Mike Lane, Cagle Cartoons … [Read more...] about Ignoring The Elephant
Bush and Democrats in Accord on Trade Deals
Bush and Democrats in Accord on Trade Deals Democrats to attach environmental and worker protections in several pending trade accords, clearing the way for early passage of some pacts and improving prospects for others... Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has led negotiations to complete the trade deals that guarantee workers the right to … [Read more...] about Bush and Democrats in Accord on Trade Deals
General Discontent With the War
It is a telling commentary on the catastrophe that the Iraq war has become and the damage it has done to the military that several retired generals have gone public to harshly rebuke former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush. Now three of the generals are challenging a dozen members of Congress in a new TV commercial by VoteVets.org, saying the politicians can't … [Read more...] about General Discontent With the War
Blair Triumphant
He is unpopular at home, popular with the American right, and set to leave office with his apparent legacy, the Iraq War, still an unmitigated disaster. And yet. I admire him. He transformed the Labour Party from old-left obsolescence to center-left dominance, a New Labour for a dynamic new Britain. He invested in health care and education. He sought to reduce poverty … [Read more...] about Blair Triumphant
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
When I was in college, the tired joke behind the title of this post was a question: "Is it sunlight or an oncoming train?" And that's precisely what we don't know about Iraq. What we do know is this: With a majority of the democratically elected Iraqi government voting for us to leave, and with 11 moderate Republicans stepping up to look Bush squarely in the eye and … [Read more...] about The Light at the End of the Tunnel
The Ridiculousness of Gasoline Prices
You don't have to be paranoid to believe that the White House orchestrated the extraordinary drop in U.S. gasoline prices just as mid-term elections crucial to the Republican Party were approaching last fall. But while the Bush administration probably would like to take credit for that, it can't. The president of the United States may be a very powerful dude and this one … [Read more...] about The Ridiculousness of Gasoline Prices
Tony Blair: Success or Failure
The Times' David Aaronovitch and Matthew Parris go head to head on the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of the Blair years. David starts off: it falls to me to make the first moves in this on-page wrestling bout to contest whether the Blair premiership has been a glorious success or ignominious failure. So let me emerge from the unfashionable left-of-centre corner … [Read more...] about Tony Blair: Success or Failure
The Linguistic Case Against Barack Obama
Patrick O'Hannigan wrote an interesting article about Barack Obama... back in March of this year; I am afraid that I missed it, thanks to reader Yonason I read it just now and found it so interesting that I thought you all might enjoy reading it as well; if for nothing else, then to function as a counterweight to all the positive media Obama receives. The title of the … [Read more...] about The Linguistic Case Against Barack Obama
Iraq War Dénouement: Curiouser & Curiouser
Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice! -- From “Alice in Wonderland†The House has approved a second Iraq war-funding bill that President Bush has vowed to veto. Let’s put this latest development into perspective: The president violated a fundamental law of economics in lowering taxes … [Read more...] about Iraq War Dénouement: Curiouser & Curiouser
Economic Woes in Iran
Ahmadinejad's popularity and the Iranian economy are both on the decline. Is there an opening here that might lead to an end to the nuclear standoff? I think so. … [Read more...] about Economic Woes in Iran
Reporter Taken Away At Night By Military In Bangladesh
No, it isn't just in fiction. There HAS been an ominous knock on the door in the middle of the night, and a citizen -- a journalist -- taken away in darkness by government forces. In Bangladesh: Tasneem Khalil, an editor at the Bangladesh’s leading English language daily, The Daily Star, has been taken away from his home by the military in Bangladesh. He was taken away … [Read more...] about Reporter Taken Away At Night By Military In Bangladesh
Violence Erupts in Eastern Congo
By the very units created as harbingers of peace in the region. … [Read more...] about Violence Erupts in Eastern Congo
Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove
Murray Waas writes for National Review: The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Several of the e-mails that the Bush … [Read more...] about Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove
See Drumbl Blog for a Limited Time!
Keep your eyes on PrawfsBlawg over the next few weeks, as Washington & Lee Law Professor Mark Drumbl is slated to be a guest-blogger. Drumbl is one of the more intriguing theorists on the punishment of mass atrocities, and his book, Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law, looks fascinating. Given what is going on in the world today (especially in Uganda, which is a perfect … [Read more...] about See Drumbl Blog for a Limited Time!
Tony Blair Quits His War Peace Term As Britain’s Prime Minister
Tony Blair, Britain's youngest Prime Minister when he came to office some 10 years ago, has quit -- ending a long term that saw moments of peace, war, predictions that he would be a political powerhouse, praise for his loyalty to the United States and criticism that he had become too deferential to U.S. President George Bush. The Guardian: Tony Blair today announced he … [Read more...] about Tony Blair Quits His War Peace Term As Britain’s Prime Minister
The Event
Mick LaSalle published the 18th chapter of The Event at his website: go there now and read it - it's promising to be a spectacular ending. … [Read more...] about The Event
Iraq: Bosnia II?
It’s difficult to find anyone these days that doesn’t think a civil war exists in Iraq. Sure, there’s some Al-Qaeda elements in the Sunni community, but from the accounts I’ve read, it accounts for less than 10% (and probably closer to 5%) of the current violence. From Army General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Commander in Iraq (March 9, 2007):Ultimately, he said, the … [Read more...] about Iraq: Bosnia II?
Mother’s Day: The Lost Story
The collective unconscous remembers everything that modern culture has forgotten and covered over. So here, let us go behind the Hallmark card displays, where there is a little door, and entering through, we find ourselves in a muddy field where the land has been fed by boys' blood. And, just this then whilst standing here on this field meant to grow life but which became a … [Read more...] about Mother’s Day: The Lost Story
What Obama Represents
Andrew Sullivan has a good, albeit a little bit overly enthusiastic in my opinion, post up about Barack Obama: Obama's speech yesterday is his most detailed yet on foreign affairs. Read it. It is emphatically not isolationist; it is emphatically not against the use of military force when necessary; it is emphatically pro-military in its call for many more troops. On the … [Read more...] about What Obama Represents
Habeas Corpus: Will Dems Wake From the Dead?
"La Justice Caricaturée" by Robert LeVigan My occasional penchant for hyperbole duly noted, the suspension of habeas corpus is the single most destructive thing that the Bush administration (and a compliant Congress) have done over the last six-plus years, and that’s saying a lot considering that war thingie. For too many Americans, the suspension of certain civil … [Read more...] about Habeas Corpus: Will Dems Wake From the Dead?