Archive for December, 2008

Caroline dropping bombshells

By Nick Ragone | Related entries in News

Caroline Kennedy’s pseudo-campaign has been a blessing for the chattering class (myself included) because it gives us something to ruminate on now that Obama’s cabinet selection is complete and Blago is bunkering down for the long haul. On an otherwise extremely slow news day, she stole the headlines with her NY1 interview where she dropped a couple of [...]

December 27th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

India, Pakistan take steps to prepare for war

By John Burke | Related entries in Afghanistan, Barack, India, Pakistan

Indian Army troops of the famed Gurkha Rifles on parade A flurry of reports in the Indian, Pakistani and Western media indicate that both India and Pakistan are taking serious steps to prepare for a new conflict between the two nations, which have fought three wars since 1947, in the wake of the November 26 [...]

December 27th, 2008 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Truck And SUV Sales Up?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bad Decisions, Cars, Economy, Energy, Gas, Oil

I’m glad to see we learned our lesson… From CNN: After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America’s taste for big vehicles. Trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December, according to researchers at the automotive Website Edmunds.com, something that hasn’t happened since February. Meanwhile the forecast [...]

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Tom Brokaw Reflects On 2008

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Video

What will we say 20 years from now? Sure, I think the year will be defined by the economic collapse and the election, but perhaps it may also be seen as the year we woke up with regards to our banking system and started to reform it in real, honest ways. Fingers crossed.

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Want To Refinance? Good Luck

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Housing, Law

Interest rates are at historical lows so many homeowners are calling banks and trying to get in on the action. Only problem? Housing prices have fallen so much so that now people owe more on their homes than they’re worth…making refinancing an impossibility. From Miami Herald… In South Florida, four in 10 homeowners who bought [...]

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

CNN: 75% Glad To See Bush Go

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, History, Polls

And only 23% will miss him. Here’s more… The three-quarters of Americans surveyed who say they won’t miss Bush is 24 points higher than the 51 percent who said they wouldn’t miss Bill Clinton when he left office in January 2001. Forty-five percent of those questioned at that time said they would miss Clinton. [...] [...]

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Obama Most Admired Man

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Barack, Polls

As if we didn’t need more proof that expectations are high for Barack Obama, a new USA Today/Gallup poll shows Obama as the most admired man by Americans. And it isn’t even close. Obama received the nod from 32% of the Americans surveyed. Coming in second was George W. Bush with just 5%. This disparity [...]

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Merry Christmas

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Comedy

Hope yours is merry and bright.

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

The Girl Effect

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Gender, The World, Video

A powerful message about women in developing worlds… Just something to think about on this day when we celebrate family, friends and abundance. More here.

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Pardon…Or No Pardon?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, Good Decisions, Video

No pardon. Here’s some background on the initial pardon… Toussie pleaded guilty to charges in two separate cases. In one, he admitted in 2001 that he had made false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, pleading guilty to a count of falsifying loan documents that illegally qualified about 100 home buyers [...]

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

The Right Take On Religion And Republicanism

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Conservatism, Democrats, Religion

Kristen Soltis pens a great post over at The Next Right that’s definitely worth a read. Because by talking about refocusing what religion means to the Republican party, she’s helping drive the conversation for a new generation of conservatives…and that’s long overdue… The notion that every human life is sacred is an important one, and [...]

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Al Franken Will Likely Be Senator Franken?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Law, Minnesota, Voting

What looked completely unlikely just a few weeks ago has turned around for the funnyman as he has won some key decisions in the past week and is now ahead by just 46 votes. That’s right…46 votes. From the Star Tribune: A state Supreme Court ruling Wednesday narrowed the options available for Sen. Norm Coleman [...]

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Russia’s Christmas message to Obama: We will use force

By John Burke | Related entries in Barack, Foreign Policy, Russia

For the second time since the Barack Obama won the U.S. Presidential election, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a none-too-subtle threat aimed at his soon-to-be American counterpart. Medvedev — who is starting to make his patron, the former KGB apparatchik, Vladimir Putin, look soft — warned that Russia was prepared to use force to secure [...]

December 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 12 Comments »

Obama Remains Calm During First Scandal

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Barack, Blagojevich, Media

Now that Barack Obama is moving past the Rod Blagojevich scandal, we can make some assessments as to how Team Obama is liking to handle future political scandals and uncomfortable moments. Politico outlines Obama’s five rules of scandal management: 1 – Be transparent, to an extent 2 – Don’t let the news cycle dictate response [...]

December 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

NORAD Tracking Santa

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Homeland Security

It’s true. And they’ve been doing it since the 1950s. You can even follow Santa’s path yourself by going here. But remember, don’t try to catch Santa. If he sees you, he won’t bring you anything.

December 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Is Morning Joe The New Crossfire?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Media, Video

Remember Crossfire? No, not the hacktastic version with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala/James Carville that was publicly embarrassed by Jon Stewart in 2004 and was subsequently cancelled. No, I’m talking about the original one with Pat Buchanan, John McLaughlin and Tom Braden. You know, the one that seemed like a genuine debate show. Eventually John [...]

December 24th, 2008 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

Oil Sinks On Recession Woes

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Business, Economy, Energy, Gas, Oil

Massive energy speculation mixed with much lower demand is driving the price down, down, down for the foreseeable future. From AP: A report by the Commerce Department showed that sales of new homes fell in November to the slowest pace in nearly 18 years, while new home prices dropped by the biggest amount in eight [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Woodward On Bush’s Legacy

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, History, Iraq, Video, War

He had the type of access to Bush that journalists would kill for and it resulted in a bunch of books about his Presidency that weren’t necessarily flattering. Still, that doesn’t mean Bush’s presidency will be a failure… Personally, I don’t think Iraqi democratization will ultimately turn out the way Bush and company said it [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Bush As “The Decider”

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, History, Video

Former advisor Mary Matalin explains how the Bush administration worked…or didn’t. It sounds like a sensible strategy, but the problem with Bush is he allowed himself to be surrounded himself with folks who had very specific agendas and he got faulty information as a result. Nowhere is this more apparent than the decision to go [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Obama To Be Sworn In On Lincoln’s Bible

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack

A fitting beginning to his presidency and hopefully a signal to all that his administration and leadership will be much more humble than his predecessor’s… Barack Obama will be sworn into office with the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used for his first inauguration in 1861. The move further extends the parallels that Mr. Obama [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »