfields. | |
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Jo Fish: When a Shocker, isn't — Wow. Color me completely un-amazed. [snipped quote] Imagine that. CheneyBurton overbilling 42% of their contract amount. |
Atrios: Halliburtonwater — Do you think if we append "water" to the end of Halliburton the press might get excited? |
John O'Neill American Enterprise Magazine — Permalink One of the most dramatic stories of Election 2004 was the coalescence of a large group of Vietnam veterans dedicated to the idea that John Kerry was not fit to become America's Commander in Chief. Many of those who joined Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had served with Kerry in Vietnam. | |
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Taegan Goddard: Revisiting the Swift Boat Vets' Strategy — It's worth re-reading the fascinating American Enterprise interview with... |
PoliPundit: Interview with O'Neill — Here's a must-read interview with the Swift Vets' John O'Neill. |
White House Comes to U.N. Nominee's Defense LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — The White House and its allies Friday intensified their campaign to defend John R. Bolton, President Bush's nominee to be U.N. ambassador, as a Senate committee prepared for a showdown on the candidacy next month. | |
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Laura Rozen: Meantime, the LA Times reports another allegation of Bolton retaliation against an underling over policy differences,... Pudentilla: the dark lord supports the walrus — [snipped quote] by their fruits ye shall know them (matt 7:20). |
Rich Lowry: From the LA Times: "Meanwhile, a former subordinate of Bolton's offered to provide information to the committee about... |
Delay in Bolton Vote Concerns White House WaPo — Permalink The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has set a vote on John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations for May 12 — a delay that Bush administration officials acknowledged yesterday is increasing their anxieties about Bolton's prospects. | |
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Lambert @Corrente: Let's watch the Republicans conduct an interview! Of the Bolton affair: "In a sign of partisan tensions on the committee," Oooh, nice balance! Pudentilla: republicans block democrats' participation in bolton investigation — [snipped quote] poor senator lugar - yet another... |
Laura Rozen: White House worried on Bolton, the Washington Post reports: "The fear, Bolton's backers said privately, is twofold. |
Taxpayer Fields Forever By / Fox News — Permalink Apparently, the Washington, D.C. mayor's office and city council are still deliberating over a sponsor name for the new home of the Nationals. In Indianapolis, plans for a new football stadium for the Indianapolis Colts are just getting off the ground. | |
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Jim Henley: Radley Balko has a modest proposal for naming the planned stadiums in his two stomping grounds of Indianapolis and Washington DC. |
Radley Balko: Taxpayers' Field — My new Fox column argues that Washington, D.C. and Indianapolis should give that name to their upcoming, publicly-funded stadiums. |
Kurds' Leaders Said to Attempt to Block Shiite NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 22 - Some leading Kurdish political figures are trying to stall the formation of a new Iraqi government in an effort to force out Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shiite chosen two weeks ago as prime minister, Iraqi and Western officials said. | |
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Norbizness: And that lesson is that regardless of the rampant environmental destruction that is occurring on Earth Day, the... Juan Cole: The New York Times even speculates that the Kurds are deliberately obstructing the formation of a government in hopes of... |
Cori Dauber: There's now speculation that this has taken so long that, either the delay has put the idea that dragging things out... |
Cheney Enters Filibuster Fight, Backing Change in Senate Rules By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 22 - Vice President Dick Cheney plunged the White House into the judicial confirmation battle today by saying he would support changing the Senate rules to stop the Democrats from blocking judicial nominees. | |
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Brad DeLong: (Yet Another Dive by the New York Times Department) David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times is a liar: The New York... |
