Archive for June, 2006
Superman, revisited Yes, it’s an awful lot of space to dedicate to a middling movie, but the hero is an American icon. And, like a lot of other icons, dull. Why? He’s omnipotent. Yes, yes, there’s trouble in this movie and others, he nearly bites it, and so forth. But in every movie, he’s the [...]
So I saw Superman today. Matinee. Eh. As part of the plot, super reporter and Superman love interest, Lois Lane, penned two separate editorials: “Why the world doesn’t need Superman,” and “Why the world needs Superman.” You can guess for yourselves how this fit into the plot and Lois’ – er — interest in the [...]
Matt Stoller has an amazing description of the Net Neutrality debate in the Senate Commerce Committee and what it likely means for the issue on the floor. Wulfgar! emerges from his den and mauls the flag-burning amendment and its supporters. GOP bootlickers rush to give President the authority to ignore the recent SCOTUS decision regarding [...]
The other statewide race this election – the House race – just isn’t getting much attention. It pits incumbent Rehberg against challenger Lindeen, in another battle between a corrupt and out-of-touch DC insider and a feisty Montana Democrat with an excellent record in the state legislature. Rehberg is a real winner. Not only has he [...]
Pogie contemplates Burns’ flip-flop over the Rocky Mountain Front. Schweitzer supports Tester. He’s also quite the showman, apparently. A Canadian weighs in on the SWIFT-press controversy: the Bush administration wants a loyal press, not a free press. Olbermann on the right-wing press bashing. Rumsfield on loose lips. Takes some to know some… And it appears [...]
Hooray for the rule of law! Hooray for the judiciary, which has successfully fulfilled its duty! Hooray for checks and balances! Hooray for the Constitution! SCOTUS has “delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration” and ruled that the military tribunals that try Guantanamo detainees are unconstitutional. The case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 36-year-old [...]
Yesterday I framed the SWIFT story around a single question: who should have the power to decide what’s printed in a newspaper, the publisher or the government? Of course, what I didn’t mention are the various laws that hedge newspapers. A paper can’t print libel, for example. There are also laws governing national security, too. [...]
Can’t say I’m surprised. Although with the other flip-flopping Burns has done recently to improve his image during the election cycle, I thought maybe – just maybe! – he’d do the right thing. You know, with all the scrutiny the election is bringing. I guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Today, the [...]
I just saw the Missoulian’s editorial against the Missoula City Council’s decision to help homeowners with a city plan to make improvements to city sidewalks. The Missoulian has come down against the plan. Fine. I can understand why they object to the project from an ideological standpoint, that the city shouldn’t implement a project that [...]
Criminal charges pending for INSA officials? Burns flip-flops again. This time on drilling in the Rocky Mountain Front. Butte featured on the Daily Show! Oops, looks like the feds’ SWIFT spying might violate EU regulation. Another Bush diplomatic failure. (Why is it Americans have to rely on Europe to protect our personal information?) The flag [...]
The New York Times broke the story about the US combing through bank transactions to track terrorists. Bush had a fit: “…the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a [...]
Over at Coobs’ site (find your own link) we were treated to glimpse of the GOP mindset surrounding the Iraq War. 10:13 am Coobs posts: To Jon Tester & his loyalists, I’ll type this slowly, since I know you don’t read fast: Staying the Course = victory on the war on terror Cutting & Running [...]
Wulfgar! on the idiotic commercial released by the national Dems. Stay the f*ck out! Last thing we need is help from a ten-time loser! Moorcat weighs in on the debate. Bay to the Beltway on how Joe Klein doesn’t do his research when it comes to the Patriot Act in Montana. Helena IR has a [...]
By the way, Intelligent Discontent has been amazing in covering the Burns-Tester debate. In fact, I’d argue too amazing. That is, I didn’t see Pogie’s three “Fact check” posts until now, because they were buried under additional commentary. I had planned on doing some of this stuff, but Pogie not only beat me to it, [...]
