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Arianna's Blog Blows By / LA Weekly — Permalink Judging from today's horrific debut of the humongously pre-hyped celebrity blog the Huffington Post, the Madonna of the mediapolitic world has gone one reinvention too far. She has now made an online ass of herself. | |
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Tom @ScaredMonkeys: Arianna's Blog Blows By Nikki Finke "Judging from today's horrific debut of the humongously pre-hyped celebrity blog... Kevin Roderick: • Nikki Finke thinks The Huffington Post "blows" and will be Arianna's undoing. James Joyner: Arianna's Blog Blows (LA Weekly) [snipped quote] One wonders by what yardstick Finke is measuring. |
Mitch Berg: The Pre-Post "Post" Post — Nikki Finke declares the Huffpo DOA: "What her bizarre guru-cult association, 180-degree... Hugh Hewitt: LAWeekly doesn't like Arianna's new effort. Perhaps if the HuffingtonPost takes phone sex ads, the Weekly will embrace it as one of its own. Michelle Malkin: Do it for the little people! Update: Nikki Finke's burning down the house. And Austin Bay puts it succintly: It's "a clog not a blog." |
| Also: Dale Franks, Jonah Goldberg, Pejman Yousefzadeh | |
Missing white female alert By / Chicago Tribune — Permalink Note to the news media—with an emphasis on the cable networks: Enough is enough. Your continual focus on, and reporting of, missing, young, attractive white women not only demeans your profession but is a televised slap in the face to minority mothers... | |
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McQ: Douglas MacKinnon, Bob Dole's former press secretary, says enough already with the "missing white female reporting". Jesse Taylor: Doug MacKinnon's piece on the media's obsession with white women has gotten a lot of play today, but I'm wondering... Attaturk: From Douglas MacKinnon, press secretary to former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole in the Chicago Tribune. |
Greg @TheTalentShow: It looks like I was right (via Kevin) : "The latest missing woman to dominate the airtime of the cable networks was... Chris Mooney: But I never quite put my finger on what's so disturbing about all of this coverage until I read this column by Douglas MacKinnon in the Chicago Tribune today. Rex Hammock: What Douglas MacKinnon said: (To "the media") "Your continual focus on, and reporting of, missing, young, attractive... |
| Also: Kevin Drum, Jim Romenesko, Taegan Goddard | |
Kerry adopting the rhetoric of a D.C. outsider By / Boston Globe — Permalink BATON ROUGE, La. — The Bruce Springsteen anthem, his theme song, was back — ''No retreat, baby, no surrender" — and people were on their feet before his speech began. | |
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Steve Soto: Edwards Distances Himself From 2004 As He Readies For 2008 — With John Kerry making noises about trying to recreate... Captain Ed: Inside Out, The (New) John Kerry Story — The Boston Globe reports that John Kerry has transformed himself into that... Jay Tea: John Kerry, Outsider — This morning's Boston Globe has a puff-piece about John Kerry (isn't THAT a surprise) as he positions himself for another run for the presidency in 2008. |
McQ: Kerry, it seems, still wants to be your president, and, according to the Boston Globe, the quintessential Washington... Hugh Hewitt: He's been assigned to follow John Kerry's cross-country trips to market his new populism. Jayson @PoliPundit: About as Relevant as Brand-New Parts for a Chevy Corvair — Is there any media/Democrat grouping more completely out to... |
| Also: Taegan Goddard, Kos @DailyKos, Orrin Judd, K. J. Lopez | |
Are Blogs Busting Loose? By / TCS — Permalink Last weekend I attended the BlogNashville blogger conference, held at Belmont University in Nashville. It was the third conference of that sort I had attended, and it underscored the way blogs, and blogging, are changing. In 2002, I went to Yale's Revenge of the Blog conference. | |
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Tom @ScaredMonkeys: Blogs Busting Loose — Glenn Reynolds has an interesting column over at Tech Central Station about the BlogNashville event. Rebecca MacKinnon: Video from Blognashville — Glenn Reynolds has posted some video interviews from Blognashville, including Dan Gillmor,... Glenn Reynolds: INSTA-TV: My TechCentralStation column is up, with a report from the BlogNashville conference and an extensive video... |
Chris Nolan: Paging Rick Kaplan... Also, from Nashville, check out Instapundit Glenn Reynolds' video coverage of the conference. Rex Hammock: Glenn Reynolds said: (on Tech Central Station) "Two recurring themes of BlogNashville were making money, and video." |
Dazzle, Yes. But Can They Blog? By / WaPo — Permalink The essence of blogging has been the one-man band, the big mouth in the basement, the pajama-clad pontificator taking on the media establishment. Now Arianna Huffington, who knows something about seizing the spotlight, wants to change that. | |
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Dr. Steven Taylor: Kurtz on "The Huffington Post" — Howard Kurtz hits the nail on the head regarding the basic flaw in the blog section of... McQ: Blog America — Why do I have the sneaking suspicion this may go the way of Air America? Michelle Malkin: Hmmm. Now, where did I read David's statement? Oh, yeah, in the forever right-wing-controlled Washington Post. |
Ace: Howie Kurtz wonders: "The best blogs, love 'em or hate 'em, have an unmistakable voice; this will be a cacophony of voices. James Joyner: Howie Kurtz, though, echoes my initial reaction to the endeavor and raises some other red flags. Dazzle, Yes. But Can They Blog? Scott @PowerLine: Howard Kurtz reports on the set-up in his Media Notes column for the Washinton Post: "Dazzle, yes. But can they blog?" |
| Also: Jim Romenesko, Taegan Goddard | |
Witnesses: Dog cared for abandoned baby AP — Permalink NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A newborn baby abandoned in a Kenyan forest was saved by a stray dog who apparently carried her across a busy road and through a barbed wire fence to a shed where the infant was discovered nestled with a litter of puppies, witnesses said Monday. | |
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Jim Henley: No comment yet, add yours? » Catblogging Shmatblogging No cat would do this. I could totally see Unqualified Dog in this role. |
Matthew Yglesias: Superdog — Wreck killed a rat the other day, which was cool, but not this cool. Via Henley. |
Times Panel Proposes Steps to Build Credibility By / NYT — Permalink In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and responding more assertively to the paper's critics. | |
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Iowahawk: Man, do I love the New York Times. Expecially when they give me an excuse to repost an old CNS column from 2003. Kevin Roderick: The NYT also covers the report today, and runs a story on the business of blogging that focuses on Nick Denton and the Gawker empire. Tom Maguire: Hidden in today's business section of the NY Times is a story (with excerpts) describing the conclusions and... |
Ace: The same day they presume to criticize us, they also announce their new plans to build credibility. Joe Gandelman: New York Times' New Goal Is Bolstering Reader Confidence — Nowhere is impact of today's quickly changing, highly... Jeff Jarvis: The report and Keller's response will be online here later today but from the story about it in today's paper by Kit Seelye, the recommendations look to be spot on. |
| Also: Cori Dauber, Roger L. Simon, Lindsay Beyerstein, Garrett M. Graff, TheAnchoress, Jim Romenesko, Ann Althouse, Marc @USSNeverdock, Glenn Reynolds, Betsy Newmark, Orin Kerr | |
HUFFINGTON POST EXCLUSIVE: EMBARGOED BOOK CLAIMS SAUDI OIL INFRASTRUCTURE RIGGED FOR CATASTROPHIC SELF-DESTRUCTION Huffington Post — Permalink According to a new book exclusively obtained by the Huffington Post, Saudi Arabia has crafted a plan to protect itself from a possible invasion or internal attack. It includes the use of a series of explosives, including radioactive "dirty bombs," that would cripple Saudi Arabian oil production and distribution systems for decades. | |
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Matt Welch: Blog down the left side, Drudgy headlines and pics to the right, a breathy Huffington Post Exclusive! about yet another... K. J. Lopez: A preview of Gerald Posner's new book: "the Saudi Arabian government has in place a nationwide, self-destruction... |
