Politics

Give Me an E!

The Texas House has approved legislation to ban sexually suggestive routines by school cheerleaders: "Girls can get out and do all of these overly sexually performances and we applaud them and that's not right," said Democratic Rep. Al Edwards of Houston, who filed the legislation. Edwards argued that lascivious exhibitions are a distraction for high school students that result in pregnancies, high school dropouts, contraction of AIDS and herpes and "cutting off their youthful life at an early ... (read more)

2005/05/05

I'd Buy That for a Dollar

A stamp machine at the post office gave me dollar coins back as change -- five Sacagaweas and two Susan B. Anthonys. I gave some to my kids, who had to be convinced they were legal tender, and freaked out a clerk at an Arby's by using one. "Are you sure you really want to spend this?" he asked, marveling at the golden coin honoring a woman so obscure there's no record of her appearance. A coin can't be doing very well when people think you spent one by accident. Last week the House of ... (read more)

2005/05/02

Close But No Cigar

I publish several web sites that run advertising sold by BlogAds, a broker that has been a financial boon to hundreds of weblogs. I rejected an ad today from a site that sells Cuban cigars. The site claims that it's legal for Americans to import two boxes, but the language of the site's frequently asked questions page gives me the willies: The original embargo on Cuban products has been revised by the US Dept of Justice to allow importation of small quantities when returning from a licensed ... (read more)

2005/04/29

Jumping Over the Lazy Dog

In another story about the no-holds-barred cage match between journalists and bloggers, Samantha Israel writes that she only has been corrected once by a reader. Let's go for two. Israel writes: More than arrogant, some old-time reporters think bloggers are plain old lazy. Former CBS news correspondent Eric Engberg made himself clear in his "Blogging as typing, not journalism" article on CBSNews.com last November. "Given their lack of expertise, standards and, yes, humility," he wrote, "the ... (read more)

2005/04/13

Schiavo's Parents Visit Jacksonville

A Catholic themed weblogger here in Jacksonville, Jeffrey Miller, attended the funeral mass held today in his parish for Terri Schiavo by her parents: The president of the Justice Coalition, Ted Hires, spoke after Bob Schindler. He gave a passionate speech about what happened to Terri and talked about how the Schindler's were going to be working in the future to "prevent anybody else from being starved to death." He mentioned that those who participated in the death of Terri will one day meet ... (read more)

2005/04/12

Democratic Podcast: GOP Knows No Limits

The Democratic response to the presidential radio address was delivered Saturday by Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid, who compared Republican talk of ending the filibuster to FDR's infamous court-packing plan. Reid, a soft-spoken moderate from a Western state that may be a swing state in 2008, is building a reputation as a tough opponent to Bush's Social Security privatization plan. The transcript of his remarks: I'm Harry Reid from Nevada, the Democratic Leader in the United States Senate. This ... (read more)

2005/04/09

"When you write commentary, as we do, you are generally dependent on reasonably accurate news reporting. When the facts of a story bounce around -- which is not unusual -- you are left commenting on a moving target." Shorter PowerLine: The media has a responsibility to get the facts straight so that bloggers don't make embarrassing mistakes when we correct them. ... (read more)

2005/04/08

Matt Drudge: The Hits Keep on Coming

The New York Observer covers the upcoming launch of the Huffington Report and the need for liberal competition to the Drudge Report. Reporter Joe Hagan has overlooked the fact that there already are several wanna-be Drudges on the left, including BuzzFlash, Raw Story, and my own Drudge Retort, which I copublish with television writer Jonathan Bourne. Judging by our traffic, most of the world is overlooking us too, though Raw Story is growing fast. According to the Observer, for fun Matt Drudge ... (read more)

2005/04/06

Pat Buchanan was doused with salad dressing at a speaking appearance last night at Western Michigan University, which follows an incident Tuesday in which William Kristol was hit with a pie at a small college in Indiana. The video of the Buchanan incident will circle the globe (tag humor, politics, liberal), but I have trouble finding the hilarity in it. Without a doubt, a public figure hears regularly from nutjobs who threaten violence. As Buchanan and Kristol were being charged aggressively, ... (read more)

2005/04/01

Crossing Over the Line

On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart presented clips from the ongoing, 24-7 obscenity that is cable news coverage of the Terri Schiavo case. The Crooks & Liars weblog offers the five-minute segment in QuickTime and Windows Media formats. To give you an idea of how bad the infotainment cesspool has become, a Fox News morning show invited Crossing Over TV psychic John Edward in studio to talk about it. John Edward: I do believe that the soul, the consciousness, can communicate when they're in ... (read more)

2005/03/25

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