And by that, of course I mean he’s an idiot. (Shakes here, as if the contemptuous sarcasm hadn’t already made it obvious.) Thanks to The Green Knight, we find this little gem at Crooks & Liars (who also, naturally, have the video): President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance […]
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Friedan Deserved More
By Pepper of the Daily Pepper Compare the much-deserved sendoff Coretta Scott King received to the smaller funeral for Friedan: “Colleagues from the women’s movement as well as her three children and their families were among more than 300 mourners at the funeral for Friedan, who died of congestive heart failure Saturday on her 85th […]
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Tomato, Tomahto
Shakes here… Pat Robertson thinks Europe is committing racial suicide: Studies that I have read indicate that having babies is a sign of a faith in the future. You know, unless you believe in the future, you’re not going to take the trouble of raising a child, educating a child, doing something. If there is […]
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A Sensible Plan for Iran
It occurs to me to mention that Atrios and Amy Sullivan can both be right about the subject of their disagreement on Iran. As Amy says, Iran probably is the biggest threat America faces today, at least in standard national-security terms. At the same time, as Atrios says, Iran’s not really especially threatening in the […]
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Ethics Committees and Unethical Republicans
By Neil the Ethical Werewolf This came up in comments on Nicholas’ post below: if Democrats were to break the “ethics truce” and launch complaints against Republicans in the GOP-controlled House Ethics Committee, would there be any chance of their complaints amounting to anything? Or would Republicans use their power to just dismiss the complaints, […]
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Second Verse, Same as the First!
Shakes again… George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were fighting for illegal wiretaps 30 years ago. The documents include one startling similarity to Washington’s current atmosphere over disclosures of classified information by the media. Notes from a 1975 meeting between Cheney, then White House chief of staff, then-Attorney General Edward Levi and others […]
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When Democracy Strikes Back
The good news: Democracy is breaking out all over. The awkward news: The more that people freely vote, the more fervently they reject the global designs of George W. Bush and the America he projects. In the Middle East, the people have freely chosen two governments that could not be more a repudiation of Bush’s […]
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Oathish
Shakes at your service, and Iâm coining a new word here at Ezraâs today: Oathish. Itâs kind of like truthiness, except it describes the congressional testimony of someone who isnât put under oath, but promises heâd say the same thing either way. Monday’s hearing into the NSA program got off to a rocky start when […]
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Super Bowl Ads Winners and Stinkers
By Pepper of the Daily Pepper No one knows if Super Bowl ads inspire people to buy the product. Most of the time, it isn’t even clear what that product is (hello, godaddy.com!), but this year’s set of commercials had a few winners, not to mention some real stinkers. iFilm is adding all the ads […]
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Science: More Boring Than You Think
By Neil the Ethical Werewolf Given my semi-lupine nature, it falls to me to address the issue of human-animal hybrids. (Also, Ezra is a little busy today and tomorrow, so us weekenders will be filling in.) Let me point you to Pharyngula, who explains that human-animal hybrids are a lot more innocuous than they might […]