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Gregory Weinkauf

BIO

Julie in the Sky with Diamonds: Across The Taymor Universe

Gregory Weinkauf | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


2007-09-28-tay0002.jpg
JULIE TAYMOR
Photo: Jonathan Alcorn/Zuma/Corbis

In case you haven't noticed, Julie Taymor is one of those brilliant people. Yes, yes, The Lion King on Broadway and the films Titus and Frida -- these factors are known. And yet, as...

Richard Belzer

BIO

The Death of Conservatism, Part 3

Richard Belzer | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


To understand why conservatism is dying, it is instructive to see how it came full bloom in the Gilded Age. This era is indelibly depicted in Age of Betrayal, a brilliant book by Atlantic Monthly senior editor Jack Beatty. Here is how the book's jacket captures the time:

Jon Robin Baitz

BIO

On Race, Betrayal, and My Growing Appreciation of Hillary Clinton (UPDATED SLIGHTLY with a PPS)

Jon Robin Baitz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Lately there has been some rather over-heated discussion in the papers and on the airwaves about the notion of betrayal.

The unsubtle agitprop "Betray-us or Petraeus" ad (yes, literally untrue, but a useful provocation), became a short-term totem which might re-emerge during the desperate and venal...

Rachel Sklar

BIO

Liveblog! GOP Black Voter Forum: Half The Candidates, Double The Fun!

Rachel Sklar | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


2007-09-28-TavisAcrossAmerica.JPGHello, and welcome to Baltimore and Morgan State University for the first-ever PBS Black Voter Forum, proud to welcome half the GOP presidential candidates! In honor of same, tonight we've got half the liveblogging staff — it's just me, alas, on this...

Rep. Patrick Murphy

BIO

Honoring All Those Who Serve

Rep. Patrick Murphy | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Someone should tell chicken-hawk Rush Limbaugh that the only phonies are those who choose not to serve and then criticize those who do. I served proudly, so did two of my fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne who spoke out and died just weeks ago. Generations of American veterans...

Joseph A. Palermo

BIO

Senate Urges Bush to Attack Iran

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Yesterday, Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton (NY), Chuck Schumer (NY), Bob Menendez (NJ), Barbara Mikulski (MD), and Ben Cardin (MD) all voted in favor of the "Kyl-Lieberman Iran Amendment." This piece of legislation actually encourages the practitioner of cowboy diplomacy, George W. Bush, to be even more belligerent in his foreign...

Jon Wiener

BIO

John Dean: From Nixon to Bush to Giuliani--"Much, Much Worse"

Jon Wiener | Posted September 27, 2007 | Off The Bus


The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.

John Dean knows something about White House abuse of power. He wrote a bestseller in 2004 on the Bush White House called Worse Than...

Richard Greene

BIO

Air America Challenges Media Corporations to Provide Free Time to Candidates

Richard Greene | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


As the Democratic Presidential Candidates gathered for their debate last night in New Hampshire, it is important to remember that most of their time -- day after day -- is spent doing one thing: raising money.

And it is also important to understand that 5 major American corporations...

Mayhill Fowler

BIO

A Debate Primer: Why Hillary Clinton Wins

Mayhill Fowler | Posted September 27, 2007 | Off The Bus


The following piece was produced by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus project. Read more OffTheBus coverage and get involved by clicking here.

Hillary Clinton is the mistress of debate, once again. Last night at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, she reigned like Good Queen Bess, surrounded by well-spoken...

Marc Gunther

BIO

The Black Al Gore?

Marc Gunther | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Why is the green movement so white? "It used to be the more committed you were to the environment, the further away you were from regular people," Van Jones tells me. "It was tofu and Birkenstocks and all that."

Jones, a 39-year-old African-American civil rights activist with an impressive track...

Blake Fleetwood

BIO

Bush to Invade Burma, Secret Plans Exposed

Blake Fleetwood | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The recent news that Buddhist monks have been shot and killed in a peaceful democratic demonstration in Rangoon, over a raise in the price of gasoline, is shocking!

No question that General Than Shwe is plenty un-American and has a real genocide thing going. Several years ago the rotund general...

Dave Johnson

BIO

Will Congress Condemn Rush For What He Said Yesterday?

Dave Johnson | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Read More: Loveon, Rush Limbaugh

In recent days the Senate and then the House voted to condemn MoveOn for an ad that questioned General Petraeus' statistics on improvements in Iraq. Many Democrats joined in the condemnation.

