Poor Rick Sanchez.

In the middle of a piece with correspondent Jessica Yellin yesterday on his CNN show “Rick’s List,” he made a classic excited-Rick-Sanchez statement:

"He is the cotton picking president of the United States! If the president of the United States doesn… Read full post »

While the focus of the national media last night was squarely on the primaries in Florida and Arizona, it's a five-way race for the Democratic gubenatorial slot in Vermont that has turned out to be the most exciting of the lot.  With a party "unity rally" just hours away, the race… Read full post »

Here's something they probably didn't cover in Journalism 101.

CNN's Sara Sidnar has been one of the network's lead reporters in the Pakistan floods (which is finally beginning to get some coverage here in the U.S. now that the humanitarian crisis is coming into full bloom), and this morning she poste… Read full post »

I may be alone here, but I'm finding the debate over the building of a  mosque-that-isn't-a-mosque at an-area-somewhat-near Ground Zero just plain wearying.

In a summer of real news -- floods, fires, landslides, earthquakes, oil spills, and grinding economic gloom and doom, things that cause rea… Read full post »

**BREAKING NEWS, 9 September 2010: Sources inside Iran are saying they will release one of the three hikers on Saturday. It is most likely Sarah Shourd.**

It’s a moment every woman fears: finding a lump in her breast.

Now imagine enduring that moment while in a… Read full post »

I revive my little blog today to ask a question: what is the point of the modern American media?

Does it exist merely to tell us which vapid celebutant flashed her crotch at the paparrazi the other day?

Or to keep us up to speed on what dumb bunny thing Sarah… Read full post »

Boycott BP.

It's so simple and elegant. Not all of us can go to the Gulf to pick up tar balls or hose down oiled pelicans. Some of us can't afford to donate much to help those whose livelihoods are suddenly covered in toxic gunk. But we can drive… Read full post »

Absurdist debates over curriculum: it's not just for Texas anymore!

France's powerful teachers' union, the SNES, is petitioning the Sarkozy government to reverse their decision to add the fourth volume of former president Charles de Gaulle's wartime memoir, Mémories de guerre, to the reading li… Read full post »

British Petroleum announced late last night that they would keep the live feed going during today's tricky "top kill" procedure, after hinting all day that they would kill the feed.

The announcement came with a warning: "Throughout the extended top kill procedure – which may take up to two day… Read full post »

Because SB1070 wasn't enough controversy for one legislative session, Arizona has also passed SB2281, which has been widely interpreted in the media as a "ban" on ethnic studies courses in state schools. Ethnic studies are not, in fact, outlawed by SB2281. The law lays out restrictions, with… Read full post »

I arrived in Phoenix for a visit with family on Friday and was somewhat surprised that I didn't see the Gestapo checking papers at the Arrivals gate at Sky Harbor. For the last couple of weeks all the news about Arizona led me to believe a scorpion-infested police… Read full post »

An unjust war being waged in a far off country. A mother moved to political action in the name of peace. It's a story as fresh as the morning headlines, and probably as old as warfare itself.

   Political activism seems a world removed from the hearts-and-flowers sentiments of… Read full post »

I have to confess: I'm a long-time South Park watcher. Like, since 1997.

I'm not sure why, really. Being over the age of 14, I don't find great humor in foul language or bodily fluids. Trey Parker and Matt Stone tend to hit at easy targets with… Read full post »

As we approach the midpoint of "Confederate History Month" here in Virginia, the almighty ruckus kicked up by Governor Bob McDonnell's proclamation shows merciful signs of slowing from full-on boil to a gentle simmer.

Unfortunately, the heat has been turned back up a couple of degrees, thanks/… Read full post »

Taking a break from harassing grieving military funerals, the Westboro Baptist Church is rolling into the fair Shenandoah Valley later this week to blame 34 people for their own random, violent deaths. Just days before the third anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, "church" members will picket… Read full post »

I've been getting "EMERGENCY ALERT" e-mails from NARAL Pro-Choice America all week, including this one on Saturday:

Heather, late last night we learned that Rep. Bart Stupak has reached new lows in trying to force his abortion-coverage ban into the health-care bill.

He filed a new resolution yeste

… Read full post »

Stewart Udall, who served as Secretary of the Interior under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, died at his home in Santa Fe last night at the age of 90, according to his son, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico.

Last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing a book… Read full post »

"I now officially hate all politicians."

This was my first thought yesterday when I read the news flash on The Huffington Post that Rep. Dennis Kucinich had reversed his position and would now vote "yes" on the health insurance reform bill now making its torturous way to the House floor for… Read full post »

Well, I still like him, but Rep. Dennis Kucinich just made me a liar.

He has dropped his opposition and will vote "yes" on the health reform bill when it comes before the House for annointment in the coming days.

"In the past week it's become clear that the vote on… Read full post »

I have to admit: I adore Dennis Kucinich. In the 2008 primaries, my heart belonged to Hillary, but my philosophy was pure Dennis. He was the anti-Barack, the anti-Hillary, way the anti-Edwards...the guy that wouldn't say things he didn't… Read full post »

To torture a metaphor on this fine Friday morning:

With President Barack Obama now ordering his troops to pass health insurance reform within the next few weeks, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) has climbed back on his high horse and is threatening to run the whole process off the cliff unless… Read full post »

When Oprah Winfrey delivered her nationally televised spanking of disgraced pseudo-memorist James Frey back in January 2006, Maureen Dowd hailed it as a triumph: "It was a huge relief," she opined, "after our long national slide into untruth and no consequences, into Swift boating and swift/… Read full post »

I should be used to it by now, but sometimes the nerve, the sheer tug-on-Superman's-cape-spit-into-the-wind gall of politicians, takes my breath away.

Case in point: Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall (R-13th District).

At a press conference last week with a group called Virginia Christian Action, Marsha… Read full post »