Archive for March, 2007

Worldwide Incarceration Rates Betray Racial Injustice

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Discuss, Drugs, Law, The World

Pretty interesting, no? I bet we can trace these numbers directly back to our failed, prejudiced “war” on drugs.
And maybe you’re saying right now, “Prejudiced? Prove it!” Well, you need look no further than the vast disparity between the prisons sentences for people who do crack and people who do cocaine…
Pharmacologically the same drug, crack [...]

March 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

The Onion Predicted Iraq War Fallout?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Comedy, History, The War On Terrorism, War

Satire at its most prescient comes in the form of a “Point/Counterpoint” discussion published in The Onion on March 26, 2003.
Here’s the “Point”, or “This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism”…
George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, [...]

March 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Fired US Attorney David Iglesias Speaks

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Law

The following is pretty damning. Not only because it lays out a very succinct timeline of when these firings started to take shape, but also the nature of how politically craven the justifications for the firings were.
From NY Times:
Politics entered my life with two phone calls that I received last fall, just before the November [...]

March 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

McCain Shuns Club For Growth

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Economy, Money

So yes, McCain isn’t going to be attending the Club For Growth hoe-down scheduled for later this month. And so…they got a little miffed about this. Subsequently they made a video…and it makes McCain look REALLY good.
No, seriously. Watch the following produced by the Club For Growth, and tell me if McCain’s reasonsing for opposing [...]

March 21st, 2007 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Brownback’s Iraq Plan

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, War

I’ve nearly always liked this scenario, but I don’t think it’s feasible, especially with the current climate of “stay the course” or “let’s get out now!”
From the AP:
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback says Iraq should be divided into three sectarian-based states to halt the war.
The Republican presidential candidate says Iraq would remain one country, with a [...]

March 20th, 2007 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Americans Still Don’t Like The Congress

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in News, Polls, War

I know…what a shocker.
Still, with approval ratings that are now lower than the President’s, one has to wonder exactly what the Congress can do to garner favor in this current political climate.
From Gallup:
PRINCETON, NJ — The modest uptick in approval of the job being done by Congress has dissipated for the most part after only [...]

March 20th, 2007 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Bush’s hard but brittle line

By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Breaking News, General Politics, Law, News

President Bush has offered to make his senior aides available to Congressional investigators in the prosecutor case — but not under oath, and with no transcripts.
Bush said his White House counsel, Fred Fielding, told lawmakers they could interview presidential counselor Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and their deputies � but only on [...]

March 20th, 2007 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Giuliani Tops For Most In GOP

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Polls

Moderate and conservative Republicans agree. Giuliani is the guy, at least for now. Specifically, 48% of moderates want Giuliani, while 38% of conservatives think Rudy’s their man.
What about the other guys? McCain trails with 26% and 20%, respectively. Newt weighs in with 14% among conservatives, but barely registers with moderates. Romney is hardly a [...]

March 20th, 2007 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Why The Alternative Minimum Tax Should Be Wiped Out

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Law, Money

It’s ruining people’s lives.
From the Baltimore Sun:
Rita and Arthur Miller used to believe that honesty, hard work and filing taxes on time would keep you on society’s good side.
They believed this until about 2001, when, in the parallel universe known as the alternative minimum tax, the government began seeking more than $100,000 in tax on [...]

March 19th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Romney Invokes Castro Saying?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Dumb Things Said By Smart People

Now, one can say “Woops” in this type of situation, but how in the hell did he say the exact thing that Castro usually says?
Woops…
People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami.
But when he [...]

March 19th, 2007 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

More Emails Sink Alberto Gonzales

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Law

The following is pretty astonishing. And I’m not talking about the White House’s involvement in the attorney firings from the beginning.
Ready? Go.
March 19, 2007� New e-mails released this evening by the Justice Department reveal the depth of White House involvement in the discussions to fire eight U.S. attorneys last year. The thousands of pages of [...]

March 19th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Are We Ready For The Next Fight?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, Military

Everybody knows that our resources have been stretched thin as a result of the Iraq war.
But how thin?
Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital [...]

March 19th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Plenty of Blame After Four Years in Iraq

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Iraq

Four years in and it’s time to dish out the blame for our nation’s Iraq failures. You can read what I have to say over at Maverick Views.
Brief synopsis: no one is innocent.

March 19th, 2007 | Permalink| No Comments »

McCain’s Troubling HIV Answer

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Money, Science, Sexuality, Social Programs, The World

He was on his bus answering a question about whether our government should spend money to provide condoms in Africa. And then the reporter asked him an excruciatingly simple question.
You will be amazed…
Q: Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?�
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.�
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably [...]

March 18th, 2007 | Permalink| 28 Comments »

Iraq War Perspective

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, Money

Try this on for size:
1. The newspaper today states one minute of war in Iraq costs US$380,000. A calculation made by Joseph Stiglitz, a US Nobelprize winning economist. That is almost double the cost of the war in Vietnam.
2. According to WFP, the UN’s food aid organisation, it costs US$0.19 to feed a child for [...]

March 18th, 2007 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Americans Say No To Hillary And Newt

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Polls

Zogby recently did a poll, and asked a question about who people would absolutely NOT vote for in 2008. The results? Voters are looking for new leadership.
Zogby? (emphasis mine)
With the actual voting still a long way into the future, more than half of the American electorate has already made up its mind about who they [...]

March 18th, 2007 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Gonzales Is Gone…Almost

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Law

It’s pretty much inevitable now, especially after his recent non-apology apology to US attorneys.
Seriously…I don’t think you’re going to believe this one:
Gonzales apologized to the prosecutors not for the firings but for their execution, including for inaccurate public statements about poor job performance, according to people familiar with the afternoon conference call.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” [...]

March 17th, 2007 | Permalink| 11 Comments »

Richardson’s Bold Call On Medical Marijuana

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Drugs, Legislation, News

The New Mexico governor and presidential hopeful is doing something that about 99.999% of other viable presidential hopefuls wouldn’t even think of. And maybe that’ll set him apart.
MSNBC has more:
SANTA FE, N.M. – Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he [...]

March 16th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

No Internal Probe Of Valerie Plame Leak?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The Plame Game

How about that for a title?
From E&P (emphasis mine):
NEW YORK Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a congressional committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.
The White House had first opposed Knodell testifying but [...]

March 16th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Pardon Libby? Another Poll Says No.

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Polls, The Plame Game

Gallup this time. But the numbers are interesting.

Those who followed the story closely…55% think he shouldn’t get a pardon, while 44% should.
Those who followed it somewhat closely…73% think no, while 25% think yes.
Those who didn’t follow it at all…66% say no, 15% say yes and 20% didn’t have an opinion.

Think it’s because of partisanship? Not [...]

March 16th, 2007 | Permalink| 4 Comments »