At Washington Whispers, Paul Bedard writes: It now shocks us when a political figure makes claims that actually have some basis in fact. How sad.(Mitt) Romney is the first-ever presidential candidate to haul out a PowerPoint presentation at campaign events. He did it recently while addressing the Detroit Economic Club, and the audience went nuts for it.
"It was amazing," an auto exec tells us. "I mean he didn't just make claims. He had the graphs to back him up!"
The idea was the candidate's and was a textbook presentation outlined in classic fashion: It opened with the "Intro," wrapped up under the title "Close," and finished with an "End" on Page 21. In between were graphs that Romney tried to soften with descriptions of lines like "squiggle."Now there's a moniker to trumpet.
PowerPoints, says spokesman Kevin Madden, "speak to the competency that [Romney] exudes and the authoritative nature of his understanding of the issues." Plus, he says, the boss just digs them — and is a great presenter.
"He's the PowerPoint president ..."
The terrorists have adopted the pretense of an aggrieved party, claiming to speak for the powerless against modern imperialists. The fact is they're at war with practically every liberal ideal — and in their vision, everyone would be powerless except them.It's a line of argument that is much more sophisticated than the typical Bush line about an "enemy that can't stand the thought of somebody being able to live a peaceful life, a life of hope ..."
Their ideology rejects tolerance and denies freedom of conscience. They would condemn women to servitude, gays to death, minority religions to persecution. An ideology so violent, so hateful, can take hold only by force or intimidation, and so those who refuse to bow to the tyrants face brutalization or murder — and no person or group, not even fellow Muslims, is exempt.
China has played an especially important role in the six-party [talks with North Korea] . . .These words were delivered, of course, by someone who played an instrumental role in the U.S. decision to invade a country that posed no imminent threat to us. But I digress.
. . . Other actions by the Chinese government send a different message. Last month's anti-satellite test, and China's continued fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and are not consistent with China's stated goal of a "peaceful rise."
The anti-evolutionists of the Scopes era morphed into the Christian-Scientists of the 1970s and '80s and then, more recently, into the "intelligent design" crowd of the 1990s. But whomever they are and whatever they're calling themselves these days, I'm willing to bet at least some of them are in a pretty sour mood if they've read this WaPo story: Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the tools to hunt small mammals — the first routine production of deadly weapons ever observed in animals other than humans.And there was this interesting tidbit:
... The new observations are "stunning," said Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. "Really fashioning a weapon to get food — I'd say that's a first for any nonhuman animal."
The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females — the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps — tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.
[Tauscher] was once the only California Democrat to oppose Pelosi's campaign for leadership, but she now marvels that the speaker's performance has been "absolutely perfect -- and she looks so beautiful doing it!"Not a lot of gravitas in a phrase like that. But Britney Spears and Ryan Seacrest would be proud.
The speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote in April on a resolution that accuses Turkey's Ottoman Empire of perpetrating "genocide" resulting in the death or displacement of nearly 2 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. Turkey is one of America's closest allies in the Islamic world and is also a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.The resolution never passes, thanks primarily to Turkey's willingness to make a variety of threats
Turkish-Americans have launched a campaign against the resolution saying that it ignores most experts on the Ottoman Empire who reject the Armenian allegation of genocide. They say that the resolution is an attempt to pass judgment on a controversial piece of history and it unfairly defames an entire people on discredited evidence.
Turkey’s prime minister said the US Congress would harm bilateral ties if it backs a resolution recognising the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide, the state Anatolian news agency said on Sunday.Since, literally, no US papers seem to be covering this, I'm going to have to rely on foreign sources and whatever I can find on Google News as I try and keep track of developments and watch to see whether the Democrats in Congress will finally manage to pass this.
The Democratic-controlled Congress is widely expected to back such a resolution in April, but the Bush administration is opposed to it, fearing the impact on relations its Nato ally.