Damian Penny: The Post also has details of Gerald Posner's new book about Saudi Arabia, which sounds like an essential read. |
V-E Day -- a Soiled Victory By / LAT — Permalink A look at the WWII Allies' moral shortcuts. World War II was the most destructive event in human history. It transformed the world more profoundly than any other man-made calamity, including all the great political revolutions. | |
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Baldilocks: This Should Be Interesting — Speaking of human fallibility, some people are still under the illusion that human beings... Blackfive: That's Why It's Called "War" — "It is well that war is terrible - we should should grow too fond of it." |
Steve Bainbridge: Niall Ferguson calls it a "soiled victory" - and he's got a point. Armed Liberal: There's a broader point here... In the Sunday LA Times, Niall Ferguson, author of "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the... |
Stereotypes and filibusters By / Washington Times — Permalink The judicial confirmation process has become so savage in recent years that it would take a brave nominee to offer himself or herself for consideration. California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, for example, has been charged in a recent NAACP "Action Alert" with being "hostile to civil rights" and "having extreme right-wing views." | |
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Paul @PowerLine: Prejudicial selectivity — Civil libertarian Nat Hentoff explains how "prejudicially selective" the Democratic attacks on judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown have been. |
Tom Smith: If you are judging while Black, you had better mind your p's and q's. Ditto for Hispanic jurists. See Hentoff. |
Secret Rosen Tape May Confound Democratic Party By / New York Sun — Permalink With the trial of a key finance official on Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign set to open tomorrow, a secretly recorded audiotape at the core of the case could prove embarrassing to politicians, political operatives, and wealthy donors to the Democratic Party. | |
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TheAnchoress: Josh Gerstein seems to think the story won't go away too easily and that it may "confound" the democrats. Michelle Malkin: More from the New York Sun's Josh Gerstein: Secret Rosen Tape May Confound Democratic Party And heard that Tony Snow will have Peter Paul on to talk about the case. Scott @PowerLine: Josh Gerstein broke the story of the wire last month in the New York Sun and understandably moves discussion of the wire... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING — Without prejudging this case, shouldn't we at least be hearing a little more about it from media sources other than the New York Sun? Rich Lowry: From the New York Sun today: "Among the recorded gripes on the tape was Mr. Rosen's complaint that although he worked... Tom Maguire: Al "Mr. Warmth" Gore — In a newsmaking Times-Picayune story (cited in the NY Sun) about Hillary's problem with the old... |
The Final Insult By / NYT — Permalink Hell hath no fury like a scammer foiled. The card shark caught marking the deck, the auto dealer caught resetting a used car's odometer, is rarely contrite. On the contrary, they're usually angry, and they lash out at their intended marks, crying hypocrisy. | |
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Brad DeLong: Paul Krugman Does Some Math on Right-Wing Class Warfare — He writes: The Final Insult - New York Times: Hell hath no fury like a scammer foiled. Tom Maguire: Always The Red, Never The Black — I infer from his column lead that Paul Krugman has never played, or watched, a three card monte game in the Greatest City in the World. Lambert @Corrente: Alpo Accounts: Krugman nails Brooks's pasty, white... ... jello-consistencied ... Oops, I promised to get more civil; my B.S.S. was spiking again. |
PGL: Update: Paul Krugman was on the story before I was - again. Avedon Carol: Paul Krugman, The Final Insult, on why Bush's plan not only won't save Social Security, but is meant to destroy it. Matthew Yglesias: Fortunately, Paul Krugman can: [snipped quote] Note that Bush manages to give the average family a bad deal here even... |
| Also: Steve Soto, Donald Luskin, DavidNYC @DailyKos, Attaturk, Michael Froomkin, Ed Cone, Pudentilla | |
"I Want My Safety Net" Business Week — Permalink George Silli, a 66-year-old waiter from suburban Philadelphia, had a brush with President Bush's Ownership Society, and it was an experience he'll not soon forget. Silli's psyche and his wallet still bear the scorch marks of the 2000 market meltdown. | |
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Reihan Salam: RESCUING BUSH'S OWNERSHIP AGENDA: BusinessWeek has a cover package on "Safety Net Nation," the voters who want Social... Cookie Jill: it really is worth a read. |
Barry L. Ritholtz: Nasdaq 3 Year Chart click for larger graph Source: Redwood Technimentals NASDAQ has broken an uptrend line (red line)... |
Wall Street journalism or blog? ABC News — Permalink The Australian's columnist Janet Albrechtsen, now on the ABC Board, has already bought into the debate around the media coverage of the Douglas Wood story. The terrorists want US, Australian and British troops out of Iraq and will rely on a media fuelled compassion campaign to achieve that goal ...the media will no doubt comply ... | |
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Tim Dunlop: The episode itself makes the necessary points about the Chrenkoff site-of-misdirection: "Mr Chrenkoff is not a... |
Arthur Chrenkoff: Update: For all those who are wondering what the whole fuss was about (particularly if you're not from Australia), here's the transcript. |
Abu Ghraib Isn't Guernica By / Slate — Permalink Ian McEwan observed recently that there were, in effect, two kinds of people: those who could have used or recognized the words "Abu Ghraib" a few years ago, and those to whom it became a new term only last year. And what a resonant name it has indeed become. | |
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Orrin Judd: THE LAST STALINISTS: Abu Ghraib Isn't Guernica: But here's why the Spanish Civil War analogy is worth exploring. |
Tom Smith: Hitchens nails it — CH may be an anti-Catholic bigot, but he nails it with this one. |
Reid Offers Olive Branch on Bush Nominee By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Monday offered the Democrats' support for one of President Bush's judicial nominees, former Senate lawyer Thomas Griffith, as a goodwill gesture in the confrontation over banning judicial filibusters. | |
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Red @ScaredMonkeys: Harry Reid; Where Is Your Position of Strength on the Filibuster — So a couple days after Harry Reid decided to call... |
K. J. Lopez: MEANWHILE, HARRY REID tries to bogusly look reasonable by offering support for Thomas Griffith. |
It's to Laugh (or Cry) About By / WaPo — Permalink The runaway bride has turned into a runaway television embarrassment. A missing woman turns up safe after apparently getting cold feet about her wedding, and producers, rather than feeling embarrassed over their earlier excess, turn it into the latest national obsession. | |
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McQ: UPDATE: Howard Kurtz does a nice job of explaining the phenomenon. Jim Romenesko: (CPD) > Missing bride-to-be Sappleton was black, so TV wasn't interested (AJ-C) > Runaway bride has turned into a... |
Garrett M. Graff: A Story We'd Like To See — Howard Kurtz, who had a great op-ed (!) in yesterday's Outlook section, chatted away today... |
Gaining Confidence: 'N.Y. Times' Releases Key Internal Report Editor and Publisher — Permalink NEW YORK An internal committee at The New York Times has recommended steps to increase readers' confidence in the newspaper, including reducing errors, increasing coverage of religion, "rural areas" and "middle America," making reporters and editors more accessible, and possibly starting a blog. | |
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Kevin Roderick: An HP news headline says "New York Times to start a blog," but it just links to an Editor & Publisher story about... K. J. Lopez: SHADES OF GRAY — The New York Times heads in the blog direction. |
