tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80771542009-06-26T17:43:43.841-07:00Being Divers Opinions, and Analysis of the News of the Day, with Reference to, and Informed by, Myriad Sources.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comBlogger1149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-78861422035330868482009-06-26T17:13:00.002-07:002009-06-26T17:43:43.852-07:00

My personal preoccupations of the early 80s apparently left me permanently out of sync with the rest of the world in some ways, and I never fell under the spell of the Thriller album. The most recent Michael Jackson song I really enjoy listening to these days is Never Can Say Goodbye, though the love song to the homicidal rat Ben always gets a laugh. For at least the last decade, Michael Jackson

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-18685722814589832132009-06-18T07:57:00.003-07:002009-06-18T08:08:31.744-07:00

why having a 'public option' for health insurance is a bad idea?Executives of three of the nation's largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.The hearing on the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-60075047036897374062009-06-16T22:17:00.002-07:002009-06-16T22:26:19.241-07:00

The truth about another conservative stalwart revealed:Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who had been considering a 2012 presidential campaign, has now admitted to an extra-marital affair, and will hold a press conference later today in Nevada to explain it further.Chris Cillizza reports that the affair took place between December 2007 and August 2008, with a woman who worked for Ensign's re-election

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-799429927646589392009-06-09T07:32:00.002-07:002009-06-09T07:37:09.073-07:00

Charging someone, and then bringing them to trial...what a novel idea! I wonder who came up with that.WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities have brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to the United States, flying him into New York to face trial for bombing U.S. embassies, the Justice Department said Tuesday.The department said Ahmed Ghailani arrived in the early morning hours Tuesday. U.S. Marshals

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-16633042571520659552009-06-03T07:32:00.003-07:002009-06-03T07:36:56.237-07:00

It sure was nice of George W. Bush to complete two terms without capturing Osama bin Laden, if only so that we could actually get proof that GOP claims about al Qaeda being happy if Obama got elected could be proven wrong.Shortly after Obama arrived Al Jazeera television aired a recording by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he said the U.S. president had planted seeds for "revenge and

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-11801701340248138662009-05-29T18:03:00.002-07:002009-05-29T18:19:08.972-07:00

Is it wrong to feel gleeful watching the Sotomayor nomination forcing the Right into fits of uncontrollable racist, sexist lunacy, dialing their inanity up to 11, right where everyone can see?Am I wrong to enjoy the way that major Republican rhetorical stalwarts like Newt, Rush, G. Gordon, Glen and Karl spewing the most dreadful, hateful nonsense just puts them in the worst light? Should I look

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-90684935180980032732009-05-22T07:55:00.002-07:002009-05-22T08:12:10.643-07:00

WASHINGTON – New questions surfaced Wednesday about the accuracy of a CIA document meant to settle who in Congress knew about severe interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.Three new errors appeared to emerge in the CIA's matrix of 40 congressional briefings on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.Oops.The CIA chart states that a Senate staffer, Chris Mellon, attended a

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-42958131615921359552009-05-22T06:50:00.002-07:002009-05-22T06:54:06.047-07:00

Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel of McClatchy News, who did some of the rare good reporting in the run-up to Iraq, took the time to truthsquad Cheney's speech yesterday. Guess what they found? WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.In

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-36846033304870108902009-05-14T18:11:00.003-07:002009-05-14T18:29:19.298-07:00

Despite what people in DC seem to think, it's not what the Speaker of the House knew, and when she knew it, it's what the President and Vice-President of the United States knew, and when they knew it.If Nancy Pelosi was told about waterboarding early, and did nothing, then she was wrong! That was a bad thing, and she should be punished.Still, many seem fiercely dedicated to proving what she knew,

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-30345457411354449082009-05-06T07:45:00.001-07:002009-05-06T07:45:51.991-07:00

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-30685274439703050942009-04-28T19:37:00.002-07:002009-04-28T19:45:12.853-07:00

I guess there is some small chance that now that Senator Specter has given up trying to placate the loonie right-wing in the Republican Party, he might actual put his votes where his mouth is, and actually start supporting Democratic initiatives. I'll believe it when I see it. Specter's pattern has been to talk a good game, and then vote the GOP line whenever push comes to shove. He's with the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-39442679877565792052009-04-22T18:38:00.005-07:002009-04-22T19:33:46.257-07:00

The continuing rolling wave of news about torture continues, and is almost too upsetting to write about. Many other bloggers, particularly Marcy Wheeler, are really where to get good information on that topic. As of this writing, it's becoming increasingly clear that high level Bush administration officials were preparing for and authorizing torture well before any memo alleged it was legal and

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-29763856929409362102009-04-16T18:06:00.002-07:002009-04-16T18:16:45.783-07:00