Ankara strongly denies claims by Armenia and others that its forces committed a systematic genocide against Armenians during World War One. But many parliaments around the world have backed similar resolutions recognising the killings as genocide.
‘We do not expect Congress to make such a decision. But if it surprises us, I am worried this would cast a shadow over our strategic partnership in the future,’ Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as telling American businessmen.
He did not say what Turkey might do in such a case. In the past, it has temporarily frozen trade and other ties with countries that backed the genocide claims.
[Romney] showed poise when a heckler attacked him for being a Mormon: "You, sir, you are a pretender. You do not know the Lord."In reality, Romney is only slightly more tolerant than the man who heckled him. Romney is willing to be tolerant of people who have religions that are different from his, but you must have a religion.
The audience booed the heckler.
''One of the great things about this land is that we have people of different faiths and different religions, but we need to have a person of faith lead the country,'' he said, as the audience gave him a standing ovation.
"While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service. He has mine."But yesterday in South Carolina, candidate McCain said:
"I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history."And this is the guy who deserved our "respect and gratitude"?
At Huffington Post, Bob Cesca says it's time for Al Gore to enter the presidential primary stage. He writes: . . . we need a president who will make the climate crisis his or her number one priority.Hold on a second. What was that c-word I heard?
The time is now for this person and, no offense to the other Democratic candidates, that person is naturally Al Gore. He has the charisma, sense of urgency, the knowledge . . . .
I-Report: You and the presidents say, 'Cheese!'No, this wasn't the website for the Weekly World News or The Star or some other tabloid. It was from the home page of CNN.
Crying woman reveals shame of no electricity
The price of fame is high -- bring your wallet
Stylist: I tried to halt Britney shaving head
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has not endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate, but his son has.
Rory Reid is signing on as Nevada chairman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. He will be senior adviser on Western issues including public lands, transportation, resources and conservation, growth and affordable housing, the New York senator's campaign said in a statement Sunday.
Reid, 44, is chairman of the Clark County, Nev., Commission and a former chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.Most leading conservative politicians agree with what McCain said, but very few of them have been willing to be as honest and direct as McCain was on Sunday. In that respect, at least, I give him a little credit.
"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,'' the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
... The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited.
... McCain is trying to build support among conservatives after a recent rebuke from Christian leader James Dobson, who said he wouldn't back McCain's presidential bid.
At the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner of the Democratic Party of Virginia on Saturday, the Hillary Clinton signs and bumper stickers were free, as were “I’m in to Win” buttons featuring the New York senator. But “Obama ’08 Gear” was for sale – T-shirt, $20; button, $10; sign, $5. And he had a lot more takers than she did . . .
Party officials say their previous record for the dinner was 1,400 seats. But after Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was announced as the keynote speaker, sales ballooned and the party kept expanding the dinner until it had space for 3,200 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
A few hours before the dinner, Obama and Gov. Tim Kaine met reporters on the front porch of the Executive Mansion .... Obama had campaigned for Kaine, who was now returning the favor by becoming the first governor outside of Obama’s home state of Illinois to endorse his presidential candidacy.
It's a question worth asking in the wake of this revelation by the AP: In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunchboxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe — and several had more than 10 times hazardous levels.The original test results didn't come to light until the AP filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
But that's not what they told the public.
Instead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement that they found "no instances of hazardous levels." And they refused to release their actual test results, citing regulations that protect manufacturers from having their information released to the public.
"I don't think the Consumer Product Safety Commission has lived up to its role to protect kids from lead," said Dr. Bruce Lamphear, a lead poisoning specialist at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. "As a public agency, their work should be transparent. And if one is to err on the side of protecting children rather than protecting lunch box makers, then certainly you would want to lower the (lead) levels."
“Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged.”It's a quote that has been used by conservatives to oppose a House resolution against the White House "surge" plan for Iraq.
Federal authorities are investigating gifts and payments that Gov. Jim Gibbons of Nevada received as a congressman from an executive of a software company that got millions of dollars in federal contracts, government officials said Thursday.How convenient.