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh said that troops serving in Iraq are "phony soldiers." From Media Matters - Limbaugh:...

Marvin Kitman

BIO

Get Thee to Harlem

Marvin Kitman | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


I am thinking of having the book party for the paperback edition of my new book, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly at Sylvia's, uptown, in Harlem. And, of course, I will be inviting Bill and his good friends Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and...

Sarah Kernochan

BIO

Across the Universe: Acid Redux

Sarah Kernochan | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


It surprised me when I learned that my 21-year-old daughter and her friends envied me for my adolescence in the 60's. I'd gotten used to being reviled as a baby boomer - the generation most people wish would go away and stop taking up so much space, the generation that's...

Zack Exley

BIO

Chris Emailed Me!

Zack Exley | Posted September 27, 2007 | Off The Bus


My wife Elizabeth actually reads Chris Dodd's emails. Against her will, she gets excited about them. (As someone who's worked as a professional political email writer, I am, unfortunately, completely immune.)

I've argued before that email is a medium suited, better than any other save a face to face meeting,...

Maia Szalavitz

BIO

Don't Listen to Quacks, Lindsay -- And That Includes Many People who Claim to be Experts on Addiction

Maia Szalavitz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


The New York Post ran a full page ad today for an addiction rehab program, with the banner headline, "Don't Die, Lindsay," suggesting that "It's time to try a medical treatment" for her addictions.

What the ad doesn't mention is that this so-called "medical" treatment has actually not been...

Parvez Sharma

BIO

Ahmadinejad and the Homosexuality He Seeks to Deny

Parvez Sharma | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad, the "humble" former mayor of Tehran, has now been thrust on the international stage and if most of the media in the West is to be believed, he is positively Hitlerian.

Not particularly blessed with the dashing good looks I associate with so many Iranian men,...

Janet Ritz

BIO

U.N. Climate Meeting: 'The Time is Up for Inaction'

Janet Ritz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


U.N. climate scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, announced, during the one-day climate summit earlier this week, that "the time is up for inaction."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has called climate change the "defining issue of our era," has invited world leaders to attend a special one-day event to help map out...

John Bruhns

BIO

One Strong Ad

John Bruhns | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


For the past couple weeks MoveOn.org's ad "General Betray Us" has dominated the news and even managed to be condemned by the U.S. Senate and House. It has gone so far as having almost every Presidential candidate put to the "patriotism test" by the media with questions related to their...

RJ Eskow

BIO

Publish and Be Damned: A Talk With Richard Thompson

RJ Eskow | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


2007-09-27-richardthompson.jpg

His first band invented British folk-rock when he was still a teenager. He placed #20 on Rolling Stone's list of all-time great guitarists (and some people think he was robbed.) His songs have been performed by everybody from Bonnie Raitt to Los Lobos, from...

David Mizner

BIO

Hillary Hates You

David Mizner | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


She thinks you're weak. She has no respect for you, and her lack of respect amounts to loathing--the kind of loathing that the powerful feel for the powerless. She's confident that progressives are too impotent, divided, and disorganized to deny her the nomination.

How else to explain her vote...

Kim Morgan

BIO

Bugs in the Belfry: The Crazy Genius of Bug

Kim Morgan | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


When William Freidkin's Bug hit theaters, the movie left many viewers confused, even angry. Based on the picture's previews and poster art, audience's unfamiliar with the Tracy Letts play it was adapted from, thought they were going to see another Saw or Hostel or whatever Lions Gate horror film was...

Jon Levy

BIO

The Soccer Hooligan of Bucharest, Gridlock, and New Europe's New Economy

Jon Levy | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


From the moment the joint New Year's/EU accession party ended in January, Romania's political parties have been at each other's throats, while simultaneously cutting deals of convenience. With elections coming soon, and no political majority apparent, the centrists may stop abstaining from dealing with a politically untouchable party -- and...

Art Brodsky

BIO

Verizon's 'Discretion' Shouldn't Abort Your Rights

Art Brodsky | Posted September 27, 2007 | Business


Once upon a time, the law governed what telephone companies could and couldn't do to affect the content of telephone calls sent over the network. The answer, basically, was nothing. The Communications Act provided that it would be "unlawful" for carriers to "subject any particular person, class of persons, or...

