Politics
Sanders: Socialism for Rich, Free Enterprise for Poor
Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, makes a point I haven't heard anywhere else in his response to the bailout plan: We must end the danger posed by companies that are "too big too fail," that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up. Right now, for example, the Bank of America, the nation's largest ... (read more)Cady McClain on Sarah Palin
Because I'm still not over the death of All My Children's Dixie Cooney Chandler Martin Bodine Martin, who died in 2007 after eating poisoned peanut butter pancakes meant for her daughter-in-law, I've been keeping up with the personal weblog where her portrayer Cady McClain journals life after death. McClain has a rep for being fairly opinionated, as you can see from her post yesterday about Sarah Palin: ... I think Sarah Palin is the worst thing to come to politics in a long time. Overly ... (read more)Ron Paul Absent from Financial Crisis Coverage
I found myself wondering today why Ron Paul has been completely absent from media coverage of the Merrill Lynch sale and Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Paul, more than any other candidate for president this year, made an issue of the government's management of the economy and how he believes we're being led off a cliff. He would no doubt have a lot to say, given his remarks in May against proposed House bills to bail out mortgage lenders: It is neither morally right nor fiscally wise to socialize ... (read more)North Carolina Also Bills Rape Victims for Evidence
Wasilla, Alaska, isn't the only place that has charged rape victims for the cost of evidence to prosecute their attackers. Minnesota Public Radio's News Cut blog finds that North Carolina followed the same policy as Sarah Palin's town during her term as mayor: Last winter, the Raleigh News & Observer in North Carolina uncovered a similar policy on a statewide basis. The vast majority of the 3,000 or so emergency room patients examined for sexual assaults each year shoulder some of the cost of a ... (read more)Under Palin, Wasilla Charged Rape Victims for Evidence Kits
During the first four years that Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the town's police department charged women who had been raped with the cost of "rape kits," the $300 to $1,200 exams necessary to collect evidence of the sex assault. A May 20, 2000, article in The Frontiersman, Wasilla's hometown newspaper, provides the details: Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to ... (read more)ABC News Can't Be Bothered with Iraq
Here's a nice example of the thimble-deep thinking that passes for political journalism in the mainstream media these days. On ABC News, journalists Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe mock Joe Biden for giving a substantive answer to a reporter's question about whether he still supports a tripartite solution to divide Iraq into separate Kurd, Shia and Sunni areas. Tapper and Jaffe count the time he took to answer the reporter -- "13 minutes, 20 seconds" -- but they don't offer a single word of ... (read more)Palin Dodges Question About Indicted Alaskan Senator
At a campaign stop this weekend in an Albuquerque, N.M., restaurant, John McCain and Sarah Palin had the misfortune of running into a pesky voter, as AmericaBlog relates: McCain worked his way up to me and Cat and as I shook his hand, I asked, "Sir, I respect your service but, why were you against the GI bill?" Senator McCain, paused, he looked a bit surprised at the question and then he said, "Nice to meet you." I repeated the question and he repeated his non-answer. He quickly worked his way ... (read more)Give 'Em Hell, Joe
Joe Biden was in rare form yesterday at a campaign appearance in Langhorne, Pa., responding to the Republican National Convention with a list of things that John McCain and Sarah Palin left out of their speeches. Biden lacks the celebrity status of Palin, but he's perfect for the job required of a vice presidential candidate -- taking the fight directly to the opposition. Palin got some nice sarcastic shots in during her acceptance speech, but she's so green the McCain campaign is hiding her ... (read more)Presidents Without Executive Experience
Jonathan Bourne, my unindicted coconspiritor on the Drudge Retort, answered an interesting question on his blog: Which presidents ran for the job with no prior government experience as an executive? Below is a list of Presidents were never a U.S. Vice President, a major Cabinet Secretary, governor or mayor. John F. Kennedy Dwight Eisenhower (Herbert Hoover prior to becoming President had served as Secretary of Commerce) (William Howard Taft prior to becoming President was Provisional Governor ... (read more)Rogers Has Four Alma Maters
Sarah Palin switched colleges six times in six years: the University of Hawaii-Hilo (a few weeks), Hawaii Pacific University (one semester), North Idaho College (two semesters), University of Idaho (two semesters), Matanuska-Susitna College (one semester) and then back to the University of Idaho (three semesters), where she graduated in spring 1987 with a degree in journalism. I thought I was insane for attending four colleges: Stephen F. Austin State University (one semester), Richland Junior ... (read more)
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