Investigators are examining whether the gifts and payments to Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, were in exchange for his help as a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.
The payments were from Warren Trepp, owner of eTreppid Technologies, based in Reno.
... Mr. Gibbons took office as governor last month after serving five terms in the House. .... Mr. Gibbons and Mr. Trepp have said they are friends, and have denied any wrongdoing.
... Some of the company’s no-bid contracts were classified, which meant that the size of the contract and its purpose were hidden in a budget process that was not made public.
Franken's challenge to Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who took Wellstone's place in the Senate after the popular incumbent was killed in a fall 2OO2 plane crash, was expected. What was intriguing was Franken's signal with the broadcast announcement that his will be a certain kind of candidacy, run very much in the Wellstone tradition.I wish Franken the best of luck, but I hope he runs a campaign that is right for him, as opposed to a campaign "in the Wellstone tradition." Invoking Wellstone's name or his values is one thing, but Franken could go too far. As Al Gore reminded us, candidates who try too hard to be someone else risk looking like a caricature.
... "Your government should have your back," the man who has spent the last three years serving as the voice of liberal talk radio said in a video produced for his campaign.
REPORTER: "John Bolton is up on [Capitol] Hill, and he just said that the agreement — firstly, that he's not a fan of the (recently announced North Korean) agreement, and that the North will be re-writing it every day it's in existence, it's a fantasy, it's rewarding the North and sending a horrible message to the world about the U.S.'s stand on weapons of mass destruction."When Press Secretary Tony Snow gets hit with a question like this, you wonder if the White House regrets having gone out on a limb to fight for Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
A few years ago, the term "NASCAR dads" entered the political lexicon, an appropriate counter for the Dem-leaning "soccer moms." Soon thereafter, political writers and commentators began using the words "NASCAR values."The Daytona 500 is a wreck before it even gets started.
A cheating scandal that had already brought down four teams now has ensnared another — that of two-time winner Michael Waltrip — tarnishing NASCAR's signature race and Toyota's highly anticipated debut.
... Waltrip lost his crew chief and team director ... The two were suspended indefinitely after an illegal substance was found during inspection for the season-opener.
... NASCAR officials would not reveal what they found in Waltrip's intake manifold, but a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press it was a property contained in jet fuel.
Violence in Sudan's western region of Darfur has spilled over into neighboring Chad and Central African Republic, both of which blame Khartoum for the attacks.If it's entertainment they want, they can always attend the city's film festival.
A source close to French President Jacques Chirac said the three countries' presidents were likely to meet at a French-African summit in the French seaside resort of Cannes.
"This same meeting is useless because it is aimed at distracting international public opinion and moving it away from the real problem, which is that Sudan is attacking Chad," said Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi. "We are not in Cannes to entertain the crowd."
This is my favorite part:Whether the globe really is warming is a question about facts — and about where those facts are measured ...
Yes, Virginia, there are skeptics about global warming among scientists who study weather and climate. There are arguments both ways — which is why so many in politics and in the media are so busy selling the notion that there is no argument.
If you heard both arguments, you might not be so willing to go along with those who are prepared to ruin the economy, sacrificing jobs and the national standard of living on the altar to the latest in an unending series of crusades, conducted by politicians and other people seeking to tell everyone else how to live.
What about all those scientists mentioned, cited, or quoted by global-warming crusaders? There are all kinds of scientists, from chemists to nuclear physicists to people who study insects, volcanoes, and endocrine glands — none of whom is an expert on weather or climate ....Y'mean, people like him? Sowell is a Hoover-based economist who, to my knowledge, has no special training or expertise in climate change or the earth sciences in general.
Among the things (Genevieve) Chandler, 30, and her date learned on their “Wild at Heart” zoo tour: Male pigs have a unique corkscrew endowment and impressive, um, output; manatees have orgies and don’t really care if their partners are male or female; and a male porcupine has only one four-hour window a year to mate — very carefully, of course.