Sheldon Drobny

BIO

Bill Maher And Huffpo Correction

Sheldon Drobny | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


Read More: Censorship

I have been asked by the editors to retract the following from my last post or they will banish me from this blog:

"I suspect that Maher is engaged in the very censorship that got him fired from his last gig. He must be very thin skinned to have been...
Rory O'Connor

BIO

Memo to O'Reilly: MF-er, Just Shut the F Up!

Rory O'Connor | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


If he weren't such a ridiculous, pathetic oaf, I'd invite Bill O'Reilly up to my 'hood for a little white-on-white bonding, re-education and diversity training -- if he weren't afraid to set foot in it! It would obviously surprise, and perhaps even frighten the Man Who Wouldn't Shut Up, to...

Carl Pope

BIO

A Good Week for GM?

Carl Pope | Posted September 27, 2007 | Business


Washington, DC -- It certainly looks like it. The settlement of the short-lived strike by the United Auto Workers is seen as having resolved the threat that retiree health care costs posted to General Motors' competitiveness, and the company's stock price soared on the news. Meanwhile, Congressman John Dingell, whose...

Melissa Silverstein

BIO

Trade: A Harrowing Tale of Human Trafficking

Melissa Silverstein | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


Trade is not an easy movie to watch -- which makes it all the more important to do so. The State Department estimates that 800,000 people -- 80 percent women and 50 percent children -- are trafficked across international borders each year. At last estimate, at least 10,000 are being...

David Sirota

BIO

Pushing New NAFTAs, Pelosi Parrots Broder

David Sirota | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Read More: Free Trade, Nafta

In demanding that Democrats who campaigned against NAFTA now vote for a package of new NAFTAs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted that Democrats need to "take yes for an answer," according to CongressDaily.

Pelosi is now on record literally plagiarizing David Broder's columns. You may recall that...

Kavita N. Ramdas

BIO

No Fair Trade for Women

Kavita N. Ramdas | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


This week marks the premiere of Trade in local theaters, a powerful new film about the underworld of sex trafficking. The movie is inspired by a 2004 New York Times Magazine cover story by journalist Peter Landesman, and shares with it the revelation that human trafficking exists right here in...

Miles Mogulescu

BIO

A Hard Day to be a Progressive Democrat

Miles Mogulescu | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


I was planning to write a blog today on how congressional Democrats need to stop playing checkers while Congressional Republicans play chess -- how they can refuse to allow an up and down vote on Bush's new attorney general nominee until the Republicans allow an up and down vote on...

Ari Melber

BIO

Giving Back Clinton-Style

Ari Melber | Posted September 27, 2007 | Business


Presidents, prime ministers, CEOs and religious leaders packed the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on Thursday, Bill Clinton's third annual gathering to solve the "world's most pressing challenges." Organizers touted a wide range of "commitments" made by attendees, from over $4 billion in underwriting for renewable energy from Standard Chartered Bank,...

Larry Arnstein

BIO

9/11 Smackdown! Ahmadinejad vs. Giuliani on the WWF

Larry Arnstein | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The WWF will feature a series of grudge matches between Rudy Giuliani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this fall--if the Republican candidate can squeeze the appearances in between other campaign events. At least his opponent will look very much like the Iranian president, though it may be difficult to verify his identity...

Marianne Williamson

BIO

Ahmadinejad Goes to New York

Marianne Williamson | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


When Iran's Ahmadinejad came to New York, everyone acted like we were being visited by Hitler. Maybe he is that bad, I don't know. But it doesn't feel that way to me. I'm a Jew. I support Israel. And still, he doesn't feel that bad to me. "More research is...

Cliff Schecter

BIO

Couric Admits Feeling NBC Pressure On Iraq Coverage

Cliff Schecter | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


This is the sad state of our corporate-owned media. Katie Couric now admits she felt "corporate pressure" to ease off of Condi Rice and the Bush administration overall after a "tough interview" she conducted with the former:

After the interview, Couric said she received an email from an NBC...
Mike Miley

BIO

Bein' a Saint Ain't As Easy As All Dat

Mike Miley | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


The question on the lips of every NFL analyst over the past three weeks is "What has happened to the New Orleans Saints?"

After a miraculous trip to the NFC Championship, the Saints have lost three straight. This "surprising" change has taken all the hot air out of the...

