The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    Take Me to Our Leader

    By Ramona on Thu, 01/07/2010 - 1:21pm |
    For eight long Bushwhacked years, we moaned and groaned and predicted the predictable outcomes. And when they came, we got nothing for our troubles except to be able to utter a wholly unsatisfying "We told you so". Because for eight long Bushwhacked years we, the Liberals afraid to speak our own name, had no real leaders.
    jollyroger's picture

    If Nancy P. is the bad cop, and Prez is the good cop, who are the perps?

    By jollyroger on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 7:37pm |
    As turmoil swirls around the House-Senate Conference (*or lack thereof….) may we not profitably wonder whether the identity of the “target audience” for the messaging that is without peradventure in progress is immediately obvious? Assume, arguendo, that Prez recognizes the...

    An Argument with Myself

    By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 2:55pm |
    Me1: So, I see that where you are on the HC legislation is to look for reasons to urge a yes vote by your senators.  Care to elaborate?   Me2: I understand completely, and pretty much agree right down the line,...
    MrSmith1's picture

    Retort to Tea-baggers: "We'll pick up the slack!"

    By MrSmith1 on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 9:46am |
    I just read a report about the tea-partiers planning a strike on January 20th, the first anniversary of President Obama becoming President.  I was thinking ... it might be a fun counter-offensive to have people on the Left stage a "Don't...
    Richard Day's picture

    ROLLO TOMASI

    By Richard Day on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 8:12am |
    Andy Griffith Titles: A Face in the Crowd I am watching LA Confidential for the fourteenth time. (Oh it's more than that really, but I mean from beginning to end) This is one of the finest movies I have ever...
    jollyroger's picture

    CIA guy to Pashtuns: We're gonna make your daughters into whores; that's how we roll & that's how we're gonna win

    By jollyroger on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 1:13am |
    Ex CIA (Afghanistan Station) Henry Crumpton chatting with the dumbest man on TV (pace Aunt Sam…) unburdens himself thusly (from memory): “Besides the 20% “hard power” that we must bring to this war, 80% involves…empowering the people, giving them electricity...
    we are stardust's picture

    Some Small Hints for Meditation/Relaxation from a Dilettante

    By we are stardust on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 6:48pm |
    Life is fraught with anxiety for a lot of us right now; mild depression seems widespread.  We might be worried for ourselves, or for the hardships and suffering of our friends. Our nation seems to be in meltdown in many...

    Remaining Roguish: Sheriff Arpaio Disclaims Illegal Immigration Positions IN HIS BOOK!

    By azpaull on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 3:39pm |
        Even ones about his own parents' emigration to the U.S. (from Italy).  Not only that, but he has not totally read the book.  (He "may have" read the parts relating to illegal immigration.) Sometimes, it takes being under...
    Richard Day's picture

    AULD LANG SYNE; Remembrances of Commie Epithets Gone

    By Richard Day on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 8:40pm |
                                                               A  muṣḥaf1 Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;        protect me from men of violence,     2 who devise evil plans in their hearts        and stir up war every day.     3 They make their tongues...

    Republican Irony Impairment Alert

    By AmericanDreamer on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 6:09pm |
    I just love how the Republicans--Cheney, of course, but plenty of others as well--are right now just full of all kinds of helpful advice to the Democrats on how to keep the country safe following the recent thwarted terrorist attack....
    we are stardust's picture

    Contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq: Two Reports; plus a bonus video from the BBC on Neocons and the Cold War

    By we are stardust on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 1:16pm |
    The Congressional Research Service report on military contractors came out last week, as well as Senator Claire McCaskill's Contract Oversight Subcommittee's hearings report on Afghanistan contractors.  Her committee reports that contractors make up an astounding 69% of the total Pentagon...
    Richard Day's picture

    AUGHTS

    By Richard Day on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 9:10pm |
    http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-rovegetoutofjailfre... I found this wonderful bit of optimism today:For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is...
    SleepinJeezus's picture

    Josh Marshall: Soft on Terror?