Echidne: An internal committee of the New York Times has come up with a list of recommendations "to increase reader's confidence in the newspaper". |
No Shift to the Center By / WaPo — Permalink Hillary Clinton has moved to the center in preparation for 2008. It's become a cliche — so self-evidently true that it shows up not merely in editorials but in news articles as well. One of the reasons it's so uncontroversial is that it seems innocuous, even flattering. | |
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Avedon Carol: Peter Beinart, No Shift to the Center - about why the wingnuts are trying to convince people that Hillary Clinton has... Matthew Yglesias: The Washington Post's editorial page offered an interesting thought experiment yesterday — how would nuke-happy Senate... |
Hugh Hewitt: But he has a Washington Post editorial on Hillary this morning that includes a classic Peter technique that endeared him... Tim Graham: THE WOMAN'S A LIB — Peter Beinart's monthly column for the WashPost is just wrong in its central thesis — that Hillary... |
Military: Blues, But Not Green Newsweek — Permalink May 16 issue - In case anyone still doesn't understand that recruiting is now the toughest job in the Army, the service missed its April goal by 42 percent. It was the third month in a row that the active-duty recruiting mission was not accomplished. | |
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Jason Van Steenwyk: Not good. What's more, the zoomies and squids aren't transferring to the Army in the numbers we hoped they would. |
James Joyner: Military: Blues, But Not Green (Newsweek, May 16) [snipped quote] Not terribly surprising, really. |
In the static world of the left By / Townhall.com — Permalink The left's latest misinformation campaign claims that if President Bush would just call off the tax cuts, there would be more than enough revenue to make Social Security solvent in perpetuity. | |
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Donald Luskin: Update 2... Jack Kemp piles on, faulting Krugman's statement that "Repealing Mr. Bush's tax cuts would yield enough... |
Betsy Newmark: Jack Kemp puts the economic smackdown on Paul Krugman. |
Increasingly Embattled, DeLay Scales Back Usual Power Plays WaPo — Permalink In the euphemism favored on Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is "not staff driven." Translation: He is used to doing what he wants. It happens all the time, DeLay friends and advisers say. | |
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Charles Kuffner: UPDATE: Forgot to link to this WaPo piece, which doesn't actually have anything to do with what Judis writes about but which calls DeLay "increasingly embattled" in the headline. Kos @DailyKos: Before we know it, he'll have to fly commercial. [snipped quote] This paragraph alone is evidence enough of DeLay's abuse of power. |
Taegan Goddard: Despite his recent bravado, the Washington Post notes scandal is started to wear down House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. |
They Were Against It, Before They Were For It By / Weekly Standard — Permalink Speaking out of both sides of one's mouth is an occupational hazard, if not an occupational necessity, for politicians seeking elective office in competitive races. It's not a pretty sight, and it supports a cynicism about democratic politics that is unbecoming. | |
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Scott @PowerLine: In my Daily Standard column today (click here), I point out the profound dishonesty of the Minneapolis Star Tribune... Hugh Hewitt: And Scott Johnson writes at TheWeeklyStandard on one example of how the left has come to love the filibuster it once hated, using America's worst second tier paper as an example. |
Ace: The Powerline's Scott Johnson writes in The Daily Standard about the Minneanapolis Star-Tribune's unexplained flip-flopping on filibusters. Vox Day: However, the Trunk remembers things a little closer to our own historical epoch very well indeed, as he demonstrates in... |
Iran Confirms Uranium-To-Gas Conversion By / AP — Permalink TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran confirmed for the first time Monday that it converted 37 tons of raw uranium into gas, a key step ahead of enrichment, before it suspended all such activities in November under international pressure. | |
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TheAnchoress: Then again…maybe this is the cause of so much dawdling… |
Jan Haugland: Iran back on the nuclear track — Iran is announcing it will continue its nuclear enrichment programme within days, and... |
Sources: Florida A.G. to Run for Governor By / AP — Permalink TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state attorney general plans to file paperwork this week to seek the Republican nomination for Florida governor, sources close to the attorney general said Sunday. | |
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Alexander K. McClure: Charles Crist, the State Attorney General, will shortly announce his decision to seek the Republican nomination. |
Jayson @PoliPundit: Florida 2006 — The AP says that state Attorney General Charlie Crist intends to run for the governor's post next year. |
Preserving Our Readers' Trust NYT — Permalink Last fall, roughly a year after your acceptance of the Siegal Committee recommendations on our newsroom's culture, you asked us to take a fresh look at some of the steps we had taken to increase readers' confidence in The Times. | |
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Garrett M. Graff: More on the Gray Lady's Credibility — The New York Times has posted the full report (HTML or PDF) from its "credibility committee." |
Jim Romenesko: NYT report: Paper needs to be more open and forthcoming — New York Times The Times has posted its "credibility committee" report to executive editor Bill Keller. |
The job is done By / Guardian — Permalink Tony Blair insists British troops cannot leave Iraq until Iraq's own police and army can guarantee security. It is, of course, the same argument that George Bush uses to justify keeping close to 150,000 US soldiers in the country. | |
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Norm Geras: A logic of Steele — Another op-ed piece by Jonathan Steele. Oh well, because it's there. Marc @USSNeverdock: Iraq - Troops in or out? Jonathan Steele writing in Guardian can't make his mind up. Norm notes Steele's lack of logic. |
Harry @HarrysPlace: An example of this effort is Jonathan Steele in the Guardian claiming that now is the time to pull British troops out of Iraq. |
The 100 Best High Schools in America By / Newsweek — Permalink May 16 issue - In the winter of 1821, the civic leaders of Boston approved what was then a radical idea. At a time when advanced learning was largely restricted to the wealthy, they voted to create the country's first public high school, open to boys 12 or older who could pass an entrance exam. | |
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Joanne Jacobs: The most challenging high schools — Newsweek's 100 Best High Schools in America have the most students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. |
Orin Kerr: I Suppose Newsweek Can Sell Magazines, Too: Annoyed that U.S. News & World Report has cornered the market on college and... |
BRAIN CANDY By / New Yorker — Permalink Twenty years ago, a political philosopher named James Flynn uncovered a curious fact. Americans—at least, as measured by I.Q. tests—were getting smarter. This fact had been obscured for years, because the people who give I.Q. tests continually recalibrate the scoring system to keep the average at 100. | |
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Steven Berlin Johnson: Gladwell On Everything Bad — Most of us who wanted to be writers from an early age probably had some point where they... |
Rex Hammock: Prediction - This book will become popular among the bloggers at JacobsPosse.blogs.com: In this week's New Yorker,... |
Clash Over Judicial Filibusters Nears Boiling Point By / WaPo — Permalink As the Senate returns from a week-long recess, Republicans are reminding everyone that four years ago today, President Bush nominated Priscilla R. Owen and Miguel A. Estrada to federal appellate courts. Neither received a Senate confirmation vote, Republicans note, because of Democratic filibusters. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: Senator Lugar predicts a Bolton approval from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week, and the crescendo of... |