Thinking more about Tester’s comment that Burns is spending like “a drunken sailor”…That comment really sticks, doesn’t it? Not just because it’s…well…accurate for the particular issue – Burns’ habit of stocking bills with fat appropriations earmarks – but it also touches on something about Burns that nagged at me the entire debate. Burns acts like [...]
Pogie Jason finds some reactions to the Senate debate from around the ‘Net. My fave: “Conrad Burns debates like my mom.” Pogie found video of the debate. Joe Klein was at the debate? So…who exactly got to attend the debate? Jeff Mangan on Net Neutrality. The Slog and The New Republic on Net Neutrality. California’s [...]
Now we know why Conrad Burns skipped out of the first debate. I believe this debate was more than just a clear victory for Jon Tester. Actually, calling it a victory implies there is a competition, a fight. That's not what we got today. On one hand you had a three-time incumbent Senator who looks [...]
It's Los Angeles. Thousands fill the streets, speaking a foreign language, waving the flag of their home country. They cut out of work to come here and sing patriotic songs lauding their homeland. Children skipped classes. Some of them traveled hundreds of miles to come here. No, these are not the pro-immigration rallies we saw [...]
Apparently the policy advocated by Karl Rove is to run the midterm campaign on the Iraq war. We’ve seen how this will look already in the recent debates in the House and Senate, and the sycophantic regurgitating of the message by the major news outlets, that the GOP has “a plan” and the Democrats are [...]
So my old man did it. He sent in his letter, and our local newspaper dutifully printed it: To the Editor of THE EAGLE: With the recent kick-off of the Art of the Game and in an effort to add to Pittsfield's rich baseball heritage, I think we should institute new rules to the game [...]
David Crisp compares Coulter to Hitler. Coobs defends her: “She's much better looking than Adolph Hitler!” Matt Singer found a “Hitler vs. Coulter” quiz. New West comes out against Initiative 154. Nice summation. The West is not “nowhere.” The Slog reports on lying signature gatherers trolling for John Hancocks for a Washington initiative ending the estate [...]
Coobs over at “What’s Right…” (find your link) ran a comparison of how Tester and Burns stands on the “issues.” (Please interpret the quotes to indicate how laughable I find the topics Coobs feels worthy of fighting over.) One of these “issues” Coobs highlights is flag burning. Senator Burns – supports constitutional amendment banning desecrating [...]
In the spirit of disclosing my connection to the great Left Blogosphere and its great Sun shining at its center, the Wizard of Kos, just as Matt Singer has admitted in light of the recent “Kosola” accusations that he was never influenced by money or threats to post or withhold any content at his site, [...]
Burns doesn’t like Montanans very much, apparently. Bush caught on camera defacing flags. Writing on a flag is illegal. So…if you’re a conservative supporter of the flag-burning amendment, this is your chance to go after a high-profile flag defacer! We’ll see whether the flag-burning rhetoric is politics or belief. Digby on the proposed insurgent amnesty [...]
Watched the US WC loss to Ghana today. Slightly bummed. I didn’t really expect the team to advance, but hoped like h*ll. And because Italy downed the Czech Republic 2-0 this morning, with a win over Ghana they would have gone on. That’s pretty good when your third game in the first WC round still [...]
Nice guest editorial in today’s Gazette on the minimum wage pointing out the gulf between the Republican-controlled Congress and…well…you and me. The editorial notes that Congress has recently voted itself a pay raise of $3,300 while effectively striking down a hike in the federal minimum wage: The House refused to block the $3,300 "cost-of-living adjustment" [...]
In my post yesterday on Net Neutrality, Jason commented: The Senate version (S. 2686, Communications, Consumers Choice and Broadband Deployment Act) of the bill that Net Neutrality failed to make it into in the House is due for markup in committee on Thursday. Burns is on the committee marking it up.The committee will also have [...]
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