Josh Marshall: At the tail end of David Kirkpatrick's piece in Saturday's Times is this graf (emphasis added) ... "Current Senate rules... |
E-mails 'hurt IQ more than pot' CNN — Permalink LONDON, England — Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows. The constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic, according to a survey carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett Packard. | |
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Jason Van Steenwyk: Turns out I'm not the only one. Splash, out James Joyner: Update: E-mails 'hurt IQ more than pot' (CNN) [snipped quote] Can a federal war against e-mail be far away? Kevin Drum: DON'T READ THIS POST!....Here's an interesting tidbit of pseudo-information: [snipped quote] OK, I'll buy that. |
Betsy Newmark: This is a headline that has got to scare you. [snipped quote] I am quite suspicious of those tests. This is the essential finding. Ntodd @SuburbanGuerrilla: Rainy Day Blogs #12 & 35 — They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck: [snipped quote] Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone...everybody must get stoned! |
'Fix' in pledge raises concern By / Rocky Mountain News — Permalink JEFFERSON COUNTY - Seventh-grader Bailey Pierce, hand pressed against her heart, was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when the voice over the intercom said something that stopped her cold. "One nation, under 'your belief system.' | |
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Kevin Drum: Here it is: [quote] One nation, under "your belief system".... [end quote] And so the worm turns. Joanne Jacobs: Under whatever — Students at a Colorado middle school were startled when a guidance counselor led a slightly altered version of the Pledge of Allegiance over the intercom. |
Lambert @Corrente: A "conscientous objector" to the pledge of allegiance — As Kevin Drum asks: This story is different from a [cough]... |
Crisis of Faith By / TNR — Permalink "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." "We have a responsibility that, when somebody hurts, government has got to move." —George W. Bush, September 1, 2003 | |
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Barbara O'Brien: Confusion — Andrew Sullivan notices that conservatives are confused. "Conservatism isn't over. But it has rarely been as confused. John Cole: Crisis of Faith — A pretty perceptive piece by Andrew Sullivan about what I have been feeling as of late regarding the GOP. |
Michael Signer: The Theocon Threat — Andrew Sullivan has a terrific piece up in today's TNR called "Crisis of Faith". |
Chairman Mo By / National Post — Permalink Paul Martin hardly needs another scandal, but the news that Maurice Strong has stepped down from his UN post as special envoy to Korea in the wake of allegations related to the Iraqi oil-for-food debacle is potentially damaging on several fronts. | |
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Wretchard: Update The National Post of Canada has more information on the relationship between Maurice Strong, Tongsun Park and Cordex. |
Glenn Reynolds: IT'S MORE CANADIAN SCANDAL NEWS: "Paul Martin hardly needs another scandal, but the news that Maurice Strong has... |
Feds' weather information could go dark By / AP — Permalink Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone? That information is available for free from the National Weather Service. | |
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Avedon Carol: AP is reporting that Sen. Man-on-Dog has introduced a bill that "would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing... Hilzoy @ObsidianWings: You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up... by hilzoy Via Talking Points Memo, an article in the Palm Beach News tells us the... Ntodd @SuburbanGuerrilla: Raining On The Parade — Santorum is like the wind—he blows: [snipped quote] I'm incensed by this and not just for the obvious reasons. |
Karl-Thomas Musselman: The Palm Beach Post reports... "Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Josh Marshall: Indeed, the executive vice president of AccuWeather, Barry Myers, probably had to have his face specially treated with... ArchPundit: You don't just plug in your clock when you want to know what time it is — Rick Santorum delivers up another gem in... |
| Also: Kos @DailyKos, Chris Andersen, Billmon | |