Valentine’s Day is the time of year when zoos around the nation seek to woo a new adult audience with risque tours that couple champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and candlelight dining with impressive facts about how animals do the wild thing.
... San Francisco calls it “Woo at the Zoo.” New York City’s Central Park Zoo calls it “Jungle Love.” Zoo marketing folks in Boise, Idaho, named the tour “Wild Love at the Zoo.”
The Kansas state Board of Education on Tuesday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution that had made the state an object of ridicule.
The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of “intelligent design,” who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned.
... The state has had five sets of standards in eight years, with anti- and pro-evolution versions, each doomed by the seesawing fortunes of socially conservative Republicans and a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans.
The national spokesman for the black conservative organization Congress of Racial Equality says he believes he knows why the Democrat Party has gone bonkers over the presidential candidacy of Illinois Senator Barack Obama.This analysis is way off base on at least two levels.
... "They were scared to death that unless they started promoting a high-profile African-American into the highest ranks of the Democratic Party — which they had not done before — then they were going to lose their monopoly on the black vote," says (CORE spokesman Niger) Innis.
Innis names several black Republicans who have come up through the ranks over the past several years that he believes have put the Democrats back on their heels — Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Justice Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, Ken Blackwell.
"And that is, I think, what makes up more than anything else the Barak Obama 'phenomenon,'" Innis concludes.
... it is time to reflect on what constitutes inappropriate behavior in time of war.At least not "at the moment."
Scarcely anyone seems to consider the conduct of the Congress at the moment inappropriate, to say nothing of a hanging offense.
I guess everyone has a price — even the North Koreans. This story was just posted by the N.Y. Times: North Korea agreed today to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for a package of food, fuel and other aid from the United States, China, South Korea and Russia. The breakthrough, announced by the Chinese government after intense negotiations, came four months after North Korea tested a nuclear bomb.We'll agree to this with a Stalinist government that hastened mass starvation among its own people, but we wouldn't dare enter into talks with Syria or Iran. Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?
The partner nations agreed to provide roughly $400 million in various kinds of aid in return for the North starting a permanent disabling of its nuclear facilities and allowing inspectors into the country.
Perhaps equally important, the United States and Japan agreed to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang. The United States will begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and also on ending U.S. trade and financial sanctions.
From Reuters: Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government wants to decriminalize first-time possession of small amounts of drugs in a move likely to draw criticism from U.S. anti-narcotics officials.
Under the proposed legislation, users found for the first time with 2 grams (0.07 ounces) or less of marijuana and small amounts of other drugs ranging from cocaine to methamphetamine would not be prosecuted.
The bill passing through Mexico's Senate on its way to Congress is a toned down version of legislation Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, pushed through last year but later vetoed after angry objections from Washington.
... the legally punishable amounts of drugs found on a first-time user are smaller than under last year's bill ...
In Sunday's N.Y. Times, Nicholas Kristof has a question for you: So is your Fidelity account underwriting genocide in Sudan? Is your pension fund helping finance the janjaweed militias that throw babies into bonfires in Darfur and Chad?
The answer to both questions is complicated but may be yes, and that's one reason a divestment campaign is gaining strength around America and abroad.
... Five (U.S.) cities have divested ... A bill before Congress would bar certain companies active in Sudan from receiving federal contracts.
... More than other money managers, Fidelity has resisted the pressure and clung firmly to Sudan-related investments. So Darfur campaigners are urging investors to avoid Fidelity mutual funds: more information is at https://fidelityoutofsudan.net/signpetition.
SNOW: ... this is an expression of opinion on the part of members of Congress. And therefore, it is appropriate to let them go ahead and express it. You don't want to — this is not something where you negotiate and say, Senator, that's not your view. It doesn't work that way. I mean, a lot of times when you're dealing with a piece of legislation, you can sit down and you can try to work with folks. As a matter of fact, we made it clear to members of the House and Senate that we do want to work with them and share our views. But on something where they're trying to express their views, they're their views.In other words, the White House — or Snow at least — views Congress as sort of a highly paid debating society that is so irrelevant that it's not even worth trying to influence them as they prepare to "express their views."