The ACLU has them posted. We have always assumed they were awful.They are worse than that.Read the warped, hideous reasoning in the Bybee memo, and ponder the fact that its author is now a federal judge. Hilzoy at The Washington Monthly is the first person, but probably not the last, I've read comparing them directly to Orwell's 1984.These were not men who were trying to give honest opinions

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-13361947116120632202009-04-03T23:07:00.002-07:002009-04-03T23:18:12.567-07:00

Such fine, upstanding people.Todd Palin’s half-sister was arrested Thursday after police say she broke into a Wasilla home for the second time this week to steal money.Palin is the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin. He declined comment.Diana Palin, 35, entered a home near Wasilla’s Multi-Use Sports Complex and attempted to steal cash from the owner’s bedroom, police said.She also broke into the same

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-26735924162724105222009-04-02T18:46:00.003-07:002009-04-02T19:15:31.782-07:00

It's clear that, for all their talk about how important bipartisanship in Washington is, and how put out they are that Obama isn't listening to their ideas anymore, the GOP is just, well, full of it.It's pretty hard to listen to someone's ideas when a) they have no new ideas and b) they are constantly making up the most insane claims, and outright lies. For example, the GOP budget proposals. Last

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-42182377127740543062009-03-22T09:53:00.002-07:002009-03-22T11:07:47.046-07:00

Frank Rich:To get ahead of the anger, Obama must do what he has repeatedly promised but not always done: make everything about his economic policies transparent and hold every player accountable. His administration must start actually answering the questions that officials like Geithner and Summers routinely duck.Inquiring Americans have the right to know why it took six months for us to learn (

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-4600051125311466022009-03-21T07:43:00.001-07:002009-03-21T07:58:35.984-07:00

What Cheney and his gang never really understood was that the aim of a 'terrorist' is to spread fear, undermining people's basic sense of security in life, and creating the perception that the authorities are feckless and untrustworthy. It is not necessarily about killing people, but about overturning civil order by substituting reason and wisdom with emotion and panic.Water company engineers

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-59367379818928624932009-03-18T18:33:00.003-07:002009-03-18T21:09:30.004-07:00

Congressman Frank is not only willing to call it as he sees it, he's pretty funny while doing it.I just asked House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) if John Boehner had any "justification" in declaring Tim Geithner was "on thin ice."Here's what he told POLITICO:"No. Does Boehner need any justification? It says it right there on his partisan hack license that he can say anything

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-40264931225827628752009-03-15T12:16:00.003-07:002009-03-15T13:04:56.861-07:00

WASHINGTON — The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-56578794259033841052009-03-11T22:11:00.002-07:002009-03-11T22:21:26.165-07:00

We all saw this coming, right?WASILLA, Alaska — Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby. Johnston, 19, told The Associated Press that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin mutually decided "a while ago" to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate as he stood

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-58559042272438444782009-03-03T18:53:00.003-08:002009-03-03T21:11:19.507-08:00

Sometimes, I'm still struck by the power and majesty of America as the land of opportunity. This is particularly true in these days when so many people are facing hard times, when so many find themselves set adrift because some greedy bankers in Manhattan or London invented some way of selling fantasies and pretty lies for billions of dollars to corporations and bankers around the world. Still,

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-90262682999760518292009-02-24T20:12:00.002-08:002009-02-24T20:21:19.551-08:00

When Bobby Jindal used response to Katrina as an example of the failures of government, did he think we don't all remember which party was in charge then?Maybe he just felt like, since Obama had talked to us as if we were intelligent enough to follow his explanations, maybe some of us would miss the way Bush used to talk down to us like we were idiots.OK, one more thing: what the heck was that

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-59103109501553989102009-02-21T22:20:00.002-08:002009-02-21T22:27:34.915-08:00

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”The RNC's first black chairman will “surprise everyone” when updating the party's image using the Internet and advertisements on radio, on

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-4078547110280061222009-02-21T07:20:00.002-08:002009-02-21T08:00:48.118-08:00

Weekend Edition Saturday has, for the third week in a row, followed my favorite regular segment with veteran newsman Daniel Schorr with a segment apparently designed only to enrage me and sour my Saturday morning. I've taken to thinking of it as "Right-wing Media-mouth Blats at Random".I really don't get this regular segment at all. It's not news, it's not analysis, it's just random opinion, and

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077154.post-28841457387977879952009-02-18T18:24:00.002-08:002009-02-18T18:35:29.118-08:00

Radical 'conservative' activist Grover Norquist is infamous for a widely-quoted comment that he wanted to shrink government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."Just in case you were wondering what that might look like:SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Chances of a quick resolution to California's budget stalemate appeared to fade Wednesday after Senate Republican holdouts ousted

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11838273805071235364noreply@blogger.com