memeorandum: Tsunami aid ‘spent on politics’ (The Australian)

10:05 PM ET, December 26, 2007

Top Items:

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Hillary Edges Out Oprah as Most Admired Woman in '07 — PRINCETON, NJ — For the sixth year in a row, President George W. Bush is the most admired man and Sen. Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in Gallup's annual survey. But neither winner had a very decisive win this year …

Discussion: Likelihood of Success, Taylor Marsh, The Carpetbagger Report, You Decide 08!, Firedoglake, The Trail, Wake up America, The Opinionator, The Swamp, Dr. Sanity, Daily Pundit and PoliGazette

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:
Study: Bill Clinton Was Kinda Right, Media Is Obsessed With Horse-Race …

Discussion: TPM Election Central and TalkLeft

CNN Political Ticker:
Clinton closes gap with Bush as nation's ‘Most Admired Man’

Discussion: Political Machine

Jack Fowler / The Corner:

Praise for Liberal Fascism — Charles Murray declares: “'It is my argument that American liberalism is a totalitarian political religion,' Jonah Goldberg writes near the beginning of Liberal Fascism. My first reaction was that he is engaging in partisan hyperbole. That turned out to be wrong.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Sundries Shack, The Newshoggers and Daily Pundit

James Wolcott / James Wolcott's Blog:

The Goldberg Variations — Jonah Goldberg's colleagues over at NRO's Corner continue the holiday spirit by passing on scraps of praise for his misshapen troll of a book, Liberal Fascism: From Jackboots to Joy Behar, to buck up his morale for the mockery and abuse waiting ahead.

Discussion: Doug Ross, Whiskey Fire and Unqualified Offerings

Karl / protein wisdom:

Andrew Sullivan: Tenaciously Behind the Curve — Via Memeorandum, I discovered that Andrew Sullivan is recommending the equally clueless Juan Cole's “Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007″: … Sullivan then quotes Cole: “Among the primary effects of the ‘surge’ has been to turn Baghdad …

Discussion: Associated Press

Juan Cole:
Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007

Discussion: Liberty Street, The Agonist, Reuters, The Daily Dish, Wake up America, Captain's Quarters, The Impolitic, The American Street, Don Surber, Rising Hegemon, Dr. Sanity, The Heretik, State of the Day and PBD

IraqPundit:
Dude, Where's My Story?

Discussion: Washington Post, Patterico's Pontifications and Matthew Yglesias

Miss Mannered / My Left Wing:

Goodbye, Cruel Jews — I did not come to this site to fight in the Jew Wars. — I came to join with MSOC, in her words, to rage against the lying of the right, against injustice and cruelty. Instead, I found injustice, cruelty and hate directed at me. — I left, then, earlier this year …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Done With Mirrors, Neptunus Lex, GINA COBB, Daily Kos and Gateway Pundit

Michael J. Totten:

A Fresh Look at Hezbollah — I haven't written much about Lebanon lately, partly because I've been working in Iraq, but also because Lebanon has been in a holding pattern for the past year. There isn't much new to say about the same-old same-old. — But Andrew Exum published a perceptive piece …

Discussion: Soccer Dad

The Australian:

Tsunami aid ‘spent on politics’ — THREE years after Australians donated $400 million to rebuild Asian lives devastated by the 2004 tsunami, aid groups are under attack for spending much of the money on social and political engineering. — A survey by The Australian of the contributions …

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy, Australian Politics, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, JammieWearingFool and Hot Air

David Roberts / Gristmill:

Solar cheaper than coal and falling — Let me be the last in the greenosphere to note that Nanosolar has shipped its first panels, and it's no exaggeration to say that this moment will likely be seen as a historical turning point. — For a taste of the breathless anticipation around Nanosolar …

Discussion: Open Left

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Obama ups the ante in Iowa — MASON CITY, Iowa — One week before Iowans gather for the first-in-the-nation caucus, Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that his message of change has already been “vindicated." — Obama made the declaration at the outset of a critical final push in Iowa …

Discussion: The Swamp and TPM Election Central

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Huckabee still gives paid speeches — Breaking with tradition for presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee is continuing to accept paid speaking engagements in the thick of his insurgent presidential campaign, although churches get a break from his usual fee of up to $25,000.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, MyDD and Cliff Schecter

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

At 60% of Total, Texas is Bucking Execution Trend — This year's death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Concurring Opinions, On Deadline, Wonkette, D-Day, Matthew Yglesias, The Carpetbagger Report, TalkLeft, Big Brass Blog, The Daily Background and Reason Magazine

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Favorite quotes of 2007 — One of the few things I dislike more than end-of-the-year “looking back” lists is the incessant chatter and worthless speculation over the upcoming primaries. But that chatter and speculation is inundating everything. Thus, I offer some of my favorite quotes of 2007:

Hans Bader / OpenMarket.org:

Diversity Training Backfires — Employers pay a lot of money for diversity training and sexual harassment training, but often the training backfires and blows up in the face of the employer that paid for it. In Hartman v. Pena (1995), the Federal Aviation Administration got sued …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Blue Crab Boulevard and Discriminations

Michelle Malkin:

Would you, could you, vote McCain? — Here's some straight talk about John McCain from New Hampshire voters, via the Boston Globe. The voters' main concerns: He's a Ted Kennedy shamnesty supporter and he's too old: — The Manchester Union Leader attacks Romney as a Johnny-come-lately …