Sam Boyd

ETHICS! In yet another rebuttal to claims the current Democratic congress isn’t accomplishing anything the House today passed an ethics reform bill that closes a variety of loopholes in current law. It isn’t revolutionary but it’s progress. The Senate is expected to pass the bill by the end of the week. We should be concerned, […]

WHAT TO DO IN WAZIRISTAN? Dana and Ezra‘s posts earlier today about David Igantius‘s column are both pretty skeptical about the actual plan he describes. Dana is right that we should be extremely skeptical of any military intervention run by this administration, but Ignatius is right that the overthrow of the government of Afghanistan went […]

THE PUNDITS CAN’T DECIDE WHY THEY DON’T HAVE A CRUSH ON OBAMA. In general, I resist claims about which candidates “the media” does and doesn’t like. True, there is a real hostility to John Edwards and there was a time when “the media” really was John McCain‘s base. Still, viewing coverage only through this lens […]

CLINTON WON THE BATTLE, OBAMA IS WINNING THE WAR. Improbably, the Clinton–Obama fight is still going strong and, also improbably, Obama now seems to have the upper hand. How do I know? In the first 24 hours after the debate it was Obama who was arguing Clinton was distorting his position, now it’s Clinton’s surrogates […]

CAN WE NOT LET THE CLEAVAGE CONVERSATION BEGIN? The Washington Post today has an article defending it’s recent style section piece on Hillary Clinton‘s neckline: “Let the Cleavage Conversation Begin.” How about not? Pretty please? The article is a completely vapid attempt to justify what was itself a completely vapid piece that was rightly derided […]

CONSERVATIVES ARE TURNING JAPANESE, I REALLY THINK SO. Perhaps because conservatism in the U.S. is collapsing faster than the Tour de France, Republicans have recently consoled themselves with foreign elections. Most recently they spent a good deal of time crowing about the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in France (better not tell them about his fondness […]

MORE (BLOGGING ABOUT) SEX! Following up on Dana and Ezra‘s recent posts, I highly recommend this Slate review of a book on exactly this topic by Mark Regnerus. It turns out that the best way to get evangelical teens to avoid sex is for them to see themselves as an “embattled minority” beset on all […]

WHEN ANIMALS CONDUCT COVERT OPERATIONS… AND ATTACK. In one of the weirder stories I’ve seen recently, Iranian Police have picked up for questioning 14 squirrels that allegedly were carrying spying equipment (via Boing Boing and Danger Room): The IRNA [Islamic Republic News Agency] said that the squirrels were kitted out by foreign intelligence services – […]

PROFILES IN REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY: PART 3 OF WHO KNOWS HOW MANY. Yesterday Matt brought you news of John Yoo accusing Democrats of disrespecting the constitution and Tom Delay criticizing Democrats for corruption. Today, via Steve Benen, we have Republican leaders in the Senate condemning Democrats for obstructionism. Really: We really ought to be asking why […]