The War on Christianisty indeed: This is just unbelievable. The IRS is suddenly ramping up its investigation of whether All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena violated its tax-exempt status with an anti-war sermon just before the 2004 elections. On Friday an IRS investigator served a summons on the current rector, Rev. Ed Bacon, ordering the church to turn over all … Read More
Bush Loyalty Trumps Experience
WaPo reports on how Jim O’Beirne’s office in the Pentagon valued blind loyalty to Bush over ability and experience in managing post-invasion Iraq: O’Beirne’s staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought … Read More
On John Yoo
Never in my life have I witnessed such incredible incompetence in a constitutional scholar. I am referring to John Yoo, Bush’s legal advisor on torture and detainee policy, and his gloriously boneheaded op-ed in the New York Times. Yoo makes this wildly absurd claim: [T]he founders intended that wrongheaded or obsolete legislation and judicial decisions would be checked by presidential … Read More
How Bad Is It In Iraq?
It’s so bad that Baghdad’s sewer system is clogged . . . with corpses.
Fall Broadway Preview
MSNBC has a nice-roundup, which I now rip-off: Here are our choices for the best bets: Heartbreak HouseThe Roundabout Theatre Company is known for mounting strong shows for discerning theatergoers, so this flashback from Theatre Studies 101 may turn out very well. Swoosie Kurtz stars in this adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw classic about love, war and disappointment. Note: … Read More
The Latest On Spinach
The FDA’s latest announcement: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will continue to provide the public with regular updates on the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak each day until further notice. Case Reports To date, 109 cases of illness due to E. coli infection have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including 16 cases of … Read More
A Pop Quiz For Constitution Day
Yay! Today is Constitution Day! In late 2004, Congress passed a law (118 Statute 2809, 334-45 [§ 111]) mandating that "each educational institution that receives federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution." The reason why today is … Read More
Friday iPod Random Ten
Light blogging today because Typepad seems to be on the fritz. Thriller (Live) – Toxic Audio Generals And Majors – XTC Put On Your Sunday Clothes – Hello Dolly (motion picture soundtrack) Circle Game – Joni Mitchell & James Taylor Leave It Open – Kate Bush Daydream Believer – The Monkees What The World Needs Now – Jackie DeShannon Everything … Read More
Arm-Twisting To Get Torture Approval Letter
Wow. The Bush Administration got a bunch of JAG lawyers to "not object" to the Bush proposal to allow torture. But as it turns out, the JAG lawyers were not all that eager to endorse Bush’s proposal, and only relented after extreme pressure from higher-ups. From WaPo: White House officials released a letter from senior Pentagon uniformed lawyers, who said … Read More
Colin Powell Gets It
“The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.” That’s what Bush’s former Secretary of State Colin Powell says, as he joins the ranks of Senators McCain and Warner to stop the Bush attempt to legalize … Read More
Are We Winning The War On Terror?
Well, I suppose that depends on how you measuse it. Let’s look at three possible ways. (1) Al Qaeda These were the guys that attacked us on 9/11. If we’re winning the war on terror, one would hope that there are fewer of them now than there were five years ago. A simple graph, based on recent research by the … Read More
Iran: The New Fake Boogeyman
Here we go again. Last month, the GOP-run House Intelligence Committee released a report on Iran. The report was not voted on by the full committee. Its message? "Ooooooh, they’re about to bomb us with a nuke!" It got a LOT of play in the press. Surprise! It’s a fraud! U.N. inspectors investigating Iran’s nuclear program angrily complained to the … Read More
The Montreal Shooter’s Web Profile
The crazed Montreal shooter was named Kimveer Gill. He blogged at a goth site called vampirefreaks.com, under the handle Fatality666. Don’t bother to go there — it looks like his profile and presence has been deleted. But those who read Gill’s profile before it was removed say: His list of ‘likes’ includes "Super Psycho Maniacs roaming the streets freely." Much … Read More
Ann Richards R.I.P.
The former governor of Texas passed away yesterday. I’ll always remember her as the lady who quipped: “Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”