Asylum and Torture

This seems to be fairly significant to me and certainly poisons our image on the world stage.

Canadian Court Says U.S. Not Safe for Refugees

Wow: “The United States is not a safe country for refugees, the [Canadian] Federal Court said Thursday as it ruled that Canada will no longer have the right to turn back asylum seekers at the border. In the surprise judgment, the court found [...]

Another Football Saturday

Spotted a great article over at CBSNEWS dot com Friday evening.  All about the Sports Illustrated “cover jinx” and the fact that the Missouri Tigers are on the cover this week.  It’s of particular interest because our daughter is graduating from there in a couple of weeks and is totally wrapped up in following the team.  Saturday night is the game.  We’re hoping the “jinx” isn’t true. At least not this time.

Jinxed or Punk’d?

We tackle many media issues in this space. Politics. Religion. Bias. Technology. War. Professional ethics. Today I bring up the issue of media hexes. And the Missouri Tigers. And the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx. But first, a step back for perspective. The Missouri Tigers football team has drawn a lot of attention outside [...]

By the way, you will be cheering for Mizzou.  You will!

Freedoms and Fascism

I’m not jumping into this theory 100%, but there are some darn good questions being raised about how the proposed new law could be interpreted.  At best, it appears to make it easier for the feds to find an excuse to throw any of us in jail.  At worst, it’s a giant step along the road toward fascism.

We’re About To Lose Our Freedom Of Speech

The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, Senate Bill 1959, is set to be voted on. The cleverly worded law would allow the government to arrest and imprison anyone who speaks out against the Bush administration, the Iraq occupation, the Department of Homeland Security or any other government agency, including the FDA. The law passed the House on October 23rd by a traitorous vote of 405-6 (one of the 6 was our hero, Dennis Kucinich). It is the latest in a long line of fear-mongering legislation that [...]

Stem Cell Breakthrough

The Right is getting the proverbial cart before the horse again.  This time, the issue is stem cell research.  We’ll let the Carpetbagger Report try to tone down the celebration…

On stem cells, the right shouldn’t be pleased with itself

Recent scientific breakthroughs on stem-cell research are so promising, some of the right’s less-informed pundits, such as the WaPo’s Charles Krauthammer, have decided to take a victory lap. A decade ago, [James] Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka) announced one of the great scientific breakthroughs [...]

Hitting CNN. Again.

You all know that I don’t buy into the criticism of CNN for the debate this week, but Citizens United just may be on solid ground about this issue. It’s been a rough week for the folks at CNN…

Group threatens to sue CNN over doc…

FishbowlDC has the letter from the group Citizens United to CNN asking for a retraction and changes made to last night’s “Campaign Killers” or it may sue the network [… ]

Economy 101: Friday Edition

Hold on tight, folks.  The worst is yet to come.

Mortgage Crisis Drags Down Entire Economy

The mortgage meltdown is taking a rising toll on the broader economy, increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates for a third time next month in hopes of averting a recession. Homeowners will see their property values sink by [...]

From the good people at the Nationa Journal blog, The Gate, comes this bit of optimism…

Reasons To Freak Out About The Economy

Sunlight and Cancer

Ya’ know, Hutch is making sense here.  Logically, there just may be a link between sunlight and cancer and it’s not what you’re probably thinking.

Study Shows Late Shift Has Increased Risk Of Cancer

In a recent study, people that work the night shift were shown to have increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. While some people believe this new study is somehow out of whack, to me it proves once again that Vitamin D could be the real answer to keeping cells from regenerating too fast inside of our bodies to the point they eventually turn into cancer tumors. There has been evidence in [...]

Friday Huck and Polls

Your Huckabee Headlines for today:

New Polls Show Clinton Fading, Huckabee Rising

Huckabee Shakes Up Romney Campaign

Huckabee’s big bounce from GOP debate

CNN’s Cooper praised Huckabee’s failure to answer WWJD question as “probably one of the best answers you could possibly come up to”

Huckabee’s Media Swarm in NH

The Real Mike Huckabee

Rudy vs Huckabee?

