Journalism in America is not only an obsession but a drawback that cannot be overrated. Politicians are frightened of the press, and in the same way as bull-fighting has a brutalizing effect upon Spain (of which she is unconscious), headlines of murder, rape and rubbish excite and demoralize the American public.
— Margot Asquith

In his book, “No Retreat, No Surrender,” Tom DeLay, the indicted former House Majority Leader, admits that in the days when he was drinking as many as 10 martinis a day, he engaged in extramarital affairs:
“I was no longer committing adultery by that time, the impeachment trial. There’s a big difference.”– Tom DeLay
In this period, […]

Six days after the birth of his grandson, the Republican Party’s Christian base launched a vicious attack yesterday on Vice Pres. Cheney’s gay daughter, Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe. The assault came from Concerned Women of America, an anti-feminist organization that promotes homophobia, which issued a statement denigrating the relationship between Poe and her […]

Without even waiting for the other snobbish and judgmental rules of the new immigration bill to go into effect, the Bush administration is plowing ahead to put all the costs of coming to this country on the new residents. No matter how much benefit you believe we get from immigrants — whether it’s a lot […]

Is it me, or does it seem way early for governors to be backing candidates in the run for the White House? Nonetheless, they are choosing their horses early, with Hillary Clinton and John McCain getting more goodwill of the guvs:
New York’s U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arizona’s U.S. Sen. John McCain have garnered […]

From the beginning of the scandal around the outing of the CIA secret agent Valerie Plame by top White House officials, Bush’s spinners and GOP operatives have worked as hard as they could to create confusion about Wilson’s status as a covert agent. The desperation with which they have tried to muddy the waters about […]

Politics is the conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
— Ambrose Bierce, American writer, editor

Almost from the beginning, I had mixed feelings about Cindy Sheehan. I say “almost” because back at the very beginning, before I read anything she said or wrote and only heard there was a mother of a fallen soldier protesting the Iraq Occupation, I thought, “Wow, that’s wonderful.”
What Sheehan said or did never moved me […]

When I was a kid, I used to read comic books where the plots explored alternate universes (apparently due to a lack of plausible plot ideas). In these alternate comics, Superman would use his powers for evil and was a really unlikeable character, etc. In a recent Zogby poll, it appears that, after nearly two […]