My hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle, got this write-up placed on memeorandum this afternoon: Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the congressman from the Houston area who opposes the Iraq war, has gotten more contributions than any other White House contender from donors identified as affiliated with the military. According to a Houston Chronicle analysis of…
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.
Kurdistan and Self-Rule
From the NY Times – fifteen years ago – but still highly relevant given recent events: The Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Iran and Syria condemned the creation of a de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq today and warned Kurdish leaders that they would not allow it to lead to the partition of the country. “We…
Speaking of Cartoons…
…why is this rather odd-looking chap receiving a barrage of death threats? Meet artist Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist whose drawing depicting the head of Prophet Mohammed on the body of a dog, caused a firestorm of controversy and, according to CNN, prompted Al Qaeda to offer $150,000 to the person who slits Lars’ throat. …
NY Senators Fund Woodstock Museum, Get Donations
USA Today reports: Days after a Senate committee approved $1 million for a Woodstock concert museum, the project’s Republican billionaire backer and his family contributed $29,200 to help the Democrats who requested the money, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer. … The New York senators put their names jointly on all their earmark requests,…
Reporters’ Shield Bill Passes House
Reuters says: The House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Tuesday and overwhelmingly passed legislation that would protect reporters from being jailed for refusing to reveal confidential sources. By a vote of 398 to 21, the House sent to the Senate a bill that would prohibit prosecutors from forcing reporters to reveal…
Funky Winkerbean Causes Controversy
From Fox News: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But did the creator of the comic strip "Funky Winkerbean" take the "awareness" part too far? … The decision by cartoonist Tim Batiuk to have Lisa Moore, the cartoon strip’s wife, mother and lawyer, succumb to breast cancer last week has sparked both praise and anger,…
China: U.S. Shouldn’t Approve of Dalai Lama
Reuters says: China expressed fury on Tuesday that the United States is to honor the Dalai Lama with an award and warned that the activities of his supporters were increasing in Chinese-controlled Tibet. The Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since staging a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is to…
Fox, Navarette on Illegal Immigration
Ruben Navarrette says that Americans cannot blame immigration on Mexico and that country’s economic policies. Oh, it’s true that the United States is a country of immigrants. But in this case, what matters is that this also happens to be a country full of people who hire illegal immigrants. There is only one reason why…
Islamist Nearly Lands School Board Position
Yesterday Patrick Poole wrote a must-read article about Anisa Abd El Fattah aka Caroline F. Keeble, an active promoter of Hamas’ agenda here in the U.S., came close to becoming a member of the school board in Columbus, Ohio. The reason a Hamas operative almost ended up on the school board of the 15th largest…
FDA "Does Away" with Children’s Medicine
The NY Times reported Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration, which had been pressuring makers of over-the-counter cough medicine for infants and toddlers to withdraw their products from the market, has gotten its way. The voluntary withdrawal, already under way, affects only products labeled for use in infants, not for use in children 2 and…