REPORTER: But every vote is an expression of opinion. I mean, by that argument you could say —
SNOW: Come on, Jennifer, no —
REPORTER: — we should never try to convince someone to vote a way that they don't —
SNOW: I'm sorry, but when you're talking about the difference, for instance, on Social Security, or health care, or energy, you're dealing with specific provisions that have policy implications where an administration will be called upon to enact that law. This is different. It's a non-binding resolution that we think members ought to look at carefully to see what kind of message they're sending, but on the other hand, we don't think that it's appropriate to say, don't express your views. They've decided to do so, and it's appropriate.
So how many times during Putin’s tenure in office has Russia supported a proposal to authorize an armed U.N. force to be deployed somewhere in the world?... [Putin] dismissed suggestions that the European Union and NATO had the right to intervene alone in crisis regions.
"The legitimate use of force can only be done by the United Nations; it cannot be replaced by EU or NATO," he said.
“The process of NATO expansion has nothing to do with modernization of the alliance.”In my opinion, Putin is absolutely correct. But if I had to choose between an Eastern Europe brought under greater influence of Russia or the U.S., I would easily choose the latter (even if that influence is extended via the Bush admin.).
RUSSERT: Now, on Thursday, you said this: “The Republicans will be given either a substitute or a motion to recommit so that they can propose whatever substantive alternative that they choose. That will also be debated.” Is that still your plan?Yes, a straightforward answer would be nice, congressman.
HOYER: Not necessarily our plan, at this point in time, and let me tell you why. As we discussed this, we saw the problems that the Senate was confronted with, where the whereas clauses and the therefore clauses confused the issue. We believe the American public want a straightforward answer to the question ....
John Edwards' campaign had a little fire in the basement this week. Two bloggers hired by the former North Carolina senator, Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte, were labeled anti-Catholic by the Catholic League for writings about the church's positions on abortion and homosexuality. Conservative bloggers also targeted the pair ...
In the end, after a few days of contemplation, the campaign issued a three-a-culpa: a tri-part statement in which Edwards scolded the bloggers for their past writings, and they each apologized for offending anyone. No one was fired.
... Edwards has put a lot of money into Web outreach, to build netroots support and raise money, so he had to tread with particular care for fear of undoing that work. But all campaigns are likely to face a version of his troubles this week. The major candidates are trying to do two conflicting things: channel the authenticity of the blogosphere while simultaneously maintaining the rigid image and message control that is crucial to any presidential campaign.
It's a ready-made car wreck because bloggers are tough to domesticate. They want to demonstrate they haven't sold out once they get onto a politician's payroll. Their regulars readers will be turned off if they tame themselves, and if they don't, they're likely to be coarse and brash.
Just as it would be a relief to arrive at the place in time when the color of the coaches in the Super Bowl matters not one bit, it would be fabulous to reach the day when a male athlete in a team sport doesn't have to worry about the reaction of declaring his homosexuality.
But that day isn't here just yet, as we found out this week now that John Amaechi has become the first former NBA player to publicly say he's gay. The reaction to Amaechi's announcement in advance of his soon-to-be-released autobiography, "Man in the Middle," is all over the place, from appropriate indifference to utterances that border on homophobic to, well, stock ignorance.
... The fact that a great number of heterosexual male athletes actually believe they don't already share locker rooms and showers with gay teammates is laughable.
Charles Barkley, who played in the NBA for 16 seasons, said yesterday: "It shouldn't be a big deal to anybody. I know I've played with gay players and against gay players and it just shouldn't surprise anybody or be any issue."
