With the deluge of new primary polls this week, I nearly neglected to pass along word that Poynter's NewsU online course for journalists on "Understanding and Interpreting Polls" added a new section this week on "How Election Polls Work."
Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Earlier in the week, I made the mistake of being a bit less careful in an email to Mickey Kaus than I might have been writing for this blog. In an item on Wednesday about the "entrance poll" that the networks have planned for the Iowa Caucuses, Kaus accurately
Sen. Jeff Merkley | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Energy policy is critical to America's future. Energy is the key to our policies for national security, the economy and our environment. But right now we are a long way from getting it right.
Three recent events--the passage of a watered down energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency's ruling against...
Charles Franklin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Lots of exciting movement in the polling in both parties has pushed me to review the bidding on trend estimators. As regular readers know, the "blue" line estimator that is our standard is deliberately tuned to be a bit conservative. It requires a good bit of evidence that a change...
Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Notice the deluge of polls from Iowa and New Hampshire the last few days? It has been pretty hard to miss. We have seen six new Iowa polls in the last three days. Have we reached the point where, as one valued reader put it via email, do we now...
Deepak Chopra | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
The only realistic way to think about the world is to see it as an unfolding process that encompasses billions of smaller processes. Our minds don't like to work that way. We prefer snap judgments and simplistic labels. We defend our story and defend against those that disagree with it....
Margie Omero | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
[Margie Omero is President of Momentum Analysis, a Democratic polling firm based in Washington, DC.]
A Washington Post story on Thursday declared men unwilling to support Hillary Clinton. But much like stories in Slate's compendium of easily-debunked trend pieces across topics, this story uses...
Arianna Huffington | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I spoke with Brad Pitt on Friday. The actor-turned-activist has been spearheading an effort to build affordable, sustainable homes for the residents of New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Pitt feels that the aftermath of Katrina "should be one of the major issues" of the '08 race. We talked...
Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
One quick note about the new Gallup poll from New Hampshire that we linked to a few moments ago (see Gallup's releases on the Democratic & Republican samples). As the Gallup release indicates, it is based on their well-known but sometimes controversial "likely voter model." That fact...
Andy Worthington | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
On Monday, just three weeks away from Guantánamo's sixth anniversary, military judge Captain Keith Allred dealt what appeared to be a severe blow to the legitimacy of the Military Commissions - the unprecedented trial system established to try Guantánamo detainees for war crimes - by ruling that he would undertake...
Howard Shanker | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I am a Democratic Congressional Candidate for Arizona Congressional District 1. The seat is being vacated by the Republican incumbent Rick Renzi, who has run into some legal difficulties. A couple of months ago I had the honor of blogging on FiredogLake. At the time I promised to provide...
Marvin Kitman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
America's Mayor has had a rough couple of weeks as we head into the Iowa caucuses. Rudy Giuliani has been caught by the media making up facts in TV debates. Mr. Fiscal Responsibility has been found turning city vehicles into his private Hampton Jitney for trysts with his girl friend...
David Berreby | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Last January helicopters, gunboats and troops converged on the Brooklyn Bridge to shepherd panicked evacuees through some scenes of Will Smith's civilization-collapses-leaving-you-alone-with-bloodthirsty- monsters movie, I Am Legend. A number of people complained about noise and messed-up Christmas routines caused by the film crews. A few others, though, were squicked...
Lea Lane | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
When the New Year's countdown begins and everybody else's lips lock I'm once again an awkward seven-year old, left standing alone during musical chairs. Not a good moment, people. But then again, there are the great times....
My sorriest turn-of-the-year (anyway, the one I can remember; glasses of bubbly...
Andrea Learned | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
As in-boxes the world over fill with the assorted year-end "top trends" and "best of" pronouncements, elements of those lists seem to add up to one big trend: that 2008 will be the year of the holistic thought leader.
In order to stay one step ahead of - or even...
