Posts from ‘November, 2005’

Drum contrasts the New York Times’ glass-half-full reporting on third-quarter economic results with the L.A. Times’ glass-half-empty take, finding the latter more realistic where the needs and best interests of the many are concerned.

So many dots line up linking Time magazine people in a supportive role with top Bush-administration officials, we’re convinced lots more than news gathering is at the heart of it.
The latest wrinkle is in a story explaining how Time’s Viveca Novak is to testify in the Valerie Plame Wilson/CIA leak investigation. A Washington Post [...]

It’s all over for Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham but the sentencing. The eight-term California Republican’s years of outrageous corruption, lining his own pockets and betraying the trust of those who elected him, came to an end Monday.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned [...]

We see in a news report from Gaza how fertile a ground the Middle East is for democracy.
The ruling Fatah Party canceled its primary election in the Gaza Strip at the end of a full day of voting Monday after gunmen disrupted balloting at several polling places, firing in the air and stealing some ballot [...]

Should the certified mentally ill be free to drop by their local gun merchant and stock up on deadly weapons?
Of course not — a real no brainer, right? Gun dealers are even supposed to check a database before selling guns, to make sure felons and the mentally unstable don’t get their mitts on deadly [...]

It was a disgusting scene replayed across the country, according to various news reports: People of bad upbringing, caught up in greed and selfishness, making a mockery of the season of Christmas giving, and what it’s supposed to be about.
The boorish riffraff jumped ahead of others in line, pushed, shoved and yelled. They [...]

Starving the IRS for personnel strikes us as a classic example of being penny wise and pound foolish. It’s likely to be as successful as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld’s brilliant decision to cheapskate the size of our force in Iraq.

Ask some Americans what the essence of our country is and you’ll usually hear “freedom”, “democracy”, “prosperity” and “land of opportunity.”
All those figure in prominently, of course, but fail to express America’s true essence.
Our sturdy, determined ancestors who risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor fighting for independence at Bunker [...]

But there’s another possibility, aside from Tehran’s maneuvering and aside from eagerness in Baghdad to get the occupation over with. It’s possible the Bush administration put those Iraqis meeting in Cairo up to demanding a withdrawal timetable.

If one accepts that Bush was duped, what we’re left with is a president who’s not a liar, just a lazy, raging incompetent who failed to exercise due diligence before sending U.S. troops in harm’s way on a fool’s errand.