... If we're lucky, the men and women who are both enlightened and emboldened will not only be supportive but will drown out the knuckleheads and Neanderthals and everybody who wants to slow the march of progress. Even one step away from tolerance, whether we're talking about race, gender, religious beliefs or sexuality, simply slows the march to the day when none of this stuff matters.
... few relationships are as unhappy as the one between Connecticut’s two senators.Dodd was right.
A wall in Lieberman’s office is covered with photographs of the two men together. One is inscribed, by Dodd, “To Joe, our first appearance together as Senators! You obviously have forgotten the first rule of a junior senator. They should be seen and not heard!”
Lieberman has, in past years, described Dodd as his “best friend” in the Senate. When I asked him if this was still true, his eyes narrowed, and he said, “I have so many good friends in the Senate. John McCain is a very good friend.”
These days, most of Lieberman’s closest friends in the Senate are Republicans.
... Neither Lieberman nor Dodd was eager to discuss the unravelling of their relationship, in particular its most painful episodes: Dodd’s decision to endorse Lamont the morning after the Lieberman primary defeat, and his appearance in a Lamont television advertisement, in which he said, “People want different leadership in Washington.”
Lieberman’s friends were, of course, upset by Dodd’s infidelity. “I found that whole thing almost unbelievable,” Warren Rudman, the former New Hampshire senator, told me. “I can’t imagine why Chris Dodd did that.”
Dodd justifies his endorsement of Lamont as one of principle over friendship. “I’m the senior Democrat in the state,” he said. “What do I tell a twenty-year-old, what do I tell someone who wants to be a Democrat and join the process? ‘I’m sorry, the primary doesn’t count, it doesn’t make a difference’? It was painful. I didn’t like it. But I wasn’t going to turn around and tell people this doesn’t mean anything.”
''He is completely heterosexual,'' (Rev. Tim) Ralph said. ''That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing.''What does that mean exactly? It wasn't constant and it was only "acting-out situations"?
Are you listening, Joe?"I pointed out (in hearings recently) that there have been four surges since the initial invasion, and they’ve been of similar sizes — one was like 30,000 troops around one of the elections. None of them produced a lasting change in the dynamic."
It's not $481.4 billion, as the Defense Department is claiming. No, a squint through the fine print of the White House and Pentagon budget documents reveals that the true request for new military-spending authority comes to $739 billion.
... The budget requests $3.1 billion for a new aircraft carrier, $2.7 billion for a new Virginia-class submarine, and $3.4 billion to complete construction of two new DDG-1000 (formerly "DDX") cruisers.
It's hard to leave the cruisers half-built, but do we really need another nuclear-powered carrier and submarine? The U.S. Navy is not stretched beyond its capacity (unlike, say, the Army); there is no maritime mission it can't fulfill; no other country has a navy that's remotely threatening.
"On Thursday, Iraqis will meet their fourth milestone. And when they do go to the polls and choose a new government under the new constitution, it will be a remarkable event in the Arab world. .... Early next year, Iraq's new parliament will come to Baghdad and select a prime minister, and a presidency council, and a cabinet of ministers. .... The terrorists know that democracy is their enemy ..."A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.Now there's an idea for House Republicans to file away for the next time they control Congress -- grant immunity to all incumbents.
Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's seat in parliament gives him immunity from prosecution.
... U.S. military intelligence in Iraq has approached al-Maliki's government with the allegations against Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, whom it says assists Iranian special forces in Iraq as "a conduit for weapons and political influence."
... A Kuwaiti court sentenced Jamal Jafaar Mohammed to death in 1984 in the car bombings of the U.S. and French embassies the previous December. Five people died in the attacks and 86 were wounded.
First, the real offense was created by Focus on the Family, not Wolf. I will condemn their statement. Wolf merely asked whether Cheney had a reaction he'd like to share.Good points, both of them.
Second, Cheney will have been at Bush's side for eight years when they leave, much of which Bush will have spent condemning homosexuality and working to marginalize gays and lesbians. What has Cheney done to stop this?