Taegan Goddard: The Washington Post reports "numerous aides say a filibuster showdown is most likely in about two weeks, shortly before the Memorial Day recess." |
The High Drama of Tall Shrubbery By / LAT — Permalink Last year, Santa Monica's City Council decided to enforce a 60-year-old forgotten statute. Hedges over 40 some inches, it was found, were illegal. This was a surprise to all of us in Santa Monica, who see vast hedges everywhere. | |
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Kevin Roderick: Also: Mamet made fun of the Santa Monica hedge controversy in the LAT Sunday Opinion section, The High Drama of Tall Shrubbery. |
Matt Welch: Greenery — Speaking of People's Republics, David Mamet had a funny two-act op-ed in the Sunday L.A. Times about Santa... |
GOP, Like Companies, Wants Workers to Carry the Safety Net By / LAT — Permalink In an era when employers are retreating from the guaranteed benefits that once defined the American social safety net, should government accelerate or resist the trend? | |
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McQ: Per the LA Times, the trend is in that direction, and they don't like it. Pudentilla: "red" retirement - let the little people carry the risks, let the rich reap the rewards — [snipped quote] remember, the... |
Orrin Judd: IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE RIGHT...: GOP, Like Companies, Wants Workers to Carry the Safety Net (Ronald Brownstein, May... |
U.S. Officers In Iraq Put Priority on Extremists By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, May 8 — Senior U.S. commanders say their view of the Iraqi insurgency has begun to shift, with higher priority being given to combating foreign fighters and Iraqi jihadists. | |
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Tom @Corrente: Taking Dictation Once Again — You've got to be kidding me: [snipped quote] How many times have we been told this? Steve Soto: Our commanders in Iraq have changed their minds again and now believe that it's outsiders that are stoking most of the insurgency. James Joyner: U.S. Officers In Iraq Put Priority on Extremists (WaPo, A1) "Senior U.S. commanders say their view of the Iraqi... |
Cori Dauber: American officials are reevaluating which segment of the enemy force is more dominant, more important. Juan Cole: The Washington Post says that US military commanders are putting more emphasis now on combating the foreign jihadis. Rich Lowry: FOREIGN FIGHTERS ON THE RISE — Fascinating Washington Post article on the latest turn in the insurgency. |
What Rough Beasts? By / NYT — Permalink I love chimeras. I've seen just about every werewolf, Dracula and mermaid movie ever made, I have a Medusa magnet on my refrigerator, and the Sphinx of Greek mythology is a role model for her lethal brand of mystery. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Nice social insurance program you've got there . . . it'd be a shame if something were to happen to it. Maureen Dowd. |
Marc @USSNeverdock: Take Dowds latest revising for example. [snipped quote] But as Tim Blair notes: [snipped quote] Credibility, what Credibility? |
Row of Loosely Guarded Targets Lies Just Outside New York City By / NYT — Permalink KEARNY, N.J. , May 7 - It is the deadliest target in a swath of industrial northern New Jersey that terrorism experts call the most dangerous two miles in America: a chemical plant that processes chlorine gas, so close to Manhattan that the Empire State Building seems to rise up behind its storage tanks. | |
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Cori Dauber: In this case, the information is in fact so sensational, the situation so potentially dangerous, that even though... K. J. Lopez: INSECURITY "KEARNY, N.J. |
Pudentilla: homeland insecurity — [snipped quote] you know, it's not just that the emperor has no clothes. it's that he's running around a school yard, buck naked while diddling himself. |
Kaplan Unit Boosts Post Co. Profit WaPo — Permalink The Washington Post Co. yesterday reported that profit in the first quarter increased to $66.6 million ($6.87 per share) from $59.4 million ($6.15) in the comparable quarter a year earlier, due primarily to increased operating profit at its Kaplan education division. | |
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Garrett M. Graff: WaPoCo Still Making Money moolah.jpgRest assured Washingtonians: Newspapers may be dying, but the Washington Post is... |
Jim Romenesko: Additional items for May 9, 2005 > TV newsmags have largely abandoned hard news for lighter fare (USAT) > AP stories... |
From the Report NYT — Permalink An internal committee at The New York Times has made specific recommendations to improve the paper's credibility with readers. They include the following: 1. Encourage the executive editor and the two managing editors to share responsibility for writing a regular column that deals with matters concerning the newspaper. | |
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Cori Dauber: More Transparency at the Times — The Times comes up with a news series of policies designed to increase public trust. |
Garrett M. Graff: Reforming The Gray Lady — Kit Seelye gets the uncomfortable job today of writing up a NYT report on how the paper's... |
General Ranked on Rumsfeld Campaign By / LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers is preparing to leave public service with the distinction of being the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ever to preside over two wars. Myers' two military campaigns, in Afghanistan and Iraq, were considered combat successes. | |
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James Joyner: General Ranked on Rumsfeld Campaign (LAT, p. 1) [snipped quote] Myers' conception of the office squares with not only the law but a long tradition within the professional military. |
Attaturk: The L.A. Times manages to write an article that has Myers' advocates proclaiming how "brave" and "effective" he was by being Rummy's toady. |
Armor issued despite warnings By / USA Today — Permalink The Marine Corps issued to nearly 10,000 troops body armor that military ballistic experts had urged the Marines to reject after tests revealed life-threatening flaws in the vests, an eight-month investigation by Marine Corps Times has found. | |
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Mimus Pauly: from yesterday's usa toady: the marine corps issued to nearly 10,000 troops body armor that military ballistics experts... |
Cori Dauber: I'm looking for someone who can shed some light on this story. |
In the Plame Case, Losers All Around By / WaPo — Permalink I want to get really exercised about what the government is doing to a pair of fellow journalists — Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. I do hope they can stay out of jail. | |
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Avedon Carol: In the WaPo, William Raspberry, In the Plame Case, Losers All Around, is remarkable for being the first example I've... |
Jim Romenesko: Plame case is a fight with nothing much in it for anyone — Washington Post That's William Raspberry's assessment. |
Rice's Reason for Withholding Bolton Files: A Chilling Effect By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, May 8 - The State Department is refusing to make public internal documents sought by Senate Democrats in their attempt to seek more information about repeated clashes between John R. Bolton and American intelligence agencies over Syria, administration officials say. | |
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Judd @ThinkProgress: Bolton Hearings: State Department Only Responding To Requests Approved By Republicans — This morning the NYT reported... Laura Rozen: Late Sunday Update: More from Doug Jehl: [snipped quote] And USA Today analyzes why Bush is fighting so hard for this nomination. |
Orrin Judd: SEPARATION OF POWERS: Rice's Reason for Withholding Bolton Files: A Chilling Effect (DOUGLAS JEHL, 5/09/05, NY Times)... |
GOP: PARTY OF BLOAT By / New York Post — Permalink THE Republican promise of smaller, less-intrusive gov ernment is getting harder and harder to believe. Especially when a more plausible plot line is unfolding every day: that the GOP has put aside the ideals of Reagan and Goldwater in order to pursue a political strategy based on big spending. | |
