I’ll start this out by saying that I’m sure several of you are going to disagree with me.
Unlike conservatives, I was willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt when he appeared to give a deferential bow to the King of Saudi Arabia. Perhaps it was just a rookie mistake, or the result [...]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Whilst walking the dog this rainy evening, I happened upon an illuminated, inflatable lawn ornament of the Halloween variety.
These decorations are an easy, relatively inexpensive way to acknowledge the holiday. They require little or no thought beyond which one to buy and where to buy it. The set-up is easy, so is the [...]

A new poll of New York’s 23rd Congressional District from the Club For Growth, which is backing Conservative Party Candidate Doug Hoffman in the race, effectively shows that the race is now a statistical dead heat among all three candidates:
Washington – A poll released today by the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug [...]

Yesterday’s Politico had a front-page story about the difficulties that the “birther” movement is beginning to pose for the GOP:
When lawmakers return home for recess in August, they can expect to hear tough questions from constituents on the economy, health care and government spending.
But Republicans are preparing for something else: the birthers.
As GOP Rep. Mike [...]

It doesn’t look like the Obama Administration’s efforts to capitalize on it’s army of campaign supporters to move the President’s agenda forward is having much of an impact:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s army of canvassers fanned out across the nation over the weekend to drum up support for his $3.55 trillion budget, but they had [...]

Barack Obama is now turning Wednesdays into his own upscale version of Chamber of Commerce/Rotary Club mixers, serving up cocktails, Maryland crab, Wagyu beef, Nantucket scallops and citrus salad — according to a recent Associated Press review of 2009 White House parties.
I confess to not knowing what Wagyu beef is, but I do know the [...]

Veritocracy is a new social news recommendation site that I’ve been trying out behind the scenes for a couple months and now you have the opportunity to try it before it launches.
My contact over there explains it better than I so check this out and if you have any interest to use the technology before [...]

It starts with an editorial in today’s New York Times:
When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, it seemed to be a good choice. Mr. Daschle, as the co-author of a book on health care reform, knew a lot about one of the president’s signature issues. [...]

It appears that Caroline Kennedy’s withdrawal from consideration for the open New York Senate seat had nothing to do with her uncle’s illness:
ALBANY — Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on [...]

Does new evidence incriminate the Mormon Church’s involvement with Proposition 8?
This is Steven Greenstreet with American News Project.
Activists claim that money from the Mormon Church was the deciding factor in passing Proposition 8 in California – banning gay marriage. The church claims to have only spent a few thousand dollars on the campaign, but ANP [...]

Alex Massie, right again:
Now it’s true that immigration reform is a tough subject for conservatives. True too, that when it comes to immigration there are some many on the restrictionist wing who consider Bush to be either a) a sentimentalist or b) corporate America’s pawn or c) both of the above. Equally, the orthodox Republican [...]

I’ve been pretty harsh on philosophical neo-conservatism over the last year or so. In fact, it’s safe to say that of all the various (actual) political philosophies that form a significant portion of our governing political coalitions, I have consistently held neo-conservatism in by far the most contempt.
And without a doubt, the basic tenets of [...]

Me, elsewhere:
Over the last few months, there has been much finger-pointing as to which particular sect of the old GOP coalition is to blame for the policy failures of the last 8 years and the electoral failures of the last 2 years…..I think these accusations are deeply misplaced – the problems have not been caused [...]

I know that as a gay man I should be joining like everyone else in condemning President-elect Obama in selecting Rick Warren to give a prayer at the inaugeration since he vigorously supported Prop 8 which banned same sex marriage in California, but I’m not.
I don’t agree with Warren’s views on this of course, but [...]

The New York media is starting to ask the elusive Senate-wannabe questions:
SYRACUSE — In a carefully controlled strategy reminiscent of the vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, aides to Caroline Kennedy interrupted her on Wednesday and whisked her away when she was asked what her qualifications are to be a United States senator.
In her first public appearance [...]

 
Former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan (above) is the Republican who preceded Democrat Rod Blagojevich in the Springfield state house and may soon be joined by Blagojevich at the nearest Federal Big House.  Ryan, who served one term as Governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted in 2006 for his role in the widespread illegal [...]

Thanks to a quirk in New York’s election laws, whoever gets appointed to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat will have to spend their first three years in office campaigning:
Paterson will appoint a Senator in January of 2009 who will hold that position until Jan. 3 of 2011. At that point, the winner of a special election [...]

Prorogue

transitive verb:
1 : defer , postpone
2 : to terminate a session of (as a British parliament) by royal prerogative

intransitive verb:
to suspend or end a legislative session

Canada has been in the international headlines recently as Stephen Harper’s minority conservative government faces dissolution from a coalition of opposition parties.
The best overview I found is What Is Happening [...]

It hasn’t reached the mainstream media yet, but in the days since Hillary Clinton’s nomination to be Barack Obama’s Secretary of State became official, there’s been some discussion of a little-known provision in the Constitution that could bar Hillary Clinton from serving at Foggy Bottom:
[S]pecifically, Article One, Section Six, also known as the emoluments clause. [...]