Emails 'pose threat to IQ' Guardian — Permalink The distractions of constant emails, text and phone messages are a greater threat to IQ and concentration than taking cannabis, according to a survey of befuddled volunteers. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: WEIRD SCIENCE — We are told—with a sense of breathless alarm—that e-mails are an IQ-debilitating instrument. Michael Froomkin: Emails 'pose threat to IQ':The distractions of constant emails, text and phone messages are a greater threat to IQ and... K. J. Lopez: BRAIN ROT IN YOUR INBOX — Pot better for you than e-mail? |
James Joyner: Emails 'pose threat to IQ' (Guardian) [snipped quote] Fortunately, I only get 400-500 e-mails a day. Joe Gandelman: WARNING: Emails can be dangerous..... by Joe Gandelman ...to your IQ. |
2 Evangelicals Want to Strip Courts' Funds By / LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Evangelical Christian leaders, who have been working closely with senior Republican lawmakers to place conservative judges in the federal courts, have also been exploring ways to punish sitting jurists and even entire courts viewed as hostile to their cause. | |
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Cernig: Dominionists Want To Strip Court's Funds — From the LA Times, who have a tape which "features two of the nation's most... Avedon Carol: The LAT this morning has quotes from a tape of the right-wing gabfest where the loonies discussed plans to use Congress to defund the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Josh Marshall: A unified — Times theory of GOP bamboozlement! The LA Times gets hoodwinked too. |
McQ: But then comes this story from the LA Times in which we see the outline of a plan, supposedly driven by evangelical... Joe Gandelman: Two Evangelical Leaders Advocate Defunding Courts They Don't Like — If you don't like the way a judge or an entire court rules, take their money away. Lambert @Corrente: Frist's owners, the Dominionists, plan to abolish the independent judiciary — Some kind soul recorded a Dominionist... |
| Also: Edward _, The Poorman, Pudentilla, Digby, Maya @SuburbanGuerrilla | |
Sizzle, Yes, but Beef, Too By / NYT — Permalink New York Times columnists are not allowed to endorse U.S. presidential candidates. Only the editorial page does that. But in checking the columnist rule book, I couldn't find any ban on endorsing a candidate for prime minister of Britain. So I'm officially rooting for Tony Blair. | |
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Avedon Carol: Oh, and it's gonna take time.) Tom Friedman is now claiming that Democrats can learn from Tony Blair. Tony Blair! Armando @DailyKos: Wrong Lesson Friedman — Tom Friedman, yet again, demonstrates that when he gives advice, the person offered the advice should run in the other direction. Roger L. Simon: Tom Freidman on Tony Blair — "There is much the U.S. Democratic Party could learn from Mr. Blair." No kidding! |
Jan Haugland: What to learn from Tony Blair — Thomas L. Friedman endorses Tony Blair, for what it's worth, and says the Dems could learn a lot from him: I've never met Mr. Blair. Jeff Jarvis: Vote for Tony : I agree with every word of Tom Friedman's column endorsing Tony Blair... and I laughed at this |
New Pope condemns Spain gay bill By / BBC — Permalink Pope Benedict XVI has responded firmly to the first challenge of his papacy by condemning a Spanish government bill allowing marriage between homosexuals. The bill, passed by parliament's Socialist-dominated lower house, also allows gay couples to adopt. | |
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Ezra Klein: Guess whose finely sewn, textured, and lacy Bavarian underthings are in a bunch." Oy! Benny 16 is definitely not off to a good start. Tarek @LiquidList: This pope sounds like a real sweet fella and I'm sure he'll see your point about rubbers and AIDS because he seems like a real modern guy. Natasha @PacificViews: The Pope & The Fuss — As Atrios points out, Spain has decided to legalize gay marriage, and the new Pope is tossing the... |
Jan Haugland: Spain's lower house has passed a gay marriage law, and BBC News immediately connects the predictable Vatican condemnation to the new pope. Tim Dunlop: For example, even today there is a report of the new Pope getting down and dirty with Spanish politics Julian Sanchez: This has, of course, given Benny 16 his first red-meat issue: The new pope promptly condemned the law. |
| Also: Atrios, Jeff Goldstein | |
Frist Draws Criticism From Some Church Leaders NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 21 - As the Senate battle over judicial confirmations became increasingly entwined with religious themes, officials of several major Protestant denominations on Thursday accused the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, of violating the... | |