Paul Szep | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
See more of Paul Szep's cartoons on the Huffington Post here.
James Zogby | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
We need stories; stories we can live by, that teach us about ourselves. Our stories should speak to the realities of our everyday lives, the fear and insecurity that accompany us as we face birth, death, and all that lies in between.
I was thinking of this when I...
Joseph Romm | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
So Sen. James "global warming is a hoax" Inhofe (R-OK) issues a report in which he claims:
Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming.
Leo W. Gerard | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
China is where 80 percent of Santa's toys are made. That's where his suits are sewn too, the last American one having been tailored at Halco, just outside Pittsburgh in May. The 70 Halco workers who once stitched Santa's fuzzy red and whites got the boot.
They joined half...
Andy Lipkis | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
'Tis the season to be conflicted. We love our Christmas trees and we love nature. But what about the decision of buying an artificial tree (considered sacrilege by some) versus the tradition that requires killing a tree? And once Christmastime is over, for most people it means that our "natural"...
Chris Weigant | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
For those of you who have been reading this column long enough, you may remember a fun set of columns (Part 1 and Part 2) I wrote last year, giving my picks for the annual tongue-in-cheek awards handed out by the McLaughlin Group television show.
Because I...
Suzanne Monroe | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
What is it with the holidays? You're supposed to be joyful and merry, but somehow in the midst of the hustle and bustle you end up feeling stressed out. Okay, downright crazy like an elf with too many presents to make this year. Could the candy canes and cookies have...
Van Jones | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
This week, the federal government passed an energy bill that left many environmental activists somewhat disappointed. In the face of mounting evidence of a looming climate catastrophe, they were hoping for much bolder action from the nation's lawmakers.
So was I. But tucked into the new law, there were at...
Tony Newman | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Since last week we have been inundated with stories about the widespread usage of steroids in Major League baseball! Many have been outraged or saddened to find out that our revered baseball idols have been taking drugs to enhance performance when it comes to throwing and hitting a baseball. While...
Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Zainab Salbi grew up in the shadow of a tyrant.
As the young daughter of Saddam Hussein's private pilot, she was constantly at the whim of a man who regularly ordered the murder and rape of his own citizens. Salbi was expected to attend his palace parties, dine...
Glynnis MacNicol | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Timing is everything. This is perhaps never more true than in politics. Oprah's three day palooza earlier this month for the Obama campaign was as well-timed as the long-awaited wedding or baby is on a hit TV show during sweeps week. And there's no doubt that in the...
Deirdre Imus | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Albert Einstein once said, "only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity". We got a good dose of what many would call "human stupidity" last week in New Jersey when 5 un-elected members of the Public Health Council (PHC) voted to mandate four new vaccines for children. The...
Coleen Rowley | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Actually torture is seriously wrong, seriously illegal AND IT SERIOUSLY DOESN'T WORK. Talking heads on TV or radio wouldn't even be able to still debate these propositions if we could simply go to the videotape. Attorney General Mukasey and Deputy Attorney General nominee Mark F. Filip wouldn't be able to...
Josey Vogels | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
We tend to measure the quality of our relationships on silly things like how good the sex is, the level of communication, whether you share the same values... But, at this time of year, we're all reminded of the true test of a relationship - giving each other presents.
...
Paul Szep | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
See more of Paul Szep's cartoons on the Huffington Post here.
Bill Curry | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I have a distinction you won't envy. I saw or heard every presidential debate but one and read all the transcripts. What did I learn? This: For passionate idealism and timely analysis of issues, I'd have been better off watching reruns of Boston Legal.
If you're more into 'character'...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
A new EPIC-MRA statewide survey of 612 likely Republican primary voters in Michigan (conducted 12/16 through 12/19) finds:
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
A new Harris Interactive online survey of 1,792 adults nationwide (conducted 12/7 through 12/17) finds:
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Bill Richardson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Yesterday in Waterloo Iowa, I sat down and discussed two things that I hope people will pay a lot of attention to over the next two weeks: Iraq, and its devastating effect on our veterans and their families.