Romney badmouths Huckabee, Rudy in Iowa

Good stuff.  All of it. Some positive. Some negative.

The Surge

Even Murtha says “it’s working”.  To some degree.  But, don’t forget the political half of the equation…

Murtha’s surge comments a problem for Dems

One of leading anti-war voices in House Democratic Caucus is causing problems for his party leadership with stark reversal on surge [...]

So, let’s let Mr. Murtha try to untangle things..

Murtha clarifies surge remarks

Tuberville And Arkansas

Is it gonna happen?  Here’s the latest from the Arkansas Times blog.  Not, in particular, the comments.  This is a divided state. Sadly.

Tom Terrific — UPDATE

Progress=Problems

All of that “progress” in Iraq (things so much better that people can return home) is apparently creating a new problem.  Gee, don’t you think somebody might have seen this coming?  Before they created a big photo op?

Iraq’s Housing Problem

The US military in Iraq has invested a lot of media effort trying to convince not only Americans but also Iraqis to believe we’re making so much progress in reducing violence that displaced Iraqis can begin returning home. It’s a strategy apparently based on the bootstrap theory that if you can convince enough people [...]

Just Wrong

Unless CNN expects Campbell Brown to be the anti-Olbermann, this is wrong.  Very wrong. I haven’t seen any promo material for her new show, but I’d be surprised if they tried to mimic O’Reilly in this time slot.  Really.

CNN’s Campbell Brown Calls MoveOn.org “American Insurgents”

Following Wednesday night’s CNN/YouTube Republican debate, recent CNN arrival Campbell Brown hosted a special entitled Campaign Killers, which dealt with the negative nature of campaign advertising in American politics. Unfortunately, Brown decided to do some dirty and rather offensive campaigning herself, referring to MoveOn.org as “American Insurgents.” More [...]

The Republican YouTube Debate scandal!

Day two of America Held Hostage! I guess I didn’t realize that only partisans and like-minded activists were supposed to ask questions at these things. I sort of figured that questions could be submitted by any interested American and that the questions, not so much the questioners, would be vetted by the network to craft the debate. Clearly you don’t want [...]

It’s Getting Ridiculous

This debate over the questioners at this week’s CNN/YouTube debate is absolutely out of control.  And there’s no legitimate basis for it! As I said yesterday, questions are questions, no matter who asks them.  And the candidates should be able to answer them.  Get over it, people!

CNN-Spiracy, Day Two

Howie Kurtz is on the job, offering his vapid observation that there is a controversy a-swirlin’, and the Malkin Brigade has upped the ante, as they are now outraged that one of the questioners was a FORMER CAIR intern. Apparently, in order to ask a Republican candidate a question, not only must your current [...]

Oh, by the way, welcome to the weekend! TGIF.  All those good thoughts.  I’m hoping to catch up on some much-needed sleep!  And, of course, watch the Mizzou/Oklahoma Big 12 Title game Saturday night!  Daughter graduates in two weeks and already has a job lined up!  If Mizzou wins, we’ll really have something to celebrate!

Giuliani Update

We’ll round up some updated info about Rudy Giuliani’s latest debacle.  It’s a great story and it just keeps getting greater.  Kudos to Atrios for the headline of the evening:

Sex on the City

You know, aside from the corruption and potential criminality of all of this it’s provided an excuse (if they take it) to remind the public that Rudy was having an affair with his 3rd wife while living with his 2nd wife in the Mayor’s residence. One would think that [...]

And the hits just keep on coming..

The Irony of Shag

There’s an irony emerging in the Shag Fund story. As is often the case, it’s an irony Rudy isn’t in a position to make much use of. But I think it’s important to flesh it out. Rudy’s defense in all [...]

Giuliani scandal fueled by contradictions, unanswered questions

As the “Shag Fund” scandal continues to unfold, more reporters at more outlets are beginning to recognize the seriousness of Rudy Giuliani’s latest scandal. Worse, the former mayor’s presidential campaign has struggled to come up with coherent explanations, offering contradictory accounts. Worse, it’s insisting that Ben Smith’s original report is “false,” but it can’t say [...]

