Sam Boyd

BUSH APPOINTEE: TERRORISM WILL LEAD TO INTERNMENT CAMPS. Rick Perlstein, who apparently receives secret memos from the great media watchdog in the sky detailing egregiously overlooked stories, today tells the tale of Peter N. Kirsanow, an evilly mustachioed Bush appointee to the U.S. Civil Rights commission who said some rather remarkable things: “[If there’s another […]

TODAYS MUST NOT READ. South Carolina’s The State today published what has to be he single worst piece of political coverage I’ve ever read. Really. It’s that bad. It’s the most ineffective hit piece I’ve ever seen. Basically, the author, editorial page editor Brad Warthen, doesn’t like John Edwards — for no particular reason. So […]

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN: I’M NOT GAY, I’M RACIST! In what’s rapidly turning into the grand unified Republican scandal of 2007, GOP State Rep. Bob Allen today explained his recent arrest for paying $20 to preform oral sex on an undercover cop by explaining that the guy was big, and black and he thought he “was about […]

TOYS THAT REALLY DO MAKE OUR CHILDREN VIOLENT. The New York Times reports today that lead paint continues to be a problem in children’s toys in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, most come from China. The consequences can be deadly: Jewelry is perhaps the most dangerous place for lead because children can swallow an entire ring or […]

FROZEN BANANA REPUBLIC. The Economist has a piece today tying the recent string of corruption scandals in Alaska to the ready availability of money from oil extraction and the federal government. This is a problem that’s well documented in the development literature (including in a new book which I reviewed for the website on Tuesday). […]

META-BLOGGING.Via Matt Yglesias, the New Yorker‘s Hendrik Hertzberg is blogging from the YearlyKos convention. In addition to some excellent posts on the actual convention, he reveals that one of his daily reads is… TAPPED! –Sam Boyd

CLINTON: OBAMA IS IRRESPONSIBLE TO RULE OUT USING NUKES IN PAKISTAN. The Barack Obama–Hilary Clinton slug fest keeps going and going. To which I say “pass the popcorn,” this has been by far the most fun week of the campaign and quite possibly the most illuminating one as well. Most recently in an interview today, […]

JAPANESE POLITICS: STILL WACKY When Republicans lose elections, they often blame some issue they see as tangential to their actual policies — corruption, for instance — nstead of admitting the unpopularity of their leaders. They could learn a thing or two from Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, himself a conservative, who recently responded to calls […]

POLICIES? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ POLICIES! The last two months or so have seen a great deal of debate over the policy differences, or lack thereof, between the major Democratic candidates. We’ve had learned analysis of the various Democrats’ health care plans, poverty strategies, and, most recently, approaches to terrorism. Only now are the […]

BARACK OBAMA WILL PERSONALLY TRACK DOWN OSAMA BIN LADEN AND KILL HIM WITH HIS BARE HANDS. Not really, but that’s the impression you get from the glowing coverage of Obama‘s speech today. It was, indeed, very good and there’s a good chance it will be remembered as the moment he finally dispelled worries about his […]