Harry Shearer

BIO

Have We Ended the War Yet?

Harry Shearer | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


We haven't even put a dent in it. It's arguable that the laughably low approval rating the public gives the Democratic-run Congress is attributable to that body's failure to move the ball one inch down the field. Worse, the Democratic leadership has looked feckless, confused, spineless and outmaneuvered at every...

Jon Soltz

BIO

So I'm a "Phony Soldier," Rush?

Jon Soltz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


As Media Matters reported today, Rush Limbaugh, on his show said that those troops who come home and want to get America out of the middle of the religious civil war in Iraq are "phony soldiers." I'd love for you, Rush, to have me on your show and tell...

David Bromwich

BIO

Hillary Clinton Votes for War Again

David Bromwich | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Yesterday, by a vote of 76-22, the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment in support of military actions against Iran. This is the second such endorsement of the president by a senate majority in just three months. In July, the Lieberman amendment to "confront Iran" passed with the far stronger...

Jane Wells

BIO

Hello From Jordan or What Exactly Are We Doing About Our Iraqi Friends?

Jane Wells | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


As the administration is asking Congress for an additional $190 billion for the Iraq war, why should we listen to a lone voice? The email I have just received from an Iraqi friend, S, who was working for a U.S. aid agency in Iraq was particularly haunting to me because...

Donald E. Scoggins

BIO

JFK Moment Needed for the GOP

Donald E. Scoggins | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Democrats are still resting on laurels they created almost 50 years ago when Richard Nixon, leading John F. Kennedy in the polls, was upset in his bid for president of the United States.

At the time Kennedy was the relatively undistinguished junior senator from Massachusetts. What essentially catapulted him into...

Ryan J. Davis

BIO

Bush is giving Clinton war advice? Finally!

Ryan J. Davis | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Hillary has finally started taking advice on the war from someone who knows: George W. Bush.

Bill Maher

BIO

New Rule: Stop Saying Iraq is Another Vietnam, it's Another Enron

Bill Maher | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Iraq is Enron, and President Bush is Ken Lay. He's fighting a war with phony accounting tricks. The Bush administration fudged the numbers to get us into Iraq, and cooked the books to keep us there. "The surge" is simply another in a long series of inflated stock quotes. This...

Rev. Astrid Storm

BIO

Bad Company Corrupts Character

Rev. Astrid Storm | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


I don't recall where I heard this, but someone once advised -- I believe in connection with the theologian Paul Tillich -- that if you want to know what a theologian really thinks, read his (or her) sermons.

Though it sounded good at the time, that hasn't always been true...

Melissa Kirsch

BIO

When the Soundtrack is Better Than the Movie

Melissa Kirsch | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


Recently viewed: Dedication, a weird twist on the three-act romantic comedy in which the dashing hero (the Hugh Grant character) is replaced with the attractive, mean-but-damaged OCD guy (Billy Crudup) and the female lead is replaced by an enthusiastically eyelined Mandy Moore. The plot is vaguely compelling, sort of...

Robert J. Elisberg

BIO

Republicans Hide Iraq Behind a Bush

Robert J. Elisberg | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The other day before a war-related vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) finally called out on the Senate floor something that has been long-clear to 70% of the country (repeat: 70% of the country): "Senators, please, don't follow the White House talking points on this. This is Bush's...

Cenk Uygur

BIO

Why Brian Williams is Irrelevant

Cenk Uygur | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


I've met and interviewed Brian Williams. He's a lovely guy. Personable, funnier than expected and smart. He is also irrelevant.

There's nothing wrong with Brian Williams. He is a smooth, professional news anchor. He's not offensive, biased or fake. He plays it straight - and that's his problem.

It's not...

John Kerry

BIO

President Bush Plays Chicken with Children's Health

John Kerry | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


[cross-posted at JohnKerry.com]

If there's anybody left who doubts that "compassionate conservatism" is an Orwellian smokescreen for the same old Republican policies, the President's actions around SCHIP should put that to rest.

After promising he'd work on "expanding health care for children," the President has now unilaterally declared war...

John S. Johnson

BIO

Verizon Doesn't Like Your Politics -- A Taste of a Post-Net-Neutrality World [Updated]

John S. Johnson | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


Adam Liptak's article in today's New York Times tells a story that will be repeated again and again if the public loses net neutrality to the telecom lobby. NARAL, a pro-choice group that let's its members use text messaging to inform and update its members on pro-choice policy, had its...