    By SleepinJeezus on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 2:42pm |
    In Josh Marshall's back-and-forth with The National Review's writers Thiessen and McCarthy, Marshall credits McCarthy for making a more coherent argument in favor of trying the "Underwear Bomber" in a military tribunal rather than in a civilian court.Theissen argues in...
    Barth's picture

    The TVs try to rape us

    By Barth on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 1:50pm |
    This was the week where the nearly unthinkable took place: David Brooks not only wrote a column about something very important, he said exactly the right thing. That is not to single out Brooks as generally a purveyor of the...
    jollyroger's picture

    Tax breaks 4 Sarko's buds big dud :<i>Vive La France!</i> This is good governance!

    By jollyroger on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 3:23am |
    Why can’t we be smart like the French? The body functioning in the judicial review mode that we associate with our supreme court sticks the shiv in Nick’s (otherwise far reaching and laudible) carbon tax. (Yes, that’s the smart and...
    Richard Day's picture

    LET US PREY ON IDIOTS

    By Richard Day on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 8:08pm |
    a LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- Evangelical pastor Rick Warren appealed to parishioners at his Orange County megachurch Wednesday to help fill a $900,000 deficit by the first of the year.Warren made the appeal in a letter posted on the...
    Barth's picture

    The New Year and the new decade

    By Barth on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 3:09pm |
    Let's get this new decade thing out of the way first.  I am one of those cranks who insist, as everyone recognized in 1900 and 1901, that a century, and hence, millennium commences in a year ending with 1, since...
    we are stardust's picture

    Federal Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Blackwater in Massacre in Iraq

    By we are stardust on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 5:55pm |
    I just saw this at Jeremy Scahill's website.  This is about the 14 Iraqi civilians Blackwater guards accused of gunning down in Nisour Square in Bagdad in September 2007. The Judge's reasoning: In a memo defending his opinion, Urbina cited a...
    Richard Day's picture

    THE BIRCHER, THE BIRTHER AND THE BAGGER

    By Richard Day on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 5:28pm |
    A birther and a bircher and a bagger walk into a bar. What can I get you boys? asks the bartender. The birther responded: I would like a Harvey Wallbanger and I would like to tell you this: Barack Obama...

    Actuarial Value.

    By kgb999 on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 7:10am |
    The whole heath care reform thing got me wanting a little more information on what "Actuarial Value" really means.  Generally, it's the percentage of medical expenses that the one can expect their policy to cover. But honestly, WTF does that...
    oleeb's picture

    Credit Card "Reform" By And For The Card Issuers

    By oleeb on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 7:09pm |
    Earlier this year, the same corporate/DLC Democrats who have been calling the shots on alleged healthcare reform similarly shepherded though Congress and allged credit card reform bill.  The bill was touted as finally protecting consumers from the worst practices of...

    Linda Ronstadt Reads TPM and Eric Ward; Joins In Natl Day of Action Against Arizona's Arpaio; TPM Meetup?

    By azpaull on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 5:19pm |
    (Disclaimers: (1) I don't know if she of the beautiful voice actually reads TPM and/or the Cafe's Eric Ward; (2) Ronstadt did not organize the upcoming day of action, just joined up with it; (3) I was not attempting to...
    we are stardust's picture

    NAME THE DECADE CONTEST WINNERS

    By we are stardust on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 12:13pm |
    Sadly, the prizes will need to be changed out.    I got an ominous email late last night from Karl Rove warning me off the Mitch McConnell prize date.  He did not specify as to his interest in the...
    Richard Day's picture

    GRANDMA PELOSI: PERSON OF THE YEAR

    By Richard Day on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 10:46pm |
    Nancy Pelosi There is another politico who began as a community organizer. But she bore five children first. Grandma Pelosi is a winner of this passing year and decade. I have written of the tears I shed watching her...

    Mr. and Mrs. Rove Have Divorced - Now with Video

    By Ripper on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 6:28pm |
    Karl Rove and his wife of 24 years, Darby, were divorced last week, according to a statement  released by family spokeswoman and former White House spin butler Dana Perrino.The statement described the divorce as "amicable" and the result of a...

    Pages