BLITZER: "Your daughter Mary, she's pregnant. All of us are happy ...."Obviously, all people weren't happy, given the statements made by various Christian conservative groups. I suppose it's possible that Blitzer's "all of us" referred only to CNN employees, but I can't quite picture Miles O'Brien and Rob Marciano giving each other high-fives over the news that Mary Cheney is pregnant (although Marciano would look cute smiling about anything).
BLITZER: "Do you want to respond to [FoF's comments]?Obviously "a good daughter"? Why did Wolf Blitzer make himself a character reference for the veep's daughter? How well does he know Mary Cheney?
CHENEY: "No, I don't."
BLITZER: "She's obviously a good daughter --"
CHENEY: "I'm delighted ...."
Rice predicted to (then-NBC's Katie) Couric that the December (2005) elections in Iraq would show "that the Iraqi people are not supportive of this insurgency." And, "an insurgency cannot last without the support of the population," she said.Well, Rice has finally made a prediction that came true. On Friday, according to the AP:
... a reporter asked (Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice to forecast the Super Bowl outcome.If only her predictive skills were this good in the arena of foreign affairs.
"I really like both Chicago and Indianapolis, but I think Indianapolis is going to win it," she said.
I know, I know -- if you're an American, you're supposed to love Peyton Manning. Advertisers seem to think so because you can't watch a sporting event on TV without seeing at least seven commercials featuring Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning.I thought before the game Peyton Manning would have to have a sub-par game for him not to win MVP. He's become such a focal point for the Colts.Yeah, that sounds like a fair standard -- one player out of 44 starters on both teams wins the MVP award by default unless he has "a sub-par game."
Senator John McCain, intent on succeeding where his freewheeling presidential campaign of 2000 failed, is assembling a team of political bruisers for 2008. And it includes advisers who once sought to skewer him and whose work he has criticized as stepping over the line in the past.So I guess it's not surprising that the so-called Bush insiders feel so comfortable joining McCain's camp.
... In 2004, Mr. McCain said the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertisement asserting that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had not properly earned his medals from the Vietnam War was “dishonest and dishonorable.”
Nonetheless, [McCain] has hired the firm that made the spots, Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, which worked on his 2000 campaign, to work for him again this year.
America comes and liberates [the Iraqis] from the tyrant who kept everyone living in fear, and the ancient animosities and more recent resentments begin to play themselves out to deadly effect. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died, the overwhelming majority of them killed by Sunni insurgents, Baathist dead-enders and their al-Qaida allies who carry on the Saddamist pogroms.We midwifed their freedom?!?!
...
Iraqis were given their freedom and yet many have chosen civil war.
...
We have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq. But when Arabs kill Arabs and Shiites kill Shiites and Sunnis kill all in a spasm of violence that is blind and furious and has roots in hatreds born long before America was even a republic, to place the blame on the one player, the one country, the one military that has done more than any other to try to separate the combatants and bring conciliation is simply perverse.
It infantilizes Arabs. It demonizes Americans. It willfully overlooks the plainest of facts: Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom.
They chose civil war.
Bypassing the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.While there are good reasons to be skeptical about the vaccine-- mainly that it's new-- this is certainly an unexpected move from a staunch conservative. Although Perry's ties to Merck do cast a certain pall on his motivations.
...
Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade -- meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 -- will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV. (Vaccine meeting roadblocks nationally. )
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base. But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different from the one that protects children against polio. "The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer," Perry said in announcing the order.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.If we give him the benefit of the doubt, Perry is doing this because he believes that preventing HPV is good public health policy, not just to help line Merck's pockets. I'm sure there will be some parents who will op-out, as they have the right to do, overall this is certainly a move in the right direction as far as women's health is concerned. If I had a young daughter I'd get her in line for the vaccine.
Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
A report from the Congressional Budget Office says President Bush's plan for a troop increase in Iraq could cost up to $27 billion for a 12-month deployment.In other words, the Bush gang underestimated the "surge" cost by at least 60% and as much as 382%.