How about throwing another log on this fire..

Giuliani Time’s Up?

Poor Rudy just can’t catch a break this week. This morning’s New York Times basically calls him a liar. In almost every appearance as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph W. Giuliani cites a fusillade of statistics and facts to make his arguments about his successes in running New York City and the merits of [...]

And THIS falls into the “with friends like this, who needs enemies” category..

Disgraced Kerik vouches for Rudy’s character.

So, how does Rudy react? 

Rudy Not Taking Questions

No wise, dude.  Not wise. Them reporter-folks will turn on you quicker than a rabid dog.

The Edwards Interview

Pretty good talking on Countdown tonight between Olbermann and Edwards.  Edwards agrees with my thoughts – the right shouldn’t be complaining about WHERE the debate questions came from.  They should worry more about their answers.

Countdown: John Edwards Mocks Republicans For Being Afraid To Take Questions From Democrats

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards talked with Keith Olbermann on Countdown about his take on the campaign so far, President Clinton’s statement that he was against the war, how out of touch the Republicans are with mainstream Americans and of course, the cavalcade of gifts they handed the Democrats [...]

Good Sleuthing

WholeHogSports.com does some excellent digging in a post about the next Razorback football coach. Y’all know by now that Houston Nutt has flown the coop, landing at Ole Miss. Check out this investigative work..

Interesting development with Arkansas and Tuberville

I was scouring the Web for flights going to and from Auburn, Ala. And I stumbled upon this one, which left Tunica, Miss., flew to Rogers, went on to Auburn and came back to Tunica today. It appears that this flight may have picked up Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who was in Arkansas hunting Thursday. The [...]

There was, of course, a lot of talk about this on the sportstalk shows as I was driving home tonight. Heck, they were talking about it as I drove IN this morning. The rumor concensus seems to be that Tuberville will be in Arkansas if the legal folks can figure out how to handle his buyout from Auburn.  In the meantime, he’s hunting.  No, REALLY hunting!

Not Just For Big Cities

There’s been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere lately about how cities like Houston and Washington, DC are using drone aircraft, remotely controlled from the ground, to spy on people.  Well, my friends, our little city of 70,000 people is getting on the bandwagon.

Police Department to get help from above

Criminals might soon have to look up, not just over their shoulders, to see if the North Little Rock Police Department has an eye on them. [...]

Giuliani’s Bookeeping

I’ll say one thing, it took some brains to figure these scams out and put them in place!

Giuliani’s Tricky Tryst Accounting Explored

We here at TPMm have dived headlong into the murky world of New York City accounting procedures to bring you the full story of Rudy Giuliani’s security detail’s mistress visit accounting shell game.  A general clarification first. The central allegation behind the story was that Giuliani, or someone else looking to protect Giuliani, stuck the costs for the security detail into the budgets of obscure city agencies like the New York City Loft Board. It’s not clear  [...]

Ah, but he’s not getting of THAT easy.  There’s more:

Oh Rudy, Don’t Take Your Love to Town…

Big Tent Democrat seems to think there may be legal consequences for Rudy as a result of sending NY cops to chauffer his squeeze: There oughta be a law! Oh wait, there is one: [NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s] decision to step down came as Albany prosecutors were preparing to ask a grand jury to indict him [...]

Rudy’s reaction to being busted:

Rudy: Claims a “hit job” on him, but doesn’t deny using taxpayer money for his affair

Contempt

Leahy isn’t backing down.  Yet.  He’s well-armed and digging for details.

Leahy moves forward with White House contempt.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) today said that several current and former White House officials, including Karl Rove and John Bolten, “must comply with committee subpoenas to testify” about the U.S. attorney scandal. He declared that President Bush had no role in the firings, therefore their excuses of “executive privilege” were “not legally valid.” [...]

Up North, Where the Cold Winds Blow

It’s a slugfest. New numbers.  From Rasmussen.  Iowa Democrats.

Dead Heat in Iowa

A new Rasmussen Reports poll in Iowa finds the Democratic presidential race in a three way statistical tie. Sen. Hillary Clinton leads with [...]