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Avedon Carol: The blander NYT version, Frist Draws Criticism From Some Church Leaders, is still pretty exciting. TChris: The Filibuster and People of Faith — Republican pandering to religious extremists may be endangering the filibuster,... Shawn @LiquidList: Well, finally, we see some rumbles of complaint: "Religious groups, including the National Council of Churches and the... |
Sam Rosenfeld: And here's The New York Times: "There were signs, though, that Dr. Frist was planning to postpone the confrontation... James Joyner: Even Senator Frist's own church is urging him to back off: Frist Draws Criticism From Some Church Leaders (NYT) "As the... Hunter @DailyKos: People of Faith — [snipped quote] Psst — Dr. Frist, before you go gung-ho towards establishing religious tests for... |
Yesterday's papers Economist — Permalink Is Rupert Murdoch right to predict the end of newspapers as we now know them? "I BELIEVE too many of us editors and reporters are out of touch with our readers," Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation, one of the world's largest media companies, told the American Society of Newspaper Editors last week. | |
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Bill Hobbs: Today's must-read article on blogging comes from The Economist and it looks at the impact of blogging and other what I call "conversational media" on traditional journalism. Dan Gillmor: Shift in Journalism is inevitable — "The Economist: Yesterday's papers. |
Glenn Reynolds: THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM and the Internet, in The Economist. Meanwhile, Bill Hobbs has a dream for the blogosphere. |
Police Handcuff 5-Year-Old After Tantrum ABCNEWS — Permalink April 22, 2005 — The videotaped altercation with a 5-year-old girl who was hauled off in handcuffs following an extended tantrum at her St. Petersburg, Fla., school has led to questions about whether the police overreacted. | |
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Baldilocks: While watching this incident on the tube a few hours ago, I remember thinking that, had I acted in this manner some... Chris Lawrence: Cops handcuff five-year-old — Robert's post below juxtaposes rather oddly with this bizarre ABC News story I just saw on memeorandum. |
Kevin Aylward: ABC News quotes the attorney for the family of the girl:"The police officers' actions are way over the top. |
Moussaoui Pleads Guilty in 9/11 Conspiracy By / AP — Permalink "/ Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House during a later attack. "/ Pentagon in 2001. He pleaded to six conspiracy counts, four of which could bring the death penalty. He said he would contest such a sentence, which prosecutors say they intend to pursue. | |
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Charles Johnson: Moussaoui Planned to Fly Plane into White House — Moussaoui Pleads Guilty in 9/11 Conspiracy. Will Collier: The Needle Is Way Too Good For Him — [snipped quote] Nor should you, you murderous son of a bitch. |
Jeralyn Merritt: Bump and Update: The Associated Press reports that Moussaoui denied being part of the 9/11 attacks in court Friday |
Judicial Insanity By / WaPo — Permalink Provocation is no excuse for derangement. And there has been plenty of provocation: decades of an imperial judiciary unilaterally legislating radical social change on the flimsiest of constitutional pretexts. | |
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Steve Bainbridge: As Charles Krauthammer recently observed: [snipped quote] The question for conservatives ought not to be whether we fight back. Ramesh Ponnuru: KRAUTHAMMER ON JUDGES — I agree with a lot of his column today—which is no surprise, since I think he's one of the best, maybe the best, of the big-time conservative columnists. Clayton Cramer: "Judicial Insanity" — This is the title of a column by Charles Krauthammer—hardly a conservative. |
Jeffrey Dubner: Especially compared to, say, Charles Krauthammer's obnoxious endorsement of DeLay's and John Cornyn's loose talk, it's refreshingly level-headed. Joe Gandelman: No one has ever accused columnist Charles Krauthammer of being a liberal and he has now roundly denounced what seems to be a systematic assault on the American judiciary. Charles Paul Freund: Even conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, a long-time critic of "judicial activists," has concluded that... |
| Also: Glenn Reynolds, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, Orin Kerr, James Joyner, John Cole | |