The report estimates that a four-month deployment of the additional troops — both combat and support — could cost $9 billion to $13 billion and a 12-month deployment could cost $20 billion to $27 billion.
The White House estimated that the troop increase would cost $5.6 billion.
Since 1999, when Vladimir Putin, a career K.G.B. officer, was, in effect, anointed as President by Boris Yeltsin, thirteen journalists have been murdered in Russia. Nearly all the deaths took place in strange circumstances, and none of them have been successfully investigated or prosecuted.
... (for example) the investigative reporter Yuri Shchekochikhin ... died of what doctors described as an “allergic reaction.’’ Shchekochikhin, who became famous in the Gorbachev era with his reports on the rise of a new mafia, had been investigating allegations of tax evasion against people with links to the F.S.B., the post-Soviet K.G.B. Nobody ever explained what Shchekochikhin was allergic to, and his family is convinced that he was poisoned.
... The attacks have not been limited to journalists. In September of 2004, Viktor Yushchenko, a candidate for President of Ukraine who helped lead the Orange Revolution, and who was vigorously opposed by Putin, barely survived a poisoning.
... (Last year) Alexander Litvinenko, a little-known former K.G.B. agent who had been imprisoned by Putin and had then defected to England, fell gravely ill in London. ... Litvinenko had accused the Russian President of creating a pretext for the Second Chechen War in 1999 by blowing up buildings in Moscow and then blaming Chechen separatists for the attacks.
... “Reform of the K.G.B. never really happened,’’ Evgenia Albats, a professor of political science at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, said a few weeks ago ... "the secret services are now in full power.”
... Vladimir Putin’s relationship with democracy is not ambiguous: in December of 2004, he signed a bill that effectively eliminated the election by popular vote of Russia’s eighty-nine governors. The President now nominates them himself — and then waits for regional legislatures to confirm his choices (as they always do).
In another change that nobody protested and few people noticed, Putin also assumed the power to appoint the mayors of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Last November, again at the President’s behest, the Duma abolished any requirement that a minimum number of voters must participate in order for an election to be valid.
According to a Gallup poll taken in January 2001, just before George W. Bush was inaugurated: Would you like to see organized religion have more influence in this nation, less influence, or keep its influence as it is now?But when this same question was asked a few weeks ago:
More 30%
Less 22%
As It Is Now 45%
Other/Unsure 3%
Would you like to see organized religion have more influence in this nation, less influence, or keep its influence as it is now?It's interesting that what used to be a +8% gap (More vs Less) is now a -5% gap, even when the poll question doesn't connect religion's influence specifically with politics.
More 27%
Less 32%
As It Is Now 39%
Other/Unsure 2%
Obviously, Bill Clinton felt otherwiseIn [a New York Observer] article published Wednesday, Biden is quoted evaluating presidential rivals [Clinton, Edwards and Obama]. His remarks about Obama, the only African-American serving in the Senate, drew the most scrutiny.
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Biden issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying: "I deeply regret any offense my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Sen. Obama."
Steven Pearlstein's candid assessment of the political climate in his Jan. 24 column was refreshing. He's right. Enough of the partisanship: It's time to embrace the opportunity to start a serious debate on health-care reform.That's one eloquent dude. But I think he left out some equally eloquent one-liners. He could have added:
While President Bush's proposal to cover what may be as many as 48 million uninsured leaves many questions unanswered, it is one idea among many that can help us move toward meaningful solutions.
No suggestion is above constructive criticism, but we will never solve our nation's pressing health and long-term financial security problems if we don't start looking beyond partisanship and begin to collectively debate new ideas. Working together, we can accomplish so much. Divided, we will fail.
Mark Kitchens
Director of Media Relations and Strategy
AARP
Last night on "The O'Reilly Factor," Bill O'Reilly asked Ann Coulter to handicap the GOP presidential hopefuls.