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Robert Clayton Dean: More Republican-bashing — Just another stone in the bucket: "The Republican promise of smaller, less-intrusive government is getting harder and harder to believe. Chris Bowers: For example, read the conservative New York Post breaking down Bush's spending excesses: [snipped quote] It certainly is... |
John Cole: Big Government Republicans — Ryan Sager in the Post (via Glenn): "The Republican promise of smaller, less-intrusive government is getting harder and harder to believe. Glenn Reynolds: RYAN SAGER: [snipped quote] Perhaps Democrats will start agitating for a Balanced Budget Amendment. |
Mastermind of Prison Assault Captured, U.S. and Iraqis Say By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, May 8 — U.S. forces have arrested the alleged mastermind of last month's assault on Abu Ghraib prison and the organizer of recent lethal car bombings in Baghdad, the Iraqi government and U.S. military said Sunday. | |
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Cori Dauber: But catch the man who planned that attack (as well as a number of others) and you won't get past page A-20. |
Cliff May: PR VICTORY FOR AL QAEDA? Today's Washington Post refers to "the militant group al Qaeda in Iraq." |
Thanks, Tony By / Opinion Journal — Permalink Presidents and Prime Ministers every day receive countless letters, both from their own citizens and from overseas. In most cases, such correspondence is a vehicle for complaint and indignation; anger and frustration motivate more people to communicate with leaders than hope and gratitude. | |
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Cori Dauber: Good News Round-Up, Iraq — Another installment of news you won't see, won't see featured, or won't see pulled together so one can ponder overall progress. Pejman Yousefzadeh: CHRENKOFF WRITES — And his latest is not to be missed. |
Arthur Chrenkoff: Good news from Iraq, 9 May 2005 — Note: Also available from "The Opinion Journal" and Chrenkoff. FrancoAlemán: Fortunately, Arthur Chrenkoff brings them to us in his latest roundup that you should all read. |
ABC: THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; NETWORK SAID TO PICK UP 'COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF' FOR FALL Drudge Report — Permalink Is America ready for Ms. President!?! The new fall schedule will not be announced until later this month, but the DRUDGE REPORT has learned that ABC has picked up COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, a drama following the challenges facing the first female President of the United States. | |
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Ezra Klein: God Bless This Mess — I have to say the thing that leaps out at me most about this report is that Geena Davis is, in fact, still acting. Steve Bainbridge: Drudge reports that the suits at ABC have cleared Commander-in-Chief, starring Democrat activist Geena Davis as the President of the United States, for the fall schedule. Chris Lawrence: Da Prez — Drudge says ABC has greenlit a series called Commander-in-Chief starring Geena Davis as the nation's first female president. |
Amanda Marcotte: Clintons Flip Out And Kill People — I have to say the thing that leaps out at me most about this report is that Geena Davis is, in fact, still acting. TheAnchoress: A Transparent play to get America on board with the idea So Geena Davis will play the First Female President of the United States. Jonah Goldberg: SURE FIRE FLOP — Why? Because Geena Davis is too annoying to pull it off. |
Cameras on a Roll in Iraq By / LAT — Permalink BAGHDAD — Iraqi director Akram Kamel is racing against the sun to finish shooting a Baghdad street scene for his television miniseries. Daylight is the only lighting he has. When night falls, actors and crew scramble home to beat curfew and escape the criminals, kidnappers and skittish police that roam the capital's streets. | |
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Juan Cole: Edmund Sanders of the LA Times gives us a fascinating glimpse of the film scene in contemporary Iraq. K. J. Lopez: ON A ROLL — It's a whole new world for now-free TV and movie producers in Iraq—with their own versions of The Sopranos & SNL, for two. |
Kate @OTB: Lights, Camera, Iraq! LA Times [snipped quote] Via NRO |
Bolton fight tests Bush's 2nd-term strength USA Today — Permalink WASHINGTON — President Bush faces a showdown vote in a Senate committee this week that could strengthen his hand in future battles over Social Security and judicial nominations if he wins, or weaken him if he loses. | |
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Mary @LeftCoaster: On the Bolton front, USA Today has an analysis that says this is a very important vote for Bush because if he wins, he... |
Taegan Goddard: Political Trivia of the Day — From a USA Today on the nomination fight for U.N. Ambassador-designate John Bolton:... |
Abroad, The Wall Street Journal Will Be a Tabloid By / NYT — Permalink The Wall Street Journal announced plans yesterday to convert its European and Asian editions to tabloid formats, starting Oct. 17. The conversions are expected to save $17 million annually, beginning next year. | |
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Jim Romenesko: WSJ to convert Asian, European editions to tabloid formats — New York Times | Romenesko Memos The conversions are expected to save $17 million annually, beginning next year. |
Rex Hammock: NY Times: "Abroad, the Wall Street Journal Will be a tabloid." Tick, tick, tick. |
Tories say backing off immigration cost 10 seats By / Guardian — Permalink Michael Howard is kicking himself that he backed away from a big push on immigration in the final days of the election campaign - a decision which Tories believe may have cost them at least 10 extra seats in parliament. | |
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Randall Parker: UK Tories Regret Backing Off Of Immigration Issue In Final Days Of Campaign — The Tories blew it by backing off on... |
Orrin Judd: Tories say backing off immigration cost 10 seats (Nicholas Watt, May 9, 2005, The Guardian) [snipped quote] You could... |
'Alleged' tilt at PBS By / Washington Times — Permalink The old news: PBS is still a liberal monstrosity transforming the hard-earned dollars of many Bush-loving taxpayers into fire-breathing Bush-loathing programming. The new development: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting plans to seriously seek better balanced political views on PBS. | |
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Paul @PowerLine: L. Brent Bozell III in today's Washington Times says pretty much what needs to be said, both about the Times' story and the underlying issue. |
Betsy Newmark: Brent Bozell takes on the idea that conservatives are taking over PBS and turning it from its balanced view into a conservative outpost. |
Far Right blocked as new Germany triumphs Times of London — Permalink MASSED German riot police and 10,000 protesters blocked thousands of neo-Nazis from ambushing VE-Day celebrations in Berlin yesterday by sealing them off from the rest of the capital. | |
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Arthur Chrenkoff: The war does still cast shadow over the world sixty years on, but it's not because some 5,000 neo-Nazis are trying to... |
Damian Penny: Update: according to The Times, the neo-Nazi rally actually drew 5,000 people - and twice as many counter-demonstrators. |
The Latest Rumbling in the Blogosphere: Questions About Ethics By / NYT — Permalink Bloggers like to demonize the MSM (that's Mainstream Media), but it is increasingly hard to think of the largest news blogs as being outside the mainstream. Bloggers have been showing up at national political conventions, at the World Economic Forum at Davos and on the cover of Business Week. | |
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Digby: Ethical Misdirection — Adam Cohen wrote an interesting op-ed this week-end about ethics and it's one I think that the people involved should take a long hard look at. Michelle Malkin: New York Times editorial writer Adam Cohen had some sanctimonious advice for bloggers over the weekend—and bloggers hollered back in full force. TheAnchoress: Gay-bashing hoax, the BBC spots a flock of Christians and more! Another Hate Crime Hoax: Stories like this really fry my beans. |
