Josh Marshall: As we get deeper into the campaign, I do not have a problem with excluding candidates who are not generating any substantial public support. Gravel, I think, was an example of that in the Democratic debates. But I think the Paulbots have a pretty good case for outrage with Ron Paul’s exclusion from…
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
2008 Headline Predictions
The NY Times 2008 headline prediction quiz can be found here. The questions and my answers are below. I only matched answers with Mr. Safire on 2 of 19 questions. 1. The business headline of the year will be: (a) Big Bounce to 15,000 Dow After Soft Landing (b) Recession Has Brokers Selling Apples…
Pakistan and Merit
Tariq Ali says that Pakistan deserves more from its opposition – and its ruling government – in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. A triumvirate consisting of her husband, Asif Zardari (one of the most venal and discredited politicians in the country and still facing corruption charges in three European courts) and two ciphers will…
Obama’s Real Muslim Issue
The question of whether Barack Obama was a Muslim as a boy is still lurking around in some people’s minds, as demonstrated by Daniel Pipes’ Christmas Eve questions about Obama’s potential apostasy and Ben Smith’s reply calling the article a smear tactic. In a country of John Smiths, Barack Obama’s name carries with it an inherent…
Bhutto Dynasty to Continue
The NY Times writes that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been selected to be the future leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, replacing his slain mother. The moves by Ms. Bhutto’s opposition party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, were clearly aimed at marshaling an outpouring of grief and anger to electoral advantage in the Jan. 8 parliamentary…
Fox News Vetoes Paul
Don Surber says that Fox is in the right for not allowing Ron Paul’s participation in the final pre-primary debate in New Hampshire. His justification? The fact that Paul’s fans “stuff every online poll on the Internet”. Whoop-ti-doo. First, polls are a joke anyway, particularly in a close election cycle like this one. Nothing is…
Torture, a
At Pharyngula, PZ Meyers lets off a blast of anti-torture steam that must have been building up for some time: Here is all that torture is good for: inspiring fear in a population. … When the US government announces it’s support for torture, they aren’t talking about intelligence gathering: they are simply saying “Fear us.”…
Immigration Answers
In the NY Times, Julia Preston writes that the immigration problem is defying politicians’ attempts to answer it easily. Coinciding with the mood of apprehension following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the new immigration has provoked more than the traditional suspicion that foreigners are taking jobs from American workers. For many voters in the…
Texans Against Nukes
The Houston Chronicle says: Texas anti-nuclear activists are rallying their forces to challenge the so-called nuclear renaissance that could see the state become home to the country’s first new nuclear power plant project in nearly 30 years. … Austin-based officials with the Sierra Club, Public Citizen and the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition said…
John Edwards’ 4 Steps
Edwards, running a reasonable 3rd in the Democratic primary polls, today published a 4 step program to a healthier America in the Boston Globe. But would following his recipe really make America a better place to live? The first thing we need to do is create more jobs and make sure those jobs pay enough for people…