It was not a political tsunami, but some significant shifts occurred at President George Bush's press conference tonight: a shift on Social Security and some notable steps away from an allied Christian Evangelical leader. You can read the transcript of the President's wide-ranging press conference here. It was called ostensibly to talk about Social Security, and Bush did … [Read more...] about Bush Shifts On Social Security And Away From James Dobson

Message from Senator Bill Frist to Democrats: I'll give you debate time but absolutely no filibuster. So now least we know this: despite on-again-off-again announcements about whether Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid are still talking to try and head off the "nuclear option" that would ban filibusters on judicial nominees it's clear that … [Read more...] about Frist Compromise: More Debate Time But No Filibuster

Bad news for Rush, Sean, Michael, Randi and Al: listeners are getting tired of you and tuning out..at least in Washington, D.C. It turns out that rather than making listeners run to their radios to hear to this hot, sizzling format, since after the election many DC listeners are seemingly running for Excedrin and other listening options. In the nation's capitol, at least, … [Read more...] about Political Talk Radio In DC Is Giving Listeners A Big, Fat Headache

Congressional Republicans have put aside their differences and finally agreed to a budget deal — which makes it likely that there will be oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The AP gives these details on the tentative deal: House and Senate Republican leaders have reached tentative agreement on a budget that envisions $10 billion in Medicaid … [Read more...] about GOP Budget Deal Likely Means Alaska ANWR Oil Drilling

This week's Carnival of the Vanities is up. If you don't have a weblog, it's a collection of posts from all over submitted by various bloggers. It's wonderful, variety-packed reading. Check it out. … [Read more...] about A Big Menu Of Delicious Weblog Posts

Has the moment of political truth come for President George Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress? Have we seen a classic case of overreaching and miscalculation? The answers will likely be given to us fairly quickly by the political fates. But one thing is certain: suddenly, there is an awful lot of political fluidity out there: President George Bush has his first … [Read more...] about Are Congress And George Bush Facing A Backlash?

This is the era of highly active, vigorous seniors and in recent years one way seniors have tried to stay healthy was by taking lots of Calicium and Vitamin D supplements to help their bones. The medical scuttlebutt has been that the two supplements helped prevent fractures. No more. Two studies have come out saying the supplements don't help. According to the BBC: Taking … [Read more...] about Are Calcium, Vitamin D Worthless For Elderly Bones?

President George Bush discusses the benefits of Viagra. … [Read more...] about Photo Of The Day

President George Bush will hold his first prime time press conference in over a year, raising the question: what took him so long? The press conference will be at 8:30 EDT (does that stand for End DeLay Term? Well, probably not...) tonight. According to reports the prime purpose is to give more details on Social Security reform. The irony is: George Bush has usually done … [Read more...] about Bush To Hold Prime Time Press Conference Tonight

You have to wonder when radio talk show hosts on the left and right make jokes about murdering political leaders or foes whether they have a mental problem — or a mental to begin with. Don't they read the PAPERS and see what kinds of crazy people we have out there? And I'm not just talking about the ones in Congress. The latest person to cross a DEFINITE line that … [Read more...] about How Do You Spell “DUMB?” Air America’s Randi Rhodes’ Assassination Humor

A political scandal continues to unfold in Colorado where it turns out that the chairman of the Young Republicans was apparently among those who booted three people from a speech by President George Bush. Their sin: they had an antiwar, anti-Bush bumper sticker on their car. Part of this scandal also includes allegations that the person who actually ejected them claimed to be … [Read more...] about If They Didn’t Agree With The President They Couldn’t Hear Him Speak

Have the innocent, fun bikini-suicide-frisbee days of blogging passed? … [Read more...] about The end of the beginning for blogging?

Law professor, MSNBC columnist, and libertarian blogger Glenn Reynolds has this gentle warning to his party in one of his posts today in reference to President Bush's declining poll numbers: I don't think it's much of a mystery, and I agree with Bush pollster Matthew Dowd that it has something to do with Terri Schiavo....Only it's broader than that. The Democrats' weakness is … [Read more...] about GUEST VOICE: A Gentle Warning To Republicans

A false alarm involving a possible violation of White House airspace sent President George Bush into a bunker today. It underlined an important fact: although the U.S. government seems to have quietly discarded the color-coded terror alerts, the threat of terrorism still looms large — and anything touching on the issue is taken seriously. The last time Bush was moved to … [Read more...] about False Airspace Violation Security Alarm Sends Bush Into Bunker

Today a monster commercial aircraft, operating with a small initial crew, successfully completed its a highly touted and covered test run — thus opening a new era for travelers under the assumption that "bigger is better." The aircraft that took off from France's Toulouse Blagnac airport was Airbus' new 308 ton Airbus A380, a double-decker … [Read more...] about Superduper Jumbo Airbus 380’s Flight Begins New Aviation Era

NOTE: This is the first in a formal series excerpting bloggers who use solid journalistic techniques that live up to the form's potential. In the past we've informally pointed to innovative bloggers such as Citizen Smash, who has done original interviews and attended demonstrations (even organized one) and to The Talking Dog for his excellent recent Q&A report. In this … [Read more...] about BLOGGER JOURNALISTS #1: Jonathan Singer Interviews Sen. DeConcini And Third Way Founder Jon Cowan

If you strip all the niceties away from a recent New York Times article, the highly controversial nomination of John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the UN can be boiled down to one sentence: Win this one for OUR team. The Times reports that Bolton's nomination — beset with allegations that he has been a bully, irritated diplomats in England, and sparked negative private … [Read more...] about Bolton Confirmation Framed As Partisan Must Win For Bush

Next time you turn on the tube and you see an ad for a certain kind of drug you might think you're mentally strong enough to resist being greatly influenced by the advertising, and you might be right: you might not automatically embrace the drug just because you see it hyped on TV. But your doctor MIGHT. If a patient asks a doctor for a heavily hyped drug he's apt to get it -- … [Read more...] about Drug Ads Work — On Doctors

What happens when an American is seized and held hostage in Iraq? By now it's predictable: it becomes a big story -- but with each hostage seized it becomes a smaller story. It gets a bit of ink and a line on TV/cable news. And then you don't hear about it. The reason: the media and public perceptions are becoming desensitized. But little by little you notice how weblogs are … [Read more...] about Interview With The Daughter Of An American Hostage In Iraq

Law student Steve Barnett has a manageable and eye-opening history of the filibuster, as well as current law surrounding its use on certain subjects. Forget that it was racist legislators who utilized the filibuster most effectively, to block civil rights legislation; and forget that the earliest filibuster landed the national capital in "a humid swamp now known as Washington, … [Read more...] about Filibuster busted