Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Condoleezza Watch Day One I was tempted to start the watch back on July 6th when I made this post, but I thought it was premature. Now, via Atrios, I see that Rice’s top assistant, Stephen Hadley, is trying to do a George Tenet: “‘I have failed in that responsibility,’ Hadley said during the off-camera […]

Green Joke Update I have the first submission, and it made me laugh out loud (via blogger Alex Frantz): Q: How many Greens does it take to change a lightbulb? A: There’s no important difference between darkness and the so-called light that is created by destructive multinational corporations. The only real answer is to pruduce […]

Dead Sons I suppose that the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein constitute good news, particularly insofar as Saddam’s sons were actively encouraging attacks on U.S. soldiers and Iraqi infrastructure. Capturing them might have been better, but it appears that they were determined to go down shooting. It does seem bit odd that they were […]

Green Jokes (and a small rant) Back in the day, I remember a wide array of jokes that played on the alleged stupidity of either Aggies or Polish people. I suppose that the times have changed enough that such jokes are no longer fashionable in polite company. But there’s a viable alternative for those of […]

And Now in Words For anyone who gets tired of charts, graphs, and excessive numbers, Dwight Meredith uses compelling prose to lay out the current budget deficit situation. Even if you are a chart and numbers kind of person, go read it. And, most of all, if you think everything the government touches is a […]

More Deficit Data I just came across OMBwatch, another good site for those excited by data on federal revenue and spending. There, I found a page devoted to “Interpreting the Return to Budget Deficits“. The analysis and findings are similar to my earlier post, but with more detail and some additional graphs. In OMBwatch’s estimation, […]

It All Depends on What Constitutes an Imminent Threat By now, you’ve probably heard about the House Republicans–specifically Rep. Bill Thomas–calling the cops on the Democrats, or rather one Democrat. Eschaton’s Lambert has the money-quote from an Austin-American Statesman piece on the incident: Republicans defended Thomas, saying he had no choice but to call in […]

One in Fifty-One Republican Senators Agree with Angry Bear Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska): “To just throw George Tenet’s body from the train and say, ‘That takes care of the problem,’ I don’t think is the way to do this.” Hagel pointed to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell […]

Good News Unfortunately, 37 + 16 is still 53, but this is still a step in the right direction: The same poll also reports that Bush’s approval rating is down 8 points to 55%, a small majority say the president is mishandling the economy, only 40% say the Iraq campaign has been a success, and […]

Axing Private Lynch In a move surely unrelated to “fatigue, stress, mechanical malfunctions and a disastrous series of errors” being much less exciting than an ambush, attack, and heroic soldier defending herself with every bullet in her revolver, CBS is cancelling its Private Lynch movie. CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves also admits that the apparent quid […]