Based upon my experience in the region as United...
Mike Birbiglia | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I just got back from Texas and I couldn't get over how many "Don't mess with Texas" bumper stickers there were. I was like, "Excuse me, Texas - I had no intention of messing with you." And they're like, "But you were gonna." And I was like, "Nuh uh." And...
Ari Melber | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
How bad do you want to win back the White House? As the primaries finally approach, a growing share of Democratic voters say choosing the most electable candidate is more important than the issues, according to a brand new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. (Voters who prioritize electability are now
Peter Dreier | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Just a week before Christmas, President Bush gave corporate America two big presents. On Tuesday, his Federal Communications Commission changed the rules to allow the nation's giant conglomerates to further consolidate their grip on the media by permitting them to purchase TV and radio stations in the same local markets...
Dan Brown | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
At 8 a.m. today, the Dunkin Donuts at E. 116th Street and 1st Avenue in East Harlem snaked out the door. They had long run out of Munchkins and most varieties of full-size doughnuts. I'm sure the scene was repeated all over the country.
Today, the final day of classes...
Robert Dreyfuss | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The United States, it is said, invaded Iraq to create democracy. The truth of that proposition aside, the unseemly, hurried-up renewal of the United Nations mandate that supports the U.S. occupation of Iraq this week trampled on the very idea of democracy.
Last summer, Iraq's parliament - yes, the very...
John Bruhns | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
President Bush just received another blank check from Congress to continue the war in Iraq. It is now almost a certainty that he will have all the funding necessary to continue the war for the duration of his presidency.
And while we are bogged down in...
Harry Fuller | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
Mattoon, Illinois, has just become the single most important spot on the globe for Big Coal. There a consortium of mining companies and electric utility companies are putting American tax dollars to work. Building a commercial coal-burning plant that is to have the latest in clean tech. To remain almost...
Paul Helmke | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Wednesday night, the U.S. Congress approved by "unanimous consent" a bill that CBS News called "the first major new gun control bill in more than a decade," and the Washington Post called "the most significant gun-control legislation since the early 1990s."
Passage of H.R. 2640, the...
Henry Blodget | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
Thank goodness our government is suddenly obsessed with dealing with America's plague of illegal aliens. There is clearly nothing more important right now than making sure we prevent people who happen to have born in other countries from doing jobs people who happen to have been born here don't want.
...Norman Solomon | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
By Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon
Many journalists qualified for the sixteenth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, but only a few were able to win recognition for turning in one of the truly stinkiest media performances of the year. As the judges for this un-coveted award, we have done our best...
Harry Shearer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Something important is happening in New Orleans this week. Under the leadership of John Barry (full disclosure: I know this man), the new consolidated levee board has invited Dr. Bob Bea to the city, and, according to today's Times-Picayune, Bea presented his critiques of the Army Corps' post-disaster work...
Naomi Klein | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Readers of The Shock Doctrine know that one of the most shameless examples of disaster capitalism has been the attempt to exploit the disastrous flooding of New Orleans to close down that city's public housing projects, some of the only affordable units in the city. Most of the buildings sustained...
The Brennan Center for Justice | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Good Tidings for the F.E.C.
By Maggie Barron
There's new reason to celebrate this holiday season, and it comes from an unlikely source of good tidings: the Senate floor. News has arrived last week that Hans von Spakovsky, the Ebenezer Scrooge of election administration, will no longer be a...
Paul Szep | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
See more of Paul Szep's cartoons on the Huffington Post here.
Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Oh, those crazy liberals with their conspiracy theories! Now they've wondering whether the fire in Cheney's office was deliberately set in order to burn incriminating records. They obviously don't understand either digital technology or the nature of evil. For one thing, Cheney's staff has been shredding paper documents for months....
