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

    Shorter Evan Bayh on Health Care: Blah Blah Blah

    I've been sort of hounding my elected officials lately; sending them poll results, asking them to commit to the public option, following up on their correspondence with me to ask them to please answer my questions instead of responding with canned crap that somebody on their staff wrote.

    Seriously, how hard is it to answer the question "Do you support a public option for health insurance?" Yes? No? You haven't made up your mind yet because you get a lot of money from the insurance industry and you're afraid the Republicans will use the issue to run against you in 2010?

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    North Korean Threat Generator ™

    BREAKING: Having issued a number of bellicose threats in recent weeks, the government of North Korea has run dangerously low on epithets and histrionic adjectives. Though North Korea is the world's leading producer of hyperbole, the prolific output of the government controlled Central News Agency has outstripped their supply. Analysts fear that without wrathful verbiage, North Korea will resort to military force and patriotic parades.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    New Nixon tapes: Still racist after all these years...

    Is it me, or does Nixon become more racist with every release of White House tapes? Ironically, the latest batch show him embracing moderate ideas for racist rationales.

    For instance, it turns out that he supported a woman's right to have an abortion...in order to avoid those horrible mixed-race babies:

    There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white.

    I guess that Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, didn't get the memo.

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    Deadman's picture

    The Audacity - and Righteousness - of Citigroup

    Citigroup executives have decided in their infinite wisdom to increase base salaries for many of their employees by as much as 50 percent.

    The bank says the raises - which will be partially offset by a reduction in bonuses, though overall compensation packages could be higher or lower - are necessary to remain competitive ... in an environment where the official unemployment rate will soon be in the double digits no less.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    North Korea threatens to "wipe out the aggressors once and for all"

    From the official Korean Central News Agency:

    "If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all."

    A week ago, in response to U.S. threats to inspect cargo coming to and from North Korea, the same news agency vowed that North Korea would treat such actions as a declaration of war of promised a "100 or 1,000-fold retaliation with merciless military strike."

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    Larry Jankens's picture

    When you wish upon a czar...

    In the United States we have a “drug czar,” a “terrorism czar,” a (newly appointed) “pay czar”, a “cybersecurity czar”, a “war czar”, an “energy czar,” a "copyright czar," a “food safety czar,” and we even have a “hurricane Katrina recovery czar.” This wouldn’t be alarming if this was the Roman Empire (the term was originally derived from word Caesar and meant emperor) or 13th century Russia, but it’s not, it’s 21st century America a coun

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Heretic's Bible - Genesis 16: Abram plows the field

    In the end, it was Sarai who solved the fertility problem. She suggested that Abram have sex with her Egyptian slave, Hagar. Abram enthusiastically followed her suggestion.

    Commentary: I suppose that I shouldn't ask whether Hagar was consulted in this arrangement.

    Deadman's picture

    iPhone 3.0: Apple's First Law of Inertia

    I've always sucked at making decisions. Leave where we're having lunch up to me and we'll likely be having dinner there.

    If there's one thing about modern life I cannot stand, it's the plethora of options we have. Sure the freedoms we now enjoy are terrific, the new opportunities exciting, the potential adventures limitless, but instead I like to focus on all the bad choices we can now make.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    North Korea's "1,000-fold" threats: They're bluffing

    The Kang Nam, a two-thousand ton North Korean freighter, is powering towards Southeast Asia. An eight-thousand ton American destroyer, the John S. McCain, trails behind it. As the two-ship mobile standoff crawls along the east coast of Asia, telephones have been ringing in Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo, as the leaders of the U.S., South Korea, and Japan scramble for a strategy to confront North Korea's weapons smuggling operations.

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