The Trauma of 9/11 Is No Excuse
By Richard A. Clarke
Top officials from the Bush administration have hit upon a revealing new theme as they retrospectively justify their national security policies. Call it the White House 9/11 trauma defense.
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT ON THE MURDER OF DR. GEORGE TILLERI am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.
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Obama’s Real Hundred Days
By Michael Tomasky
With health care and climate change on the agenda, the next hundred are more important than the first.
Sotomayor's New York Justice The Supreme Court has always been a weird place, the closest government institution to a mystic cult, and in recent years, thanks to Republican appointments, the atmosphere has grown even stranger, more academic and detached, dominated by “originalists” and paranoids who seem to hate the modern world as it actually exists and who want to take the country back to some idealized past, before all those whiny minorities spoiled things.
by Chris Smith
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Rogues, Robes and Racists
by Charles M. Blow
Someone pinch me. I must be dreaming. Some of the same Republicans who have wielded the hot blade of racial divisiveness for years, are now calling Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court nominee, a racist. Oh, the hypocrisy!
Note to Newt: How "New Racism" Isn't Like "Old Racism"
by John Ridley
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Friday, May 29, 2009
Some Question Jihad Qualifications of Synagogue Bomb Plot Morons
By Roy Edroso
While the four losers who wanted to blow up Riverdale synagogues -- whose conspiracy was "played out on a veritable soundstage of hidden cameras and secret microphones," per the Times -- continue to grab scary headlines, some are suggesting that they were just pathetic mooks who got grifted by an overzealous FBI informant. "It seems that the informant whipped up their violent tendencies and their hatred of Jews, cooked up the plot, incited them, arranged their purchase of weapons, and then had them busted," says Robert Dreyfuss at The Nation. "It is disgusting and outrageous that the FBI is sending provocateurs into mosques."
TPM Muckraker's Zachary Roth describes the crew as "a group of struggling credulous, under-educated men, existing on the fringes of society, who lacked the intelligence or willpower to avoid getting taken in by a government informant anxious to mitigate his own situation..." Roth finds it "almost reassuring that the biggest terror bust we've seen in a while has this sad-sack group at his center."
Graham Rayman's profile of the interesting FBI man who snared these birds is here.
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By Roy Edroso
While the four losers who wanted to blow up Riverdale synagogues -- whose conspiracy was "played out on a veritable soundstage of hidden cameras and secret microphones," per the Times -- continue to grab scary headlines, some are suggesting that they were just pathetic mooks who got grifted by an overzealous FBI informant. "It seems that the informant whipped up their violent tendencies and their hatred of Jews, cooked up the plot, incited them, arranged their purchase of weapons, and then had them busted," says Robert Dreyfuss at The Nation. "It is disgusting and outrageous that the FBI is sending provocateurs into mosques."
TPM Muckraker's Zachary Roth describes the crew as "a group of struggling credulous, under-educated men, existing on the fringes of society, who lacked the intelligence or willpower to avoid getting taken in by a government informant anxious to mitigate his own situation..." Roth finds it "almost reassuring that the biggest terror bust we've seen in a while has this sad-sack group at his center."
Graham Rayman's profile of the interesting FBI man who snared these birds is here.
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Those labeling Sotomayor a radical don't know her at allby Robert Morgenthau
No sooner had President Obama announced his nomination of Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor than conservative partisans began calling for her defeat.
No sooner had President Obama announced his nomination of Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor than conservative partisans began calling for her defeat.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Buchanan on Sotomayor: "Not that intelligent."
If Republicans keep trashing the Supreme Court nominee, they'll wind up an even tinier minority than they are now.
by Joan Walsh
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If Republicans keep trashing the Supreme Court nominee, they'll wind up an even tinier minority than they are now.
by Joan Walsh
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Obama Selects Sotomayor for CourtSouter Replacement Would Be First Hispanic Justice
By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY
President Obama announced on Tuesday that he had chosen Judge Sonia Sotomayor of a Federal Court of Appeals based in New York as his nominee for the Supreme Court.
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CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, misrepresent Sotomayor remark on role of appeals court judges
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Monday, May 25, 2009
Banking on Fear
by Leslie Savan
While we're enthralled by Obama's elegance and reason, Cheney waits like a troll under a bridge, watching for the slightest misstep.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Zakaria: "Everything You Know About Iran Is Wrong"The regime wants to be a nuclear power but could well be happy with a peaceful civilian program (which could make the challenge it poses more complex). What's the evidence? Well, over the last five years, senior Iranian officials at every level have repeatedly asserted that they do not intend to build nuclear weapons.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Top Ten Tuesdays: Why are we leaving the Republican party?10) Found walking upright and breathing through nose so refreshing, we decided to do it permanently.
9) "Supermajority" sounds so bitchin'.
8) Constant whining about religious persecution got on our last goddamned nerve.
7) Tired of consoling drunk, sobbing Newt Gingrich at 3am about the future of the Republican party.
6) Was only using conservatism for the tax cuts.
5) Wanted to join a party that would support our fetish for having a dominatrix bash our groin with a gavel while reading dirty-sounding words from Robert's Rules of Order.
4) Couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched when using the GOP men's room.
3) Three words: Palin in 2012.
2) Obama is just so dreamy.
1) Have you listened to these guys?
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Friday, May 22, 2009
The Health-Care Time Warp
by Paul Waldman
With the health-care debate underway once again, Republicans are dusting off the same rhetorical playbook they used during the Clinton years.
Cheney and the Iraq-Torture Link
By Joe Conason —
Defending their record in office these past eight years, figures from the last administration seem especially touchy on the subject of torture. Led by the former vice president, Dick Cheney, they have argued that there was no torture, preferring more vague and delicate terms such as “enhanced interrogation” or simply “the program.”
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Cheney's War Against Obama
by Jacob Heilbrunn
Cheney presented himself as a simple, plainspoken fellow who had no office left to seek, no grudges to settle. But by the end, his mask slipped and the culture warrior appeared
Playing the Pelosi card What? CIA operatives concealed the truth about torture from a San Francisco liberal? No!
By Gene Lyons
By Gene Lyons
by Laura Flanders
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Torture 13
These key Bush administration officials authorized it, decided how to implement it and crafted the legal fig leaf to justify it
By Marcy Wheeler
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Sunday, May 17, 2009
BUSH'S BIBLE BRIEFINGSAn exclusive slideshow of never-before-seen Pentagon documents that mixed faith and the Iraq war…
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By Eugene Robinson —
Can’t we send Dick Cheney back to Wyoming? Shouldn’t we chip in and buy him a home where the buffalo roam and there’s always room for one more crazy old coot down at the general store? For the final act of his too-long public career, Cheney seems to have decided to become an Old Faithful of self-serving nonsense.
Can’t we send Dick Cheney back to Wyoming? Shouldn’t we chip in and buy him a home where the buffalo roam and there’s always room for one more crazy old coot down at the general store? For the final act of his too-long public career, Cheney seems to have decided to become an Old Faithful of self-serving nonsense.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Social Security is going broke again!
You are about to be hit by another wave of disinformation about how Social Security needs reforming (meaning, your benefits must be cut). It's not true
By Michael Lind
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You are about to be hit by another wave of disinformation about how Social Security needs reforming (meaning, your benefits must be cut). It's not true
By Michael Lind
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Monday, May 11, 2009
An Honest Brawl Over the Court
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
The coming battle over President Obama's first Supreme Court nomination could be an enlightening debate over what direction the court should take. But it could also be a nasty and hypocritical fight that obscures more issues than it clarifies.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Pawn in Their Game
by Dave Zirin
Los Angeles, a town built on artifice and home to hordes of performance-enhanced entertainers, not to mention led by a performance-enhanced governor, now demands purity of its athletes.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Those Brand-New Humble Republicans
By Joe Conason —
Hoping to re-brand their declining party, a group of prominent Republicans recently launched a national “listening tour,” presumably as an exercise in market research. They would like to know why voters—and especially younger voters—increasingly reject the GOP.
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By Joe Conason —
Hoping to re-brand their declining party, a group of prominent Republicans recently launched a national “listening tour,” presumably as an exercise in market research. They would like to know why voters—and especially younger voters—increasingly reject the GOP.
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Thursday, May 07, 2009
Jeffrey Rosen, TNR and the anonymous smears against Sonia Sotomayor
The gossipy hit piece aimed at a potential Supreme Court nominee illustrates how toxic is anonymity-based "journalism."
by Glenn Greenwald
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The gossipy hit piece aimed at a potential Supreme Court nominee illustrates how toxic is anonymity-based "journalism."
by Glenn Greenwald
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Bristol Palin’s New Gig
by Gail Collins
Making Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter a teen ambassador for abstinence is a terrible idea. In terms of combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Jack Kemp, 73, Dies; Sports and G.O.P. Star
By ADAM CLYMER
Mr. Kemp was a football star turned congressman and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996, but his greatest legacy may stem from his calls for sharp tax cuts.
By ADAM CLYMER
Mr. Kemp was a football star turned congressman and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996, but his greatest legacy may stem from his calls for sharp tax cuts.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Out of Touchby Bob Herbert
The Republicans have spent years trying to fool everybody with dime-store philosophies; now the party is trapped in the patently pathetic phase of fooling itself.
The Next War Over the Courts
by Doug Kendall and Simon Lazarus
Conservatives are geared up to push back against even the most moderate judicial nominations. In order to win this fight, Obama must successfully frame it.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Souter Said to Be Leaving Court in JuneRetirement Offers Obama First Chance to Nominate Justice
By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY
Justice David H. Souter has grown increasingly sour on Washington and intends to return to his home state at the end of the Supreme Court’s term, according to people briefed on his plans.
Obama's Supreme Court wish list
The president talks about what he wants in a replacement for Souter: "A sharp and independent mind" who understands that justice is "about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives"
By Alex Koppelman
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Exit Justice Souter
by John Nichols:
As David Souter leaves the bench and Obama puts his first stamp on the high court, a female justice is a likely choice.
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