Ace: Everyone's linking this gaseous MSM-endorsed attack on the purported lack of ethics of bloggers, so I will too. Tom Maguire: Whew. And in the guest editorial spot, Adam Cohen wrote a much-derided piece calling for a code of blogger ethics. Joe Gandelman: The Latest Rumbling In The Mainstream Media About Blogs And Bloggers — When a new medium appears it's not unusual for... |
| Also: Echidne, Ezra Klein, Barbara O'Brien, Attaturk, Patterico, Mindles H. Dreck, Charles Johnson, Dr. Steven Taylor, Ann Althouse, Roger Ailes, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Jeff Jarvis, Ed Cone, Nielsen Hayden, James Wolcott, Cori Dauber, Lambert @Corrente | |
Sen. Clinton's Financing in the Spotlight By / AP — Permalink LOS ANGELES — Campaign donations made more than four years ago at a celebrity-studded Hollywood gala have led to a federal criminal trial against a former finance director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that could hamper her future campaigns. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: I know the reason.) UPDATE: Perhaps I wrote too soon, as the Washington Post is covering the story as well. Steve Bainbridge: Meanwhile, in "other news," AP reports: "Campaign donations made more than four years ago at a celebrity-studded... Jayson @PoliPundit: High Crimes and Misdemeanors — That criminal fraud trial of Hillary's former campaign finance manager is about to get underway. |
Michelle Malkin: Writes John Hinderaker: [snipped quote] Rosen's trial begins in L.A. tomorrow. TheAnchoress: Things are being looked at but you know…anyone who can pull off a 10,000% profit on cattle futures in one week and... |
Captured Al-Qaeda kingpin is case of 'mistaken identity' Times of London — Permalink THE capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W Bush as "a critical victory in the war on terror". According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists' third... | |
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Tom Maguire: The Times of London keeps hope alive - Bush leads a lying, incompetent Administration that can't win the war on terror. Ezra Klein: The Dyslexic War on Terror — As you all probably know by now, our new catch, al-Qaeda's #3, may simply have had a similar name to their #3. Dan Darling: Al-Libbi: Still not #3, but no mistaken identity — Since the capture of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, there has been some... |
Steve Soto: It turns out that once again, through another case of mistaken identity, a lower level "flotsam and jetsam" guy was the... Jeff Goldstein: From the Sunday Times Online (UK): [snipped quote] (via Hal the Hellblazer) For what it's worth, the Sunday Telegraph... Jesse Walker: The London Times, fresh from exposing the Downing Street Iraq memo, is now casting doubt on Washington's claim that the... |
| Also: Michael Froomkin, Attaturk, Jeralyn Merritt, Juan Cole, Roger Ailes | |
Senate GOP Hopes Deal Will End Filibusters By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON — A leading Senate Republican expressed hope Sunday for a deal to end the divisive fight over the filibustering of judicial nominees, saying that "some of us might be moderately intelligent enough to figure this out." | |
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Steve Soto: GOP Senator Chuck Hagel admits the obvious: the Senate Republicans are being hypocrites about the filibuster when they... QWQ @DailyKos: Today on This Week, Hagel strayed way off the reservation, to the point of completely undermining the Republican... Taegan Goddard: Quote of the Day — [snipped quote] — Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), quoted by the AP, on the judicial filibusters used by Democrats to block seven of President Bush nominees. |
Chris Bowers: Of course, the AEI is nothing compared to what Senator Hagel (R-NE) said yesterday: [quote] "The Republicans' hands aren't clean on this either.[end quote] Jeralyn Merritt: During Bush's first term in office, only ten of his nominees were filibustered. |
Hillary in 2008? No Way! Time — Permalink I was having a fascinating conversation with a Middle East expert about the intricacies of Israel's disengagement from Gaza when I noticed the fellow growing impatient. "Enough of this," he said. "What about Hillary?" Welcome to my life. | |
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Ezra Klein: You do, however, have to love the unironic link to the Newsmax summary of the Joe Klein article in which Klein points... Matthew Yglesias: I've said a lot of bad things about Joe Klein's take on Social Security, but I'm inclined to agree with his take on a... John Derbyshire: YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST — Here's Joe Klein saying what I've been saying: Hillary '08 will crash and burn |
James Joyner: "Hillary in 2008? No Way! — Why the former First Lady should stay in the Senate" (TIME, May 8) [snipped quote] I agree... Tom Maguire: I have no polling data to confirm that, but Joe Klein and Anna Quindlen provide anecdotal support. |
Ending the Senate Impasse WaPo — Permalink WE BELIEVE THAT presidents are generally entitled to deference in judicial nominations and that their nominees are generally entitled to up-or-down votes. So we ought to support the Republicans' detonation of the "nuclear option" when the Senate returns from recess this week, right? | |
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Eugene Oregon: The only change I would make to this proposal is to adopt an idea put forth in this Washington Post editorial yesterday ... Lambert @Corrente: WaPo editorial board embarasses itself yet again — After doing the usual balance thing on how both Dems and Republicans... |
Paul @PowerLine: Disingenuous and unserious — The Washington Post delivers a characteristically disingenuous editorial on "ending the Senate impasse." David Adesnik: COMPROMISE ON THE FILIBUSTER? That's what David Broder and the editors of the WaPo are recommending. |
Detroit Ponders Fast-Food Tax By / AP — Permalink DETROIT (AP) - Would you like fries with that? Either way, the Detroit city treasury would like a bite. Faced with a $300 million budget hole, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hoping people in this already heavily taxed city won't mind forking over a few extra cents for their Big Macs and Whoppers. | |
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McQ: Or business as usual with revenue hungry cities and states looking for anything to tax? [snipped quote] Or all of the above? Robert Tagorda: Detroit Proposes Fast-Food Tax — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wants to add 2% on top of the existing 6% restaurant sales tax:... |
Acidman: Lying s**ts. Here comes Detroit, doing something that I expect to see more of in the future. |
Briefers and Leakers and the Newspapers Who Enable Them By / NYT — Permalink SOMETIME in the next few days The Times's staff will be presented a statement titled "Preserving Our Readers' Trust." Prepared by a committee of reporters and editors led by assistant managing editor Allan M. Siegal, the document will offer recommendations... | |
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Jeff Jarvis: "5. Further curtail the use of anonymous sources." Dan Okrent wrote about this at length and well yesterday. "6. Cori Dauber: But I don't think it's the use of unnamed sources per se: as he explains, there are simply reasons why some sources will... |
Jim Romenesko: > Okrent suspects sourcing recommendations will be controversial (NYT) Avedon Carol: Nice try — Daniel Okrent, "public editor" at The New York Times, says Briefers and Leakers and the Newspapers Who... |
DEL SOL HIGH SCHOOL APPEARANCE: Reid calls Bush 'a loser' By / Las Vegas Review-Journal — Permalink Sen. Harry Reid went to Del Sol High School on Friday to teach students "Checks and Balances 101." But in the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington's top Democrat ended up giving the 60 juniors a good lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: Here's the link to the Las Vegas Review Journal article in which Senator Uriah Reid calls the Bush nominees "bad... Michelle Malkin: DEMO-LUNACY WATCH — Pejman Yousefzadeh: [snipped quote] Seconding that. |
Captain Ed: Harry Reid, during his notorious Del Mar High School appearance less than 24 hours before Schumer's radio address, not... |