Another Republican Backs More Review of Bolton By / Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was cast in further doubt on Friday when a fourth Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said more time was needed to review his record. | |
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Steve Clemons: Lisa Murkowski made her discomfort with circumstances known yesterday — and this is something TWN thought might be cooking. |
Hunter @DailyKos: Bolton in Trouble: Murkowski, Chafee, Hagel, Voinovich Reconsidering "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nomination of John... |
Passing the Buck By / NYT — Permalink The United States spends far more on health care than other advanced countries. Yet we don't appear to receive more medical services. And we have lower life-expectancy and higher infant-mortality rates than countries that spend less than half as much per person. | |
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Brad DeLong: All of which would merely demonstrate ignorance on Krauthammer's part were he not, well, Canadian." ... Angry Bear: (AB) See also, todays Krugman Op/Ed in the NYT. AB Orrin Judd: Passing the Buck (PAUL KRUGMAN, 4/22/05, NY Times) [snipped quote] Hey, even Paul Krugman can figure out why we need universal Health Savings Accounts. |
Steve Antler: Lack of confidence in the material itself... I don't agree with lots of it, but this is worth reading and considering. Mary @LeftCoaster: Open Thread — Krugman's column today explains why we Americans get so little for our healthcare dollars. |
Cheney Says He'd Vote to End Filibusters By / AP — Permalink Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday he would vote in the Senate to stop filibusters of judicial nominees if given the chance. That means President Bush is breaking his word to stay out of the fight over Senate rules, Democratic leader Harry Reid responded. | |
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Jo Fish: Oh, Harry... Why is Harry Reid surprised? [snipped quote] The 1600 Crew is intent on trying to pay back the Christo-Fascists to get them out of their faces. |
Jeff Goldstein: "Cheney Says He'd Vote to End Filibusters" — From The Washington Post: [snipped quote] While I'm not quite sure... |
Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic By / TCS — Permalink It isn't just that they were fudging the numbers, it is the scope of the fudging that is so breathtaking. For the last few years Americans have been subjected to an incessant barrage of warnings about the risks of dying from being fat. | |
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Andrew Stuttaford: Too busy laughing, that's why, but here and here are some wise comments from the good people at TCS. Susanna Cornett: John Luik at TCS has a column on it that looks more closely at the numbers: "[E]ven the 25,814 deaths per year from... |
Bill @INDCJournal: Because while the Feds did indeed muff the numbers, the spin that almost shallowly scoffs at aggressive caution about... Glenn Reynolds: SOME OBSERVATIONS ON FRAUD AND FAT: Many people will find this a relief. |
Woman in Wendy's Finger Case Arrested By / AP — Permalink LAS VEGAS - The woman who claimed she found a finger in her bowl of Wendy's chili last month has been arrested, the latest twist in a bizarre case about how the 1 1/2-inch finger tip ended up in a bowl of fast food. | |
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Skippy: the asspress: anna ayala was taken into custody late thursday at her las vegas. Joe Gandelman: Chili-Finger-Finder Now Under Thumb Of Law — All good and bad things must come to an end, and so it is in the saga of... Clayton Cramer: Today's news: "LAS VEGAS (AP) - The woman who claimed she found a finger in her bowl of Wendy's chili last month has... |
Captain Ed: Now, however, Ayala finds herself in a different arena in the justice system as Las Vegas police have arrested her in... Susanna Cornett: Wendy's finger-lickin' lady is arrested — File this under "unsurprising": [snipped quote] And this is one big reason why: "As it turns out, Ayala has a litigious history. Mitch Berg: Like You Couldn't See This Coming... The Wendy's Chili Woman has been been boxed up: [snipped quote] She'll be undergoing quite a grilling. |
Bush Backs His U.N. Nominee, but Powell Warns of Volatility By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 21 - President Bush on Thursday issued a strong new defense of John R. Bolton, his nominee as ambassador to the United Nations. But associates of Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state, said he had expressed reservations about Mr. Bolton in conversations with at least two wavering Republican senators. | |
