Kay Steiger

COMPASSIONATE TORTURE. Jason Zengerle says the “quote of the day” is John McCain saying that as president he would “never torture another person in American custody.” Before liberals start swooning over McCain, let’s remember he voted to authorize the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which was billed as a fix to put our detention policies […]

ARMY SUICIDE RATES AT ALL-TIME HIGH. Via C&L. The AP reports that in the last year there were 99 suicides, half of which were by soldiers under the age of 25. A Pentagon psychological consultant put the blame on “failed intimate relationships,” but it’s hard to believe that relationships suddenly got more stressful in the […]

DIVIDED BY DISASTER. The NYTimes reports on how, less than two weeks after the Minneapolis bridge collapse, partisanship is showing. I’m always surprised by the mistaken belief that disasters will cause the parties to set aside their differences and work together. That sounds rosy, but the reality is that the two parties have fundamental differences, […]

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, CAMPAIGNER. This story in yesterday’s WaPo about Elizabeth Edwards assailing her husband’s rivals was one of many I’ve seen lately that features her taking an extremely active campaign role, more so than either of the other frontrunner spouses Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton. In fact, though I’m a little young to remember this, […]

BECAUSE A ‘REASONABLE PERSON’ SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DISCRIMINATION. In an editorial today titled “Fair Pay, the Right Way,” the WaPo says that the Ledbetter ruling was bad, but doesn’t quite endorse Congress’ legislative reaction: This isn’t as terrible as some business squawking might lead you to believe: It was a standard that was in use […]

DISNEY’S BABY EINSTEIN IS NO EINSTEIN. Via the Chronicle. The University of Washington sent out a press release on a study it conducted where it found that Baby Einstein products didn’t work. In fact, the study found that overuse of such products can slow babies’ development. You’ll recall that Bush gave a shoutout to BE’s […]

FALLWELL’S WINDFALL. Via the Chronicle news blog, Jerry Falwell was stocking up on life insurance policies worth about $34 million prior to his death. Most of the money was willed to Falwell’s own Liberty University. In 1992, the university had more than $82 million in debt. Today, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. (seriously!) said they want […]

BLOGOSPHERE OVERWHELMINGLY MALE. Congrats to our own GFR and Addie Stan who got a shout out in Ellen Goodman‘s column today on how the political blogosphere is overwhelmingly male and white. This is something that’s been talked about a lot, especially in the wake of YKos, after which the WaPo published a similar take. I […]

SOLDIERS (WRONGLY) CRUSADE FOR CHRIST. Related to Ezra‘s dispatch from the YKos military panel, last week a Pentagon investigation concluded that several generals and a former military chaplain wrongly appeared in uniform in a fundraising video for Christian Embassy, a group affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ. These soldiers are not permitted to endorse a […]

MOTHERS CAN’T HAVE CAREERS. The NYTimes has a story of women who struggle with their careers after they choose to have children: Like other career-minded young women, she hoped the law would open doors. But her promising career at a department-store corporate office ended 15 years ago when she had a baby. She was passed […]