The Blame Game

Really interesting bit of analysis over at the Shakesville blog.  It's all because of a newspaper article in San Francisco. I'm inclined to agree with the blogger...the article brings up more questions than it answers.  I suggest that it could spark a pretty good debate around your dinner table or the water cooler. 

Shame and Blame

Bodelian passed along this article from the San Francisco Chronicle about school dress codes, or the lack thereof, and students’ summer attire. Well, that’s what it pretends to be about, anyway, but “Scanty attire: Teaching the girls of summer” is really about how tough it is to be a male teacher avoiding trouble when [...]

Tags: School Dress Codes

Democracy Out

Theocracy in...according to one of our neighbors to the north....

Former Canadian Ambassador Say US Already Theocracy

U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador,Frank McKenna, Canada’s former ambassador to Washington, referred to the United States on Friday as "a theocratic state" in which Christian [...]

Tags: Theocracy, Fundamentalism

Embassy Plans

Lots of chatter on the internet last week about the plans for the Vatican-sized U.S. Embassy planned for Baghdad.  And, now, it appears there's a backstory to it all.  A fascinating backstory...

Security risk=embarrassment?

The story got out last week about how the plans for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq got leaked online and then yanked because of security risks. I heard about it on the Randi Rhodes show, and her take seemed on-the-nose to me, which is that these plans would prove to be an embarrassment to [...]

Tags: U.S. Embassy, Iraq, Baghdad, Vatican

Whaddaya Know?

This is what happens when I don't keep up with happenings at home!  Don't know if Mr. Palast and his reporting can take the credit, but it looks like Tim Griffin is out as U.S. Attorney for Arkansas.  That didn't last long, did it?

US Attorney Resigns Following Conyers’ Request for BBC Documents

by Greg Palast June 1, 2007 Tim Griffin, formerly right hand man to Karl Rove, resigned Thursday as US Attorney for Arkansas hours after BBC Television ‘Newsnight’ reported that Congressman John Conyers requested the network’s evidence on Griffin’s involvement in ‘caging voters.’ Greg Palast, reporting for BBC Newsnight, obtained a series of confidential emails from the [...]

Tags: Palast, Karl Rove, Tim Griffin, Conyers

The JFK Plot

Drifting through the living room Saturday morning, I caught the first MSNBC reports of the plot to blow up gas lines and gas tanks at JFK  Airport.  First thoughts?  "Nasty plan."  "Potential for disaster".  The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that the news conferences were rushed.  Perhaps, I thought, because NBC and other news organizations had gotten the tips and broken the story.  The more I heard, the more it seemed that this was much like the other recent revelation of a "plot" - lots of talk by people who really weren't equipped to follow through with the threats. 

The plot at JFK Airport — redux

Following up on an item from the weekend, the terrorist plot at JFK Airport in New York certainly sounds like the kind of attack that could, in theory, do very serious damage. And to echo a point I raised on Saturday, the officials who were involved with uncovering the plot and arresting the suspects deserve [...]

To further confuse things...

A Tale of Two Headlines

Above is a screen shot from this morning’s Memeorandum front page. Classic, huh? In brief, the New York Times story says the JFK bomb plot was over-hyped. The plotters wanted to carry out a terrible terrorist act, but they had little capability of doing so. The Telegraph story says that Americans have reason to fear “the [...]

Tags: JFK Airport, Terror Threat

Back in Action

But still trying to catch up.  Week-long business trip is history, but processing all of the information gathered will take some time.  Still, it's Monday evening and I've carved out enough time to snag a few choice posts, just so you didn't think I'd completely dropped off the face of the earth.  Let's start things off with a bit of election intrigue...

VIDEO: Shrum Says Gore Won 2000 Presidential Election, Joked Beforehand About Bush Getting Caught Cheating in Florida

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer Hapless Democratic strategist Bob Shrum's comments on this morning's Meet The Press are fascinating in their own right but have added resonance considering U.S. House candidate John Russell's Guest Post early today, concerning last November's Florida elections. Shrum believes (and allegedly Gore too) that Gore won Florida and the 2000 election. [...]

Tags: 2000 Election, Al Gore, Bob Shrum

On The Road

We'll be on the road most of this week, so posts will be sporadic, at best. I'll try to get a couple up early in the morning or late at night, but make no promises.

I hope you and yours had a great Memorial Day weekend. We put the smoker to good use and ended up with lots of turkey and ribs.

OlbermannWatch Update

Okay, I've managed to crank out a holiday weekend post for OlbermannWatch, the site where most of the folks hate Keith Olbermann.  There are a few even-minded folks who can be bipartisan over there, but it's usually pretty viscious when I post. Click Here to join in the fun..

Tags: Keith Olbermann, Countdown

The Ethanol Conundrum

It's a tricky one, that ethanol conundrum. And our currently skyrocketing gas prices aren't helping stabilize things any.

Ethanol Booms, Farmers Bust

In concept, corn ethanol could benefit American farmers. The problem is that the boom is taking place in the same old agricultural economy, which works to the benefit of those on top: landlords, processors and companies selling inputs like seeds and [...]

Tags: Ethanol, Land Prices, Corn Prices

Hurricane Recovery

Still not happening next door in Mississippi.  And we're on the verge of another hurricane season.

PEEK: Mississippi's Overrated Recovery

Lindsay Beyerstein: While alligators prowl the ruins and the mail doesn't come, Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, receives accolades [...]

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Hurricanes, Mississippi, Louisiana