Michael Giltz

BIO

Is Abu Dhabi the New Sun City?

Michael Giltz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


Warner Bros. just proudly announced a new joint partnership with the United Arab Emirates region of Abu Dhabi. How proud Time Warner must be over this agreement which The Hollywood Reporter says will be worth billions of dollars over time. They're building movie multiplexes, creating Donald Duck video...

Peter Dreier

BIO

John Edwards - Organizer-in-Chief

Peter Dreier | Posted September 27, 2007 | Off The Bus


The following piece is part of an ongoing series of OffTheBus reports by citizen policy experts critiquing different aspects of Campaign 08.

Much of Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate at Dartmouth College focused on health care reform, which Americans consider the top domestic policy issue, according to polls. Moderator Tim...

Arthur Allen

BIO

Thimerosal Vindicated in Another Study, Yet ... the Show Must Go On

Arthur Allen | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


A New England Journal of Medicine study has added another brick to the wall of evidence closing out a link between vaccines and autism and other brain disorders. Unfortunately, the public relations effect of the study will be muted because the anti-mercury activists who helped plan it withdrew their support...

Dan Agin

BIO

American Business: Bluffing Our Way to 3rd Place

Dan Agin | Posted September 27, 2007 | Business


The current trouble of General Motors and the American automobile industry is a quintessential symptom of decline, and it needs to be recognized as such by American business leaders -- at least by those business leaders with an interest in the future of their industries and in the...

Gabriel Delahaye

BIO

Live Blogging Kid Nation: In Cold Blood

Gabriel Delahaye | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


Read More: Kid Nation, Murder, Satire, Tv

8:03 PM: The title of this week's episode is "To Kill or Not to Kill?" because kids are precious and darling and innocent and blood-thirsty.

8:04: Bonanza City. The children are harvesting eggs. One kid says "that is so awesome." About an egg. It's true. Eggs are awesome. Also awesome:...

Benjamin R. Barber

BIO

Ahmadinejad at Columbia: the Real Scandal

Benjamin R. Barber | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Pick your poison -- and it's not just Ahmadinejad at Columbia University! Faculty at Stanford say the Hoover Institute has no business inviting former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld as a visitor.

The Board of Regents of the University of California rescinds a speaking invitation to former Harvard President Larry...

Azadeh Ensha

BIO

Fool the U.S. Once...

Azadeh Ensha | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


It's beginning to look a lot like 2002.

Or perhaps I should say 1998. That's when the Senate passed the Iraq Liberation Act, which officially opened the legislative floodgates for the Iraq invasion. This week, the Senate passed legislation that similarly paves the way for our third war in this...

Stacy Parker Aab

BIO

Archie Bunker Epiphanies

Stacy Parker Aab | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


So, Bill O'Reilly expressed surprise that a world-famous black restaurant could have the same decorum of a white suburban restaurant. As we all know, O'Reilly revealing ignorance is not news. O'Reilly revealing that he's capable of expanding his understanding of his fellow human beings--well, that is.

I believe we've...

Taylor Marsh

BIO

What Was Clinton Thinking?

Taylor Marsh | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


by Taylor Marsh

Clinton's vote yesterday on the Lieberman-Kyl legislation was a very bad vote. Last night Edwards called her out on it. It wasn't as bad as the Iraq vote many Democrats in the Senate cast,...

Bob Franken

BIO

Flying Low

Bob Franken | Posted September 27, 2007 |



What single sentence do you hear more than any other in the airport these days? That's easy: "Watch out when you go to the men's room". I'm tempted to say it's the hands down winner, but I have my pride you know.

Of course, anybody who flies anymore...

Carolyn Castiglia

BIO

There's No Race Problem in Jena?

Carolyn Castiglia | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The plight of the Jena 6 and Mychal Bell in particular was all over the news last week, with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and thousands of other black activists scaring the hell out of marching on that tiny Louisiana town. But why are they there? There's no race problem in...

Jackson Williams

BIO

Mormons and The Media: Warren Jeffs vs. Mitt Romney

Jackson Williams | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


This is a tale of two Mormons.

One is a criminal creep, and the other is the richest 2008 Republican presidential prospect, worth $200 million or more. Probably half a billion given the anemic requirements on reporting candidate wealth.

