Category Archives: politics

Okay, it’s Saturday, time for something completely different. Here’s a stand-out video report from Jodi Kantor at the New York Times on the character of Barack Obama, as revealed on the basketball court. To get the scoop, Kantor talked to a former college player named Craig Robinson, currently coach of the basketball club at BrownContinue reading “Good-Looking Rook — and Presidential Candidate”

The Prez liked to call him "boy genius," but among the chattering class in D.C., Karl Rove’s reputation as a political genius is in sharp decline, and some wonder if Rove is getting out while the getting is good. Joshua Green, an original and talented writer who last year found the liberal side to RonaldContinue reading ““Bush’s Brain” Resigns — But Was Rove Really All That Smart?”

That’s the question that came out of the John Edwards campaign, as reported by the New York Times’ refreshingly straightforward op-ed writer Gail Collins. It’s behind the newspapers pay wall, unfortunately, but let me quote a couple of passages: John Edwards has a plan to cap carbon emissions, while allowing businesses to buy the rightContinue reading “To Save the Planet, Would You Give Up Tangerines?”

So says Citibank. (Sorry I forgot the link earlier.)

The results of a huge Pew Center poll (pdf) asking detailed questions of 45,000 people around the globe resulted in a wide range of opinion, as one would expect, but virtually unanimity on an important point. When it comes to the environment, the U.S. is the worst offender (the biggest contributor to global warming, etc.) Continue reading “Americans, World Agree: U.S. Bad for the Environment”

It’s okay to lie for the White House: the Prez says so. My favorite comment to date comes from "crunchy conservative" Rod Dreher. His remarkably bitter post, titled "The Soft on Crime Republicans," is worth reading in whole, but here’s the bottom line: Think about it: Paris Hilton did more time in the slammer thanContinue reading “Culture of Corruption Becomes Official”

A nice editorial cartoon by Steve Greenberg of the Ventura County Star. Posted here with permission. Who would ever have thought that Arnold, the man who (more than any other individual) helped popularize the Hummer, is also the man who most directly confronted the Bush administration on global warming? After 9/11, respected writers said theContinue reading “Arnold vs. the EPA”

Shocking news: the "post-partisan" Governor of California, the world-famous Arnold Schwarzenneger, may be moving to my neighborhood. That’s according to a rumor printed in the Ventura County Star. The Sacramento Bee recently reported that the couple made an offer on a property listed for about $6 million in Upper Ojai. It didn’t name an exactContinue reading “Hasta La Vista, Governor”