Month: January 2011
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Sam Donaldson Remembers Ronald Reagan
For those of us who grew up during the Reagan years, one of the most memorable parts were the frequent clashes between President Reagan and ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson. Whether it was during Presidential Press Conferences or the many occasions when Donaldson would attempt to shout a question at the President…
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Eric Cantor: Vote On Debt Ceiling Must Be Tied To Spending Cuts
Yesterday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said that House Republicans will not support an increase in the debt ceiling unless it is tied to spending cuts: U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor said on Sunday his fellow Republicans would not vote to increase the U.S. debt limit unless it was coupled with spending…
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Cholera Death Reported in Dominican Republic
Via the BBC: Dominican Republic confirms first cholera death Health officials said the victim was a 53-year-old Haitian who was being treated in the eastern town of Higuey. […] Almost 4,000 people have died of cholera in Haiti and close to 200,000 have been infected since the epidemic broke out in October. The Dominican Republic…
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Death Toll in Brazilian Floods over 800
Via the BBC: Brazil flood deaths top 800 with 400 still missing Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month. More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse. […] The…
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Line of the Day, SOTU Edition
“Every President, regardless of party, tries to stroke every erogenous zone in the electorate, and it becomes a political pep rally”–George Will on This Week.
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Tea Party Willing to Talk Defense Cuts
Via the AP: Tea partiers say defense in mix for budget cuts "The widely held sentiment among Tea Party Patriot members is that every item in the budget, including military spending and foreign aid, must be on the table," said Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. "It is time to get serious about…
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Bath Salts: The Latest Drug Problem?
Via the AP: Officials fear bath salts becoming the next big drug menace: Law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the bath salts, with their complex chemical names, are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale. Some say their effects can be as powerful as those of…
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Thirty Years Later: How Iran Beat Us, More Than Once
Thirty years after the hostages were freed from captivity in Iran, the United States still hasn’t figured out how to deal with the Islamic Republic.
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Silly State Of The Union Pageantry
As the night of the State Of The Union Address approaches, the silliness in Washington has been taken up a notch.
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Idaho Resurrects Discredited Idea Of Nullification In Health Care Reform Battle
Republicans in Idaho are talking about resurrecting the foolish and discredited idea of nullification as a weapon in the fight against ObamaCare.
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Theology of Calvin and Hobbes
Richard Beck, an experimental psychology professor at Abilene Christian, has written a comprehensive “Theology of Calvin and Hobbes.” A sampling from the intro: Charlie Brown’s negative affect swirls around low self-esteem where Calvin is mainly frustrated that he can’t get others to fall in line with his plans or recognize his genius. In short, Charlie…
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Test Taking Enhances Learning
A new study casts new light on the importance of testing students to reinforce their grasp of information.
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Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC Exit: Yet More Speculation
The speculation on Keith Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC’s top-rated show continues. Was he fired? Did he quit? Did the Comcast overlords push?
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Blogging 101
Some thoughts on why certain topics get blogged.
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Report: Olbermann Made The Decision To Leave Himself
Here’s a report that seems to contradict the TMZ speculation that Keith Olbermann’s departure was essentially a firing at the behest of soon-to-be NBC parent Comcast: “This was all Keith’s choice. He has several times over the years said that he wants out of his contract. He never meant it until this year. He started…
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Mitt Romney Wins N.H. Straw Poll, Ron Paul Second, Palin Fourth
It’s straw poll season already. First up, New Hampshire where things turned out about how you’d expect them to considering Mitt Romney lives there now.
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The Debt Ceiling Will Be Raised — Get Used To It
Demanding that the new GOP House hold the line at the current number is satisfying rhetorically, but all-but-impossible politically.
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Olbermann Bought Out?
TMZ suggest that he wasn’t fired as much as bought out to go away: Keith Olbermann’s Exit — Secret Deal.
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A Question About Giffords
The news about Congresswoman movement to a rehabilitation center is great news. Considering that she was shot in the head just two weeks ago, the fact that she is able to leave the hospital is near miraculous. I have heard reports of her using an iPad to pick out colors, responding to commands, and even…
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Professor Goes From Glenn Beck Target To Target Of Death Threats
Sometimes, rhetoric does matter: On his daily radio and television shows, Glenn Beck has elevated once-obscure conservative thinkers onto best-seller lists. Recently, he has elevated a 78-year-old liberal academic to celebrity of a different sort, in a way that some say is endangering her life. Frances Fox Piven, a City University of New York professor,…
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Bill Introduced To End Public Funding Of Political Campaigns
A Republican Congressman has introduced a bill that would end public funding of Presidential campaigns: The House Rules Committee next week will hold a meeting to consider H.R. 359, which would end taxpayer funding for presidential campaigns and party conventions. The Committee announced tonight that it would take up this bill on Tuesday at 10…
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Former Congressman “Assisting” Baby Doc Duvalier
This one has me more than just a little puzzled: A former U.S. congressman was among a group of American attorneys accompanying former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier as he spoke in the country’s capital Friday. Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr said he is not serving as Duvalier’s attorney, but is in Port-au-Prince to…
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You Can Never Please A Palin Supporter
The same people who were complaining a week ago that the media was obsessed with Sarah Paln are now complaining that a media figure has suggested she doesn’t deserve the coverage she gets.
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Newt Gingrich Tells Georgia Republicans He’s Running In 2012
Newt Gingrich toyed with the idea of running for President four years ago, or toyed with his supporters with the idea that he might right for President to be more precise, but this time he appears to be in for real: In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base…
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Memes
Didn’t we just talk about this?