We didn't examine the fountain of George W. Bush's...

Jane McGivney

BIO

Top Chef: To El(k!) With It

Jane McGivney | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


Well, hello. It's been a while. Check out my blog for last week's Top Chef recap.

We're at the semifinals in Aspen. We have some lovely shots of mountains, smoky streams, and....AGH!...my retinas explode.

Malarkey is sporting a totally loud argyle sweater. Seriously, that sweater is loud. Talk to the...

Robert Koehler

BIO

This Hallowed Landmark

Robert Koehler | Posted September 27, 2007 | Media


The New York Daily News, with its long tradition of lurid and stupid headlines, outdid itself in its special welcome for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week, warning him: "If you even think of setting foot near Ground Zero, you can GO TO HELL!"

The accompanying editorial was one of...

Mike Lux

BIO

The Merger of Old School and Online Organizing

Mike Lux | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Crossposted at OpenLeft.com

I am about as old school as you can get. I started knocking on doors in campaigns 35 years ago, at the age of 12, and I still go out door-knocking at least a little bit every election cycle. I think that kind of person-to-person political work...

Peter Smith

BIO

Essay Question: The War vs. George W. Bush's War. Compare and Contrast (50 points).

Peter Smith | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Have you been following Ken Burns' The War on PBS? Have you been thinking about Iraq as you do?

The War is Burns' epic new documentary on America, its people, and the effort the country put into winning World War Two. It is all but impossible not...

Off The Bus

BIO

Roadkill: OffTheBus's Ongoing RoundUp of the Awkward, the Ugly, and the Just Plain Weird

Off The Bus | Posted September 27, 2007 | Off The Bus


2007-09-18-20070918roadkill.gif

The following piece was produced through OffTheBus, a citizen journalism project hosted at the Huffington Post and launched in partnership with NewAssignment.Net. Edited by Richard Riehl and Denise Wheeler. Reported by Kirsten Anderson, River Curtis-Stanley, Jodi Lampert, Julie Pierce, and Debbi Plummer.

...
Arianna Huffington

BIO

My Video Chat with John Conyers

Arianna Huffington | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers has become the point man on three of the most contentious upcoming political battles: the fight over Bush's desire to make permanent the temporary FISA law rushed through Congress this summer; Congressional attempts to restore habeas corpus rights to military detainees;...

Samara O'Shea

BIO

The Saint (Wendy Shalit) and the Sinner (Yours Truly) Have One Important Thing in Common

Samara O'Shea | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


It was June 2000 and my sister and I were listening to an impromptu jazz trio in Central Park. At the end of one enjoyable session the small crowd applauded, the trumpet player optimistically removed his hat to collect coins, and the man next to me turned and said, "You...

Andy Borowitz

BIO

Ahmadinejad Invites U.N. Inspectors to Search for Homosexuals

Andy Borowitz | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Just days after asserting that there are no homosexuals in Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today invited United Nations inspectors into his country to search for homosexuals.

"We have nothing to hide," Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. "You can search the entire country...

Omid Memarian

BIO

Bollinger, Ahmadinejad and Freedom of Speech!

Omid Memarian | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The speech given by Iranian President Ahmadinejad at Columbia University on Monday, signified three key topics: first, a remarkable ode to freedom of speech in the University; second, Ahmadinejad's weak performance in addressing some controversial questions; and third, as host and President of Columbia Lee...

Rob Nelb

BIO

S-CHIP By The Numbers

Rob Nelb | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The rhetoric around reauthorization the State Children's Health Insurance Program is making my head spin. Whoever thought that providing health care to kids could be so complicated?

Instead of the usual political bickering, I prefer to look at the numbers, plain and simple:

$35 billion: The additional funding...

James Boyce

BIO

Bill Richardson Keeps It Simple

James Boyce | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Read More: 2008, Bill Richardson, Iraq

I just had the chance to sit down with Governor Bill Richardson as he did a press conference before he took off on a day where he will hit multiple states with a single message.

"I will end this war and get our troops out."

It's a message that, having...

Dan Weiss

BIO

Road to Nowhere: Bush's Latest Global Warming Stall

Dan Weiss | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


President Bush's Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, set to begin today, is nothing more than fig leaf diplomacy. The president called for this meeting last June before the G-8 Summit as part of his effort to block the G-8 nations' call for a 50 percent reduction...

Patricia Zohn

BIO

Back To Cool: The Cultural Season In New York, Part One

Patricia Zohn | Posted September 27, 2007 | Entertainment


It's possible that some of you have never been to an opera, or if you have, you have been only once or twice. It's a huge commitment: time, money and you have to get dressed up. Plus, you probably think of it as some kind of penance for sins you...

Margaret Carlson

BIO

Spendthrift Bush Draws Line on Kids' Health

Margaret Carlson | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Responding to a question about the growing number of uninsured Americans, President George W. Bush observed: "No one goes without health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.''

This let-them-eat-cake attitude recalled Barbara Bush's observation when thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims lay sleeping with strangers...

Jeffrey Feldman

BIO

2013

Jeffrey Feldman | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Watching last night's forum from Dartmouth, I was stunned by the convergence of the top three Democratic presidential candidates on a new target date for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq: 2013. My initial reaction upon hearing that date was that the top tier of the Democratic presidential field had...

Michael Roston

BIO

Time To Take The 24 DVDs Off The Straight Talk Express?

Michael Roston | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


I hear John McCain can only afford to fly commercial these days, and I think we know how he is filling up the hours during those frequent DC to Manchester flights.

You might remember that back in early 2006, Senator McCain made an appearance on Fox's 24. The only...

Geoffrey R. Stone

BIO

Columbia University, the U.S. Senate, and General Betray Us

Geoffrey R. Stone | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


In a recent post, ("Ahmadinejad and Columbia University," September 26, 2007) I argued that Columbia University did nothing "wrong" in inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak. To the contrary, its invitation to this allegedly "cruel and petty dictator" was well within Columbia's fundamental mission as a university, which is not to...

Mona Ackerman

BIO

Dr. Mona Knows

Mona Ackerman | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


Q: My girlfriend tells me that Christine, my husband's best friend since college, is a danger to my marriage. My husband spends every Thursday night with Christine playing poker. I enjoy this night to myself, but my friend says my husband and I are actually cheating on each other. Is...

Susan Smalley

BIO

The Error Of Our Ways

Susan Smalley | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


We often walk through this world with our eyes closed, unaware of how what we say or do affects others (or the planet). It is as if we have blinders on so that only a narrow vision of the road ahead and behind is evident. Hindsight can be used to...

Hale

BIO

$190 Billion More For the Economic Hole Called Iraq?

Hale "Bonddad" Stewart | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


From Bloomberg:

The Pentagon is requesting almost $190 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal year 2008, which would be the largest annual expenditure since the conflicts began.


The Pentagon today added $42.3 billion to its previous $147 billion request. Defense Secretary Robert...

Amy Keroes

BIO

Eat, Pray, Love & Work

Amy Keroes | Posted September 27, 2007 | Living


Each week in our regular series "The Working Mother's Guide To Managed Chaos," Mommy Track'd's team of writers will tackle an issue relevant to working motherhood. We will sift through all the literature, pop culture, politics and shared experience have to offer and present what we hope is an...

Susan Madrak

BIO

We Can't Give You Anything But War, Baby

Susan Madrak | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


We "can't afford" national health insurance.

Better schools
are too expensive.

Expanding and fixing Amtrak is too expensive.


Taking care of the soldiers
we used like Kleenex is too expensive.

Just about everything is too expensive for these fiscally-responsible Republicans

Art Levine

BIO

After the Debate: The Candidates' Real Records on Iraq, Health Care

Art Levine | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


With pundits evaluating the efforts of Edwards and others to go after Hillary, progressives may want to go beyond the headlines to learn more about the real records of the contenders. They should discover one of the most definitive and useful sources for the actual voting records and public...

Ryan J. Davis

BIO

More 9/11 Related Fundraising Ideas for Rudy Giuliani's Campaign

Ryan J. Davis | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


Since Rudy has already decided to make some money off 9/11, here are a few more ideas.

Harry Shearer

BIO

Feds Drop the Other Shoe -- On Public Housing

Harry Shearer | Posted September 27, 2007 | Politics


The argument has raged in New Orleans since the flooding: HUD, the federal agency which runs the city's public housing (don't ask), has insisted on demolishing the existing housing projects, even the ones undamaged by the floods, because the feds claim to want a new model of mixed affordable and...

09.28.2007 > < 09.26.2007