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Tarek @LiquidList: It's clear that Powell would oppose John Bolton's nomination as our ambassador to the U.N. So why doesn't he just raise his goddamn voice once and say it loud and clear? Ezra Klein: Bolting on Bolton — Maybe I'm overestimating the power of Powell, but I have to think his decision to actively lobby against Bolton effectively kills the nomination. Dr. Steven Taylor: The NYT, Powell and Bolton — Via the NYT: Bush Backs His U.N. Nominee, but Powell Warns of Volatility "President Bush... |
Noam Scheiber: LINCOLN CHAFEE, TODAY'S BIG LOSER: John Bolton's nomination to be U.N. ambassador looks like it could be in serious... Josh Marshall: Articles in Friday's NYTimes and Post describe how the former Secretary of State (and Bolton's boss in the first... Dan Froomkin: ' " Powell Comes Back to Bite Cheney Douglas Jehl writes in the New York Times: "President Bush on Thursday issued a... |
| Also: Digby, Matthew Yglesias, Steve Soto, Maya @SuburbanGuerrilla | |
U.S. Sees Nothing Definitive on N. Korea Nuke Tests Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has not seen certain evidence that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear weapons test although it has seen "lots of stuff suggesting interesting activity," a senior administration official said on Friday. | |
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Charles Johnson: Nothing "Definitive" on NK Nuke Tests — North Korea may be preparing to openly test a nuclear weapon. |
Billmon: End Game — [snipped quote] gameover.jpg |
Senator to Try New Strategy on Accounts for Retirees NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 21 - The Senate Finance Committee chairman, Charles E. Grassley, said Thursday that he would try to produce a Social Security bill with the support of Republicans alone, in an effort to jump-start a legislative effort now stymied by solid Democratic opposition. | |
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Josh Marshall: As the Times reports this morning and USA Today did yesterday, Chairman Grassley plans to use the Finance Committee... Pudentilla: grassley will walk awol's social security plank alone — [snipped quote] someday, some republican who was in congress... |
Matthew Yglesias: Bush Loses The Pretentious Vote — [snipped quote] So quoteth, the Times. |
The Supreme Court: Lochner at 100 American Enterprise Institute — Permalink In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court—discovering a right to contract in the Fourteenth Amendment—invalidated a New York statute setting maximum working hours for bakery employees. A century later, Lochner still stands as one of the most widely despised decisions in the Court's entire history. | |
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David Bernstein: AEI Lochner Event on Video: If you couldn't make it to AEI today to watch the Lochner at 100 event featuring me,... |
Michael DeBow: Lochner's centennial: You can watch the video of AEI's recent conference — David Bernstein, Jeffrey Rosen, and G... |
Bush Cancels Great Smoky Mountains Visit By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - President Bush canceled an Earth Day visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Friday because of bad weather. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the threat of hail and thunder storms was keeping the president from... | |
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BobcatJH: Meanwhile, the president is looking forward to washing the blood from his hands getting his hands dirty: ... Cookie Jill: it's not nice to screw with mother nature she gets mad [snipped quote] wait until you see what she has coming for you... |
Edward _: UPDATE: Hmmm...looks like God's not dead after all: "Bush Cancels Great Smoky Mountains Visit White House press... |
Pelosi pressed for trip records By / Washington Times — Permalink House Republicans yesterday called on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to provide documentation to prove that a Washington lobbyist firm did not pay for a trip she and other Democrats took to Puerto Rico in 2001. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: Nancy Pelosi/glass houses update here. Meanwhile, MoveOn.org targets Pelosi's competitor in the race to become the... Howard Kurtz: The Washington Times is looking for DeLay-like behavior among Dems: "House Republicans yesterday called on Minority... |