Seven U.S. Servicemembers Killed in Iraq By / AP — Permalink (05-08) 18:44 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — An explosion of insurgent violence killed seven U.S. servicemembers in Iraq over the weekend even as the Shiite-dominated parliament approved four more Sunni Arabs to serve as government ministers. | |
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Juan Cole: AP reports that in addition, "Four Iraqis were killed in two roadside bombings and gunfire in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Armando @DailyKos: 7 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Action this Weekend in Iraq dino points us to this: [snipped quote] Raising concerns? That's it? |
Cori Dauber: Pure Propaganda — While this web piece is not as specific as what was reported on the air, ABC News reports tonight... |
What Do the Insurgents Want? By / WaPo — Permalink The 60-wheel trailer was carrying a giant power generator on the highway to Musayyib, 30-odd miles south of Baghdad, last week. Guarded by six cars carrying police and the Iraqi National Guard, the convoy was passing along the notorious Baghdad road near... | |
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James Joyner: A piece in yesterday's edition provides interesting background: What Do the Insurgents Want? Rich Lowry: THE JIHADI'S JOURNEY — An eye-opening account in the Washington Post yesterday about the journey of the typical foreign militant into Iraq. |
Jo Fish: More Mess... Even as Beloved Leader makes his impassioned pleas for "freedom" in cemetaries where his lying, deserting,... Orrin Judd: AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY: What Do the Insurgents Want? |
Former Clinton Counsel Lloyd Cutler Dies at 87 By / WaPo — Permalink Lloyd Cutler, 87, a Washington legal mandarin for six decades who served as White House counsel under presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, died May 8 at his home in Washington. He had complications from a broken hip. | |
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Michael Froomkin: Lloyd Cutler — Former Clinton Counsel Lloyd Cutler Dies at 87 When I worked for Wilmer, Cutler in London I had the... Orin Kerr: Lloyd Cutler Dies at 87: Washington superlawyer Lloyd Cutler has passed away; the Washington Post's obituary is here. |
Steve Bainbridge: RIP — Washington legal/politico maven Lloyd Cutler has passed away. |
A Deficit of Seriousness By / Newsweek — Permalink May 16 issue - Every two years, the congressional budget Office publishes a fact-filled report entitled "Budget Options." This year's version is 343 pages, and flipping through it, you get a quick tour of the federal government's far-flung activities. | |
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Brad DeLong: (Yet Another Robert Samuelson Edition) Mark Thoma directs us to Robert Samuelson in Newsweek on Washington's apparent... |
John Hawkins: [quote]"— Robert Samuelson [end quote] |
Remember: You Can't Swat a Fly With a Computer By / LAT — Permalink In this great country, there are newspaper editorial pages of every political stripe, from nearly insane far-left rantings to the Wall Street Journal. But when the United States faces a danger to its most important institutions and values, Americans can count on the newspaper industry to put aside petty differences and speak with one voice. | |
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Jim Romenesko: An evil force is causing people to stop reading newspapers — Los Angeles Times The newspaper industry needs to put... Barbara O'Brien: In other news: Michael Kinsley reminds us that you can't swat a fly with a computer. Ron Chernow writes about the Founding Fathers and the judicial system. |
Kevin Roderick: Then on Sunday, Editorial and Opinion Editor Michael Kinsley offers a satirical take that makes clear he wouldn't much... Dr. Steven Taylor: Kinsley on the Decline of Newspapers — Michael Kinsely has an amusing column in today's LAT on the decline of newspaper readership. |
Politics: Edwards Looks Back--And Ahead to 2008 By / Newsweek — Permalink May 16 issue - It's traditional for out-of-work politicos to head to Harvard's Institute of Politics for genial wonk talk. It's also traditional for failed veep candidates to put major distance between themselves and their old campaign. | |
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Steve Soto: He is also being candid about who he blames for the Kerry/Edwards campaign's inability to take an energized Democratic... Jayson @PoliPundit: Hollow Trees Falling in a Vacant Forest — I'm speaking of John Edwards and NewsWeak, of course. |
Taegan Goddard: John Edwards, as quoted in Newsweek, when asked for one lesson he'd learned from the 2004 campaign. Link | Related News |
Tug of War: Intelligence vs. Politics By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, May 7 - For more than two years, critics who accused the Bush administration of improperly using political influence to shape intelligence assessments have, for the most part, failed to make the charge stick. | |
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Suzanne Nossel: Bolton and the Politicization of Intelligence — Douglas Jehl has a good piece in this morning's New York Times taking a... |
Laura Rozen: Douglas Jehl: "This weekend, the situation in North Korea is providing a new reminder that intelligence is rarely conclusive, and may thus be vulnerable to manipulation. |
Laura Bush's Mission Accomplished By / NYT — Permalink AS we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Drudge Report and the second anniversary of the Jayson Blair scandal, American journalists are in a race with the runaway bride for public enemy No. 1. | |
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TheAnchoress: I've had a few emails asking me why I have not bothered to write about Frank Rich's cynical, silly-assed column. Tom Maguire: MORE: Frank Rich tackled the issue of fading journalistic credibility, and guess what - it's all Bush's fault. Whew. Cori Dauber: Today, for example, he builds on points I agree with (well, who could disagree with something like this): Infotainment... |
David Sirota: That's sorta what I felt like saying to a lot of folks in Washington, D.C. who, as Frank Rich noted this weekend, are... Matthew Yglesias: Nicholas Kristof. The Pope seems to have some kind of hang-up about sex. Frank Rich. Even the jokes are lies! David Brooks. Roger L. Simon: An example of this is Frank Rich's cheap shot at Ron Silver as a "C-list publicity hound" (therefore presumably not... |
| Also: James Joyner, Barbara O'Brien, Jeralyn Merritt, Al Rodgers | |
Don't print the obit just yet By / LAT — Permalink "So, you've been over into Russia," Bernard Baruch said to the muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens, recently returned from a fact-finding trip to the new Soviet Union. "I have been over into the future," Steffens replied, "and it works." | |
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Jay Rosen: My reply... Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times writes an opinion piece with the headline: Regarding Media Don't Print the Obit Just Yet. Leonard Witt: Tim Rutten, at the Los Angeles Times, got into the death of newspapers debate, with a reference to Jay's comment about "laying the newspaper gently down to die." |
Jim Romenesko: > Rutten says there are three groups trying to bury newspapers (LAT) > Leo sees NYT being published in newsletter format in 2014 (NYDN) Kevin Roderick: On Saturday, media columnist Tim Rutten argued that plunging circulation figures are "a clear challenge to newspaper... |
Britons ignorant about Germany and still see us as Nazis, says ambassador By / Independent — Permalink Sixty years after the end of the Second World War in Europe, British people are still obsessed with Nazism, and ignorant about Germany, said the German ambassador to London, Thomas Matussek. "The British behave as if they had conquered Hitler's hordes single-handedly. | |
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Arthur Chrenkoff: In Moscow, Vladimir Putin is aiming to once again redefine Russia in terms of its role in the Second World War;... Jason Van Steenwyk: Shoah biz — The German ambassador to London is upset because the Brits aren't quite over World War II. Steve Bainbridge: "(Link)" Hmm, I wonder where they get such notions? |
