I'm slightly less impressed than Andrew Leonard is with the Seattle Times' two-part series on the extremely high crimes and misdemeanors of Washington Mutual. The pieces paint the executives at WaMu (quite rightly) as evil opportunists who threw risk-management to the wind and invented incenti… Read full post »

Joe Biden is well known for two things: 1). being vice president and 2). being loquacious ("Literally!" as he would say). But there are a few words we have yet to hear from Vice President Biden for which I, not literally, am holding my breath: "I shall not seek, and… Read full post »

I'm still hiatusing, but old habits (like staying up too late) die hard. And this at least deserves some pictorial comment.

Here's the top of the NYT home page right now:


Yeah, the biggest news in the world right now revolves around two wealthy white guys… Read full post »

I have a job.  In fact, as of this week, I have two new jobs, an embarrassment of riches in a state where 1 in 8 people is unemployed.  Hooray.  I am excited about every part of this except for the part where, starting now, I'm going to be in an… Read full post »

 

The Washington Post announced Sunday that it's put restrictions on its staff members use of Twitter and social networks:

I read of Representative Steve King's tirade against President Obama and ACORN today with great interest. I was, you might say, inspired. Here's what I learned:

Fascinating! What this…

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Today, the F.D.A. admitted that it bowed to pressure from congressmen in approving an unsafe "patch" for patients with a torn or damaged meniscus (a common knee injury). The patch, called Menaflex, routinely failed and required patients to seek further surgery, but w/…

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We're getting close to the one-month mark on the two major 2009 elections: New Jersey, which we walked through a bit before, and Virginia, which I'll stroll through today (with, I promise, Bonus Joe Wilson at the end).

The Virginia governor's race pits…

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Net Neutrality is one of those long-term geek desires that has seemed, like Starcraft II, both tantalizingly within reach and impossible to ever have. What's Net Neutrality? It's the idea that broadband carriers -- both wired and wireless carriers, that is -- should allow all legal content… Read full post »

I love this:

You don't really need sound to appreciate what happens, but you might need a little context. So: At the Value Voters meeting, an MSNBC reporter was heckled by attendees until he had to quit his broadcast. That's not the clip above, though -- the… Read full post »

Recently, a friend on Open Salon asked how I managed to keep reading and writing about politics, when the last few months have been so full of disappointment and frustration. Part of my answer was simple dorkness:

On this anniversary of the Fall of Lehman, I'd like to take a moment to discuss one of the big "villains" of that era: Mr. Hank "King Henry" Paulson, the former treasury secretary.  About a week ago, I stayed up late to devour Todd Purdham's lengthy, three-years-in-the-making piece on Pa… Read full post »

Vice President Biden returned to Iraq to visit some friends today, and as a "welcome back" present, the Green Zone where he's staying was hit with four mortars. The Green Zone -- officially, the International Zone -- is the heavily fortified zone where coalition (read: U.S. and British) troops…

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The hardest argument the Obama administration has to make, and the one that I feel the president is still not making to the best effect, is that things must change. It's evident to the 40 million uninsured Americans that we need a fix, and it's evident… Read full post »

OK, everyone.  I'm going to collect my thoughts and come up with something more, ah, cogent to say, less piecemeal.  I have enjoyed greatly the company, the comments, most of the controversy, and I'll be checking in as the night goes on, too.

Hooray!  You know, I'm feeling happier afte… Read full post »

It's raining here, and I am celebrating the last day of my 20s with coffee and virtual newspapers. The big news so far this weekend is Van Jones' resignation, but there are other big pieces in the world that also deserve a Sunday look. So, here's… Read full post »

The Associated Press reports tonight that Van Jones, the so-called Green Jobs Czar in the Obama administration, has resigned. Though Jones has always been a bit controversial to conservative pundits, the tipping point for the White House seems to have been the revelation this week of… Read full post »

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this sucks:

It seems to be a big week for war reports.  I don't mean journalists standing in front of blazing cityscapes (we've got enough of that within our own borders at the moment).  Instead, I'm thinking of several big written reports that have hit the desks of the nation's war deciders… Read full post »

The President will address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday to discuss the ongoing health care reform bills.  In a way, I'm glad to hear that someone's going to talk to Congress about health care, because, well, these people need to be sat down and given the what-for.  As I…

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Just when you thought it was safe to go outside again, there are elections looming.  Not just the 2010 elections that are suddenly being chattered about: there are elections coming up this November.  Both New Jersey and Virginia hold their gubernatorial elections in "off" years, and if ever… Read full post »

As summer winds down, I'm trying to get a bit more discipline into my days.  One of the things I want to do is get better at marking what's happening each week, with an intent to, y'know, revisit the things happening.  I thought today sounded like… Read full post »

You are born into a family that's already on the way up.  You have eight brothers and sisters; you will survive seven of them.  Your life will careen between the charms and the perils of being the youngest: By the time you're sixteen, you will lose a brother and a sister,… Read full post »

Ted Kennedy.  I can't, yet.  Saturday.  So, something else, for today, since all the good words are taken at the moment.  Let's talk escape: reading.

Earlier this week, Bill Burton, deputy White House press secretary, offered a list of which books President Obama brought on va… Read full post »

Let me try to kill two birds with one funny little stone.  I've been having a bit of the political blahs of late, which is probably par for the course in August.  My own blahs come mostly from healthcare reform, which seems at… Read full post »