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Taking Requests: Top Five Albums
Over in the Taking Requests thread, anjin-san suggests: More music posts. How about “your top 5 album picks”? I like tough questions. This is a post that should probably be about agonizing choices and excruciating writing and re-writing. But because I have a baby and a Minecraft account, I don’t have time for that. So…
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Blogging Liberty and Tyranny, Chapter One, Part Two
Part two of the ongoing series blogging Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny.
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Keith Olbermann Fired from MSNBC
Keith Olbermann, perhaps the most vitriolic left wing voice on American television, has had his contact abruptly terminated by MSNBC. Commentator Keith Olbermann signed off his msnbc cable television show Friday night after nearly eight years. “Msnbc and Keith Olbermann have ended our contract,” Phil Griffin, president of msnbc, said Friday. “Msnbc thanks Keith for…
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Take The Palin Pledge
For perhaps the first time ever, I find myself in total and complete agreement with Dana Milbank. Take the pledge: Give Palin a rest.
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Rep. Giffords Transferred To Rehabilitation After 12 Days In Hospital
Good news: TUCSON – Hundreds of well-wishers waved and cheered Friday as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords left the hospital here and later arrived at a Houston rehabilitation center that will guide her through the next step in her recovery. The Arizona Democrat was loaded into a waiting ambulance at University Medical Center and a motorcade took…
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Jim DeMint Joins CPAC Boycott
Apparently motivated by the boycott led by social conservative groups for the decision to invite a gay conservative group, Senator Jim DeMint will not be attending this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference: South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint will skip this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, making him the most prominent conservative figure yet to express…
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Lisa Murkowski: Getting Back at Tea Party? Or Vindicating Them?
Under the headline “MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE NICER TO MURKOWSKI,” Steve Benen catalogs Lisa Murkowski’s spate of votes as the lone Republican siding with Democrats: gays in the military, the DREAM Act, and New START. And she’s now urging her colleagues to give up on trying to repeal ObamaCare and get…
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America’s Most Bizarre Taxes
American states and localities, desperate for new sources of revenue, concoct some creative ways to tax.
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Paul Ryan Giving GOP Response To SOTU, But Michelle Bachmann Will Give Her Own
Early today it was announced that the GOP response to President Obama’s State Of The Union Address would be given by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin: House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan will give the Republicans’ response to the State of the Union address, once again putting the Wisconsin Republican center stage as a…
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In Bid To Stay Relevant, Rudy Giuliani Says He’s Thinking About 2012 Run
For the first time in public, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani said last night that he’s open to running for President again in 2012: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he’s “absolutely” open to a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. “I will take a look at 2012,” Giuliani said Thursday night…
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Rush Limbaugh Getting His Material From OTB?
As some of you may recall, on Wednesday evening, James Joyner marked the occasion of the State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao by awarding a Tweet Of The Day: @pcam: “The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner holds a State Dinner for a man who has the 2010 winner under House Arrest.” That was posted…
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Borders Books, RIP
They’re not technically out of business yet, but it’s a matter of time. Borders has quit paying for the books got on consignment — publishers like to call this “theft” — and otherwise has no strategy for becoming relevant again. Michael Rosenwald for WaPo: How Borders arrived at this once-unthinkable moment is, like many stories…
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Joyner on RTAmerica
I taped a segment for RTAmerica yesterday afternoon on the matter of Obama’s second anniversary in office. For some odd reason, they’ve edited it into one long ramble by slicing out the interviewer.
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Public Trust In Fox News Down 16 Points In Past Year
At least according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling: -A year ago a plurality of Americans said they trusted Fox News. Now a plurality of them don’t. Conservatives haven’t moved all that much- 75% said they trusted it last year and 72% still do this time around. But moderates and liberals have both…
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Enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Cost Pentagon $193 Million Over Five Years
According to a new GAO study: Enforcing the Pentagon’s “homosexual conduct policy” cost the government $193 million between 2004 and 2009, a new study from the Government Accountability Office finds. During that period, the Department of Defense spent $185 million finding and training replacements for the 3,664 service members who had been “separated” from the…
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OTB Foreign Desk
Today’s Foreign Desk includes comments on Brazil’s floods, developments in Ivory Coast, and Silvio Berlusconi’s sex scandal.
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Obama’s Mid-Term Report Card: Foreign Policy
Buried in our group post assigning President Obama’s midterm grades is a link to my New Atlanticist post “Obama’s Mid-Term Report Card,” which focuses entirely on foreign policy. In it, I give the president grades at the two year mark for his handling of Europe, Afghanistan-Pakistan, al Qaeda and global terrorism, Guantanamo and human rights,…
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Assessing The GOP 2012 Frontrunners: They All Stink
Once again, the frontrunners for the 2012 GOP nomination aren’t looking very good at all.
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I’ll Have What Mankiw’s Having
Greg Mankiw has a plan for cutting the deficit.
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Frank Gaffney And Anti-Muslim McCarthyism On The Right
As I’ve noted before, the latest complaint from some on the right about next month’s Conservative Political Action Conference is the claim that it is being infiltrated by people with ties to groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Last night, Frank Gaffney, who served in the Reagan-era Defense Department before a career in the private secator,…
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American Voters Continue Their Perpetual Fiscal Immaturity
We won’t be able to solve our fiscal problems until the American people grow up. So far, there are no signs of that happening.
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Where Are America’s Jobs?
What happened to the 15 million jobs that were supposed to be created in the past 10 years but weren’t?
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Republicans Propose $2.5 Trillion Spending Cuts
The Republican Study Committee has come up with some significant budget cuts.
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Taking Requests
Ok, oh scolders, what is it you want us to be blogging about in lieu of discussing a certain Hockey Mom?