Health Care for Illegals

Surprising information here, my friends.  No way to know if it could hold true throughout the country, but California would seem to be a state where the problem would be bad, if there WAS a problem.  Apparently, there is not…

Undocumenteds Use Less Health Care Than Citizens?

Another myth propagated by the anti-immigration crowd bites the dust: “Illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California, according to a study published Monday in [...]

Getting The Votes

It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.  This might be the big problem with our continued occupancy of Iraq.

Iraqi parliament unlikely to approve long-term presence.

In a White House press briefing yesterday, Iraq war czar Gen. Doug Lute claimed that the Bush administration would not need congressional approval for it’s new long-term occupation plan that envisions an endless, unqualified, “enduring” presence in Iraq. Though it is unclear if Lute is correct in his assertion, it is clear, as Spencer Ackerman [...]

Late Night Huckabee

Before the evening gets away, let’s squeeze in our nightly update on “all things Huck”.  The earnest digging into his true past continues as he continues to pick up support.

‘Left Behind’ author, Concerned Women for America suck up to Huck

So Huck’s got Chuck Norris, Ted Nugent, and the WWE’s Ric Flair on his side, now he’s getting a thumbs up from “Left Behind” fundie author Tim LaHaye. Mike Huckabee claims to be a big fan of the apocalypse novels. “America and our Judeo-Christian heritage are under attack by a force that is more destructive than [...]

Nevertheless, he continues to do well in the polls.

Really? Huckabee?

Okay, I’ve been thinking about Huckabee mainly for how we could upset the apple cart for the major candidates. But we’re closing in on the point where he’s no longer a surging second-tier player. Pulling into second behind Rudy in [...]

Another Day

Another Poll.  It’s looking like a horserace up in Iowa.  A REAL barnburner…

Iowa Race Tightens: Clinton Obama Tied, Huckabee Catching Romney

Political Wire got an advance look at a new Strategic Vision poll in Iowa that shows Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama tied in the Democratic presidential race at [...]

In The Interest of Fairness

There have been so many stories about Republicans getting caught in bad situations, that it’s only fair to let you see one from the other side.

Prosecutors Allege NH Dem Faked Car Crash for Funds

Of all the campaign strategies available, perhaps this wasn’t the best one.  Last spring, Gary Dodds was trailing in the Democratic primary for New Hampshire’s 1st District Congressional seat when his crashed car was found empty. He went missing for more than a day, creating a national story about the missing candidate. He later explained that following the collision, [...]

Those Pesky Goals

The Army is pulling out all the stops, but it’s still not an easy task to get recruits to sign up.

Army Strong?

Just a year ago, the Army unveiled a new slogan – “There’s strong, and then there’s Army strong” – and put $200 million into advertising it in a desperate attempt to meet recruiting goals: “The Army missed its fiscal 2005 recruiting target by more than 6,000 soldiers but [...]

Huckabee on the Environment

The hunt for the truth about Mike Huckabee continues online.  And a sizable group of folks are doing some serious work.  Andrew Sullivan dug up the latest example.

Huckabee On Climate Change

The Economist gets it about right: “On green issues, he is all mood and little substance. He says God wants us to look after the earth, and touts his own use of a flex-fuel car. But he has no serious [...]

That Weird Poll

I talked about it last night. That strange Zogby poll. In the light of a new day, it’s becoming apparent that the results might be interesting, but likely not accurate.

Media Lavishes Attention On Bogus Internet Poll Showing Hillary Losing To Repubs — And Ignores Reputable Poll Finding Opposite…

Ladies and gentlemen, a tale of two polls.  Yesterday two polling firms — Zogby and Gallup — released surveys of the presidential race that offered strikingly different conclusions. The Zogby poll found that Hillary is trailing five leading GOP candidates in general election matchups. The Gallup Poll, by contrast, found that Hillary, and to a lesser degree Obama, has a slight to sizable lead over the top GOP contenders.  A couple of other things that distinguish these two polls: [...]

Tin-Foil Hat Time

Okay, conspiracy buffs.  Dig into this one.  The scary thing is, it kind of makes sense. It really does.

Oil Traders Seize Control of World Oil Prices

A shadowy cabal of international “oil traders” have seized control of the world’s markets and the price of oil. That’s not the opinion of a crazed “conspiracy theorist”. It is the informed opinion of an expert market analyst interviewed by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. As oil reached $100 recently, [...]

By the way, crude oil fell $3.00 today.  That will be reflected at the pump, when?

Economy 101

I really need a lesson in basic Economics, although I’m not sure anything makes sense these days – at least not according to the “rules”.  I fail to understand how stocks can be higher when these are the headlines of the day.

Home Prices in U.S. Fell Record 4.5% in Third Quarter

Consumer Confidence Lowest Since Katrina

How Low Will Housing Market Go? Much Lower, Say Experts

Mortgage Crisis Raises Recession Fears

UPDATE: Stocks were higher because the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is pumping 7.5 billion dollars into Citigroup.  I’m still not convinced that’s bigger than the combined impact of the events linked above.  That’s why I’m not in financne, I guess.

Peace Talks

Seems the rules have changed.  Big Time.

Assad sits at Rice’s table — will the right flip out?

Bret Stephens, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, raises an interesting point in his column today. Remember Nancy Pelosi’s spring break in Damascus? Condoleezza Rice apparently does not. When the House Speaker paid Syrian strongman Bashar Assad a call back in April, President Bush denounced her for sending “mixed signals” that “lead the [...]

The Economics of Banking

Some days, life just isn’t fair.

And this is only the beginning

While former Citigroup chairman Charles Prince got a $40 million severance package for mismanaging the company in subprime mania and billions of dollars in losses, up to 45,000 more employees of the financial services giant may be paying a higher price — [...]

Bad Image

This is not the image you want for the U.S. Army.  Is it possible that emotions are stretched beyond realistic bounds?  How else could this happen?

False Sovereignty

School in the whole world is a place for educating people whether this school is in the USA or in Iraq. But what happened yesterday at one of the schools in Baghdad is so far from education and humanity. A [...]

Nutt Moves South

Well, that was quick!  Houston Nutt resigned as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks football team Monday.  By 9:00 am this morning, he was announced as the new coach at Ole Miss.  Arkansas Times has the details and, as always, the comments there are worth reading.  I’ll say one thing, between the new deal and the severance package at Arkansas, Nutt comes out smelling like a rose.

Nutt to Ole Miss