Damian Penny: MoveOn.de — Just in time for V-E Day, Germany's ambassador to Britain says he's fed up with the way people... Marc @USSNeverdock: Germany - The Nazis Won't Die — On the day that Britain celebrates VE day, the German ambassador to Britain says... |
The Pope and AIDS By / NYT — Permalink Let's hope that Pope Benedict XVI quickly realizes that the worst sex scandal in the Catholic Church doesn't involve predatory priests. Rather, it involves the Vatican's hostility to condoms, which is creating more AIDS orphans every day. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Maureen Dowd. It's half biotechnology column, half foreign-policy column. Nicholas Kristof. The Pope seems to have some kind of hang-up about sex. |
Orrin Judd: THE CHURCH'S TEACHING MORE THAN SUFFICES: The Pope and AIDS (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, 5/08/05, NY Times) [snipped quote] In... |
CHASTE-Y RETREAT By / New York Post — Permalink Bolting bride Jennifer Wilbanks was chaste away — by her fiancé's insistence on abstinence, friends of the sex-deprived couple claim. "She told people the fact that she and [husband-to-be John Mason] were not having sex was upsetting," a friend of Wilbanks' told People magazine, which hits newsstands today. | |
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Tbogg: With this ring I do thee...and then I can stop masturbating — We really wanted to avoid writing anything about the... |
Roger Ailes: When Republican Fundies Mate |
Thousands protest Bush Dutch visit AP — Permalink MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (AP) — Thousands of anti-war activists protested U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the Netherlands on Saturday, saying the man who started the Iraq war should not pay tribute to those who died in World War II for Dutch freedom. | |
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Cori Dauber: Dutch anti-war protesters march in opposition to President Bush's participation in V-E Day ceremonies marking their... |
Jason Van Steenwyk: Holland puts its dimmest and dullest on full display: Cori Dauber put it best: [snipped quote] Splash, out |
Nazi blunder casts shadow over German Open Reuters — Permalink BERLIN, May 7 (Reuters) - A photograph of Nazi Hermann Goering in the programme of the German Open tennis tournament and reference to the host club's "golden times" after its Jewish members fled in the thirties has caused outrage. | |
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Jason Van Steenwyk: We should be better than that. But some things are hard to put aside, y'know? LOOK. Splash, out Jason Update: Heh. Marc @USSNeverdock: That "something" is evident at the German Open tennis tournament. James Joyner: Nazi blunder casts shadow over German Open (Reuters) [snipped quote] What in the world were they thinking? |
Charles Johnson: German Open Program Features Goering — Reuters calls this a "Nazi blunder," but it's pretty clear that it was no mistake: Nazi blunder casts shadow over German Open. Steve Bainbridge: Meanwhile, in "other" news: "A photograph of Nazi Hermann Goering in the programme of the German Open tennis tournament... |
Rockets are history By / Houston Chronicle — Permalink DALLAS - The Rockets heard the rumble and felt the ground shake, until they looked up to see what was heading their way like roadkill does when it is too late to do anything but know it's over. | |
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Jack Cluth: Get a roll of stamps and mail it in... Rockets are history: Margin of defeat sets record for scoring futility in a Game... |
Charles Kuffner: I don't know if the same is true for sports, but there's no doubt about who won Game 7 last night in Dallas. |
For Some in Iraq's Sunni Minority, a Growing Sense of Alienation By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 6 - Fakhri al-Qaisi, a rumpled, 51-year-old dentist, is an unlikely statesman - and just the kind of person both Iraqi leaders and Americans say they need to enlist to bring Iraq's recalcitrant Sunni minority out of the armed resistance and into mainstream politics. | |
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Juan Cole: Robert Worth of the New York Times reports on the increasingly anti-Shiite feelings of alienation on the part of Sunni Arabs in Iraq. Rich Lowry: From the New York Times: "Mr. Qaisi says he believes in nonviolence. His three wives are all Shiites, he says, so he understands the Shiite point of view." |
Gregory Djerejian: The next major challenge, in all likelihood, will be a U.S. stablization role with regard to increasing Sunni-Shia... |
Congressman Who Led Nixon Impeachment Dies By / AP — Permalink TRENTON, N.J. - Peter W. Rodino Jr., a little-noticed Democratic congressman from New Jersey until he led the House impeachment investigation of President Nixon, died Saturday. He was 95. | |
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James Joyner: Peter Rodino, Congressman Who Led Nixon Impeachment, Dies at 95 — Congressman Who Led Nixon Impeachment Dies... |
Tully @Centerfield: Pete Rodino (1909-2005) Congressman Who Led Nixon Impeachment Dies [snipped quote] A good man gone. |
'Great Crime' at Abu Ghraib Enrages and Inspires an Artist By / NYT — Permalink BOGOTÁ, Colombia, May 7 - Fernando Botero, Latin America's best-known living artist, shocked the art world last year when he broke sharply from his usual depictions of small town life to reveal new works that depicted Colombia's war in horrific detail. | |
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Forkum: Meanwhile, a year later, we're getting stories like this one from The New York Times: 'Great Crime' at Abu Ghraib Enrages and Inspires an Artist. Gregory Djerejian: Botero's Empty Outrage — I've never been a huge fan of Fernando Botero's rotund, distorted sculptures (so wasn't... Jeralyn Merritt: In Paris, Fernando Botero, Latin America's "best known artist," known mostly for his pastoral scenes of small town life, has created an Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse collection |
Phillip Carter: A tale of two Americas (Via JAG Central) Sunday's New York Times reported on the latest work by Fernando Botero, Latin... Jason Van Steenwyk: Artist depicts abuses at Abu Ghraib — The New York Times predictably runs a fellative review of Fernando Bolero, the... |
The Quagmire By / Rolling Stone — Permalink The news from Iraq is bad and getting worse with each passing day. Iraqi insurgents are stepping up the pace of their attacks, unleashing eleven deadly bombings on April 29th alone. Many of the 150,000 Iraqi police and soldiers hastily trained by U.S. troops have deserted or joined the insurgents. | |
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Norbizness: (3) Two years after the U.S. invasion, Iraq is perched on the brink of civil war. |
Mary @LeftCoaster: The not-so sanguine view was recently reported by Robert Dreyfuss in his latest article in the Rolling Stone: The Quagmire. |
Strong mayor plan defeated By / Dallas Morning News — Permalink Voters on Saturday overwhelmingly rejected a measure to give the Dallas mayor more power in what the victors said was as much a referendum on Mayor Laura Miller's leadership as it was on city government. | |
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Byron LaMasters: The Dallas Morning News reports: "Voters on Saturday overwhelmingly rejected a measure to give the Dallas mayor more... Charles Kuffner: Dallas voters soundly defeated a proposition to make theirs a strong-mayor system. The smoking ban passed in Austin. |
Taegan Goddard: Strong Mayor Bid Trounced — Dallas voters "overwhelmingly rejected a controversial ballot measure to increase mayoral... |
Filibuster Fray Lifts Profile of Minister By / WaPo — Permalink In his home town of Pearland, Tex., Baptist minister Rick Scarborough was tireless in promoting his conservative Christian way of thinking. He attacked high school sex education courses, experimental medical treatments and transsexuals trying to change their gender identification. | |
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Judd @ThinkProgress: Murray reports: [snipped quote] Recently, Scarborough has gained recognition from his work to abolish the judicial filibuster. |
Armando @DailyKos: A close friend of Tom DeLay, among other extreme Religious Right wingnuts: [snipped quote] These guys run the Republican Party. |