Tarek @LiquidList: The fair-and-balanced Washington Times notes a discrepancy in a trip to Puerto Rico taken by some Democrats, but manages... McQ: Now we have the same sort of questions being aimed at Nancy Pelosi: "The Washington Times reported earlier this week... |
Odd numbers By / Financial Times — Permalink At first, Steven Levitt is not sure where we should go for lunch. We're meeting in his home city of Chicago, a place I have never visited, so I haven't a clue what to suggest. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: THE INCOMPARABLE STEVEN LEVITT — Via Tyler Cowen we have this interview of Steven Levitt, whose knowledge and research... |
Tyler Cowen: Addendum: Here is an excellent interview with Steve Levitt (much on his personality), done by Tim Harford. |
Japan's 'sorry' to Asian leaders NEWS.com.au — Permalink PRIME Minister Junichiro Koizumi has offered "deep remorse and heartfelt apology" for Japan's past aggressions in an attempt to placate China and salvage his attempt to gain a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council. | |
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Arthur Chrenkoff: Saying sorry — Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offers perhaps the fullest apology ever given on behalf of his... |
Smash: Japan Apologizes for WWII — PRIME MINISTER Junichiro Koizumi apologized on behalf of his nation for past Japanese aggression, during an African-Asian summitt in Jakarta Friday. |
Greenspan Says He Expects Tax Increases By / WaPo — Permalink Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday, for the first time explicitly, that he expects tax increases to be part of any eventual agreement to reduce the federal budget deficit. | |
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Brad DeLong: Nice to see: washingtonpost.com: Greenspan Says He Expects Tax Increases: "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said... Donald Luskin: The Washington Post says in the lede of a story today that "Alan Greenspan said yesterday, for the first time... |
Matthew Yglesias: Poor misunderstood Alan Greenspan now wants the world to know "that his support for tax cuts in early 2001... |
Gay rights measure rejected by Senate Seattle Post-Intelligencer — Permalink OLYMPIA — In a vote the Senate had managed to avoid for almost 30 years, 23 Republicans and two Democrats joined forces yesterday to kill a bill that would have banned discrimination against gay people. | |
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Tom Maguire: However, per the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, two Senate Democrats joined twenty-three Republican to defeat the bill 25-24. |
Arnold P. California: It turns out that the information was correct: the bill did come up for a vote this week (yesterday, in fact) and was voted down. |
Study Says Antarctic Glaciers Are Shrinking, Sea Levels May Climb WaPo — Permalink Most of the coastal glaciers along the 1,200-mile Antarctic Peninsula have shrunk as temperatures have risen over the past 50 years, and sea levels may climb if the trend continues, according to a study published today in the journal Science. | |
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James Joyner: The wire services seem to be doing a better job, at least: Study Says Antarctic Glaciers Are Shrinking, Sea Levels May... |
Tarek @LiquidList: 7. Another Earth Day winner, this time with art. |
Let Cookie Monster Be Cookie Monster NRO — Permalink Social engineers go way too far. The producers of Sesame Street have decided that Cookie Monster is gay. Hold the phone. I'm kidding. But try to hold onto your reaction for a moment because what they've really done to Cookie Monster is worse, they've taken away his reason for being. | |
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Kris Murray: According to Jonah Goldberg over at National Review Online, the producers of Sesame Street have decided to completely destroy Cookie Monster. Steve Dillard: That's the way the Cookie Monster crumbles: Is nothing sacred anymore? |
Ace: To borrow from another cynically humorous take on WWII, "And so it goes." They got Cookie Monster. They disappeared him. |
Hell's Kitchen By / New York Magazine — Permalink This much we know: The day that Marine Lieutenant Ilario Pantano killed the two men was like any other day in Iraq. It was a year ago, though no one could initially recall the date. The afternoon was drawing to a close. Soon, it would be dark. | |
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Blackfive: JarheadDad sent this excellent article about the incident and Ilario Pantano. It's seven pages long, but it's very, very good. |
