WASHINGTON — In a city where the phrase “bipartisan initiative” is becoming an oxymoron, the urgency of containing the damage the Supreme Court could do to our electoral system creates an opportunity for a rare convergence of interest and principle. At issue is the court’s astonishingly naive decision in January that allows unlimited corporate spending to influence elections. Its 5-4 ruling...

O Canada, Eh? Raging Moderate, by Will Durst Dear Canada. Way to go, you hosers. Did yourself proud and put on one heck of an Olympics. Congratulations for providing an incredible 17 days of thrills and spills on the ice and snow and in the slush and fog. That was a winter games for the ages, except for that excruciatingly obvious lack of winter thing. As it turns out, Washington, D.C. might have been a better...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

As Democrats get ready to perhaps use that arcane, unprecedented, never-before-used, nuclear, cataclysmic, perhaps even unconstitutional reconciliation process to pass health care reform, the angst and misinformation about this Senate procedure is reaching a crescendo. Just this morning, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” warned “To do this is just very, very dangerous,” and “If...

A couple of days ago, I posted a piece called “Health Care Reform: Those ‘Irreconcilable Differences.’” The post basically conveyed my opinion that just as our legislators—mostly Democrats, with some Republican support—stepped up to the plate in 1935 and 1965, and enacted Social Security and Medicare, respectively, Democrats today must act similarly on health care reform, given that: Democrats...

Before I read this book, I did not know that there were free blacks in the antebellum South who themselves owned slaves. The number was not large, but they did exist.

The Supremes are considering another 2nd amendment case which might have far reaching consequences (in a good way) on this particular battle front. George Will has a good column this week which takes a look at the history of the fight and what the implications of McDonald v Chicago might be. It probably will result in a routine ruling that extends a 2008 decision and renders dubious many state and local gun-control...

I am currently reading an historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel about Sir Thomas Cromwell, the powerful adviser to King Henry VIII. It’s called Wolf Hall; it won the 2009 Man Booker Prize; and it’s a great read.

It’s hard to know, of course, whether this latest news means that the Obama administration is backing away from reports earlier this week indicating that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial might take place in Guantanamo, or whether a report earlier this week by Anne Kornblut and Peter Finn was inaccurate to begin with. Either way, it’s good news that the White House is not as close to making a...

UPDATED David Dayen flags this latest example of the Catholic Church working directly with legislators who want to make abortion completely unavailable to American women who cannot afford to purchase health insurance in the private market, which is of course the vast majority of American women:

Tracy Chapman wrote this song, “Freedom Now,” for Nelson Mandela:

Mike Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

THE GORGON AUNTIE, A Lost Story She has a midget husband. They lived in a clone trailer. She notices things. Like, she thinks every person has a different color mouth, and her words come out accordingly. She acts like she is bestowing highnesses and knighthoods as she shuffles to and from every silver shovel event, to fourth-rate art show, in her very pointy high heels, with her penciled on clown brows, her...

Do Latin American countries that rail against “U.S. Empire” have a double standard when it comes to Cuba? Furthermore, do Western Europeans, who cling to their own brand of anti-Americanism, share this distorted thinking? For Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, columnist Maciej Stasinski writes in part: The communist dictatorship of the Castro brothers has allowed a Cuban dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo,...

One could argue both Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama grew up from modest income families to become among the rich and famous.The difference between the two was demonstrated this week in actions which define their characters as class acts or pedestrian gluttons. Michelle donated her famous inaugural dress to the first ladies collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Sarah...

There’s apparently a teenie weenie problem with Arizona Senator John McCain’s letter supporting the gays in the military Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy: according to a report, it’s signed by some dead people. QUESTION: Whatever happened to the John McCain that I so proudly supported in 2000 and so proudly voted for in the 2000 California Republican primary? THE ANSWER: That John McCain...

Can girls, do girls, coerce boys into committing sexual acts? According to a study to be published shortly in a Dutch scientific publication, the answer is “yes.” As a matter of fact, under the sub-heading, “Girls are just as bad,” the Dutch NRC Handelsblad reports: The scientists were surprised to find that more than 10 percent of all boys and 8 percent of all girls had ever forced someone to commit...

This is a story that had been under my radar until it was discussed on my morning radio show (Armstrong and Getty for those in Northern California). It seems that for many years there has been something called Do Not Buy in radio advertising. The basic concept being that when a company hires an advertiser to buy radio ads they would include “Do Not Buy” for certain types of stations or for certain...

I will not be reading Karl Rove’s upcoming blockbuster with the self-aggrandizing title, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.” However, copies have been released to the press and there are enough previews of the book to satisfy my curiosity about what this man, affectionately called “turd blossom,” is trying to peddle. Furthermore, after watching this man—this brain—for...

When It’s Necessary and Desirable to Assassinate Terrorists by Barry Rubin There has been a huge international controversy about the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a leading Hamas terrorist, in Dubai on January 19. I have no idea who did it but have some points to make on the subject. 1. Generally speaking, media coverage almost never (in Europe) or only minimally (in the United States) talks about...

THIS JUST IN! You know what has finally frozen over and here’s why: Neiman Marcus is serving corn dogs, the Al Dente blog reports: I’ve just returned from the Fashion Rules! Party, a free event held at Neiman Marcus stores around the country. In its Bellevue, Washington store, shoppers were entertained–there were games, a fashion show and fun music–and served yummy soft pretzels and...

Those hoping for a happy outcome in Iraq would be advised to avoid this article by Iraqi columnist Khadir Taahar. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the very pro-American Taahar is not optimistic, particularly with U.S. forces pulling out. With nationwide elections only days away, the picture he paints of Iraq’s leaders does not suggest a bright future for the country. For Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, columnist...

The latest example of Republicans’ last-minute mania to kill health care reform is a version of divide and conquer – but they are playing it so ineptly that it’s more amusing than alarming:

In an Editorial last Friday, USA Today discussed how the health summit exposed “irreconcilable differences” between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of health care reform. It said in part: That at least makes it clear where reform goes from here. Obama and his party have three choices: They can give up and blame GOP intransigence. They can try to settle for the same sort of incremental changes made...

Republican anti gay politician state Senator Roy Ashburn was arrested for alleged drunk driving.. after leaving a gay bar — and CBS News notes that as details come out it gets worse, worst and worster for him in the media.