Archive for April, 2006

Democrats’ Grand Gas Tax Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Good Decisions, Money

If this is true, it’s a great idea. Right in time for the summer driving season and…yes…the fall elections.
From Raw Story:
Democrats are set to introduce a measure that would create a “federal gas tax holiday” by eliminating the federal tax on gas and diesel for sixty days, RAW STORY has learned.
The measure, proposed by Sen. [...]

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 17 Comments »

Discuss

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Cartoons, Discuss, History

Circa 1996.

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Defending God in the Public Square

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Religion

In a short editorial in Human Events former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, lays out the five challenges Americans must meet in order to win the future and preserve the greatness of our nation.
1) Confronting a world in which America’s enemies, including the irreconcilable wing of Islam and rogue dictatorships, could acquire and use [...]

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 24 Comments »

Justice delayed, justice denied

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Breaking News, The War On Terrorism

The Pentagon has announced plans to summarily release 141 detainees at Guantanamo, roughly a third of the 490 remaining prisoners, and to charge an additional two dozen or so.
Charges are pending against about two dozen of the remaining prisoners, the chief prosecutor said. But he left unclear why the rest face neither imminent freedom nor [...]

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Morning Jolt

By Cicero | Related entries in Sports

I’m certain this beats coffee as a morning jolt.

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Dave Schuler Is Tired

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Blogging, General Politics

Are you?
I’m tired of people who find principles when their pensions are secured and people who are all for free trade (except for the trade restrictions that benefit them, personally). I’m tired of Fortune 1000 CEO’s who make 100’s of millions of dollars when there’s not a doubt in my mind that an Indian CEO [...]

April 25th, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Priorities

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Legislation, Sexuality

Glad to see the legislators in South Carolina are tackling the “hard” issues:
COLUMBIA � Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys.
But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern states.
The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Defending Incompetence

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, The War On Terrorism, War

This is one of those stories where I just shake my head in disbelief. I just don’t understand why somebody, who now knows that the troop level was not adequate, would say that he’d do the same thing given a second chance.
From the Washington Post:
President Bush today said mistakes were made in planning for the [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 22 Comments »

“didn’t even have access to the information”

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism

Mary McCarthy “categorically denies being the source of the leak.”
From Newsweek:
After being told by agency interrogators that she may have been deceptive on one quesiton during a polygraph, McCarthy did acknowledge that she had failed to report contacts with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest and at least one other reporter, said a source familiar with [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

“United 93″

By Callimachus | Related entries in The Politics Of Film

It opens next week. Will you go see it?
According to advance reviews, it doesn’t suck.

In the city where it will premiere next Tuesday, United 93 is being greeted�or repelled?�almost as if it were itself some kind of terror attack. Is the movie pornography? Exploitation? Too much too soon?
Having seen it once (apparently with what [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

Patriot or Traitor?

By Callimachus | Related entries in Discuss

Ethics question of the day: Is it right to do something you know is wrong, perhaps even illegal, for the sake of a greater good?
Mary McCarthy at the CIA leaks highly classified information on a sensitive topic that compromises both the United States and some key allies. She clearly broke the law. It will make [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 27 Comments »

Malkin Launches Hot Air Video Blog

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Blogging, Media

And the first video is anything but. It’s a great look at China and our dangerous dance with them.
Of course, I hesitate to really endorse this video blog as a whole because I know it’s going to eventually put out stories that are decidedly Malkinesque. However, this segment is spot on and since I point [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Democrats Find Wedge Issue In Stem Cells?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Elections, General Politics, Science

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

More Speak About FEMA Trailer Woes

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Hurricane Katrina

From the comments section of our “FEMA Trailer Driver Speaks” post.
First, a resident of Louisana who lost everything, moved back and is ashamed with the response of the government:
I live in Slidell Louisiana and I am very angry about all of this. My house flooded and I lost everything as well as my daughter and [...]

April 24th, 2006 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

Bin Laden and Iran

By Callimachus | Related entries in In The News, The War On Terrorism

Calm down, I’m not going to say there’s “long established ties” between them. But they’re both in headlines this weekend.
Bin Laden wants a jihad in Darfur, “according to an audiotape attributed to him which aired on Sunday.”

The speaker, who sounded like the Saudi-born militant, also said on the tape broadcast on Al Jazeera television [...]

April 23rd, 2006 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Would Americans Pay Even More For Gas?

By amba | Related entries in Economy, Elections

Even if they knew that they would be paying less in payroll taxes?
I’m watching “Late Edition” on CNN this morning, and even though Osama has issued a new tape and Iraq has chosen a new PM, the loudest clamor is about the high price of gasoline (now $2.90 for a gallon of unleaded regular on [...]

April 23rd, 2006 | Permalink| 11 Comments »

Gas: Taking A Page From Democrats’ Playbook

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Good Decisions

Gas is getting up there. Way up there. And that has some leading Republicans abandoning their “free market” ideology in favor questioning why the gas companies’ profits are going through the roof at the same time prices are too. After all, shouldn’t they be feeling the pinch too?
From the Wash Post:
House Speaker J. Dennis [...]

April 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

Not With a Bang But a Burp

By amba | Related entries in Environment, Science

Cross-posted from AmbivaBlog, a few days ago, with updates
“One of the more bizarre and frightening ways in which global warming could devastate our planet” is detailed by Nick Kristof in the April 18 Times — in money jail, needless to say. This column is too new to have been “liberated” yet, but here’s a [...]

April 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

The Bull Moose Is Seeing Blue

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Elections

And so am I…
The Moose saw it up close and first hand back in the ‘94 landslide. His fellow elephants were fit to be tied. They were seeing red and the states turned crimson. A natural disaster of Biblical proportions could not keep them from the polls to register their outrage with the ruling Clinton [...]

April 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Back from the dead

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Breaking News

I’m writing this while sitting curled up in a window seat on the eighth floor of a hotel overlooking the Chicago River. No, it doesn’t suck.
But I digress….
The CIA thinks that it has found and fired the person responsible for alerting reporters to the existence of the agency’s secret prison network. Her name: senior analyst [...]

April 22nd, 2006 | Permalink| No Comments »