TPM does the day (all piracy) in 100 seconds

Add comment April 9th, 2009

Hot news about the GOP’s circular firing squad

2 comments April 9th, 2009

 

 This is funny:

 Aides to the top two Republicans in the U.S. House are taking pains to make sure everyone knows that even some Democratic lawmakers think President Obama is pursuing the wrong course in Iraq and Aghanistan.

 Obama is such a fool! His policies sometimes are so bad that even members of his own party criticize them.

 But there’s one big problem with this gloating by the GOP aides in this case. You see, the policies at issue, the ones concerning Iraq and Afghanistan, are supported by the aides’ bosses, John Boehner and Eric Cantor.

 That being the case, Republican readers are advised not to click on THIS LINK.

Retired admiral articulately supports Gates’ proposals to reshape defense budget

Add comment April 9th, 2009

 Question: Who’s the highest ranking former military officer ever elected to Congress?

 Answer: Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, a retired admiral.

 Here’s a clip of Sestak smoothly arguing in favor of the overhaul of Pentagon spending proposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican who held the same position in the Bush administration:

Are the fearmongers making it dangerous for next year’s censustakers?

1 comment April 9th, 2009

 

 The latest fashion among right-wing loons are conspiracy theories regarding the upcoming decennial census.

 There’s a two-fold problem in this matter: 1) Censustakers could face danger when they knock on the doors of paranoiacs; and 2) An accurate count of the populace could be made more difficult, if not impossible, which would have all sorts of negative repurcussions.

 Read THIS.

WaPo columnist disses another WaPo columnist

1 comment April 9th, 2009

 

 There ought to be more of this kind of thing in American journalism, especially in newspapers:

 Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson (above) CHIDED his fellow Washington Post columnist George Will yesterday for distortions in Will’s recent writings on global warming. In the process, Robinson even took a gentle poke at the paper’s editors. (Note: Check HERE for my own criticisms of Will’s columns on climate change.)

 Clashes like this are good for newspapers. They help burnish the independence of individual columnists and lend the papers an aura of ideological diversity.

 I’m glad to say that there’s a certain amount of this stuff among the bloggers here at rrstar.com. I’ve had a disagreement or two with Chuck Sweeny (check his blog HERE) and Bob Trojan (whose blog is HERE) over the past 15 months, and I think it would do us all well to mix it up more frequently. Perhaps we also should take issue from time to time with the Register Star’s editorial positions.

 News shops can only benefit, it seems to me, from open and pointed disagreements among their opinionists. They help counter the notion that everyone at a given paper or network or whatever is required to march in ideological lockstep. And, besides, they’re kind of fun..

 Frankly, it galls me when commenters here at Applesauce suggest that I have to follow orders from Register Star management with respect to the political positions I take. That’s not true, and I welcome every opportunity to disprove it.

Joblessness is hitting men harder than women

Add comment April 9th, 2009

 

 I suppose there are social as well as economic implications in the fact that we’re facing a hecession more than just a recession, but I’m not sure what they are.

 Betsy Reed assesses the situation HERE.