Phillip Carter: The trials of USMC Lt. Ilario Pantano — New York magazine has an amazing profile of Marine Lieutenant Ilario Pantano,... |
Salazar lets fly By / Rocky Mountain News — Permalink WASHINGTON - Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., intensified his war of words with Focus on the Family on Thursday, accusing its evangelical Christian leaders of trying to turn the United States into a theocracy. | |
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The Poorman: Ken Salazar hits back: "Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., intensified his war of words with Focus on the Family on Thursday,... |
Armando @DailyKos: The Senator points out that Focus on the Family board member R. Albert Mohler, Jr said: [snipped quote] Salazar called on James Dobson to repudiate Mohler. |
Treasury feels White House heat on policy By / Financial Times — Permalink The Bush administration's sudden shift on China's currency regime last week came as a surprise to many. After several years of claiming its "financial diplomacy" was paying dividends, the US Treasury suddenly called for China to move immediately to a flexible currency. | |
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Dan Froomkin: The Power of the White House Andrew Balls in the Financial Times mulls the Bush administration's sudden shift of... |
Brad DeLong: From the Financial Times's Andrew Balls: FT.com / Home UK - Treasury feels White House heat on policy. |
To Dems, It's 1974 Forever By / LAT — Permalink Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced recently that he is worried about the "hard, hard right" of the Republican Party, people whose goal is to turn "the clock back to the 1930s or the 1890s." I've never met one myself. He wants to conceal the Big Switch that has transformed American politics. | |
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Kevin Drum: This morning's column is just embarrassing, the sort of thing the Onion might run as a parody of an op-ed. |
Ken Masugi: Gelernter on Progress and Reaction — LAT conservative columnist David Gelernter argues that "Today the Democrats are the party of reactionary liberalism. |
Zoo Tries to Get Chimp to Kick the Habit AP — Permalink BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — A South African zoo wants a chimpanzee to quit smoking cold turkey. Keepers say Charlie the chimpanzee picked up the habit from visitors at the Bloemfontein Zoo who sometimes toss him cigarettes. | |
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Jonah Goldberg: SMOKING CHIMPANZEE — First of all, who's lighting the chimp's cigarettes? |
Commissar: Chimp Nic Fit — Zoo Tries to Get Chimp to Kick the Habit [snipped quote] Next they will probably try to take away his Halo 2 and stop him from watching "Numa Numa" 24 x 7. |
Bush Lies, America Cries By / San Francisco Chronicle — Permalink Oh my God I feel so much safer. Don't you? I mean, don't you feel so much more secure in your all-American gun-totin' oil-happy lifestyle now that we have wasted upward of $300 billion worth of your child's future education budget, along with 1,600... | |
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Jack Cluth: "Mark Morford" |
Cookie Jill: the san francisco curmudgeon of choice lets loose: [snipped quote] go read his full rant. here. you'll laugh until cry. |
ELEPHANT PANIC New York Post — Permalink REPUBLICANS and conser vatives are beginning to panic a little. Ever since the Terry Schiavo controversy took its unexpected turn against the Right in polls — I say "unexpected" because major Democratic politicians acted as though they thought the issue would... | |
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Hugh Hewitt: My friend John Podhoretz's fine column this morning labels me a Cassandra, but Cassandra was never believed, and was always foreseeing doom. |
Jeff Jarvis: Jumping the shark elephant (continued) : John Podhoretz comes as close as I can imagine someone in the New York Post... |
Strict Construction By / TNR — Permalink The election of Benedict XVI, at least in the Western press, is being interpreted primarily as a blow to liberal Catholicism—the Catholicism that has endured a kind of exile since the late 1960s, when it became clear that the post-Vatican II renovation in Church teaching was not to be as sweeping as many hoped. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Orthodoxy — Ross Douthat makes a empirical case for doctrinal orthodoxy in Catholicism, offering the familiar argument... |
Orrin Judd: CAN'T SAVE THE CHURCH BY DESTROYING IT: Strict Construction (Ross Douthat, 04.21.05, New Republic) [snipped quote] The... |