Eli Braden | Posted May 25, 2011 | Comedy
Year's end is a time when all aspiring psychics (and psychos) gaze deep into their crystal balls and make ridiculous, desperate guesses as to what the future holds. Here's my stab at predicting what goings-on will occur in the world of politics during the coming year:
I...
Joseph C. Wilson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Yesterday the London Times reported central questions about Senator Obama's shocking dearth of international experience: "Fresh doubts over Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London - and...
William Fisher | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
As human rights lawyers sought to block U.S. Government efforts to stop a lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary accused of flying detainees to 'black sites' where they were tortured, a legal advocacy group published the first testimony of a victim of the Central Intelligence Agency's 'enhanced interrogation' program.
In the...
Maia Szalavitz | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
What does it take to shut down an abusive school? Perhaps the fact that it has just replicated an experiment notorious both for being ethically problematic and showing how easy it is to get normal people to "just follow orders" to hurt others?
Picture this scenario, as described by the...
Rory O'Connor | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Is Time magazine's "full" and "complete" transcript of its "Person of the Year" interview with Vladimir Putin a fraudulent cover up? It appears so. A glaring factual error was apparently edited out of the transcript in an attempt to spare top executives embarrassment over an exchange at the beginning of...
Paul Finkelman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I just spent a few days at Yale University with about 25 scholars, talking about slavery, freedom, emancipation, and modern problems of human trafficking. Not surprisingly, at dinner someone asserted that George W. Bush was the "worst" president in American history. That led me to think about the criteria for...
David Sirota | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In my new nationally syndicated column out today, I explore the root cause of America's anger at our federal government and the growing embrace of conspiracy theories - trends displayed in recent Scripps Howard/Ohio University studies. It is not just a reaction to fear in the age of...
Bonnie Fuller | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
If Jamie Lynn Spears somehow thought that having a baby would be a good career move for her — boy has that backfired!
While Nickelodeon hasn't committed to any course of action on the Jamie Lynn front, aside from wishing her the best, her audience is speaking loud and clear.
...Daniel Radosh | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Among the casualties of the Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy -- alongside Jamie Lynn's career, Nickelodeon's cash cow, and the last remaining shred of 2007's dignity -- is Lynne Spears' memoir, Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World.
Maybe any publisher would have...
Tom D'Antoni | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
When Don Imus got fired, I was sort-of on his side. First amendment and all that. Plus, I said, "He's a SHOCK JOCK. His purpose is to shock you. How can he shock you? By going to the limit of taste and sensitivity.
"That's his job. You and I may...
John Zogby | Posted May 25, 2011 | Iowa
Read Part I -- Democrats: When Inevitability Isn't So...Inevitable, here.
If we have learned one thing this year in American politics, it's that there is no such thing as an inevitable President. In my last column, I outlined my thoughts about the Democratic presidential candidates - now, the...
John Zogby | Posted May 25, 2011 | Iowa
Read Part II -- The Republicans: In Search of a Front Runner, here.
It seems like we've been involved in the presidential campaign for a year, probably because we have been involved with the presidential campaign for a year. A lot has happened, intriguingly, even though no one...
Jay Winsten | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
A while ago, MTV produced a remarkable video diary of Angelina Jolie traveling through Africa with economist Jeffrey Sachs to support Sachs' mission to eliminate extreme poverty in the next 20 years through the work of the nonprofit Millennium Promise. Footage from that diary is featured in a
Matt Simon | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Clayton Holton was scheduled to receive a visit from Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich Tuesday morning at his residence, the Riverside Rest Home in Dover, NH. At 22, Clayton is the youngest person ever admitted into a retirement home in New Hampshire, and Kucinich wanted to hear his story.
Unfortunately,...
Amitai Etzioni | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
After teaching for 20 years at Columbia University, I chose to leave my tenured position there and move to The George Washington University. Since then, I have been asked (at least once too often): Why? Why did you move from such a prestigious university to a less distinguished institution? (Academics...
Perry Garfinkel | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Pilgrimage is the time-honored journey to places sacred. Of course, the earnest pilgrim who wisely follows his or her intuitive spiritual compass always arrives at the most sacred of places: one's self. The ultimate pilgrimage, for those willing to leave their personal baggage behind as they travel, is a rite...
Sean Carman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I am a man of faith. The faith of my fathers. And I accept every tenet of that faith. I will not, for the sake of political convenience, distance myself from any teaching of my faith.
That is why I believe the prophet of the Holy Word was not Jesus,...
Off The Bus | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Tancredo's wife spills the beans. Hunter says it takes a heterosexual to fire a gun. Paul can't stop the rain of money. McCain draws a cross in the sand.
The following piece was produced through the Huffington Post's OffTheBus. Edited by Richard Riehl and Denise Wheeler. Reported by Kirsten...
Steve Clemons | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The Times of London has picked up on the issue that Senator Obama has not convened a policy-related hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe and added to this something I reported yesterday --...
Matt Budd | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
The audience claps at the very beginning of the 4 minute overture and throughout as the orchestra does selections of "TheTrolly Song," "The Man That Got Away" and of course "Over The Rainbow." Then the audience roars as Rufus Wainwright takes the stage. I was lucky enough to be there...
Paul Krassner | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
A few years ago, in my last album, right after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I talked about how furious Senators and congressmen were, looking at such photos as a prisoner forced to wear women's panties on his head and a naked prisoner with a dog collar attached to a...
Steven Denlinger | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
MY SISTER MARJORIE fled my home community at about the age of 19. She met an ex-Marine while working as a cleaning lady for his wife and somehow, they ran off together.
She's living now with a male nurse named Greg in a town not far from Seattle, Washington. Our...
Lou Dubose | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
The following piece is published on The Washington Spectator as well as HuffPost's OffTheBus.
On Friday, August 31, the FOIA Handbook page of the White House website included the following information: "This handbook is intended to assist you in making a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to...
Dr. Rock Positano | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Breast cancer is still very much alive. Over 200,000 women will be diagnosed and 41,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer in the US in 2007. One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime if they live to 85 years. According to Dr. Michael Osborne,...
Beyond the pure shame of it, the photo is almost too painful to look at.
It shows Team Obama with Paul Volcker and his White House...
Lux Land | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Never in my life have I felt so diminutive in this Universe but so filled with the world as when I was standing at the base of the Sawtooth Mountain range. Both inspired and terrified, I made my home in a tiny mountain community northwest of Boise, Idaho. Severe both...
Patricia Zohn | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
The Culture Zohn has had a year blessed by more artistic bounty than I could faithfully report. With all the caterwauling about our President and his philistine cronies, there has been an explosion of genius (perhaps it's due to the mothers after all!) that had me scurrying from LA to...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Additional results from the recent SurveyUSA automated survey of 593 likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina (conducted 12/17 through 12/18) finds:
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
A new Strategic Vision (R) statewide survey of likely caucus goers in Iowa (conducted 12/16 through 12/18) finds:
Karen Dalton-Beninato | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
. . . Some kisses from the New Orleans City Council."
In the song Let's Duet from this weekend's Walk Hard, Dewey Cox sings about blowing kisses. You could add the words "From New Orleans" today.
At a hearing over demolishing public housing, Councilwoman Stacy Head blew kisses to...
David Fiderer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
On the Political Grapevine segment of Special Report for December 12, 2007, Brit Hume put words in the mouth of Pope Benedict. "The pope, it seems, is a global warming skeptic," he reported, referencing the pontiff's annual World Peace Day message. "Benedict XVI is warning that solutions to climate...
Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Boston Red Sox star pitcher Curt Schilling put it bluntly to Roger Clemens: Prove your innocence or cough up four Cy Young awards. It was a big, brash, and bold challenge to the icon pitcher. But so far Schilling has been one of the few within or without baseball to...
Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics